Congratulations. You’ve made it. You’ve spent your last four years working to this very moment, walking onto campus and beginning your college career. Honors classes, AP classes, sports, jobs, volunteering, clubs, band, choir, SAT prep, ACT prep, crafting perfect admissions essays, selecting the best letters of recommendation, selecting the best business-casual outfits for admissions interviews, the list goes on and on. You did it all for this moment. Some of you ended up at your dream schools, while (like me) others might be somewhere unexpected. Regardless, the race to the finish line is over.
A lot of people say that high school is meant to prepare you for college, but for me it was more of a four year wait in a waiting room, filling out endless paperwork. None of this wait really showed me what college was like, especially as a Top 10 Percenter, who was not satisfied with a grade below an A, but knew an A+ was better.
I had a lot of expectations going in -- keep a mostly A transcript, pile up clubs and activities, create a large circle of friends, go to parties, build strong relationships with my professors and knock their socks off with my performance, etc. etc. My expectations mimicked high school, not college.
Classes and grades are different in college. It’s rare to find an easy A, so cherish them when you do. Mostly what you’ll find is challenging but doable courses -- if you put in the extra effort, you might just get an A. And then there will be those that you barely pass, no matter how much you work. Those are terrifying when you belonged to the High Honor Role all through grade school, but you’ll learn to live with them. There will be some classes that will be a walk in the park, and some that will be a kick in the butt. As you meet people, with all different GPAs, you’ll finally learn that grade point average does not necessarily equate to intelligence. Everyone is good and bad at something. It’s important that you try your hardest, that’s what grad schools want to see, but your best will be good enough even if it’s not an endless string of A’s.
Colleges want to see full schedules of activities, sports, jobs, volunteering, and clubs. They want to see a mixed bag of interests, a taste of this and a taste of that. Once you’re in college, all of that changes. Employers and grad schools don’t want to see that you’ve been in all 285 student clubs and organizations, they want to see dedication. Wish you could’ve spent more time with student council in high school? You can now. Use it to change your school. Use it to make an impact. You want your resume to tell a story about you, not just that you have varied interests. It’s okay to volunteer at the animal shelter if you’re interested in law school, but be sure to incorporate activities that will built the skills a lawyer needs. Find a few things that you’re passionate about. Make them your focus, because in interviews down the line, it’ll give you that much more to talk about, and you’ll have left school feeling like you’ve really made huge accomplishments.
Depending on your school, you might be one of 15 or 150 in your classes. Regardless of the number, you have to work if you want to develop strong relationships with your professors. It’s not like high school when you could hang out in their room during your free period. Make an effort to go to office hours. Ask about their education, their research, their first job after they graduated. Make connections in your similar interests and if you want to work with them in the future, keep that dialogue open. I go to my global health advisor’s office quite often and we talk about everything under the sun. I have a relationship with her like I did with my high school teachers, but it took a lot more work that I’m happy I did.
Friendships are different, too. You might not meet a lot of people in your classes since there’s rarely time to socialize. Where you will meet people is your residence hall, work, clubs, sports, etc. Meeting people in activities is great because you already have something major in common. In high school, I mostly hung out with the same group every day, the people who were in honors and AP, since there wasn’t a large number of us we were always in the same classes together. In college, you get to meet people all over campus with different backgrounds and interests, and there’s always opportunities to meet people.
The first week, month, semester of college can be scary because everything has changed. There’s been so much build up to this moment, but the pressure still isn’t off completely. It might take you some time to get things figured out, but you have a whole group of freshmen who are figuring things out with you. You’ll get there, don’t worry. You’ve got some breathing room now, so take it, and have an amazing first semester as a college student. Good luck!
