I just started my Senior year at UMass Boston, and therearealready some things about my Junior year I wish I had known before. Maybe it’s early enough for you to not do what I have done.

1. Try to get more than five hours of sleep a night.

This was especially prominent for me last semester. I can’t sleep until I know everything I have due for the next day is done. It doesn’t help that I wake up at 3:00each morning to start mycommute, which does add up–even if it doeshelp me not stab people with my eyes on the train. The semester before this I definitely did not sleep at all, to the point I made myself sick from stress halfway through–and you know you’re sick when even your professor asks you if you’re okay.

1. Never take more than two 300-/400-level classes in a row.

Last semester was the last half of my Junior year, and I screwed myself over just a little bit in my goal to make it on the Dean’s List for thatsemester by taking three 300-levelclasses. I at least made my usual above-3.0 goal, but the couple weeks of summer before my summer class I just took I was not happy with myself for missing this. Which leads us to:

1. It’s okay if you don’t get straight A’s.

I used to be the kind of student in high school who was lucky to get C’s. Now I’m getting A’s and B’s – although I do aim for mostly A’s – in myclassesand on myassignments, just because it feels good to see that lovely letter. It used to be a thing that employers looked at your GPA, and it might still be. But that doesn’t mean you have to forget yourself in the process. Getting, say, a B+is not the end of the world. What matters most is that you’re trying. This life is more about doing your best than it is about being perfect, and if B’s are your best–that’s still okay.

1. Find time to spend with the people you still like.

One of the things that kills me every semester is that I tend to hole myself in my home office and forget I have friends for a while. I’m sobusy trying to get good gradesin every class that I forget it’s important that people remember Iexist. Now that I know it’s okay to let loose the first half of the semester, as it seems to be past midtermswhen professorsreally like to drown you in homework, I try to remind myself I need to see people other than myself in the mirror every morning.

1. Keep in touch.

This one is more about professors and connections than it is about friends and family. I still have a couple connections from when I wrote for the literary magazine at the community college I went to before UMass Boston. Right now, for me, school is my job. The unfortunate thing about this life is that it’s true what they say about choosing two things and being the best at them, as having more than that you start to slip and lose at everything. As it is, school and work are my two. It is a nice feeling to know I can still write something other than papers when I’m in school still! But back to actually keeping in touch. This doesn’t mean hanging out with and being sudden best buds with your professors the moment you stop having a class or two with them. It’s more about emailing them from time to time while they still remember who you are. Another reason I work myself near dead for my grades as mentioned above. If they know you’re trying and it’s showing, that grade may turn into something more down the road. But they’re not going to email you for this if you don’t start the thread first.