When Nichole Fisher started college, she was busy. Very busy. And to her, busyness was simply a fact of college life.

"I was just getting into school and wanting to experience being independent," says Nichole, currently a junior at Simpson College in Redding, California. "So I would stay out really late and then be up really late to finish my homework. Then I would be too tired to get up for eight o'clock classes in the morning."

Nichole's hectic pace eventually caught up with her, and late in her freshman year, she got rundown and sickly. Then summer came and she had time to rest up and get ready for yet another hectic year, which included a part-time job. Before long, her schedule was out of control. In fact, she didn't even have a schedule.

"In high school, my parents were like my day planner," she says. "They were always up on managing my time for me.

"There's a lot more responsibility in college, being on your own. You just come to the point where you end up making a schedule for yourself or else your life isn't going to run smoothly."

And that's exactly what she did. Realizing her parents were no longer responsible for her schedule, Nichole bought a day planner and decided to take charge of her time.

"I'm a changed person in the last year and a half or so," she says. "My freshman year, socializing came first, before my schoolwork. My sophomore year, I got into scheduling every thing and making sure my homework was done be fore socializing. Then, it would be kind of like a re ward to go out and relax."

"My friends were like, 'Come on, you'll get it done,'" she remembers.

Although homework was calling, Sarah's friends were calling louder, and, in the end, they won. But Sarah didn't. After an evening on the town, she headed to the computer and feverishly started typing. The next morning, she was still there.

"I yielded to peer pressure," she admits, "and I was up 'till five the next morning working on this 10-page paper."

Deron Dykema, a '99 graduate of Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois, had a similar problem—people could easily come between him and his schoolwork. As student body president for two years, his schedule was full of distractions. If he hung around his room, he'd be bombarded with unexpected visitors and phone calls. So he started hiding out.

"I found a place where no one knew where I was," Deron says. "Since I was student body president, I had an office to myself, and I'd go and hide up there and wouldn't answer the phone."

Sarah didn't go so far as to hide from her friends, but she did learn from her all-nighter experience.

"As you get older, you get wiser," she says. "As time goes on, I think you learn how to be more disciplined and how much time things are going to take."

Last year, for example, she faced another big paper, but instead of waiting until the last minute, Sarah divided the writing into small sections over a week's period. The result?

"I did really well on the paper," she says, "and I wasn't stressed to the max."

"High school is an 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. schedule—you don't have to manage that," says Neil. "It's already figured out for you. In college, you've got classes scattered all over the place, and you have to coordinate them."

Adjusting to a new, less-structured schedule can be tough enough. But students who procrastinate can expect the adjustment to be even harder.

"I had a Philosophy of Christian Education paper due," Neil says. "I just put it off and put it off and put it off. Finally, the day came. I was fumbling through my rough draft, trying to edit the thing. Then the paper got stuck in the printer. You've got to allow time for paper jams, because printers will always mess up!"

Like Neil, Deron knew the problems procrastination could cause, so he decided early on that he didn't want to let his studies wait until the last minute. He also soon realized there was a good bit of time between classes. So unlike many of his peers, he chose to put that time to good use.

"I know a lot of people just blew off that time, but I would do things," he says. "I would try to find something that fit the amount of time I had. If I had 10 minutes and I had to read a five-page article, I'd grab it and try to get most of it read. The busier you get, and the more into college life you get, the more you take advantage of every second you have."

"I organize my syllabuses at the beginning of each term, and I make a calendar and color-code the classes," she says. "Then I can kind of look and see what weeks are going to be the busiest. It's helpful for me, because then I can plan it out, and I'm not worried that I'm going to miss something in a syllabus. And it's kind of fun to use different colors."

Neil has also worked hard to organize his crazy schedule with what he calls a "big, huge, fat desk calendar." He uses the large spaces in his calendar to record school deadlines, as well as activities and extracurricular events.

In contrast, Deron was never big on calendars. Instead, he kept his workload manageable with "to-do" lists.

"I hate calendars," he admits. "I had lists on sticky notes tacked to my desk almost all the time. Whenever I'd finish one thing, I'd cross it off. I'd rip the whole list off and throw it in the garbage when I was done."

Misty chooses to plan her schedule so that Sunday really is a day of rest—and a day to concentrate on her relationship with God.

"Last year, I started keeping the Lord's Day on Sundays," Misty says. "I'll go to church and read a devotional book or pray. I make myself rest and spend time with him. I kind of call it tithing with my time."

Nichole schedules in time each day for prayer, Bible study and devotional reading. "I build God into my schedule throughout the day," she says. "It's not a choice. I think it's something we all have to make time for."

Sarah says making time for spiritual growth is really about giving God his rightful place in her life. "It's not really a question of how faith fits into my schedule," says Sarah. "God needs to be at the center of all I do."

2) Make a plan. Don't just go with the flow—or you'll sink! Instead, set aside specific times to do specific things. When you know you need to study, study. And when you play, play hard!

3) Grab a tool. Maybe it's a day-planner or a big calendar where you can write down what you want to accomplish each day. Or maybe you work best by making a to-do list each morning. Whatever tool works for you, make a point to use it.

4) Avoid distractions. If your dorm room is Social Central, by all means get out of there during study times. Find a quiet, alone place where your friends—and the telephone—simply can't find you.

5) Use "wasted time." Sometimes it's cool just to take it easy between classes. But if you find yourself getting behind in your studies, use those little chunks of time to review notes, quiz yourself on test questions, or reread key sections of a text assignment.

6) Organize your notes and assignments. In high school, you may have gotten away with stashing your papers and class notes in a closet somewhere. But don't try that in college—your prof will expect you to know all that stuff come finals time. So grab a folder, a three-ring binder with dividers or whatever it takes to keep your notes and assignments in order.

7) Get help. If you try all these tips, yet still feel overwhelmed, see your academic adviser. Your class schedule may be too heavy, or you may simply need additional guidance on how to better manage your time.

Copyright (c) 2000 by the author or Christianity Today, Inc./Campus Life magazine. Click here for reprint information on Campus Life.