Updates by Email
RSSThe Unofficial College Freshman Survival Guide
Because our friends have a daughter who will be heading off to her first year of college soon, I wondered if I could come up with a list of tips that might make her freshman year easier. As I started thinking of things from my own college experience like “Being on a first name basis with the Dean of Discipline makes it harder to get away with things” and “When people start acting like nudity and needles are normal, it’s probably time to leave,” I started wondering if any advice I could dispense to a college freshman would be applicable in today’s college experience.
When I was in college, there were no laptops, there were no digital cameras, and we had to go to computer labs to use Gopher because there was no World Wide Web available to the general public. Know how much we worried about getting a less than flattering picture of us taken with a camera that wasn’t invented and put on an internet that didn’t exist? About as much as someone stealing our uninvented ipods or 90 pound, $300 dollar a minute cell phones. Shit man, the only phones in my dorm were hall pay phones that the served about 30 guys each, so you were lucky to find out if your girlfriend dumped you two weeks after the fact. Coming from a technological dinosaur age like that, I really started to wonder what the hell kind of advice I could offer the constantly-connected freshman of today.
The more I reminisced, the older I felt, so I put everything aside, had a cup of tea, and watched Matlock until I drifted off to sleep under my afghan. When I woke up after a couple of hours of dreaming about snorting coke off the small of Angela Lansbury’s naked back, I realized that an incoming freshman might get better advice if it came from a number of people in a range of ages, rather than from one guy who is twice the age of most college freshmen and quite possibly deranged.
I recruited help from students and alumni who are a little closer to their college years, and asked them to offer their advice on what can make a freshman year a bit easier. Below are sets of independently written advice that range from me, at the top of the age group, all the way down to a current college sophomore. Surprisingly, there were a few similarities that span across all age groups.
If you’re heading off to college for your freshman year (or know someone who is), I hope you find something in here that makes the year a little easier. If you’ve already completed your freshman year, why not lend a hand and add your year and ten pieces of advice in the comments? Matlock would want you to.
Jon, Villanova Class of ‘94
1. Make New Friends, And Do It NOW
You’re not in high school, and all your friends are at home. Deal with it. You don’t have to let your old friends go, but you do have to make a whole new set of friends, which can be pretty hard. To make it easier, start early and talk to everyone you can during orientation: men, women, dweebs, geeks, freaks, punks, nerds, jocks, everyone. You’ll feel uncomfortable, but no one knows anyone that first week, and they will be more open to people who talk to them. It’s the one time where you can pretty much talk to anyone you want and have them be open to it. Don’t waste that week sitting in your room. Go to campus events even if they’re stupid and contrived. Go to where people hang out. Sit in the hall if you have to. Just make as many connections as possible as fast as you can, and those people will eventually introduce you to a multitude.
2. Realize What It’s About
College is about figuring out who you want to be, not what you want to be. Take risks with your look, your personality, your viewpoint, and what you think you’re capable of.
3. Learn
Take classes that you are interested in, because there’s a pretty good chance that you won’t work in your major once you leave college. On the flip side, taking golf for credit is a waste of your time and money. An education is incredibly fucking expensive and not everyone can afford one, so understand what a great opportunity you’ve been given, and don’t waste it on anything less than forging the person you want to be out of the person that you are.
4. Don’t Take Things Too Seriously.
College is a transition period between childhood and adult life, so you need to learn to do your own laundry and manage your own finances. You do not, however, need to be an adult. Your college experience is not a job, and it’s not a resume building experience. Try out every club you can and don’t worry about what clubs will look good on your resume. No one is going to give a shit what clubs you were in after you get out of school. You don’t want to be kicking yourself for being a member of four professional clubs that ate up all your time instead of working at the radio station for free CDs and concert tickets like you really wanted to.
5. Refreshments
Don’t drink things you didn’t pour, don’t leave your drink unattended, don’t get left alone in any house with Greek letters on it, and for chrissakes, don’t be that lame a-hole who goes to the hospital with alcohol poisoning the first week.
