Choose your college carefully. Read about and visit several colleges, and ask about their disability support services. You do not need to talk about your own requirements, although this may be helpful. Find the colleges best equipped to help you with your studies, with staff who have the best knowledge of your condition.
Consider your housing. If the college is close to home, you may find it easier to stay at home with the support of your parents and siblings. If you have to move, look carefully at the options your college offers. Some offer supported housing, where they provide one or two meals a day and the rooms are cleaned regularly. You may find that this keeps you to a routine and look after your needs.
Create a routine. Schedule time for personal care (such as showering and dressing), time for meals, and time for studying. Remember to schedule time for weekly events such as buying food and doing laundry. If you feel you are struggling with any of these, talk to the college's support service staff. They may be able to arrange for someone to accompany you or to check on you regularly to see how you are doing.
Use active learning strategies--such as recording lectures, working with a partner, or using relevant online activities--as often as possible. Your college may allow you to use these during lectures, or you may be able to meet with the lecturer after class to interact for a more hands-on learning experience. Do relevant activities and experiments, as a hands-on approach often helps autistic students focus and absorb information more easily.
Listen to calming classical music on an MP3 player before lectures and seminars. Find a song that you find soothing, and listen to it before going to class. This can relax and calm you, focusing your mind for learning. You could also listen to music when reviewing your notes or studying outside of class, helping you take in as much information as possible.
Take a variety of colored pens, sticky notes and notebooks with you to lectures. Use visual aids to help you remember the information, highlighting and underlining notes, and drawing bold lines between corresponding ideas.
Purchase folders for different topics or subjects. Use tabs or pocket pages to separate the folders into sections for completed work, handouts, notes and assignments. This will remind what you need to do, allow you to refer to completed work for help, or find handouts and notes you have written.