Freshman year is a crazy time. When I was a freshman, I stepped onto campus feeling excited, nervous, and completely overwhelmed, and I have no doubt that most freshmen feel that same combination of feelings, and maybe even more. I came to BSC wanting to find out who I am and who I want to be as a person, and, every day, I get a little bit closer to figuring it out. However, college is not everything I thought it was going to be, and I have learned a few lessons along the way, and I want to share a few of them with you now. Here are six things I wish I had known as a freshman:

• Who you were in high school does not have to be who you are now. College is a time to move on and start fresh. No one in college knows or cares about who you were in high school; they care only about who you are right now. It is alright to share stories from high school, but it is not alright to try and act like you are still in high school; just because you were super popular in high school doesn’t mean you will be super popular now, and just because you were not super popular in high school doesn’t mean that you won’t make tons of friends now that you are in college. Don’t let your high school experience define you; you are perfectly allowed to re-invent yourself and to be a different person than you were for the past four years.
• You will have to take classes you don’t want to take—but you might end up loving them. My freshman year, I took a religion class out of necessity; I needed the ES credit, and it was the only class left open that fit into my spring schedule. I was not happy; I did not want to take that class. But, when I got into it and we started reading the books and having discussions and going on site visits (we visited a Jewish synagogue, a Roman Catholic church, and a masjid), I loved it. That class changed me; it gave me a renewed sense of faith; it was wonderful. By the end of the semester, I didn’t want to leave the class and, to tell the truth, I wish I could take it again. I am so glad that I got stuck taking that class, because I learned so much about myself that I didn’t know, and I feel that I would have really missed out if I hadn’t been in it. So, when you sign up for a class that you really don’t want to take, try to keep an open mind; that class might end up changing your whole world.
• Get involved on campus – no, seriously, get involved. When I say “get involved,” I don’t meant joining every club and going to every event, but do try to join at least one club or group that interests you, and do go to events on campus whenever you can. My freshman year, I failed to really get involved in anything, and I regret that, because I missed out on so many fun events just because I decided to stay at home instead. Everyone tells you to “get involved,” and it sounds like such generic advice, but trust me, it is valuable advice that needs to be followed; if you don’t join a club or go to any of the events we have throughout the year (and we have some fun ones, especially during October), then you are truly missing out, because going to events and being in clubs is a great way to make new friends and have a lot of fun. Trust me, if you follow this advice, you will have a much happier college experience.
• It is okay not to have it all figured out. In high school, we are told that we have to know what we want to be when we get older, that we won’t be successful if we go into college not knowing our major and having our lives planned out. This is wrong. No one has everything figured out; you don’t, I don’t, even people who have been working in their field for many years don’t have everything all figured out. College is about finding out who you are and who you wish to be; it is not about coming in with a set major and a timeline for the rest of your life. Don’t let anyone tell you that you have to know your major and where you want to work and what you want to do for the rest of forever, because you absolutely do not; you have plenty of time to figure things out, and it is okay to take a little bit of time to think things over. No one knows what they want at eighteen, and there is nothing wrong with you for not knowing what you want to do just yet.
• You will be okay. This is the one things that I think I still need to hear the most. College is stressful; there will be days when you are so overwhelmed that all you want to do is go home, cry, and never set foot on campus again. However, it is important that you not give up just because of a few bad days, because you are always going to have them, and it is how you react to them that defines you as a person. Trust me when I tell you that, in spite of feelings lost and confused and downtrodden when things aren’t going your way, you will survive; you will be okay. Life is not perfect, and college isn’t either, but you can take control over your life and how you react to things (and, if you feel like you really can’t, please seek help; here at BSC, we have a wonderful counseling service, and, like I said earlier, there are plenty of people on campus who want to help you if you need it).
• People want to help you — you are not alone. For so long my freshman year, I thought I had to do everything by myself and that no one cares about me or wanted to help me. I was wrong. I realize now that people do care, people do want to help, you just have to tell them you need them. If you are feeling unsure about your major or about things on campus, ask an upperclassman for advice — we love helping people out and sharing our experiences, and you are not bothering us by asking questions. The same goes with professors; your professors want to see you succeed, they want you to be as happy as you can be. Your professors do not mind if you use their office hours to talk to them about problems you are having, whether those problems be in their class or in life in general; they truly are nice people, they truly do want to help you, but they can’t help if you never tell them what’s going on. You are cared for, you are wanted; you are not alone, so please stop acting like you are.

There are a lot of things I wish I had known my freshman year, but these are the six things that I needed to hear the most. College is what you make of it. You can have as little or as much fun as you want; you can decide what and who you want to be; you are in control of your own life. I will leave off here with one more quick tip: Enjoy college while you can; it goes by much too quickly and, once it's over, there is no going back to do all of the things you wish you had done. Have fun. Be safe. Be happy.