6. Road trip!
Whether it’s going places with your new college friends or visiting your friends from home at their colleges, road trips are where some awesome college memories are created.
7. Moochers
Don’t give anything to overly good looking people who show up at your room unannounced. They generally take your stuff and you never see them again.
8. Get To Know Some Upperclassmen
…who don’t want to hump you. This is a difficult thing to do because most upperclassmen either ignore or abuse freshmen, but if you can find a few who don’t, they can provide a wealth of tricks and tips on how to get by.
9. Let Go Of The Long Distance Relationship
This is tough to say, but let go of your high school sweetheart before you leave for school. It’s nearly impossible to maintain long distance relationships when you’re away at college, and even if you do, you’ll end up with a lot of arguments, a lot of headaches, a huge phone bill, all while missing out on a lot of fun. Sorry. It’s true.
10. Don’t Get Caught
That’s all I’m saying.
Kathleen, U Penn Class of ‘02
- Just because it’s at the cafeteria doesn’t mean you have to eat it.
- Proofread the paper you wrote at 4 AM, because when you’re awake, it probably won’t make any sense.
- Don’t barf on your carpet, because even though you might be able to live with the stain, you won’t be able to live with the smell.
- Don’t wait until the day before to write a 15 page paper.
- Don’t take an art history class, or really anything that relies on dark slide-shows, at 9 AM.
- Coffee is your friend, but will not enable you to stay up all night, every night.
- If you have class with a T.A. for whom English is not one of their top five languages, skim the chapters beforehand so you know he’s talking about “binomial distribution” not “bonemeal distortion.”
- Your high school boy/girlfriend is lame. Move on. If you are both going to the same school or otherwise not long distance, this counts double. Go meet new people unless you’d like to wake up in 30 years and realize you still hang out with ALL your high school friends.
- Go off campus as much as possible.
- Pass your classes. College is expensive.
Collins, La Salle Class of ‘05
- Meet as many people and make as many connections as you can.
- Try something different (club/sport).
- Stay in touch with your friends from college over the summer.
- Explore the area that you are going to college in.
- Get in tight with the teachers that are in your major.
- Meet as many members of the opposite sex as possible.
- Go abroad.
- Go to a lot of parties.
- Meet up with people that you may know from home at neighboring colleges.
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY
- Don’t let your books get in the way of your education!
Maura, Rhode Island Class of ‘06
- Study abroad or do a national student exchange. It’s the cheapest way to get some travel experience and briefly escape your normal life.
- Get to know your professors, even if you feel like you don’t need to see them to get extra help. In the long run they can be a fantastic source for jobs / internships / networking, etc.
- Be whoever you want to be. You’ve got a clean slate to work with.
- Save money over the next four years so you don’t have to move home when you graduate.
- There is free money EVERYWHERE on EVERY college campus. All you have to do is ask and hunt around a little bit.
- Seriously, don’t drink the punch.
- Make sure you get solid grades to start because they’re much harder to destroy. On the flip side, a bad base GPA is almost impossible to make up for.
- Avoid your “inappropriateness” being leaked onto the internet. It WILL come back to haunt you.
- You can join ANYTHING. If you’re a guy, join the cheering team- they always want guys and then you can touch hot girls everyday. If you’re a girl, be a coxswain for the guys’ crew team.
- Join some professional societies. Most student memberships are free, you really don’t have to do anything to remain active and it looks really impressive on your resume or future school applications.
Beth, Northeastern Class of ‘11
- Keep your door open and say “hi” to everyone. And walk around and introduce yourself to interesting people and non-interesting people, because you’ll never know if they’re interesting or not until you meet them.
- Go exploring.
- You don’t have to be best friends with your roommate, just be a good roommate.
- Buy your books ahead of time to get the used ones for cheaper!
- When your moving in, put your clothes in trash bags because they’re easier to carry and throw into those moving bins.
