As the tri-campus community draws closer to midterm season, many students have had to find ways to stay on top of their workloads and schedules. For students, one of the most popular ways to keep track of everything in their lives is to utilize a digital calendar.
“I like using Google Calendar because I can have it on my laptop or my phone, and I can have multiple calendars,” freshman Molly McHugh said. “I can have my class schedule, or things that I need to do. It really just helps me to stay organized, not forget anything.”
McHugh emphasized the importance that her digital calendar plays in her daily routine and pinned it as central to finding time in the day to get work done.
Many share her sentiment and have taken advantage of the accessibility and ease of use that a digital platform offers. Students hailed it for the ability to make changes easily and view their calendar from the mobile app.
However, some students prefer to keep things in order through more traditional means. Those who opted to use a physical planner or calendar often took pride in the work they put into their personal planner and emphasized how they valued the ability to get more creative over the benefits of a digital version.
Freshman Emma Latchford explained her preference for a physical method of organization while showing off her paper planner.
“I prefer paper over electronic because I think it is more satisfying and aesthetically pleasing to write everything out, highlight and use different colored pens, and it's really rewarding to cross off an assignment after it's finished,” Latchford said. “It helps me stay super organized.”
Whether in hand or online, those who utilize planners and calendars seem to lean heavily on the organization and direction that they provide. Plenty of students have made a habit out of recording everything on a calendar. Despite this, not everyone finds benefit in using one of these tools.
“Honestly, I just never got into the habit of it, it always just kinda felt like a chore to me,” sophomore Brennan Fitzgerald said. “I feel like I can usually stay on top of things, so yeah I don’t really use anything, I just check the syllabus and make sure I’ve done everything.”
Others have taken a similar approach, with a few students adding that they feel like they are fine without the planners so many undergraduates have come to rely on and utilize.
