As I look back over the past 5 years  (I took the victory lap as they call it) I can’t help but be reminded of the good and bad times I had while I was in college. 

They really weren’t lying when they said, “Congratulations on graduating high school, get ready, from here on out life flies by in the blink of an eye”. 

Boy were they right. 

As I sit here finishing up my last semester at Texas State I’m excited to start the new chapter of my life after college. However, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t going to miss this feeling. 

College really is some of the craziest years of your life and boy do you learn from them. Not only do you learn a lot about yourself, you also learn a lot about your roommates…am I right? Haha! 

Now there really isn’t a right way to “do college” as we call it, but from my experience these are the most important lessons that I learned and tips I would give to new college students. 

1. Go to class. 

As easy as this sounds, you would be surprised how easy it is to get caught in the habit of skipping class. Don’t do it! This is a MAKE IT OR BREAK IT situation. I’m serious! Even if you go and sit on Pinterest or Bleacher Report all class, at least you went. There’s always those professors that love to surprise us with random extra credit points or TopHat questions. Avoid the “if only I had showed up to class that one day my B would have been an A”! 

2. Join something, anything, just join it. 

The sooner you join something, the faster you will make friends. Whether it be a sorority, fraternity, intramural, Christian organization, or any club available the chances of you making friends is so much greater than just going to class. Not to mention, I know plenty of people that have met their SO from a club that they were a part of. Also, it looks great on a resume (the club, not your boo thang)! 

3. If it's free take advantage of it!

Many colleges and universities offer free services to enrolled students. If you don't know what your school offers look it up or ask someone. In many schools they offer free counseling, advising appointments, writing centers that help correct your papers, tutors, career centers that help you build a great resume and even technology centers that will fix minor computer issues!  Just keep in mind that after college you'll have to pay for most of these services so take advantage of these while you can! 

4. Go to the Career Fairs!!

Do you want an internship or idk maybe a job after college? If you do I would strongly recommend attending as many career fairs as possible. It's never too early to start networking and making connections with people who can help you jump start your career. Make your name known and your face recognizable. 

5. Build your credit now!

If you haven't started building your credit yet, college is the perfect time to start working on it. You want to have a decent credit score so that when you get out of college you don't need your parents to continue being your guarantor. I started my freshman year by opening up a credit card and well I did max it out several times. I spent an entire summer paying it off, so if you're going to get a credit card make sure you have the money to pay it off. This takes a lot of self control!

6. Clean after yourself!

Your roommates aren't your Mom, so clean after yourself and if you have a dog, clean after your dog too. No one likes the roommate that leaves dishes in the sink for days on end or the roommate that lets their dog pee everywhere and doesn't clean it up. 

7. Moving in with your S.O. is not a good idea.

If you are a freshman and it just so happens that your significant other is going to the same school as you, don't move in with them. College is the time and place where the both of you are going to drastically change. Having your own space is crucial, same goes for sophomores, juniors and seniors. If you're already "basically living there", don't forget to make time for your other friends because if things don't work out at least you'll have someone to lean on. 

8. Friends will come and go.

Come to find out it's true when they say "you'll meet your best friends in college". What they forget to tell us though is that many of those friends will come and go in the years to come. Several will transfer schools, many will graduate, others will get pregnant, and some are just not very good friends. Meeting new people in college isn't hard, so don't be afraid to cut toxic friendships out of your life. True friends won't forsake you, they will support and encourage you!

9. BALANCE THE PARTY LIFE!

You're only a college student for awhile so have why not have fun and enjoy your time while you're there. These are memories that will stay with you forever! BUT don't forget to balance it out with school and sleep. You don't want to be that one person that flunked out because they partied too hard and forgot all about school. 

10. Don't drink and drive.

If you know it's going to be a wild night, don't drive home drunk. There are so many ways to get home safely nowadays and driving while intoxicated isn't an option. Don't put yourself and others at risk because of one crazy night. Use uber, lyft, or call someone to come pick you up. I promise your friend would rather come pick you up at 2AM rather than hear you're gone forever the next morning. Be smart.

11. Take advantage of Spring Break/Winter Break.

When will you ever get a Spring Break or Winter Break as long as the ones we get now? Never! If you have the opportunity to do something fun or travel, do it! Even if you don't have a specific trip planned yet, start saving anyways. As college students we tend to procrastinate a lot and last minute road trips are a thing. You want to be ready!

12. Don't forget to call your parents.

Mom's and Dad's can save the day. I don't even know how many times I've called home with  some kind of problem and by the end of the conversation I have a solution. Parents really can be like Fairy God Parents, they wave their little wand and bam, money in the bank account, bam, solution to your roommate problems, bam, wake up call. Sometimes we don't want to hear the "you need to get your crap together", but lets be honest we need to. So make them proud and get that degree!!