- ALWAYS double check for your key/card/device to get into your room before you leave the room to shower…..!!!
- Get an ATM card if you don’t already have one and DON’T get Citizens bank, because their ATMs don’t exist in real life.
- Join a club or team.
- Look for every opportunity to get free stuff in the first month because there will be a TON.
- Who cares? Its life.
Have ten pieces that you’d like to offer to today’s freshmen? Leave them in a comment below.
Share, Bookmark, or E-Mail This Article
August 20th, 2008 at 7:23 am
You young people…
Leo, Clark University Class of ‘86
1. Watch those 12:00 Midnight pizzas. They don’t call it the Freshman 15 for nothing.
2. Don’t give in to peer pressure just to fit in. You don’t want to do drugs, then don’t do drugs.
3. Take a variety of classes in subjects you are interested in. You never know what you will discover about the subject, or about yourself.
4. Be openminded. Not everyone is going to think the same way you do.
5. Don’t trust any guys who say, “no, these pictures are just for you and me”. Please.
6. Get out and exercise! See number one.
7. Meet your professors. Get to know them.
8. Don’t sign up for those credit cards. They’ll be the death knell on your future credit.
9. If you need to work, try to get a job where you’ll meet a lot of fellow students, like the campus general store.
10. Respect your parents. They will miss you a lot.
11. And yes, dump the high school boyfriend.
August 20th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Western Illinois University ‘95
1. Work hard. play hard. It applies in real life as much as it does in college–learn to do both well.
2. Stay far, far away from all the enticing credit card offers–student loans are the only debt you want to walk out of college with–and avoid those if at all possible
3. Join at least one international club, even if for only a short time…getting involved in that diversity will give you a much more open mind
4. Learn, know, and remember your limits, whether it be with how much alcohol you drink, how much sleep you need, or how you want to handle sex. Set your boundaries.
5. You don’t have to get straight As, but try hard at your classes–it is expensive, so don’t waste your money or your parent’s money
6. Avoid 8 a.m. classes on Fridays–chances are the weekend will start on Thursday and it will be hell on wheels trying to get to class every week.
7. Have a good pair of flip-flops for the shower, groovy galoshes for the rainy days, and scarf, hat, gloves if you’re somewhere where it actually gets cold in the winter–it’s just no fun sitting through classes with soggy feet/socks or frozen fingers!
8. The intramural sports teams on most campuses can be a great way to meet new people and stop the freshman 15 or 20!
9. If your dorm cafeteria stinks, check out other dorms–sometimes they manage to have better food!
10. Take a lot of pictures–10, 15, 20 years later you will get a good laugh out of them, I promise!
August 20th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
1. Sit up front in all of your classes. It sounds like a kiss-ass thing to do, but it works really well for getting more attention from teachers and TAs, and you really do learn more and get better grades doing it.
2. Try not to drink. If you drink, try not to get drunk. If you get drunk, don’t be an asshole and ruin anyone’s stuff or barf on anything. And drink lots of Gatorade the next day.
3. Don’t loan stuff you like to ANYONE, even if they’re your BFF. You’ll never get it back, or you’ll get it back broken.
4. Try not to move back home over the summer. Instead get a job and live with housemates. If you move back home, you lose opportunities to learn how to deal with supporting yourself which will come in REALLY handy later.
5. Get some cheap multivitamins from Trader Joe’s and take them every day.
6. ALWAYS USE CONDOMS. Always always always, even if you’re in a monogamous relationship. I cannot stress this enough. You’ll thank me when your “true love” slips up and gets an STD from someone else.
7. Wear really ugly old lady underwear to parties so you’re not tempted to strip off on a whim.
8. Don’t start smoking cigarettes. People who do regret it a LOT later on.
9. Don’t ever be afraid to ask shitloads of questions in class, and after class. You’re not here to prove how much you already know, you’re here to suck up knowledge and you’re paying to do so, so get your money’s worth! Plus it shows you’re paying attention.
