Senior year of high school is a wild ride. From the final spirit week to prom to saying goodbye to your childhood best friends, that final year is an emotional roller coaster. When everyone commits to college on the dreaded May 1 deadline, everything feels way too real. Suddenly, all anyone can think about is going to college. We cover our Pinterest with our dream dorm room decor, wonder endlessly about the boys we’ll meet and the friends we’ll make, and prepare ourselves for the best years of our lives. However, nobody tells you what it’s really like to be a freshman in college. It isn’t all laughs and parties by any means. I’ve made tons of mistakes my freshman year, so here are just a few things I’ve learned along the way.
1. Move in day: All you want to do is get your room to look like the inside of an Urban Outfitters ad, and Dad will not stop fiddling with the height of your bed. All day you’re tapping your toes, waiting for them to leave. I remember I didn’t even want to eat dinner with my parents, I just wanted them to go home so I could get started on surely the most exciting years of my life. Here’s my advice: Let them take you out to eat. Let them coddle you for just a few hours longer, because you won’t be seeing them for a few months and as soon as the excitement wears off, you are really going to miss them.
2. Don’t bring a blender. You may think you’ll make a ton of fresh smoothies, but believe me, you won’t.
3. DO bring a rice cooker. They're allowed in most dorms, and when you run out of meal points, it’s a cheap and easy way to make a snack. You can also boil water in a rice cooker and make mac and cheese. You can make soup too, and steam veggies. They’re super handy.
4. There is a lot of pressure to go out every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. Yeah, going out is fun but spoiler alert: frat parties are all the same. There are a lot of sweaty people, a lot of jumping and they always play the same songs. There will always be another night to go out, so don’t feel bad about staying in and taking care of yourself.
5. Never slap the bag. Trust me, just don’t.
6. Try to do your homework, but also, everything becomes less stressful if you designate one day every week that you don’t worry about homework. For me, that’s Saturday. I always look forward to Saturdays now because I know that they are my homework-free days.
7. The first few weeks are going to be really, really hard. Nobody told me that, and I came into college expecting to make instant best friends. However, what really happens is you go to lunch with almost everyone you meet, trying to figure out which people you like. For the first month, it’s pretty lonely. But with time, you’ll get closer to people and you won’t feel quite as alone.
8. If your school has a large Greek life, rush. You don’t have to join. I know it’s not everyone’s thing. However, it is a surefire way to make a lot of friends. I did end up joining a sorority, but I met a lot of people through rush who didn’t. What’s awesome about making friends during rush though is that it’s a way to meet people from all over campus, not just your dorm.
9. Bring a lot of comfortable clothing. Stock up on leggings and sweats because you will never wear anything else.
10. Don’t buy your textbooks until you go to class. Not all teachers require the books on the syllabus, and you don’t want to get stuck with a textbook if you drop a class after the first week.
11. Get involved! Do the things you like to do, no matter what they are because honestly, nobody cares what you do in college. You could sword fight in the middle of campus during the day and go to frat parties at night and no one would care. You could Heely to class and everyone would think, “Hey, that’s cool.” You can be whoever you want to be. That’s the beauty of it.
It’s so scary to leave home and be on your own for the first time, but it’s exciting, too. It really is the start of a new chapter in your life. Honestly, college is what you make of it. It can very well be the better years of your life, but don’t focus on that. Focus on learning and growing and making the years you spend on campus worthwhile. Then maybe you’ll look back one day and think, “Ah, those were the best days of my life.”
