College can be a huge change for most students. Moving from the safety of your home and the school you attended for a long time to living in a hostel with roommates and embarking on a new educational system.

Here are five tips that can make your transition easier and start your college experience on the right foot.

Balance is key.

Starting college exposes you to a bigger world than you are usually used to. Students look forward to new experiences and meeting new people. But it’s hard to balance academics, health and a social life successfully, especially in the first few months of a big change. But it is helpful to set a daily schedule from the first day of college to ensure that you have a healthy balance between work and play.

College activities are just as essential as college classes.

For some of us, the new style of education and the overwhelming amount of syllabus can be challenging and often be hard to cope with. Students tend to forget about extra-curricular activities to focus solely on classes and tests. Try taking the first month to settle in and understand your academic requirements. Once you have done that and set a timetable to cope with the syllabus, join a club! Explore your campus and check out the various clubs, workshops, and events it offers. Make sure you actively partake in them. This is a great way to make new friends and pursue your hobbies along with your education. AVCOE hosts various events throughout the year: http://www.avcoe.org/eventdb.php

Attendance is more important than you think.

You may have been told that you need to attend all your classes more times than you would like to hear. As cliche as it sounds, it really is an essential step towards understanding your courses better. A percentage of your attendance being mandatory gives you the liberty to skip one or two classes if you want to. Unless you have an emergency you need to attend to, it is not advisable to skip your classes. Active learning does 40-50% of studying for you. The independent learning you do after that acts as a revision of what you already know. Merely sitting in class and listening to your professor is more beneficial than you would think. Even if you zone out, you will still unknowingly absorb the learning material.

Know your professors.

Introduce yourself to your professors on the first day of class. Build a rapport with them from the start and always ask for help. Remember! No question is too silly to ask. Do not hesitate to ask for assistance no matter how small your doubt may be. In fact, the more questions you ask, the happier your professors will be, as it shows that you are interested to learn the subject they teach.

Do not tolerate any harassment.

There is no such thing as ‘overreacting’ when it comes to harassment. Trust your instincts when it comes to new people and uncomfortable situations. If someone or something makes you feel unsafe in the slightest, do not hesitate to report it to authorities. Any problem or unsafe situation is never too small to report. AVCOE has a zero-tolerance policy for any kind of harassment. Students are encouraged to make use of their protection programs as and when they need to.

Anti-ragging cell: http://www.avcoe.org/antiragging.php

Grievances cell: http://www.avcoe.edugrievance.com/

AVCOE hopes that these tips are useful for all students that are in college and wishes them all the best of luck for this fruitful journey.

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Amrutvahini College of Engineering.
#AVCOE, Sangamner.

Students these days are living the life of pressure. The competition has increased substantially and a recent study on graduate students’ mental health showed that 45% of graduate students have had emotional or stress-related problems in the past year. Dealing with assignments, submissions, exams, experiments and much more, all at the same time could become overwhelming at times. All of this could lead to a lot of mental problems - stress, anxiety, depression...

At AVCOE, we are concerned about the mental health of our students and hence, here is a list of tips that could help students deal with academic pressure.



TALK. 

Be it about a small problem or a problem as big as depression, it is important to talk about it. Discuss your problems with your friends, family or teachers. Consult doctors if necessary. Understand that there is nothing wrong in taking care of your mental health.

The teachers and staff at AVCOE are very friendly and are always ready to help our students. Teachers regularly discuss mental health with students to make sure that they are in the right mind space and encourage the students to approach them in case of problems.

Incorporate more anticipation in life
It is very important to have something to look up to in life. These things could be as small as meeting an old friend at the weekend or wanting to eat a particular dish for dinner. These little things could give you a small purpose and help you get through tough times easily. Try doing something new twice a week, like a stress-busting dinner with your friends or a walk to a new place.

Regular exercising
Exercising not only improves your body strength, but it also elevates your mind and improves your mental strength. Being mentally strong will definitely come handy when you will be going through rough patches, not only academically but in every aspect of your life. A study showed that a regular exercise routine has been shown to decrease symptoms of mild to moderate depression. Exercises of any kind- running, yoga, dancing, pilates, can help you to burst stress.

AVCOE always hosts different events that engage students in extracurricular activities to act as a break from the monotony of academia and release all their stress.

Surround yourself with positive people
Remember, you don’t want anything negative in your life. Make sure that you surround yourself with people who support you and motivate you. You don’t want people who put you down and don’t want to see you grow. Choose your people wisely, period.

AVCOE provides students with the best possible positive environment which is why there are only happy faces at our campus.

Stop comparing
One mistake that all of the human race is guilty of is comparing. We are wired in a way that we always end up comparing ourselves with others but you need to start putting extra efforts to be happy with whatever you have and whatever you are. It’s easy to fall into the trap of measuring your success with the success of others but you don’t have to do that. Understand that all of us are different and someone, somewhere is always going to be better than you. Strive to be that better person in a positive way.

Stop procrastinating
The major reason for academic pressure in students is their habit of procrastinating. The more you delay your assignments and submissions, the longer will be the pile of ‘to-do’s’ a week before their submission date, which will also be directly proportional to your tension and stress of completing them on time. However, if you finish the work assigned for a day on time, life will be much easier, right?

So these were all the tips that AVCOE thinks anyone can follow for a healthy, stress-free life. Hope you implement them in your life and stay away from all the negatives.

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Amrutvahini College of Engineering.

#AVCOE, Sangamner.

www.avcoe.org