Being a freshman is fun, you have no responsibilities and you have no one telling you what to do or where to be. You just do as you please. However, some of us had to learn the hard way how to deal with freshman year. Here's some advice as you go along the way:
1. Learn how/where to study.
Please, please, please learn how to study. No matter how hard your classes were in high school or how you knew everything in high school and everything was so easy: learn. to. study. You don't know everything, and going into a class with that mindset is going to get you a big fat C on your transcript... or lower. Also, learn where you study best. Is it the library? Or the student involvement suite? Find your place where you study best, and sometimes that may mean studying without your friends around.
2. Get involved.
Like I said, your freshman year, you have no responsibilities, so fill your free time with a job or with clubs and activities. Find what you like and do it! Be a Young Life leader, or play for the football team! Help recruit athletes or give tours around campus! If you sign up for a club and decide that you hate it, then drop out! Your freshman year is about finding yourself and even if that means dropping some things or adding on everything that looks cool, do it.
3. Make friends.
Go out and make some friends. Maybe go door to door in your building saying hello to everyone, go through recruitment, even if you don't find a sorority you like you'll still be close to your Pi Chi group. Go, be social and make friends. Find people who like the same things that you do.
4. Be OK with doing things alone.
There are going to be moments in college where you're going to have to do things on your own because your friends can't make it. So get used to doing things alone, go sit in a coffee shop alone or go walk around campus by yourself. This does not mean do everything alone, but be OK with being alone. Be confident in yourself and in doing that.
5. Take advantage of all resources provided to you.
Take advantage of the free tutoring that your college provides, office hours with professors if you cry enough they will bump you up, or the writing center. Do not be afraid to ask for help, everyone is more than willing to help.
6. Find a handful of people that you can put as your emergency contact.
Especially if you are out-of-state, this is a HUGE one. There may be that one day where you get into a car accident and you do not know who to call because you don't know what to do. Find those people, find the people that will take you to the hospital at 9:30 at night and stay all night with you, find the people that will stop the world to make sure you're okay.
7. Please, call your parents.
Adulthood is hard. And your parents have been in it longer than you have, so please give them a call. Tell them thank you for when something makes sense from your childhood, or when you have a question on how to set up your internet bill, or for advice on dropping a class. Call them, they are experienced in adulthood and they are experienced in knowing you.
8. "Adulting" is hard for everyone.
Don't be afraid to talk to someone about how hard life is or if you're struggling. The chances are high that someone is going through the same thing. Adulthood is super hard and especially being a young adult is not fun. So learn from others mistakes and learn from your own and keep going through life.
9. Keep your scholarships.
They are a lot easier to lose than they are to get. Trust me, you can lose a scholarship in the blink of an eye. Don't make classes and studying your entire life but don't neglect your studies, especially if you're on scholarship because universities love to take those away more than they like to give them out.
10. Make it count.
Make your freshman year fun and full of joy and jokes. You learn so much about yourself and others during your freshman year so please take it seriously but don't take it too seriously. Go to all home games, stay up too late, go to bed too early and have fun.
