A new year, a new semester, a new slate. Sounds pretty great, right? There’s no reason why you shouldn’t seize the day and prepare to have the best semester of your college life! Plus, you know what they say — it’s easier to start off on the right foot than it is to change course later on. In the spirit of good habits and even better grades, we’ve pulled together a list of the academic resolutions we should all be making this January.

It’s the time during school when the coughs starts, the sniffles rule the class room, and sweatpants seem to be in short supply at the book store. With changing seasons often comes the first cold of the semester. This is the one time living at home has its benefit, and where living in the dorms makes you a sitting duck for disease.

Raise your hand if you like your roommate. Okay… now raise your hand if you’ve ever been tempted to tuck her into a straightjacket. That’s what I thought. Approximately 50/50. In fact, I’ve met more people with roommate problems in the past few weeks than without.

We’re teaming up with the latest and greatest in affordable college fashion, Rent the Runway, to bring you the ultimate back to school gift basket. We stocked this baby with the most awesome prizes imaginable and we’re already jealous of the winner.

There really is no trick to making work miraculously become ‘easy’ to complete. No amount of clever slogans will turn your attitude inside out or inspire you to barrel through twelve hours of work (unless you substitute ‘slogan’ for ‘ADD medication’). Motivation is as simple as understanding the concept of ‘do or don’t'; a thing gets done or it doesn’t get done.

Our friends are supposed to be the ones we come to in the direst times of need. The people who hold our hair back after a long night of Nuvo, the ones who we have on speed dial – right after mom and Chipotle pick up. Anyone lucky enough to have a good friend knows that if done correctly, friendship can be everything. Just not a living arrangement.

The importance of bedding in a college dorm is pretty obvious. Considering most colleges think a jail-cell sized space is fitting for us students to sleep, drink, cry and sometimes study in (no, thank you college- you really know how to make us feel at home), bedding is one of the only ways to express your self.

Thinking about lighting up? At about 530 colleges nationwide, you’ll have to step off campus. Over the past few years, more and more schools have started to implement smoking bans, and 120 campuses have been added to the smoke-free list in the past year alone.

The crisp air is beginning to settle, leaves are changing, and small children every where are begging for one more day of summer. Yes, dear readers, it’s time for school.Which means one thing, well a couple but one main thing, back to school shopping! And I’m not talking about a clothing binge at Forever 21, I’m talking school supplies.

We all know the best part of going back to school is not buying textbooks. Reuniting with friends? Definitely. Kicking off another season of college football? Absolutely. Epic rush parties? Bring it on. Shelling out hundreds of hard-earned dollars for overpriced books? WTF.