No one said that college would be easy, but that doesn’t mean that you should just drop out and live under a bridge. Think about when it’s snowing, where would you get heat, if you don’t have a homeless shelter nearby? If you’re not too fond of the idea of slowly dying from hypothermia, listen up and know that like myself, you can and will survive college! Here’s how!

1. Eliminate the toxic relationships in your life- Having to constantly deal with petty drama will only drain out your energy and serve as a distraction that’ll hurt your grades.
2. Treat the library as if it was your second home- Spend less time wasting your money on unnecessary clothes and invest in your future by tackling your books and study!
3. Behave in class and participate-Being a teacher’s pet in high school was considered lame, and would make you the laughing talk of the school, but in college, it isn’t as bad as you think! Don’t be afraid to stand out from your classmates, and participate in class as if your life depended on it! It’s that type of behavior that will get a teacher to take a liking in you and remember you for years to come! I can’t tell you how many of my professors that wrote letter of recommendations for me! Not all professors will do that, especially if you got caught sleeping or texting away in class a lot. Please treat your professors as if he/she was your boss! You would never break your boss’s rules right in front of them, so don’t do that to your professor. You just never know when you might just need a huge favor. I have professors that I’ve taken many semesters ago, that I’m still in contact with today! Professor McNair is one of them, she will be missed! I recommend taking her Journalism 215 class, trust me when I say that it’s an important class that will help sharpen your writing skills necessary for almost all majors!
4. Join a Club-Don’t feel as if just because you aren’t an outgoing person, that means that you can’t join a club! If that was the case, I would not have become an editor of the Vignette Newspaper 2.5 years ago. Joining a club will help you gain experience needed for the real world. Let’s say if you wanted to pursue a career in business, but had no experience, join the Marketing club! Love fashion and want to assimilate yourself in a group of like-minded people? Check out the fashion club!
5. Visit the Career Counseling office- Is there a degree that you’re interested in pursuing but aren’t quite ready to take that leap of faith in that direction? Check out your school's Career Counseling office for advice. They counselors there will help you decide what jobs will best fit your current interests and the skills you already have and plan on developing. Taking assessment and personality tests will help you narrow down which field might be ideal for the characteristic traits you currently possess.
6. Don’t procrastinate! - I can’t tell you the amount of restless nights I’ve had trying to get a huge project done! Don’t be me like, give yourself a few days in advance to get homework done, especially if it’s worth half of your grade. You’d think that I’d learned my lesson after the first time, having to spent the day with swollen eyes and a pounding headache from a lack of sleep.
7. Save money buying packing your own lunch- Trust me when I say that it’ll benefit you in the long run! - Ever found yourself having a shortage of change for the bus or had an incident occur where you unexpectedly needed that wad of cash, that you had that previous week before you had gone and spent $40 on lunch? It’s not a good experience to find yourself in. For the past 2 months, I made a decision to cut back on my spending drastically, by bringing a homemade lunch to school. It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, seeing that I saved $50 a week!
8. Depend on a dictionary and thesaurus like it was your best friend- Bad grammar and misspelled works would easily get you in the rejection pile of a job opportunity you really wanted, if an employer spots mistakes that could’ve been avoided. Apply that same mindset to your school assignments as you would for a job. If writing isn’t your strong suite, buy yourself a dictionary and a thesaurus or rely on the free sites offered online!
9. The less lateness and absences you have, the better! - If you went to a high school like mine, every time you were late you had to go around collecting people’s trashes around the cafeteria. That wasn’t fun at all, considering the fact, that it had come between me and trying to get my homework done before the next period. Again, procrastinating is definitely a weakness that I’m not too thrill about. Most professors have a policy, where they’ll excuse 2-3 absences. More than that, and you’ll run the risk of either getting kicked out of their class or having points taken off your final grade at the end of the semester.
10. Carry a planner- Having a to do list, where you’ll be able to jot down the due dates of your assignments will help you stay on top of your assignments. I did not like that feeling of waking up that morning of, realizing that I have a homework due in a few hours that I forgot to do over the weekend! Don’t let that be you!
11. Be assertive, and don’t let people’s opinions of you shake your confidence! So with all of the tips, I’ve given you, I’m sure you’ll have a great experience here at any college you attend, regardless if you're a freshman or not!