Jason Reyes 🥉

Did it between clinical blocks. I pulled a degree audit and highlighted what still covered gen ed or electives. Then I built a term-by-term plan around hard prerequisites and courses only offered once a year. Night and online sections let me stack shifts and classes without overtime meltdown. Summer filled two missing prerequisites and kept me on my original graduation month.

Color code your notes with highlighters for math formulas and bio diagrams to keep it quick and quirky.

Stop installing new study apps like they're drivers; use one. Set a 10-minute daily slot and run spaced repetition cards, then a short self-quiz from memory. Close the tabs, disable notifications, airplane mode; yes, you'll live. Rereading is a placebo, retrieval practice is the patch that actually installs. Make tiny chunks. Question on the front, answer on the back, nothing cute. Mix topics so your brain can't autopilot. End with a quick brain dump of key formulas or terms from memory. Sleep, then hit the same cards tomorrow, not all at once. That's how you avoid the 2 a.m. blue-screen-of-brain.

Yes to this season of life! Start with a degree audit and talk to registrar about which old credits still count, plus any prior learning or CLEP-type options. Many schools honor the old catalog you started under, so ask which requirements you can lock in and which you can waive. Then hype the basics: family meeting to pick two protected study windows, meal-prep on Sunday, and a standing library slot after bedtime. Tell your boss early and request predictable evenings. If work offers tuition help, even a small amount, stack it with payment plans so you aren't stressing every month.