Dear First Year Student,

College is not what you are expecting. High school paints this glorious picture of college and teachers tell you how hard college is going to be. Well be prepared to be shocked because it is not this glorious picture of freedom and your first year will not be as hard as high school teachers have told you. Coming to college, its terrifying. For the first time in your life you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, but wait there are strings attached. You have to keep yourself together. You have to go to class, even if its at an awful time. You have to do homework from your 4 or 5 classes. You have to make friends, you have to work, and well most people, and you have to take care of yourself. All of those tasks seem simple enough because they have been engraved in your head since freshman year of high school, right? Wrong. The first month will be the toughest month of your life and the first semester will seem either amazing or awful or a nice combination of both. I am not saying this to scare you away from college, but I wish I had someone telling me the hard truth about college.

I was excited to go to college. I am the oldest in my family. I had one cousin older than me and he went to a community college in his hometown so no one besides my parents had the whole college life anytime around me. I went to a small private school so going to a big university was my dream. August 2014 came; I packed up my car and drove 7 hours from Portland to Boise. I could not wait to get into my dorm! My mom took my younger brother and me to the waterpark in Meridian, something we had done as kids. I never realize how much I would cherish that memory. It was one of the last times I would see my family for months. I was too excited to care. My mom helped me move in and then she left. I was alone in my dorm room. I was fine during the rest of the day. I was busy with all of the student involvement stuff going on for freshman. That night was hard. I was alone in a strange place, didn’t know anyone, hardly knew my roommates, and I missed my family. Everyone always says that you have too much fun to miss your family. That is true, but there will be nights where it sucks and that’s normal. Don’t be afraid to be sad and be homesick, it happens, the key is to not let it get in the way of new experiences.

You are going to hate your roommates, then love them, then hate them. It’s a great cycle, but living with someone is the hardest part of dorm life. You are going to make friends and lose touch with old ones. Don’t be sad about losing the old friendships. Someone once told me “Friends are in your life for a purpose, once they have fulfilled that purpose, its okay to let them go. You may not know the purpose right now, but that doesn’t mean that losing them will not open your eyes for you later”. Another suggestion I have, do one thing a day that scares you. Talking to a stranger is a great one. Campus is huge and you’ll want to know as many people as possible. AND, join that club you have been debating joining. Being part of something larger than you is a great way to relieve some stress and a great way to meet people and gain connections

Moving on to the school aspect, college is about school. Social aspects are just the fun part. The first semester, it can be an adjustment, but in reality, it really is not that bad. The professors expect a lot out of you and you will have to push yourself, but in my opinion, you wont have to push yourself anymore than you would moving up a grade level in high school. It’s a natural progression. Stay on top of your assignments. READ THE DAMN BOOK. They don’t want you to waste your money on a paper flattener. READ IT. Read the syllabus. Pay attention to the syllabus. The syllabus is your new best friends. Ay attention to due dates and emails. Ask questions; introduce yourself to your professor. Go to office hours. Try with professors; you never know when you might need a letter of recommendation. Email your professor with questions. Ask what you missed in class. On the first day, ask 2 people for their phone numbers so you can ask them for help later down the road. Don’t be afraid to talk to people. Everyone seems to be terrified of talking to strangers in class. Talk to them, you have to spend all semester with them. Don’t bash the requires lower level classes, you will be grateful for the easy A’s and free time they allow.

School is important, a social life is important, sleep is important, you are important. Balancing everything comes in waves of it being hard and it being easy and learning how to deal with it is part of the whole experience. None of what I said is meant to scare you, but I really wish I had the chance to read the harder advice. I wish I had the chance to have someone tell me the actual hard stuff about college; not just the class work. College is not just about the paper you get at graduation. It is about so much more. Yes, the course work is important and the reason you came to college, but everything else you experience is also extremely important as well. It helps shape you as a person and teaches you lessons that you can only learn outside of the classroom.

P.S. Have fun, this is a once in a life time experience so live it up.