my semesterly planner by Veronica P. '27

In less than a week I’ll be hopping on my flight back to Boston, and I’m so excited that I’m just about ready to kiss the Logan Airport floor, maybe even passionately make out with said airport floor 01 is this okay to say in a blog? let's hope so! .

Anyways, without meaning to I’ve gotten attached to this organizational ritual to prepare for the start of each new semester. I think some bullet-journaling-sleeper-agent in my brain kicked in orientation week freshman year, deciding that a digital calendar simply wasn’t going to cut it. Instead, I took advantage of my brand new Goodnotes subscription to create my own digital planner, whose format I have remained loyal to five semesters down the line.

behold, the planners!

There are only really three components to each setup, and I’ve found these are the perfect spreads I need to feel like I have my bearings without overdoing it. Everyone’s brain works differently, of course, but the act of writing things out really helps me internalize information. So, if you’re looking for inspiration— or just to reaffirm that Google Calendar is all you need— here is my setup broken down:

weekly schedule

The first page of my calendar is devoted to my recurring weekly schedule: from classes, to meetings, to highly-frequented office hours. This comes particularly in handy during those first few weeks when I’m still trying to remember room numbers or the minute difference between my Monday and Wednesday lineup.

this spring’s weekly schedule, where I TA’d for 8.02 and was notably fond of 2.005 office hours

monthly schedule

Next in my planner you’ll find a page for each month of the semester. I write down holidays, assignment due dates (color coded of course), events I’m looking forward to, and other appointments. Getting this birds eye view helps me plan ahead for particularly stressful weeks, or get motivated by the promise of a three-day weekend.

this year’s february

running todo list

The very final page of my planner is the most frequently edited, and that is my todo list. It tends to contain 5-7 days worth of tasks at any given time, with completed tasks being erased to make room for the next set. This is also color coded by class, and I add the due-date to the side of each one. Often, I’ll start my mornings off by outlining the tasks I want to tackle before the end of the day.

this page gets wiped regularly, so i guesstimated a random spring week

And that’s it!! Time to bask in these final precious weeks where my todo list doesn’t feel absolutely full to the brim. Happy back to school season, everyone <3