10. This isn’t the end-all be-all of your life. You’re going to learn a lot more later on, but this is a great place to acquire mad learning skillz.
August 20th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
“The more I reminisced, the older I felt, so I put everything aside, had a cup of tea, and watched Matlock until I drifted off to sleep under my afghan.”
Ha. Good line. That’s how I feel sometimes…
My one tip, often repeated above in different ways.
1. Remember, it’s not all as serious as everyone makes it out to be.
August 21st, 2008 at 12:47 am
save your money, don’t go to college after highschool. then when you figure it out, get a useful degree and make lots of money.
August 21st, 2008 at 8:20 am
I wish I would have had this list before I entered college - it would have made a HUGE difference in what I did.
The only tip I have is to echo several others: participate in a study abroad program. It is the cheapest way to see the world (or a small portion of it that you otherwise might not ever see) and you will NEVER regret it!
August 21st, 2008 at 8:13 pm
I needed that. I just needed that. It was great advice, it made me laugh, it made my teenagers laugh, and it completely (at least for the moment) put it all into perspective. Thanks! Teenage Daughter #2 pulled the site up at a friend’s house where all the entering Freshman College Students from our town are joined this evening to wish her good-bye.
August 21st, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Embry Riddle Aeronautical University ‘11
1. Go to a college far from home, you can always transfer if you hate it. You learn to be much more independent and your friends become your family.
2. You don’t have to be best friends with ur roommate, you both just have to be considerate
3. get a small laundry basket. when it’s full you won’t have to find 4 available washers/dryers, it’ll all fit in one.
4. if you have broken ribs and a bruised liver, don’t drink so much that you think u can run around
5. do not puke into a mesh trash barell, it’s really hard to clean out.
6. Go greek. Just don’t go for whatever group is most popular, figure out which one you fit in with best.
7. No matter how boring the class, if you start skipping it, make sure there’s no tests coming up.
8. Appreciate dorm life. There’s no other opportunity to have all your friends together every day.
9. DON’T BE DEMANDING. Make sure that something is really an important problem before you go yelling at ur roommate/hallmates for it. If you bitch about everything, they’ll all just get angry at you.
10. Don’t drunk text ur friends every night. it’s funny the first time, but it seems fake and annoying when it’s all the time.
11. COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR ROOMMATE!!! If you don’t talk about something, it will be a problem. and it will continue to grow into a huge problem.
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:17 am
I’m an entering college freshman, and i really appreciated this list… i can already tell that this knowledge will come in handy.
thanks guys.
September 1st, 2008 at 12:16 am
1. You’re not in high school. Shut up and pay attention in class.
2. If your college gives credit for playing lacrosse, transfer out now. You’re supposed to be getting an education.
3. If the psychology department gets more money and a bigger building than chemistry, physics or math….run!
4. The army vet in back of you in PHY2022 with the fake leg - he got that leg blown off in Iraq while your sister was playing lacrosse at college. So shut up and show some consideration, he’s there for an education, not to party.
5. Turn off your cell phone. Now.
6. Statistically, most of you girls will marry soon after college or while still attending. You will then get pregnant and typically not work in your field to any significant degree. If your parents paid for your ‘education’ they will have wasted a lot of money. That’s why women get paid less for the same work as men and explains the presence of ‘glass ceilings’.
7. I wrote #6 just to piss you off. It worked.
8. Congratulations if you get your degree. Keep in mind the people who fix your car, roof, air conditioning, heating, plumbing and appliances didn’t get degrees. But they want their children to have one. You will pay accordingly.
9. Get a broad, generalized educational foundation. Specialization is for insects.
10. After you graduate, no one will give a s$%t what you did in college. Unless you get into politics, then you deserve to have it come back on you.
September 24th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
“8. Appreciate dorm life. There’s no other opportunity to have all your friends together every day.”
