College is a time you will remember for the rest of your life. The entire experience, from walking on campus for the first time, to receiving your degree, is a wild ride. You meet friends, lose friends, gain career opportunities and set up your life for the future. With all the fun events that occur during college, you need to make sure you are on top of things.

Don’t get me wrong, this is hard. Why? Because college is hard. A lot of us are on our own, juggling work schedules and going to school. The best college advice anyone could possibly give is, avoid procrastination at all costs.

I know, at first you think you can do it all, and do it the night before it is due. Maybe you have a huge event on campus and you wait to prepare until 11:00 p.m. the night before. I can guarantee you, from personal experience, that you are going to physically and mentally drain yourself.  It almost feels like you are physically sick, and college becomes a hassle, rather than a journey.

Here are two tips that have helped me get through college and not be last-minute-Lex.

Have a planner. Mapping your week out takes a load off. With the help of a planner, you know when things are due, where you need to be, when you need to be there and when you have time to socialize. Calendars also give you the opportunity to plan in advance for tests, special events and similar college comeups.  

I learned a second piece of advice from multiple people. As students, we must know when it is appropriate to go out and when we must stay home and work. I can probably count 30 times that I chose friends over school. These decisions did not end well for me. School comes first. The parties, clubs and drinks come last. When putting on that graduation cap, you will not regret the times you stayed in while your friends went out.

College is all about time management and preparation, so work hard, make friends, start your career and do not procrastinate.