Whether you're a Freshman, a Senior, or somewhere in between. I'm sure that at some point in your college career you've heard someone say one of the following statements:
1. Most people get their Bachelor's degree in 4 years
This is so untrue. Most people I know from classes or even some of my friends are 5th year Seniors. The 4 in 4 rule is insane in my opinion, and I believed in it for so long but when I couldn't graduate in exactly 4 years- a lot of my plans changed and became better. Your mental health is important so it's okay to take a couple of extra semesters if you need to because you're still going to get that degree at the end.
2. You will find your soul mate
My theory is that I'm not here to find my soulmate, I'm here for the college education. You know, the one that I'm paying for and working really hard towards.
3. Certain degrees are useless
What a lie. All degrees are useful and just because certain people aren't interested in them- it doesn't make them useless at all. A degree is a degree.
4. Community college ISN'T real college
I didn't go to a community college but I am a transfer student, and I have heard this so many times. College is college. Why? Because you're learning how to be a student, handle a difficult work load or study schedule, and you're doing fine.
5. You'll meet so many friends
While I have met a few friends, I also have made more acquaintances than friends I think. Every semester is like a fresh start and usually when I ever got close to someone was in class and that was all we talked about- whatever the class was about. So after the semester was over they never felt a need to reach out to me again (and I felt the same way) but that's why I say more acquaintances than friends. It's also super hard when your friends have different schedules than what you have.
6. Parking will never be an issue
If I had a dollar for every time I've heard this. It's a widely known, probably at every university kind of problem. Parking will actually always be an issue because there's always going to be more housing spaces than commuter spaces. #facts.
7. Your dorm roommates will become your best friends
My roommates were not my best friends but I know that everyone has different situations and some students plan their roommates because they know one another. My roommates and I never really had anything in common other than that we were both students and had to take the same Spanish classes.
8. Former high school athletes are just former high school athletes
Athletes train so hard to get to the point where they are today. I am not an athlete, but I have had many athlete friends tell me how frustrating it is to continually prove their worth to the university or to their coaches. Because they spend so much of their time training and practicing, they don't really have a career to fall back on as much as people might think. Truly because they're spending 90% of the time with sports and they might not know enough about their major because their time isn't spent studying. Or at least that's my perspective and what I've been told.
9. Financial aid is so easy to get
This is a big one- financial aid is actually so more difficult than what you might think. It's hard to figure out who to talk to when you have an issue because everyone is so busy, or that they send you from building to building (that's happened to me so many times, like "oh you should go talk to so and so" and then I get there and it's like "oh no that's wrong, go to so and so instead." Like hi, I'm a student, I don't have a ton of time to wait in lines all day and my question is rather simple I just need someone to help me, please. Financial aid is also important if you get loans to know what type of loans you get and the interest rates on them, I focused almost all of my energy to get scholarships or grants instead.
