Episode 15: See the World!

Show notes: Nicole Mitchell

Major: English Literature

Hometown: Phoenix, Arizona

Do you find yourself overthinking?  Are you struggling to find the study strategies that work best for you?  Listen to Nicole Mitchell as she shares the tips that have helped her to be academically successful and prepare for an international experience after college!

Reasons for coming to Baylor:

• Wanted to go out of state
• Loved the Baylor community
• Christian aspect of Baylor

Reason for choosing major:

• Started off as a Psychology major
• Chose Psych because she struggled with mental health
• Psych was not a fit for her
• She was always a great writer and that is how she came to be an English major

Study strategies:

• Take excellent notes
  • Sometimes takes too many notes but helps in the long run
  • Taking notes by hand helps internalize concepts and process them
• Fill out study guides a week or two in advance before the test
  • Helps to space it out before the test
  • Be prepared with all the material before the test
  • When doing study guides, you are already studying
  • Summarize concepts in notes

Study routine:

• For exams that involve new terms, she will review five times a day
• This helps because it will not feel like you are cramming before a test
  • You won’t feel stressed the night before

Morning routine:

• Wake up an hour and half before class
• Eat a good, filling breakfast
  • Fruit
  • Yogurt and granola
  • Toast with peanut butter
  • Drink a lot of milk and water
  • Brings water to class
• Read devotional in the morning
• Bad habit is looking through social media in the morning
  • Impacts how her day turns out
• Have a quiet time in the morning without your phone

Favorite study spots:

• Common grounds great for reading and doing homework http://cgwaco.com/
• Armstrong Browning Library https://www.baylor.edu/browninglibrary/
  • Pretty and quiet
  • Comes here when she needs to study for a test
• Study rooms in The View (her apartment building)
• Can’t study in bed because she feels tempted to nap

Overcoming challenge:

• Did not do great Freshman year academically
  • Did not know how to study coming into college
  • Had to figure out a study technique that works for her
  • She put too much pressure on herself
• Has struggles with anxiety and obsessive compulsion disorder
  • Has dealt with panic attacks
• Recognizes she needs downtime
  • Helps to decompress
  • Napping and exercise  tends to help
• Lifetime fitness aerobics class helped her find exercise as an outlet for her

Time management tools:

• Making schedules during test weeks and finals
  • Schedule day-to-day activities

Study breaks:

• Gym
• Nap
• Hang out with friends
  • Food truck week- trying new food from new food trucks every week
• Taking dog on a walk

Words of wisdom:

• Do not overthink
• Put in effort and do your best
• Find your own study strategies

Favorite coffee orders:

• Common Grounds: http://cgwaco.com/
  • Pumpkin patch (Fall)
  • Ginger patch (Winter)
  • White Fang (go-to drink, chai)
  • Caramel coffee crunch (caffeine)
  • Arnold Palmer (Summer)

Baylor Resources:

• Career and Professional Development https://www.baylor.edu/cpd/
  • Career counselors have been helpful in finding what she can do with her major
  • Makes sure if she is on the right track
  • Takes a lot of the weight off for figuring out what she is going to do after college

Hopes beyond Baylor:

• Take a year abroad
  • Teaching programs in Japan and South Korea
  • Interested in teaching but will see if it is a fit for her in these programs
  • Both programs have many networks to help her get a job when she returns
• First choice after college: World Race Mission Trip https://www.worldrace.org/
  • You have to raise $19,000 to do it
  • 11 month program
  • Travel to a new country every month
  • Visit almost every continent
  • Christian mission trip to preach the gospel to other people
  • Allows her to experience the world

Cheery Monday Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) 
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/