1. College is NOT the same as High School
In high school, the teachers would constantly make sure you understood the material and would reach out to you if you weren’t doing so well in class. If you weren’t paying attention in class they would pull you aside after and say something to you. In COLLEGE the professors won’t reach out to you when you aren’t doing well. They don’t care about you like your high school teachers did and you need to remember that. If you don’t understand the material they won’t help you unless you ask for help. The major difference between high school teachers and college professors is that high school teachers would do anything to help you succeed and college professors don’t care if you pass the class or not. College professors aren’t going to hunt you down and help you pass like the teachers in high school would. So just remember to seek the help yourself.
2. Leave High School at Home
Don’t expect that all of you high school friends or best friends will be the same throughout college. Some will be your friends or best friends even after you graduate college and begin your life and others won’t. That’s just how it works so don’t hold it over each other and fight about it. You are all experiencing life on your own without your parents so this is expected to happen. If you remain preoccupied with keeping high school relationships you won’t be able to fully experience college or take in your new surroundings. Change is hard and so is losing friends, but it does happen. You will get over it, I promise.
3. Less is more when Packing for College
Packing for college is always going to be stressful because you can’t take everything you own with you. As long as you remember you are moving into a SMALL room shared with you and another person if not multiple other people. Some items to definitely take are storage boxes that fit under beds and in closets, clothes for that semester only, bed linen, toiletries, limited items to decorate with, school supplies, and things you wouldn't mind sharing with your roommates. As long as you bring the necessities, you will be okay!
4. Don’t worry about making friends the first day
There’s no need to worry about making friends the first day of class. There are thousands of people there for their first time as well. If you go door to door trying to meet new people, you will get out of your comfort zone. Not everyone is friendly or wants to be friends with everyone. You don’t have to become best friends with everyone on your floor or in your suite. You roommate doesn’t have to become your best friend; you guys are only living together for two semesters. Some people don’t get along with their roommate, but that’s okay. Not everyone was meant to be your friend and you guys aren’t going to spend all of your time together. You are only sharing a space for a short period of time. Don’t stress making friends because they will come as the semester moves along.
5. Work hard, Play hard
By this I mean you went to college to get a degree. Always remember you or your parents are paying for you to be there. Don’t get caught up in partying and hanging out all the time because school should always be first. You have many weekends to party within the next four years of your degree so don’t get behind in school work because you wanted to party instead.
6. Find cheap college textbooks
College textbooks are extremely expensive and if you go to the college bookstore for every textbook you need you will be spending more money then necessary. You aren’t going to use half of the textbooks you buy so there’s no need to pay full price. Look on amazon, eBay, chegg, etc. You will only need that textbook for that one class and after that you will never look at it again. Renting textbooks for a semester is sometimes the cheapest way unless you know you are going to need to keep that textbook don’t buy it.
7. Get Involved
Joining clubs or other activities will help you adjust to the new environment and help you feel more comfortable. You can meet people who love the same things you love. You can meet people with your same major and study together. Getting involved is definitely the most important thing to remember.
8. Be Proactive when fighting college stress
College is very stressful and you will have to learn new ways to cope with college stress. Your classes will stress you out because you aren’t prepared for college. Three ways to relieve stress are making sure you get enough sleep, exercise regularly, and seek out counseling services on campus. The counseling services are extremely helpful when it comes to college stress. You are paying for those services, so why not use them. Remember the best way to succeed in college is to find ways to cope with stress.
9. Live it up
You’re only a freshmen once so do what you want, go to sports games, figure out who you are and what you want to do, do what you love, study hard, eat at all the different restaurants, try new things, and join clubs. Make the most of your year because if you don’t, you will regret it.
10. MOST IMPORTANTLY: Be Safe!
Everyone wants to party. Partying is definitely part of college, but be safe about it. Don’t drink to the point that you aren’t aware of your surroundings because people will take advantage of you and that’s the last thing you want to happen. Never drink out of a cup you set down because you never know what was put in it. Never do any type of drug with someone you don’t know because you don’t know if it’s laced or if you are actually doing the drug they say it is. Just stay away from drugs, it’s a bad habit and a hard one to get rid of. If you are having sex just be aware that you can get an STD/STI; you aren’t invincible from one. Use protection. Just keep yourself safe and out of any situation that can potentially be unsafe. Many terrible things happen to many people in college and no one wants to experience that so just keep yourself out of any potentially unsafe predicament.
