As I am currently in the midst of my Junior year of college, I often find myself reminiscing of times when I just began at college. It seems like yesterday that I was just a freshman walking the halls. A lot can change over time, usually for the better. As I sit talking to my freshmen friends, I realize that I was in their shoes once. I’m here to offer some tips and tricks to get you by.

1. Go to the Dining hall

Yes, the dining hall seems like a frightening place where everyone stares at you, but usually, that’s not the case. If you’re hungry, go eat. Don’t be afraid to go eat if your friends are all busy, there’s plenty of other people that go in by themselves to eat and work on homework. Sometimes, you’ll even see people pass up sitting with friends so they can get some work done while they eat.

2. Go to your professor's office hours

You’ve probably heard this about one hundred times already, but it’s so true. Your professors have to sit in their offices for that block of time, you aren’t interrupting anything. No, they aren’t going to be staring at the door waiting for you, they’ll probably be doing something to pass the time. So although they may appear busy, they really aren’t. Not many students go to office hours, so you earn special brownie points with that professor. If a professor knows that you are committed and putting in the extra work to try and better your grade, that will most likely reflect when you are getting your grades back.

3. Get Involved

Clubs are a ton of fun to join. There are usually a multitude to join and even if you can’t find one you like; you can always create one. By joining a club, you’re already interested in whatever activity it pertains to. You’ll meet other people that like the same things as you and potentially gain some great new friends. This is also a great stress reliever in the midst of a stressful semester. There are usually options for community service to help others. Often times the college offers fun activities to do on and off campus for free or very cheap. Take advantage of these offers.

4. Use your time wisely

Stay organized and use your time to the best of your ability. You can still have fun, go out with friends, and work but make sure you aren’t getting behind in classwork. Once you get behind in a college class it is very hard to catch up.

5. Say no when you need to

You may know people that go out every weekend or are always taking their 3 day weekends and going away. However, not everyone has the same major, the same work load, or the same time management skills. It’s easy to say yes and want to go out with your friend’s every time they ask, but say no when you need to. If you have an assignment due soon or reading to do, just tell them. Most college students are in the same boat and would agree with you on that.

6. Get your rest

Sleep is essential to every human being whether you think you need it or not. You’re basically rendering yourself useless if you aren’t getting enough sleep. I’m not saying you can or need to get a full eight or nine hours of sleep every day. However, you do need to make sure you’re sleeping. I’m no scientist but I do know that if you’re tired all the time, you won’t do as well in classes.

7. Use your skips wisely

Most professors have rules that you can only miss so many classes before it effects your grade or before they withdraw you from the class. Be careful with this rule. Don’t use all your skips at once. You don’t know when you will be sick throughout your semester. You also don’t know when an awesome opportunity will arise to skip class. If you use all your skips at the beginning of the semester and come down with the flu halfway through it’s going to make your semester very difficult. Maybe your favorite band is making a pit stop on tour in a neighboring town but you used all your skips so you can’t go. It also costs you money to skip your classes. If you do the math, you can calculate roughly how much it costs for one day of classes. If you think of it like this, every time you skip class you are giving your college money for free. So save them for when you need them.

8. Ask for help when you need it.

Most importantly, if you need help just ask for it. Whether it is physical or emotional there are plenty of people within a college community designated to help you. There are plenty of campus services that you can go to. Just to name a few there are tutoring facilities, counseling offices, professor’s offices, etc. Everyone is more than willing to help you when you need it because that’s what they are here for, so use them!