1.       Know that God has called you. 

You can not fail!  (Failing does not mean getting a ‘B’ instead of an ‘A’ – Get over this!)

A lot of us go back to school thinking we will never make the same mistakes we made in college.  That’s the first mistake!  Old habits will resurface, but because we are called by God, and if we remain cognizant of this, we will succeed!

2.       Prioritize your responsibilities.

Find a balance between school and the rest of your life.

What is more important, spending time with the family or taking one extra class this quarter?

 Because if you over load yourself, something is going to suffer!

 This may mean making sacrifices…

§         Giving up a hobby for a while.

§         Going to school part time instead of full time.

§         Not spending as much time with friends

§         Watching less TV!

§         Accepting you will not have as much money!

3.       Get a circle of friends

This one is hard because we all have busy lives.  But a circle of friends at seminary will give you someone to share your academic life with.  Your spouse or significant other probably can’t relate – even though they want to!

Take Foundations for Ministry!  A great starter class!

Share your resources!

4.       Take a break!

Your mind is like a muscle.  Use it and it will grow.  Use it nonstop and it will become so tired it’s useless.

For example, don’t study when you become too tired.  (This is me!)  In fact, find a time that is not good for studying, and don’t study then!

Make a date night.

Pick a day out of the week to spend time with just your spouse, s.o. or group of friends.  It’s hard not to feel guilty about this.  But when your grades don’t suffer, or they improve like mine did, you will realize the benefit of this.

Make sure you spend your time wisely.  (This sounds dumb doesn’t it?)

Find a way to budget your time.  Use a paper or electronic calendar. 

Realize that each class could be up to 10 hours per week outside of class.  Two classes would mean 26 hours of class per week!

6.       Study on a regular basis

Some classes we are naturally good at and we can get away with putting things off for a few days.  Maybe do some catch up on the weekends.

Some classes will be difficult for us and we can not ignore them.  Even if it means studying for only about 20 minutes!

For example, I struggle with languages.  I took Greek last year.  If I procrastinated, 2 hours of studying one day did not come close to 30 minutes a day for four days.

7.       Meet with an academic advisor asap

Get that person to check your math!  I almost  took an extra class because I messed up!  Luckily it was caught this past summer on the main campus…

8.       Get to the main campus asap

If you’re an M. Div. and not in cohort you have to take

48 units on the main campus.  Do it as soon as you can.  Even if it is a little inconvenient. 

9.       Misc

§         Exercise

§         Sleep

§         Eat right

§         Pray and study the Scripture OUTSIDE of class.

10.   Know why you are here