The month of August is already upon us, and eager teenagers are getting ready to enter their Golden Age. College. Here are some do's and don'ts to guide you through your freshman year:
Do: Go Away to School
I was very close to staying home and going to my local community college. To this day, I don't think I can repay my cousins for talking me out of it. Bottom line, if you didn't go away to college and chose to commute, you went to a glorified high school. Maybe the classes were harder, the basketball team actually had a few kids that could dunk, you became closer with some buddies from high school during your carpool sessions and if you were lucky, your commuter school had a bar or two that had one or two fraternity-sponsored parties a semester. When you go away to school, you learn more outside the classroom than inside. You learn how to find common ground with your roommate who listens to Atreyu, budget on a mere $30 a week, and learn to live independently at a young age. Most importantly, you make lifelong friends. You don't just meet up at a Chipotle once a week; you eat every meal with them, get ready in the community bathroom with them, explore downtown with them, have them lift you up on a crowd surf for your 21st birthday and eventually watch them grow. I was just a groomsmen for two of my best friends and I remember them swearing to me that they were "just friends with benefits and could never date each other", like it was just three days ago instead of three years ago.
Don't: Have the "I'm Going to be a New Person in College" Attitude
Hate to break it to you, but by the time you're 17, you're pretty much set in your personality. If you're going to waltz in the first day of class acting like you're the world's biggest partier, you're going to befriend people who actually are the biggest partiers. This will be a problem for you if you're under the table after two keystone lights and rather stay in on a weekend night playing WOW, you'll find yourself changing who you are to be in a clique you don't clique with. The good news is, it's okay to be yourself in college. Actually, it's expected of you. There's no "cool" clique your high school had. You'll see the captain from the hockey team eating with that nerd from Gen. Chem. I because they ended up being lab partners and have the same classes and major. People accept other people's differences in college. Plus when your high school friends meet your college friends at your 21st birthday party, they'll become best friends with one another.
Do: Be a Social Butterfly
This doesn't mean go out from Wednesday to Saturday (but hey, if that's you, and you can still bump out good grades, do you honey boo-boo), but be a little bit of a Jim Carey from "Yes Man." Try out every club that interest you, every recreation sport, go to a few different fraternity/sorority opens, and if you see someone sitting alone, ask if you could join them. Eventually, you'll find your stride and stop showing up to your broomball games but run for president of biology club. You have nothing to lose by picking and choosing different organizations to be in after you've sampled them. You're just going to gain a lot of e-mails that you'll never read. Gotta love list-servs.
Don't: Forget you're there for Education
You've heard this a hundred times but I'll keep it short and sweet. Going to college for four years and leaving with a 2.4 GPA and no extracurricular activities on your resume is a really bad look. A Bachelor's degree is not really that impressive anymore. You might have great stories from what you perceived was a better way to spend time but you honestly have a slim chance at graduate school and your resume is going to the bottom of the pile in any HR's office it gets sent too. Your future is looking questionable (unless you know somebody) and a lot of debt (unless Mommy and Daddy took care of you and most likely they know somebody, lucky you). If you want to party in college until you're on a first name basis with the drunk bus driver, just make sure that when you're not partying your heads in the books. I've seen people go out four days a week and still be on the Dean's list.
Do: Internships
Get an internship, then get another one, then get another one after that. Internships are your way of seeing that staying up with dollar store knock off energy drinks and Ramen Noodles to strecth out a B on your anatomy and physiology exam on the 206 bones of the human body is eventually going to pay off. I once had an internship at a physical therapy practice. The physical therapist was the man. The staff was friendly and welcoming. The clients were funny and kind. One morning I woke up and realized how I was dreading my shift at the physical therapy practice. That was a red flag. I eventually went on to have internships in Public Health and loved them. Now I know what field I want to work in. If I hadn't had these internships I'd probably be in Physical Therapy school right now and questioning my decision.
Don't: Major in Something Just for the Money
To this day (almost to years out of college), I am not financially content. It's hard. Recently, I had a few buddies who welcomed me to join them on their trip to Oktoberfest. I had to turn them down because I couldn't afford the trip. Although that story makes me want to listen to Adele, I still stick to my airsoft guns on this. You're going to be the most successful in a field you are passionate about. Trying to crunch numbers for four years as an accounting major when you have no interest in the field is depressing and exhausting. Almost as depressing and exhausting as working in that field for your entire life. Pick what you're interested in. Life has a few fall backs if you're ever in a financial bind especially for somebody with a college degree. I would have most likely have made more money as a physical therapist than I will as I start to enter the Public Health field, but I'd take loving my job over money any day of the week. Besides Saturday and Sunday.
