Courtesy of one of our fearless CBS peer advisors, Dan from Israel:

The first 8 weeks of school are the most overwhelming. By now you have probably felt the stress, anxiety, and ups-and-downs that make an integral part of the curriculum.

As always, your peer advisors are here to give some advice. Since everyone has a different personality there is no one magic formula to deal with this situation. However, most of us found it useful to adhere to the following 10 simple rules. Here they come.

1. Prioritize

You have probably heard this before, but we can’t emphasize enough the importance of prioritizing. If you haven’t done so already, make a list of what’s most important to you in school and stick to it. Is recruiting your highest priority? Or is it the learning experience, the social life, or spending time with your significant other?

2. Compromise

Once your priorities are set comes the hardest part – compromising. Stop being Mr. or Ms. Perfect and fight that urge of doing everything perfectly right. Put your best effort into your highest priority, and scale back the rest. If you don’t learn to compromise, you will find it hard to get anything accomplished. Also, make sure you communicate your priorities with your learning team.

3. Don’t Procrastinate

As hard as it gets, try to stay on top of your priorities. Don’t leave unread emails in your inbox. Make it a habit to check the school’s calendar at least twice a week and add relevant events to your Outlook calendar. Send those thank-you notes on time. Make it a priority to get organized.

4. Take One Step at a Time

Relax – the amount of work is the same independent of whether you stress out or not. When you’re feeling overwhelmed, it helps to take a step back, list everything you have to do on a piece of paper and take things one step at a time. Don’t try to eat all the pie at once – make sure you slice it first to stay focused. In retrospect, we’ve all found out that everything is easier than it seems.

5. Take Some Time Off

Columbia Business School can be a pressure cooker. This is a stressful city to live in, and that stress is magnified here, a place that attracts successful people who are determined to succeed even more.

So here comes our most important tip: Deal with stress as it arises. Make time to go to the gym regularly – it will make you feel much better, both physically and mentally. Even if you think you’re too busy, make sure you take some time off during the weekends – take a trip, go to a museum, leave the Upper West Side and do something fun. Don’t let stress accumulate, otherwise you may find yourself losing focus and burning out.

6. Recall What Brought You Here

On a bad day, it’s easy to lose your self confidence and forget what you have achieved so far. Let us remind you. You are in one of the world’s most prestigious universities. You are in one of the world’s top business schools. You are in a globally-oriented institution that will open doors for you wherever you go from now till the day you retire. Think about how many people would dream to be in your shoes, and remember how hard you worked to get accepted. Remember what brought you here in the first place.

7. Remember: We’re All in the Same Boat

It looks like everyone is on top of everything, right? It’s only you who doesn’t understand something in class / feels lost and out of focus / has no idea what type of job you want / gets clumsy talking to recruiters / had a really bad informational. Relax – EVERYONE is in the same boat.

8. Talk to Someone

When you’re feeling overwhelmed, don’t keep it inside. Vent to a clustermate, an old friend, or someone you trust. It works like magic.

9. Ask For Help If You Need It

Too many people are hesitant to ask for help. Don’t be one of them. If you’re falling behind in class, attend a review session, go to the professor’s office hour or take a tutor. Also, don’t hesitate to reach out to the office of Student Academic Affairs – they are working for you.

10. Remember: You Cannot Screw Up

Funny but true – no matter how many P’s you get, no matter how many job interviews you screw up, things will turn out fine for you. Save this email on your computer and you’ll see for yourself: These are the best two years of your life. You have our word!

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I kept hearing that clubs were such an important part of the MBA process.  And on the surface it does make a lot of sense.  If a lot of us are here to make connections, a club is a great self-selecting way to meet like-minded people.  Eventually, you’ll meet like minded students in the electives you choose  — direct marketing fanatics are bound to be in direct marketing courses with you.   But in the first year, when you’re probably taking more required courses than courses of your specific interest, clubs do seem like a good jump-start to meeting your like-minded classmates. 

But I still felt like I was missing something.   Something even felt a little forced about it.  Like we’re high school students trying to impress the next level admissions committee just by joining too many clubs.  And the word “club” itself can even seem sophomoric, like we’re meeting up in a clubhouse with a sign “No Girls (backwards “s”, of course) Allowed.” 

I reached an incredible point of clarity on this at an NYU-Stern interview day information session.  Speaking was the founder of the school’s Military Veteran’s Club (I wonder if they get a free pass on leadership and teamwork training?  It would only seem fair).  The student mentioned that often a company’s first recruiting effort to campus would be through career services.  But after that, the contact from the company was more directly with students via clubs. 

As an example, at NYU, Prada might come in to interview students through a formal interview process. But the Luxury and Retail club might be key to bringing them back for that second campus visit.  These visits are where students can really meet the company in a much more relaxed environment, and impress upon them their genuine interest in the field through their involvement in the club. 

As forced as clubs might seem on the surface, it’s actually a great way to make contacts – both within the school and in the working world, in a much more natural environment. 

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