Most high schoolers dream about the day when they get to pack their bags and leave the restrictions of their parents and their childhood home, without truly knowing how much different college is from anything they have experienced. There are a few misconceptions that I believed going into my freshman year, and I think these may have delayed me from feeling completely comfortable on my own.
People treat you like a child but expect you to act like an adult
I encountered this the most with teachers. They contradict themselves by being rude to you in person (sometimes), and telling you that they expect you to do well in their class, but they usually say something along the lines of, "but you probably won't meet my expectations". I know people who have improved their grade in a class and the teacher assumed they had cheated in some way. While this is annoying and discouraging, you just have to ignore it and show them that you really do care about their class.
Make friends in your classes
The majority of the friends I made the first semester of my freshman year were in the classes I spent a lot of time in. It made it so much easier to go to class when I knew I had friends waiting for me. It was also nice to have people with the same interests as me to relate to.
Continue doing things you love
This was something I struggled with for the first couple of months. I felt like all the routines I had before college had to change, therefore, I pretty much stopped all of my hobbies. You can definitely continue your same routines, they just have to be altered around your new schedule. After I figured this out and started drawing, reading, and working out again I felt a lot happier and more myself.
Don't worry too much about social status
There are ALWAYS parties and events to go to in college. But, if that's not your scene don't worry about it! You don't have to be a party animal to be cool in college or have a lot of friends.
Find a study group
This is one of the most helpful things you can do for yourself, especially if you are a pre-med student like me. I quickly found people from my harder classes that wanted to study together. Studying with other people that are probably struggling with the same things is helpful because you can all help each other.
While college is definitely full of stress and change, I would highly recommend it to anyone. It is a unique experience, and with one semester down I can safely give advice against making the same mistakes I did.
