First Step in Becoming a Better Student by Amber

First Step in Becoming a Better Student by Amber - January 2016 Scholarship Essay

According to Time Magazine, the top two most commonly made New Year’s resolutions are to: 1) lose weight and 2) quit smoking. These two resolutions also fall under the Top Broken New Year’s Resolutions. Instead of spending all your time trying to lose weight and stressing about how many carbohydrates you’re taking in, why not make a resolution that will help you to relieve stress instead? Make a resolution to become a better student. There are infinite ways to do this. Maybe you need to go to bed earlier or maybe your grades are telling you to study harder. If you are anything like me, the number one resolution you can make to become a better student is to stop procrastinating. Stop waiting until the night before to start on a five-page research paper or waiting the night before scholarships are due to start typing your essays.
As much as I hate to admit it, I am very bad about procrastinating. I manage to get good grades and remain a member of the National Honor Society, but I make it much harder than I have to. It’s very stressful to stay up late studying for a test that I’ve known about for a week, for example. As 2016 quickly rolled around, there was no better time for me to conquer that bad habit of procrastinating. As I have been very focused on college and scholarships lately, I have no choice but to keep up with deadlines and make a schedule for myself. Colleges don’t extend application deadlines and scholarship committees won’t even consider a late application. I found myself spending every free minute of my time filling out scholarships and writing essays. By not procrastinating, I have more time to go back and revise my work, making sure that it is written to the best of my ability instead of slopping down words that I didn’t even put thought into. I have time to plan my essays and I feel much more organized, which always seems to be a problem for high school and college students.
If you are stuck in the beginning of 2016 with no New Year’s Resolutions besides the same ones from last year about losing weight and getting fit, try making one that will help you become a better student. Cutting my bad habit of procrastinating has made the process of college preparation and scholarships much less stressful and it will make me a much better and focused student in the future. Because who wants all that added stress and loss of sleep due to procrastinating anyway?