There are all kinds of ways people normally prepare for college. You map out your classes, and your parents may give you a Starbucks gift card or two. If you're lucky, you'll hit the mall for some apartment and dorm room treasures, maybe new beddings and some closet organizers. But, for some reason, no one really gives you good advice before you step on campus. Here are a few things I wish someone would've told me.
1. Professors won't care about you like your high school teachers did
Yes, this is a very generalized statement, but in most cases, it's very true, especially if you go to a large public university, or if you've had no reason to meet with your professor individually. Your prof probably won't know where you're from, or your little brother's name like teachers in the past. Honestly, they might not even know your name!
2. You will spend a lot more time studying and doing homework than you're used to
3. No one is going to track you down about missed tests, assignments, or bad grades
This may be a relief for some of you because it means that they aren't going to call your parents either. This means that you have to be responsible, and accountable for your own work and grades which is debatably scarier.
4. Unlike in high school, your syllabus is now your best friend
This piece of paper for each class is literally your map to success. Everything from whether attendance is counted or not (very important) to whether or not you can eat in class (equally important) is found here. You can also find less imperative things here, such as how to contact your prof outside of class (always email) and what textbook you need. Hopefully, you can tell that I was joking. All of these are very important.
5. Every graded assignment is extremely important
Most classes don't have a ton of graded work which means you may only have 2 tests and 3 papers worth of points to use to get a good grade which means that every point is worth that much more. If you only have, say, 100 points to work with for the whole semester and lose 10 on 1 paper, you're already down to an A-!