It’s only been a couple of weeks since the fall semester started, so just a short 14 days of me as a non-freshman on campus. However, already I’ve recognized how much of an upgrade sophomore year is. In fact, I’m not the only one who feels this way. When I asked my friends and classmates which year they seem to prefer, the answer has been unanimously: sophomore year. And so, here are the top five reasons, courtesy of my friends, for why being a sophomore is so much better.
1. You know your way around campus.
Whether you attend a small campus school like Brandeis or you attend a large campus school like NYU, there is no doubt that during freshman year, the names of the buildings all seemed to get jumbled up in your head. At least in the case of attending Brandeis, I remember often thinking: “Which Shapiro do I go to for bio? Wait…I thought that was the Shapiro where we got coffee…” Three weeks into classes as a freshman, you might think, “yeah I got this, I can get to my next class in the three minutes I have left," until you get lost, have to ask an upperclassman for directions, and then show up disgusting and sweaty to class because you inevitably got lost. As a sophomore, however, this time you are the one giving directions to the helpless freshman (even if they look older and are taller than you), and you can enjoy your lunch with friends because you know how to get to your next class within two minutes and find a killer good seat in the lecture hall.
2. You know your limits.
This goes both ways: partying-wise and knowing how much work you can take on at a time. As freshmen, many dabbled in going to this frat party and that frat party which is why as sophomores, you’ve mastered playing beer pong blindfolded, or you’ve realized that it’s better for you to stay in and mingle with a couple of good friends, or watch Netflix. Whatever fits your fancy. As far as work and academics go, as sophomores you know how to handle doing multiple projects, post-lab write-ups, and how to study for exams most effectively–given the time crunch you’re under. Most importantly, you’ve realized by now that you are human and there’s only so much work you can take on or else you will crumble. It can’t be all work or all play.
3. You’ve realized who your friends are.
College is amazing because everyone is taking a variety of classes and each person has the opportunity to meet new and different people all the time...right? Sure, maybe for the excessively extroverted people. But for the rest of us, the reality is, during freshman year, everyone is still trying to figure out who they can trust, whose room they can crash in when they’ve been exiled by their roommates, and in general, who they get along with best. This time last year, I remember being a little unsure of just how much I’d enjoy spending time with the college friends that I now consider to be a few of my closest friends.
4. You know which dining hall is better.
Most campuses have one huge dining hall, but if your school is like Brandeis, then you’ve got two dining halls. This is great because there are more options. But during peak lunch or dinner hours, it also makes for fewer spaces left to sit and even less food left to actually eat. As a sophomore, however, we surely learned where it is best to eat and at which times. Sophomores never go hungry (usually).
5. Reality has kicked in.
Whether the school you’re attending was your first choice or your fifth, talking to other people about your college is still mostly about how great or bad the school is (though I hope this isn’t the case for anyone), and how you want to do all of these clubs and activities, and how you’re so excited to take this course with that professor everyone raves about. There’s just a lot of excitement when you’re a freshman; in fact, some freshmen get so excited that they end up taking a whole bunch of different courses and joining lots of clubs just to realize that they’ve lost their sense of direction. Now, mind you, college is a learning experience, it’s the time to figure out what you want and try new things–but the parents probably also want you to hurry up with the figuring out part as they send in checks for your tuition bills. As a sophomore, however, you realize that the pre-med track is the life for you, or that you would rather write theses about Plato, or that you want to become the next big thing in the A.I. field. Whatever you choose to do, the clearer sense of direction that comes around sophomore year is one of the best feelings in the world.
Maybe a year from now, I’ll have a list of top five reasons for why being a junior is way better than being a sophomore. But for now, this much is true: while the definition for “sophomoric” is being overconfident and immature, it should be pointed out that we are reasonably confident and far from being juvenile–because the immaturity and naivety of our freshman days has allowed us to learn from those frosh blunders which we all unknowingly and sometimes shamelessly committed. So to the freshmen out there, next year you'll be laughing at yourself. And to the sophomores,
enjoy the wisdom you have attained.
