Between finding a roommate, picking classes, and trying to navigate your new campus, your first year of college will likely prove to be the most amazing and overwhelming one of your life. You'll meet great people, learn a thing or two in your classes (or, at least your parents hope you do), and develop a stronger sense of independence. As I prepare to start my second year of college, I want to share a few lessons I learned during this time, some unexpected and some not so much.
1. Not everyone will be your best friend.
The infectious excitement of both orientation and welcome week may lead to some incredible friendships, but at the same time, some of these connections may begin and end with that initial interaction. You may go in with the expectation that every person whose name, major, and hometown you hear will immediately become your best friend, but that’s not always possible. That’s normal and not something to stress about.
I’m not at all trying to deter you from forging new relationships; you should definitely take the beginning of freshman year as the perfect time to meet new people. My college friends have been the most amazing people to bless my life, and I actually did meet some of my best friends at orientation and welcome week events. I’m simply saying that you should invest in relationships that seem promising, but don’t be too heartbroken if some end up fizzling out.
2. Straight A's don’t determine the future of your career.
This piece of advice is coming from the girl who took 10 APs, earned straight A's throughout all of high school, and sacrificed 16 weeks of her life for SAT prep in order to score a 2400 on the real test. Believe me, academic perfectionism used to make up the core of my very existence, but college helped me realize that it’s not worth it to lose my mind over my GPA.
Of course, solid grades still contribute to your job and internship prospects, so you should put forth your best efforts in your classes. But, don’t panic when you get your first B, which inevitably happened to me during the second semester of my freshman year. Ultimately, post-high school life is the time to build up your skills in a holistic manner — real-life experience, extracurricular engagement, interview chops, and all.
3. Other people are amazing and talented in ways you may not have thought possible.
You may have been the valedictorian or athletic prodigy at your high school, but don’t be too surprised when you meet people who blow you away with their gifts, too. I’ve crossed paths with incredibly talented filmmakers, architecture students who literally don’t sleep because they’re so dedicated to finishing grueling projects, musicians whose work should already be on the radio, and brainiacs whose grasp of O-chem and physics I will never attain.
Rather than beating yourself up because you don’t feel like you’re at the top, use this opportunity to appreciate the unique talents of others and motivate yourself to continuously hone your own strengths. Humility is quite possibly one of the most important traits that you’ll develop throughout your first year of college and beyond, and meeting diversely talented people is the perfect way to help.
4. Perseverance and grit are the keys to surviving the world of internships.
The former is crucial for the sometimes dehumanizing application process, the latter for the exhausting realm of unpaid internships. Repeatedly reducing yourself to a one-page resume and selling yourself like a product in your cover letter gets old fast.
Sometimes, you’ll send out a dozen of those applications, and only one company will take the time to even respond with a formal rejection. Many hiring managers don’t bother considering first-year students, so don’t be discouraged if you’re not getting interview invitations.
It helps to take a little time — even 20 minutes — out of each week to fill out an application. This way, you can improve your odds by putting out more applications without overwhelming your schedule.
If you do land one of these internships, keep in mind that it might be unpaid. These positions can be tiring and disheartening because you probably know what your time and skills are worth. That’s where the grit and humility come in. Sometimes, you just need to keep your head down and put in good work. You may not get a salary, but you’ll get a potential reference and new skills that you can later put on your resume when you’re ready to spread your wings and progress to a different (and hopefully paid) internship.
5. You’re unfathomably lucky to be where you are now.
One of the things that I subconsciously knew but never actively recognized about school is that it’s a huge privilege to even go to college at all. Don’t take this as a guilt-trip; instead, use it as motivation for those days when you feel like you’re drowning in midterms, papers, and meetings. Now, get out there and live out your college life to the fullest!
