Freshman year of college: It’s probably your first time living away from home, your first time with any real independence and more responsibility thrown at you all at once than you’ve ever seen before. Everything about your freshman year is new, exciting, promising, trying and will help you grow into the person you’re supposed to be. Freshman year is about developing a stable relationship between your happiness, your empty wallet and your newly acquired couple pounds that have found their home on your hips. Here are 12 things that the brochures don’t tell you about your freshman year!
1. You jump right in to classes
Unlike high school where the entire first week and a half is spent writing your name on papers and doing ice breakers to get to know everyone in your homeroom, college classes begin in full swing from the very minute you walk through the door and take your seat. Don’t be alarmed, but be sure to bring your notebook, a good pen and your enthusiastic freshman-self to class on the first day.
2. $100 of flex money seems like a lot until the second week of school
3. You will fail at budgeting your flex money
You’ll try, but your cravings for milkshakes and desperation for a study break will get the best of you quicker than you expect. Enjoy the big bucks while they last, because you’ll end up counting down the days until the next semester just so that your flex money will start fresh.
4. Your sleep schedule will change/be destroyed/disappear
If you come into college thinking you can easily handle an 8 a.m. class because you’re a self-proclaimed morning person, think again. You very well may be a morning person, but repeated long nights in the library, movie nights with your friends that last until 4 a.m. and the stress of a college schedule will put an end to your cheerful mornings real quick.
5. Your bed is your sanctuary
If you live in a traditional dorm-style room, which you probably will as a freshman, you have to make the most with what you’ve got. Your bed quickly becomes the centerpiece in your room, as it acts as your couch, study-space, Netflix party destination and giver of your beloved sleep. Do yourself a favor and go a little overboard with pillows and throw blankets…You’ll thank me later.
6. You are not required to break up with your boyfriend/girlfriend from high school
Contrary to popular belief, it does not state in the rulebook of college that you must be single as you enter your freshman year. Though many students chose this path because they feel it best suits their desired lifestyle in college, you're allowed to go the opposite route too. Though being in a relationship your freshman year of college probably means dealing with distance and prevents you from participating in the "hook-up" culture at school, it's completely up to you to decide if your relationship is worth continuing!
7. If you weren’t a coffee drinker before, you probably will be at college
Whether it’s because you learn to love the taste, or you become desperate to be able to finish your paper that’s due at midnight that you sit down to start at 11 p.m., you’ll probably fall victim to the caffeinated beverage that most college students know and love all so well. Get your flex dollars and Starbucks cards ready kids!!
8. You and your roommate may not end up being best friends
Your roommate is the first person in college that you will really spend any significant time with considering you’re living with them. They’re a great person to get your first dinner with at the dining hall or map out your classes with before the first day, but they may not end up being your best friend. You and your roommate might go in different directions with friend groups and other activities, and that’s fine!
9. You might do something you never thought you would
You probably watched all the movies in high school and formed your opinions about college football teams, sororities and every other organization in between. Do your best to push those premonitions aside once you get to school, because you might decide that something you never thought you’d want might actually be the perfect fit for you in college. Keep an open mind about everything!
10. The ‘Freshman 15’ is not a joke
As much as you don’t want to hear it, the ‘Freshman 15’ is real. The amount of stress your body is under from your academics paired with Chinese take-out three nights per week and unlimited ice cream in the dining hall makes gaining at least a little bit of weight pretty much inevitable. But it’s not the end of the world!! You’d be crazy to sacrifice the fun nights with your friends in college just so you could hang on to your high school bod for a little bit longer.
11. It’s much easier to find people you have things in common with at college
You have more in common with your freshman class than you could even imagine. Not only did you all choose the same school most likely for similar reasons (offered clubs and programs, location, enrollment size, etc.), but you’re also all faced with the task of figuring out how to college. Your desperation for friends, a routine, good grades and a social life makes a great platform for bonding with people who are looking for the same exact things.
12. It really does go by so fast
Anyone who has ever had even one semester of college under their belt can attest to how fast the time goes by at school. Of course you hear it all the time…”Live in the moment” and “Enjoy it while you can,” but if you don’t truly remember those things while you’re in college, you will miss out on so much and regret it later. Your busy schedule and excitement for the future makes the time go by that much faster, but as you remember to appreciate everything as it happens to you, your freshman year and the rest of your college years will be the best years of your life.
