As you get ready to enter your freshmen year of college, you’ll have a jumble of advice and tidbits from just about everyone mixed up in your head. It’s hard to sort out which will apply to your personal experience and which are hasty generalizations. Gearing up for the first year of college is intimidating and nerve-wracking enough as it is without trying to figure what everyone means by their ‘helpful’ suggestions. Here’s the most important thing to remember: relax. Everything will fall into place, you will have the college experience you were meant to have and it will be absolutely incredible.
1. You're not going to meet your best friends on the first day.
One of the most intense pressures of starting freshmen year is making the right friends. Most of us haven’t had to make friends since pre-historic kindergarten. It’s intimidating to show up to your dorm, friendless and alone, trying to figure out who you’ll actually even like. Don’t try to force friendships – you will find your friends. They may not be the first people you meet but you’ll be meeting people for weeks. There’s time. It’s the first chance you’ve had since grade school to pick your friends – make sure they’re people you like.
2. Dorm-wide icebreakers are not as embarrassing as they sound.
Does ‘two truths and a lie’ sound like the most exciting event to attend? No, but it’s going to make you a ton of friends. Yeah, you’ll probably feel like you got dropped off at summer camp but it’s the best way to socialize and meet a lot of people at once.
3. It's okay to be a relationship person.
One of the most common pieces of advice you’ll get before you leave for school is not to get tied down. To be honest, that’s a giant generalization. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to find someone just like there’s nothing wrong with wanting to figure yourself and do your own thing. And those things aren’t mutually exclusive either – it’s completely possible to be with someone while figuring yourself out. Being in a relationship is a personal choice – don’t let anyone outside the relationship affect that.
4. You probably won't talk to your high school friends regularly - it's okay.
When you don’t see those same people on a daily basis anymore it becomes hard to keep up with each other. There’s so much going on in your own life that it’s hard to try to juggle someone else’s transition into college too. It’s okay – those are still your childhood friends. They’re going through the same exciting experiences as you, they get it. You’re all caught up in your own new lives. You’ll figure out how to keep in touch.
5. You'll probably end up disliking some of the people you befriend.
You will meet so many people in the first few weeks of school that it’ll be hard to figure out which ones you genuinely like and which ones are temporary. It’s normal and it happens to everyone. You’re so eager to make friends that you just befriend everyone. It’s okay to go back and weed out the people you don’t mesh with. It’s your four years of college – don’t surround yourself with people that don’t make you feel like a better you.
6. Barging into someone's room to introduce yourself is the norm.
It’s how you make friends. It sounds weird and intrusive (and it kind of is) but everyone does it. It’s the easiest way to network within your dorm.
7. Your roommate does not have to be your best friend.
There’s a misconception that your roommate and your best friend are the same person. It doesn’t have to be that way at all. There’s such a thing as too much time with one person. If you can’t handle being attached at the hip with someone you live with it’s okay. There’s going to be some roommates that are best friends and some roommates that just coexist peacefully. What works for you is what works for you, nothing more to it.
8. "College boys are more mature than high school boys" is a myth.
I’m not sure if anyone still believes this but in case you do, just let go of that dream now. They’re just high school boys but with frat t-shirts and Frisbees.
9. Breakfast on the weekends does not occur until after 12 p.m.
Your plans to get breakfast and head to the gym on Saturday morning? Cancel them. You’re setting yourself up for disappointment. Accept the fact that you’re going to stroll into the dining hall at 2pm (if you’re an early riser) in sweatpants and get an omelet.
10. 8 a.m. classes are as excruciatingly painful as they sound.
Try to avoid 8 a.m. for as long as you can. 8 a.m. doesn’t sound that bad when you used to wake up for school at 6:30 a.m, but you’re going to kick yourself when your alarm goes off and your first class the day before was at 3:40 p.m.
11. The syllabus is always more intimidating than the actual class.
Every professor is going to hand out a syllabus that looks like it goes on for eternity full of rules, regulations and due dates. Looking at it all at once can be intimidating but you have to realize it’s a whole semester’s worth of work jammed into one packet. You’ll figure out how to manage your time and coursework once you get into the swing of things.
12. Toilet paper may seem like a staple in any household - it is not in frat bathrooms.
Frat bathrooms are probably the second dirtiest place in the world – the first being an actual ditch full of trash. Don’t expect any niceties and that includes toilet paper. Just be warned.
13. It's important to establish personal connections with professors.
It may seem like you’re jumping the gun, but establishing personal connections with your professors always pays off. Whether it’s recommendation for study abroad or an internship that you’ll need in the future, knowing at least one or two on a personal level will be useful.
14. You're a coffee person even if you don't like coffee.
You’re going to need something to push you through a late night at the library and sometimes energy drinks just don’t cut it. Coffee will also become an any time of day drink. Nine at night? Probably. Pre-8 a.m. stop at Dunks? Definitely.
15. You will figure it out.
There are a lot of overwhelming aspects of freshmen year but everything works itself out the way it’s supposed to. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to create the perfect college experience that people lay out for you. You’ll figure out how to balance your home friends, new friends, coursework and extracurricular activities. It takes time, but everything falls into place. There is no ‘right way’ to experiencing college – surround yourself with people that make you happy and make you a better person and you’ll be just fine.
