There are some tips I wish I had received going into my freshman year. A few of which are quite obvious, but I wish I had considered a bit more seriously. Hopefully incoming freshman can learn from a few of my rookie mistakes. No matter how many times they can be drilled in, every freshman inevitably will have to experience these things for themselves.

1. Making friends in college is sometimes difficult.

If you were introverted prior to college, you will definitely need to push yourself more outside of your comfort zone to make friends which definitely is not always the easiest thing to do.

2. College classes are a struggle.

Adjusting academically was more of a challenge than I had expected. Figuring out my time management and the constant workload took some time.

3. Seeking out help

This isn’t something most people were good at in high school, but going to office hours is important. It is definitely a lot harder to get A’s in college, but it is a lot easier to get your professors to round up students' grades.

4. The freshman fifteen is real.

Choosing healthy food options in the freshman cafeteria was more of a challenge than I expected. Those midnight pizza's came more often then I expected.

5. The flu season is more of a plague season.

It’s almost impossible to not get sick every other month while living in a dorm building. Disease travels quick and far with so many people living together.

6. The mailrooms in dorm buildings are the worst.

If it wasn’t for Amazon Prime, it would take forever to receive a package. On top of packages taking forever to be delivered, the line to receive the package itself was always long. Having to deal with the mailroom, in general, was time-consuming.

7. College students are gross.

Having to share a community bathroom with other college kids is not fun and college diets are typically not being the best. It’s nothing less than a mess.

8. FOMO is real.

Learn how to say no because there will be nights that you’ll have to stay in on a Thursday night to study for the big test you have the next day or finish that paper due at 11:59 p.m.

9. Relationships work out the way they are meant to.

People from your high school may drift apart and that’s okay. The people you meet the first week of college are most likely not going to be with you on your last week of college. Everything works out in the end, and you continue to meet people throughout your college career.

10. You definitely learn more about yourself.

You learn how to handle the unavoidable stress in college and how to be independent for the first time in your life. You learn more about who you are as an individual and how you handle situations alone.