Amen. Having just graduated from college, I would give anything to go back to a place where all of the best friends I’ve ever had were all around me instead of scattered around the world. To those of you lucky enough to be just starting college, love those amazing people you’re going to meet like there is no tomorrow because soon enough, there won’t be. Also, don’t think getting closer to college friends than to high school friends makes you a bad friend. Please don’t be one of those people who sits in the room and doesn’t get to know anyone because he or she misses old friends. These are really some of the most amazing people you will ever know; if you waste this time, you will regret it for the rest of your life.
September 25th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Go on your own terms, if you want to keep your High School BF/GF then do it. If you want to party until 2 am and then write a 15 page paper that is due at 9 am; then do it, etc. If you don’t think you are ready for college right after High School then wait a year or two or five. It’s your life, live it how YOU want to. I kept my High School girlfriend and I have now been married for 7 wonderful years, and guess what…shock…we both actually have our degrees. Don’t let anyone tell you how to live life, yes most people who go down a path may end with a certain result; but you won’t if you’ll be the exception unless you try it yourself.
September 25th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
1. meet new people. leaving your old friends behind is difficult. I am terrible at making friends and when I showed up at college i had a hard time. eventually i came out of my shell now i have some amazing friends who have helped me through hard times. the sooner you make friends the better. having upperclassmen friends is also a good thing.
2. don’t stay up till 2 am when you have a class at 8 the next day. especially if it is a lecture class.
3. when you have problems talk to someone. whether it be a counsler, friend, or teacher it is always good just to have someone listen.
September 27th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Florida Institute of Technology ‘09
1. Don’t spend freshman year drunk. I don’t care if you drink, just don’t let it interfere with school. Your GPA will not thank you. However, everyone else will be laughing at you.
2. Find out what classes you need to take in order to graduate. Broadening your horizons is good and all, but when you find out after 4 years of college you can’t graduate because you took Italian instead of General Chemistry freshman year, you’re not going to be happy. Ask your adviser, or better yet, look in your school’s catalog. Planning your classes out a couple of semesters in advance is a good idea, especially if you end up having to retake a class.
3. Don’t go greek. You don’t need to pay for friends. See also number 1.
4. Try to limit yourself to one or two organizations. I know everyone tells you to go out and get involved with everything, but it’s really not a great idea. Those who are involved with everything generally have no time to do anything.
At the beginning of the year, go ahead and attend a bunch of meetings so you can find a group that’s a good fit for your interests.
5. Get a day planner/calender/any sort of scheduling device. Place it someplace that you’ll see it/use it every day. At the beginning of each semester mark the dates of all your exams, quizzes and any major assignment due dates and hopefully you won’t have too many “OMG, I HAVE A PAPER DUE TOMORROW!” moments.
6. It’s ok to nap.
7. Get an umbrella. No one likes to sit in wet clothes in a cold classroom.
8. Buy your textbooks used and online. A lot of times, older editions are just as good as the new one, so don’t overlook them.
September 27th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
UK class of ‘07
1. Don’t give in to the temptation to sleep instead of going to class.
2. Be responsible with credit cards! They’re useful, especially if your parents don’t support you and you need to pay summer tuition (shop around for “0% interest until December” deals).
3. Get a job! Preferably on campus–the hours are usually very flexible. Ideally in your field. It takes a bit of hunting, but once you have your foot in the door you can graduate with a KILLER resume.
4. Even if your dorm walls are thick, your floors and ceilings might not be. Don’t make your neighbors angry!
5. Call your parents often. It’s easier and less time-consuming to have a five-minute conversation while you’re walking to class than to have a two-hour conversation once a month! Plus, it will keep them happy.
6. If you think there is even a small chance you might want to go to grad school, get into research ASAP!
7. Try to find an upperclassperson in your major. They are very useful and can help you avoid making some huge scheduling mistakes!
8. After you graduate, your friends are probably going to scatter and you might not see many of them again. Take advantage of the time you have, and meet as many new people as possible.
9. Take advantage of the privacy options Facebook offers! You don’t want future employers to hold those crazy party pics against you.
