The transition from high school to college is a big step. There are things that you could do and get away with in high school that you really can't once you've made it past syllabus week. Things that you once thought were so easy like waking up early suddenly cease being easy and start being the bane of your existence. I learned, and am still learning, some of these truths the hard way. Take my advice before you are way in over your head
1. Don't schedule early classes unless absolutely necessary.
Yea, waking up early was fine in high school and with an eight a.m. class you might think you are getting to sleep in compared to what you were doing in high school but trust me on this, it gets old fast.
2. Get a planner and write everything in it.
You need to stay on top of what you have going on in classes and with your social life. Need to know what to study for this week or you think you forgot something that is due soon? Look it up in the handy dandy planner. Bonus points if it is color coded.
3. Just because you have several weeks to finish a paper doesn't mean you should put it off until that last week.
This goes with being organized. Right now you think you will have plenty of time to finish that paper. Tomorrow you will be assigned two more and have to do them as well. Start ahead and manage your time wisely.
4. Sweatpants and a T-shirt are perfectly fine for class.
Sweatpants and Nike shorts are definitely acceptable. Especially if you decided to take an early morning class. Who the heck wants to look cute at eight in the morning?
5. Always choose studying over going out.
Maybe in high school you could breeze through without studying but those days are about to end. You possibly had a teacher back in high school who made cool little study guides but in college you take notes and study everything because who knows what your professor thought was the most crucial. Unless you are going out to a study group, social interaction is not worth bad grades.
6. Don't piss off your roommate.
You live with this person in a small area. They know where you sleep so piss them off and they could possibly kill you. Maybe you won't be best friends but you should get along. Fighting just makes life that much more difficult.
7. Make a day to do laundry and clean.
Your room will never be as clean as it was the day you move in. Soon it will start to look like people live there and laundry will start to pile up. Eventually though you have to do that laundry and pick up the room so it resembles a livable area. At least once a week make a day to pick up and do some laundry. It will help relieve some stress.
8. If you have never been the type to ask questions in class, start.
You need to know and understand the information you are hearing, if you don't understand it and no one knows you don't understand it you are screwed when the exam comes around. It's hard to study something you don't know and you can't just "fake it until you make it" in college.
9. It's OK to eat ice cream for dinner. But be healthy too.
Every now and then you will hit a point where real food is a struggle and ice cream sounds like the perfect meal substitute. On those days it is okay to eat that ice cream and call it dinner. However, the freshman 15 does exist and eating nothing but junk food for three straight weeks is not going to make you feel too great. Life is about balance, balance ice cream on a Monday with a salad on a Tuesday.
10. Start figuring out how you like your coffee. Soon.
Coffee is the elixir of life in college. The sooner you learn that, the happier you will be. It is good to drink all day, every day. Have an early morning for class? Drink a cup of coffee. Mid-day pick-me-up? Coffee. Late night studying? Multiple cups of the brew. Healthier than a Red Bull and just as effective.
11. Don't skip your classes.
This is something I occasionally struggle with. Go to class. You need to be there and learn that information because most professors will never mention it again so it will be a major surprise when the exam comes around and part of that information looks like another language. There are going to be days when you just do not feel like going. Go anyway. One day of sleeping in is not worth the confusion the next time you are in the class.
12. Go anywhere you have to for free food.
It's food, it's free, and it isn't dining hall food, what more reason do you need? At my college some of the professors occasionally do things like pancake dinners for their students and who doesn't like free pancakes? If someone offers free food, go for it no matter where or who is offering.
13. It's OK to get stressed and cry every now and then over the little things.
No, really, sometimes that is what you need to do to feel better. I have cried in the floor of my dorm room because I was stressing over a test and couldn't find my shoe to go to the library. Just like Cristina Yang on the plane crash episode of Grey's Anatomy but with more tears.
