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It is time for the new school year! It is also time to organize and manage your daily tasks as your schedule starts to pick up. I will share how you can use Google Calendar to organize your class and extracurricular schedule and Google Keep to make to-do lists to manage your day to day tasks.

With summer coming to an end, it is time to trade your sunglasses for reading glasses. Trade-in your flip flops for sneakers. And your lazy summer afternoon mentality for a productive one. 

There is always a feeling of nervous excitement I get before the first day of classes. I get busy thinking about which of friends I’ll see and sit next to in class. I also get a little nervous, running some less than ideal situations through my head like getting lost and being late to class.  One way I help myself is by organizing my classes, extracurriculars, work, and volunteer obligations into Google Calendar and Google Keep.

For each of the following headings “Google Calendar” and “Google Keep” click on the heading. There is a hyperlink attached that will lead you to the application’s website to get started all you need is a Google account.

Google Calendar

I know that you can find Google Calendar useful! It allows you to enter the event or activity, its time, date, and location. It even has a section for notes about the event, which I’ll share how I use it a little later. 

This is an example of a typical week would look like for me pre-pandemic:

I typically give everything in my life a different color. The calendar offers many colors to give everything in a busy student’s life its own color.

I give one of each of my five classes a different color. I label that class’s lecture, tutoring sessions, review sessions, and teacher’s office hours in that color. For Example, Organic Chemistry is all in Orange. I had lecture three times a week, lab, precipitation, and tutoring. It helped me visually to know how to pack my backpack each day.

I input the timeframe the class is taught during and the building name for the location. In the description, I put the building room number, the course number and section number, and the professor’s name. The ability to add a description is an extremely useful tool and comes in handy when you do not want to pull out a syllabus or reread an email.

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Freshman Tip: Google Calendar is linked to Google Maps. By putting the building name in, on your way to class, you can GPS your way there. It will tell how long it takes to get to your destination by various transportation methods. Forget about asking upper-level students for directions!

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I give each of my clubs, volunteer, and work obligations a different color. Every club meeting and related event I keep in the same color so it is easily recognizable. I also input the timeframe and building location. In the description, I put building room numbers, reminders like if I need to RSVP or bring money for T-Shirts, or I list a description of any unique things going on like a guest speaker’s name and speech topic. 

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Life Hack: If you haven’t learned it already, college demands that you use your time efficiently. Sometimes that means going to the library for forty-five minutes to organize your notes between your class and club meeting. Google Calendar will remind you XX time before your event, so you don’t get too comfortable.

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For volunteer obligations, I usually give a quick summary of the task I am going to or did complete during that time. It reminds me to wear an appropriate outfit for the work being completed like my old sneakers or bring personal supplies like gardening gloves. This practice also helps later on when you have scholarship applications to fill out, and you want to reference the experience and what you learned from.

For work obligations, I put any new skills I learned on the job. I am hoping to reference these skills when I am filling out veterinary school application or in an interview. 

Here is what my calendar looks like for me during a typical week during the pandemic:

The only thing I changed was leaving the location blank (because it is my house). And in the description, I copy the Zoom Meeting ID or link and the Meeting Password. When I get a reminder on my phone or laptop, I can click on the link, quick and easy.

You have made it through your first week of school! Now, as you reflect on the week, you realize that you have built up quite the to-do list…

Google Keep

Google Keep is the best! It is a quick, easy, and convenient way to keep to-do lists, checklists, and other reminders. You can check things off and add to lists on the go. Not mention the trees you can save by not using notebooks or sticky notes!

Here is an example of what my pinned notes look like:

To-Do Lists: I use Google Keep to keep to-do lists for the following things: Each course/ class I am taking, each club I have leadership roles in, general to-do items that do not have immediate deadlines, and a daily to-do list to narrow down everything usually with the closets deadlines.

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Reminders: I use Google Keep to keep reminders for account usernames and passwords.

Checklists: I use Google Keep to keep checklists for the following things: grocery lists, school supplies I need to purchase again, clothing items I need to order (like a business professional outfit).

Pro – Tip: Google Calendar and Google Keep are both applications for smartphones and Google Chrome Extensions! They also appear on the side panel of Google Docs and Gmail. Google Keep appears on the side panel of Google Calendar for a quick way to add to any to-do or checklist items.