You’re leaving the confines of your parent’s safety net and entering “the real world”. It’s okay to be scared but take it from a current college freshman, it really isn’t all that bad. It’s an especially great time if you follow these 12 tips.
1. You WILL bring too much to college.
If you are anything like me, you are going to bring half of your house to college. I am from Connecticut but I go to school in Massachusetts so I thought I’d never go home. To me that meant “if I can’t bring college home, bring my home to college” and I showed up with more than I knew what to do with, and I am so regretting it as move out day approaches.
2. Don’t worry, it’s really not that scary.
I was you a year ago; I know what you’re feeling right now, a mix of fear and excitement for new beginnings. They say college is much harder than high school. It really isn’t, not the first year anyways. The administration and professors know you are transitioning and they are here to help.
3. TIME MANAGEMENT IS KEY!
They will tell you this about a million times in the first week, listen to whoever says it because time management really is key. If you time manage well, you can have class for three hours a day and only an hour of homework, tops. If you time manage poorly, you’ll have 11 hours of work for three hours of class.
4. Leave your door open.
For the first month of school just leave the door to your room open when you aren’t busy. That’s a huge way to make new friends. You will be able to build a community on your floor, make new friends, and suddenly college doesn’t seem so lonely or scary anymore. You’re closing a door on those friends you made in high school, now it’s time to open a door to new friends in college, literally.
5. Get involved.
Something else that sounds cliché but this allows you to make new friends with similar interests. Colleges offer a lot of clubs, sports, and activities. Take it from me, I did nothing my first semester and I was bored, lonely, and just wanted to be home. I got really involved second-semester, and I found myself making new friends, being happier, and finally doing more than just laying in bed doing nothing.
6. Make friends with upperclassmen.
Expand your horizons. You don’t have to be friends with the entire senior class, but you don’t have to be friends with only freshmen either. Upperclassmen friends have the upper hand because they can help you with any questions you may have, help you gain great study habits, and they know which teachers to chose for the easiest A (but you didn’t hear that from me ha-ha)
7. Expand your horizons.
The more you try, the more you will learn about yourself. You like singing but never joined chorus, go try auditioning for it in college. You never know, you could be the next Beyoncé. You were a star baseball player, but don’t want the pressure of a team, play intramural baseball as a compromise.
8. Stay clean and organized.
Your parents aren’t here to nag you and no one likes to walk into a room that looks like a tornado hit it or one that smells like week-old McDonald’s. For your sake and the sake of those around you, clean your room, shower, do your dishes, and keep up on laundry. Trust me, you’ll thank me later when your room is the place everyone wants to be.
9. College isn’t all partying.
You’ll notice it as each semester comes to a close. Those who party, slowly start dropping classes until they drop out. You need to compromise the party lifestyle with the academic lifestyle. Don’t party all the time (you’re underage, you shouldn’t party at all, but hey it’s college, we all know what happens) but you don’t have to isolate yourself from all fun either.
10. Don’t wear your lanyard around your neck.
It sounds dumb, but you can spot a freshman a mile away because they have their lanyard around their neck with their key and ID on it. Upperclassmen told me this, now I’m passing my knowledge on to you.
11. It’s okay to change your mind.
If you go in as a communications major and decide you want to change to a psychology major, do it! It’s okay to change your mind. This is your future. You’re the one living it, not anyone else; enjoy it.
12. You don’t have to be best friends with your roommate.
A lot of people aren’t. The good news is if you don’t get along, you can switch roommates. Eventually, you’ll find someone you love rooming with. It can be your first roommate, or your third. If you turn out loving your original roommate, great. If not, it’s okay, you’re not stuck with them all four years.
You've got this! Go conquer your first year of college!
