1. It’s OK to get random roommates

Going into college, I thought I would have horrible roommates. It’s just the fact of life. My friends and family constantly told me, “You’ll get stuck with a horrible roommate. Whether it be they never clean, they constantly drink, or stay up to crazy hours of the night, it will be a bad experience.”

So clearly, going in, I had my reservations. Of course, there were people that were going to college with their best friends, and I was envious that the whole summer: after all, they were able to go shopping together and pick out the “theme” of their room!

I, on the other hand, got my room assignment in the beginning of August and first found out my roommates’ names on the same day. However, we immediately hit it off. We answered pretty similarly on the roommate survey and did so many things together. My roommates are some of my best friends and I’m even going to be suitemates with one of them next year.

2. Come up with a cleaning schedule.

My roommates and I all agreed on one thing from the start - we didn’t want a messy room. So, we came up with the amount of times we would try to clean a week. We helped each other out mostly and if we skipped a day, it was ok because we generally tried to keep our room clean.

3. Keep ramen and Easy Mac in your snack supply.

You don’t know pain until it’s midnight, you ran out of snacks, and you’re starving. This moment first came to me in December of my freshman year. I was wide awake, as were all my friends. Luckily, I was able to order food, but I would have eaten much faster had I had something that was made in a minute.

4. Have all the food apps on your phone.

I’m not sure if this one is applicable to a school that isn’t in either NYC or a big city, but all my friends and I have the DoorDash, UberEATS and Seamless apps on our phones. Usually, we order from these places if the dining hall is already closed (and it closes ridiculously early). You will use all of these at least once.

5. ORGANIZE.

I don’t want to sound like anyone’s parents, but I did not realize how important organization was before I started. The panic is real when it’s the night before your final and you can’t find any of the papers you’ve written. Sure, this may not be the problem if you’ve saved all your assignments on your laptop, but if your teacher wants the original copy (and believe me, some of them will), you’re done. Just keep different folders from each class and just put everything in there.

6. Make a back-up schedule to your back-up schedule.

Registration sucks. There’s no question about it. Waking up at the crack of dawn (okay, 7 in the morning) really sucks when you have to register. This is especially true for freshmen. Because you have the last pick in literally everything, you will probably get stuck with the 8:30 classes with the monotone teachers that will, without a doubt, put you to sleep.

A lot of people just make a schedule and pray that they get their first pick. Some people are lucky like that, but some people don’t get their classes in time. I usually try to make three schedules with all different classes that don’t overlap my core classes, which I can usually get in. That way, I don’t get blindsided and left looking for last minute classes that don’t seem too horrible.

7. Join lots of clubs.

Club fairs are a huge part of college. My advice would be to sign up for every club that piques your interest even in the slightest bit. Putting your name on the email list does not tether you to the club in any way, shape, or form. You will just get all the emails and you can pick and choose which clubs to go to. The main point is, don’t limit yourself to one club. Join as many clubs as you think you can handle and branch out.