Once again, the summer has flown by, the non-stop humidity giving you zero hope for your hair, your tan not looking even close to golden, and that summer job looking more and more deplorable by the second. Your first year of college is right around the corner and you need to be ready.
1. Snag the best seat and claim it as your own
Gone are the days of groaning at assigned-seating arrangements. Now, you must fight and conquer your favorite seat. You have about three days to find your favorite and then it’s yours for the remainder of the semester. If someone takes it, you have a perfect right to scream at them loudly.
2. ratemyprofessors.com is your best friend
Want to be able to choose the professor who relates what your learning to real-world situations over the professor who directly reads from his Powerpoint slides? Then this site is probably your best guess at picking the right person for the job.
3. Sign up for classes early
Looking up your professor will be completely useless if you don’t bother signing up in time. Mark the first day of class sign-ups on your calendar and get the juicy reward of having both the best professors and class times.
4. Making friends is a pretty chill endeavor
Here, you can pretty much be friends with anyone. No more stupid cliques or high-school drama. Wanna hang out after classes someone you barely know or strike up a conversation with the guy sitting next to you in the cafeteria? No problem. College a super low-key environment and it’s usually easy to find a couple people to hang with whenever.
5. Coffee
If you aren’t drowning yourself in coffee by the time midterms roll around, you're doing it wrong.
6. Wait to buy your textbooks
Yeah, every class has a mandatory five different books listed in the syllabus, but wait until the first day of class to figure out what the professor actually uses.
7. And if you have to buy a textbook, don’t you dare get it from the bookstore
I know. All those fresh, beautiful books lining the bookstore walls are tempting. But they’re also astronomically expensive. Buy second-hand or rent. Trust me, your bank account will thank you.
8. Take full advantage of Spotify’s student discount
A decent Spotify playlist is all you need to get your study game on. Plus, this is the cheapest you can ever have an account without those stupid, repetitive ads.
9. If you’re just not feelin’ the music vibes, noisli.com is your second best friend
I’ve tried a lot of ambient noise generators, and this is by far the best. They have some pretty sweet mixes you can create. Plus, they have an app (in which case, if you have in-class work, you can pop your headphones in, listen to café sounds, and get into the zone.)
10. Looking nice is for the first day (if at all)
After that, it's back to sweatpants, your most oversized hoodie, barely dry hair, and no makeup. Complete your look with an oversized coffee mug and a total lack of awareness for your surroundings.
11. Live it up
You only have a few years in this period of your life. The people you meet, the places you go, and the things you learn are infinitely important to the person you’re going to be in the future. Don’t make your mindset just to survive in college. Go the extra step and live life to the fullest.
