High school is over and now it is time to get out into the real student world. College is going to be very different from the 12 years of school that you have been put through. It is going to be great, so great that many people spend over six years in something that should be done in four. I have never come across someone that has said “I wish I could go back to high school.” College is going to be the best experience you will ever have. You will look back at your life and realize that. The first year will be the toughest because you are going into something new and have never been experienced before. But don’t worry; everyone survives. Here are five pieces of the best advice I can give to all the fresh meat.
1. First month will be hell, but you will pull through.
If you moved away to college, the first month you will most probably be home sick. You will have trouble finding your place around, looking for new things to eat everyday and basically doing all the chores that you never had to do at home. What you must do is learn everything as quick as possible and build yourself a routine. Make a schedule for the whole week, from morning until night time. Include the meal ideas that you will want to have everyday. Build it all in advance, that way you won’t be stressed out with life and school work all together.
Classes will be hard. They do not baby you like in high school. It is a whole different learning system, where most of the times you will have to learn on your own. So studying becomes very important and will determine whether you fail or pass the class. Try to not let your GPA drop. Do not give up.
2. Your dreams may change.
Not everyone ends up studying the major that they thought they wanted. You may realize this as you start college or as you are ending it, which in that case you will be stuck around longer. As you take your general requirements, within each subject you may find an area of interest. Make sure you study something you will love and won’t make you miserable. Think about how happy you will be waking up in the future to go to work.
3. Do not eat your stress away!
Freshman 15 is not a myth. You will become stress due to an overload of work and life in general. There will be times that you won't be hungry but you need food. Anxiety will attack and take control of your body. You will want to eat your stress and feelings away, but you must not. You can never let yourself go, especially in college. Control those urges, and release the stress through other methods. In your free time, take some yoga classes, hit the gym, go for a run or do any other physical activity. Campuses usually have a gym, so during a class break you can go with no problem.
4. Try new things, meet new people, do things that you have always wanted to do and go greek.
Interested in one of the clubs offered on campus? Go join and meet new people with your same interests. Want to make a lot of new friends, have the full college experience and assist your community? Go Greek, it was definitely one of the best decisions that I have ever made. Getting involved is something very good in college. This is the time to experience new things, so have fun and be very adventurous. These are the years that you will look back on and never get back, memories will be the only thing left.
5. Sleep will become rare.
If you get more than six hours of sleep, you will be a rare college student. The most we get in is about seven hours. If it is not for your procasination and leaving work for last minute, it will be due to a party or event that you decided to attend. Whatever the case may be, you will always have something to do and sleep will never be enough. Naps will become your best friend.
Take these advice from me, a senior who has been through it all. With that said, hope you freshmen have a great semester, welcome to college.
