Graduating from High School and heading off to college is a huge step in life. I went to college not knowing what to expect and had a lot of unexpected crazy experiences. I am letting the new college freshman know 5 things that I learned while being in college.
1. Most Days you will have homework.
Most classes are only about an hour long and only two to three days a week. Professors believe that you have no other life besides school and will assign homework that can take up to an hour to do. Add up all your homework from all your professors and you will spend most of your afternoons and weekends doing homework. Also, unlike in high school when you had a test the next day and could study the night before, you study days in advance and most of the time the test is not like the review. Most Professors expect you to learn and understand the notes and then on the tests apply what you have learned from studying the notes.
2. What you cover in class doesn't appear on most tests.
What most professors discuss during class is most likely is not going to be on the tests they give. They say the tests are easy and you should do well if you took good notes and listened during class. A lot of the tests come out of the texts books and is more comprehensive than anything. Whatever you discuss you need to apply it to real life. Learn it and learn to apply it.
3. You will most likely meet your lifetime best friend.
In college, you meet so many new people. You meet people at orientation and through many organizations. You also most likely live in the college dorms and have a roommate and you really have no choice but to get to know them. Going into college no one knows you unless you came with people from your high school and it is much easier to make friends with people when they do not know your past history. Most people do not judge in college because no one really cares how you dress or where you’re from.
4. Staying up all night is normal.
Many nights you will have multiple tests and a paper due the next day and your only choice is to stay up all night to study and complete your paper. Sometimes when you do not have homework, friends will want you to go for a late night burger run and then have a movie night. In college you will not get much sleep and when you do get the chance to sleep you will sleep all day.
5. You will eat anything that is put in front of you.
Coming from a picky person that did not eat much junk food or would not eat much fast food, college definitely changed that. As a college kid, you are pretty much poor even if you have a job. You get to where you cannot buy expensive healthy food and have no choice but to buy the cheap unhealthy food. You learn how to make ramen noodles just the way you like them and many other cheap unhealthy foods that will put the freshman fifteen on you.
