First off, if you’re reading this, you are either a new student at college or you’re a high school senior getting ready to go off to college. Either way, congrats! You’ve made it this far, you can do anything.
Getting ready to go to off to college is one of the most bittersweet times of your young life. You’re deciding how to decorate, what to pack, if you’re going to love your roommate’s (do this, you live with them for a year and it's V important) and what the best route is to say goodbye to your friends and family.
That being said, everyone always has some piece of wisdom to send you on your way with: call your mom, don’t skip class, make friends with your professors, seek tutoring as soon as you think you need it, keep a planner, y’all know these. But I am here to leave you with a few words of wisdom that people forget to tell you.
1. Make your bed everyday.
This sounds stupid I know, my dad told me this every day for the first 18 years of my life and I ignored him. But when you get to college you share a shoebox with another person and clutter from you blankets and pillows only makes the room smaller. Plus, when you have friends over, or pop in guest from your hall, it makes your room look cleaner and you look better and more organized.
2. Sit in the front two rows of the lecture hall.
There will be classes you don’t want to take but are required too, there will be classes you hate and don’t want to be at every day. But, with sitting this close to your professors, they will learn your faces, and then you are more likely to be able to get help from them if you ever need it.
3. Having roommates is a weird but great experience.
I cannot stress the importance of getting along with your roommates enough. You don’t have to be super BFFs, but you live together in a small space for a year - make it work. Talk about things that bother you, keep your area clean, take care of each other. You move into this new place without your family and you are living with basically a stranger. It is so weird. If you’re anything like me, I was also super close to my family and not seeing my brother all the time, or hanging out with my family in the living room was a really big change. I got lucky and have three of the coolest roommates in this planet and we make living together super easy.
4. You and your best friend(s) will continue to be best friends, but the friendship will change.
From the time, I was 4 years old, I have had the same two best friends. We grew up together, picked our colleges together (I am three hours from one and I see her once a month or so, and 5 hours from the other and I won’t see her till Thanksgiving), and these two girls will be standing beside me on my wedding day. But our friendship has changed. They are my two best friends, I tell them everything, and they are my go-tos. You can continue to be best friends, but it becomes more factimes, calls, text, and snaps to keep you close. You can go a few days and not talk but when you talk, and after a few weeks you finally see each other, nothing has changed. The love is still there, and you are still best friends- just long distance best friends now.
5. Don't drink anything you didn't make, open, or see.
You would think this is common knowledge, but surprise, it’s not. I’m not saying everyone is terrible and every single person is going to put something in your drink. But, you can never be too safe when it comes to your own safety, you are in a new place and don’t know everyone or everything about them!
6. Keep a small umbrella in your backpack.
My best friend actually told me this and I thought she was crazy. BUT SHE ISNT!!! You don’t think you need the umbrella till one day you forgot your jacket and the bottom fell out of the sky during class and you have to walk all the way across campus in the rain.
7. Play intramurals.
It’s fun, you stay active, you meet new people. Do it.
8. Don't be afraid to tell your friends you want to stay in.
Don’t feel like going out? Don’t. Need to stay in and study for an exam? That’s cool. You’re free to make your own decisions at college, trust your judgment and do what you think is best for YOU.
9. College is the best, worst, and wildest time of your life. Enjoy it.
You are eating meals, sitting in class, living in the same building, hanging out, playing IM Leagues, and going out with the next generation of doctors, lawyers, educators, politicians, and CEOs. The nest POTUS might be asking to borrow your notes from English 101. Go out, talk to people, make a fool of yourself, and enjoy every second of the next four years.