10. If you’re a pre-med, don’t act like one! Your TAs, professors and classmates will ALL hate you. Resist the temptation to argue for that half-point on your quiz.
September 28th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Second-year student at Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville
1. Whatever you do - keeping or losing your HS friends and BF/GF, doing every club you can or sticking with only two, taking all the classes or working, going out to party or staying in to study - make sure it is for the right reasons. Don’t do it just to do it. Do it because you think it’ll better your life in some way.
2. Only you know the right reasons. Your friends can’t tell you what to do. They will offer an open ear (and if you have good friends, an objective ear), but the choice is only up to you.
3. At the beginning of my Freshmen year, I didn’t like my roommate at all. I thought he was weird as hell, annoying, and kind of creepy. After a while as I got to know him, I started to like him more. This year we got an apartment together and I consider him one of my close friends. The moral: don’t be too quick to judge the people you meet, and try to give everyone a chance, because you don’t know the greatness you could be flushing out of your life.
4. At that, my friend is a Freshmen this year and stuck in the dorms. His roommate is an asshole who steals his shit, doesn’t clean up after himself, is loud and obnoxious, doesn’t respect my friend’s sleeping schedule, and is in general a bad roommate and a bad person. The moral: try to give everybody a chance, but some people just aren’t worth it. Some people flat out don’t deserve your time.
5. DON’T USE THE SNOOZE BUTTON! EVER! TAKE IT OfF THE DAMN ALARM CLOCK!
6. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and look foolish. It’s better to look foolish for the sake of precision and understanding then to not fully understand something and then…whoops, you failed the next test, or couldn’t register for that class.
7. If you find yourself debating between two things, always go with the one you think you “should” do. I always end up regretting my choice when I decide to do something I shouldn’t do.
8. Everybody deserves to be a bit selfish sometimes. Your goal in life should be to be able to live with yourself. If you’re working on four papers, have to manage the treasury for the student government, have to practice piano, and your friend just called up crying needing a shoulder, do what you have to do to stay sane and coherent, even if that means sacrificing a blow to a friendship or a bad grade in a class. Sounds heartless, but it’s true.
9. Have fun when you can. Your purpose is to get an education, so don’t waste money or time, but like I said, the goal is to be able to live with yourself. If you stay in every weekend and study, try to set up at least one weekend where you can go out with your friends. Screw the schoolwork every once in a while! You only get to live once.
September 29th, 2008 at 12:10 am
I want one of these articles for what to do after graduating: The Unofficial First Year Out-Of-College Survival Guide. That’s what I’m needing right now.
September 29th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Third year, Northern Kentucky University:
1) Most people who say “no one works in the field of their majors anyway” are the type who think college is about finding yourself and making new friends. You CAN work in the field of your major–you just have to actually prepare for it. Intro to Chatting Up the Girl Across the Hall is not proper preparation. Neither is Advanced Beer-Bong Lab. Doing research with professors, getting internships and co-ops, taking on relevant academic and extra-curricular projects–THAT will land you a job in your field of interest. Your peers will be too busy cleaning the soap out of their ears from their last Naked Bubble Party to even realize what opportunities just passed them by.
Develop a meaningful and reliable relationship with one member of the opposite sex at a time, or none at all. Bank on the fact that chasing ass will be a hell of a lot easier and less time consuming once you’re a success. If you have time to chase ass now, you aren’t working hard enough.
2) If you have time to goof off between Monday and Friday afternoon, you aren’t working hard enough.
3) Make sure every professor, every semester, knows your name and your areas of interest by the end of the first week.
4) Apply for relevant work experience. Avoid bullshit campus jobs–no one cares if you were the campus art museum curator. Employers want to see that you can be MORE than a student.
5) Find yourself a career mentor–preferably a professor or adviser in your field of interest. Someone who knows you well enough to invite you to professional conferences. Someone who feels strongly enough about your abilities to introduce you to colleagues and recommend you for employment. If you don’t develop a relationship like this within two-three years of college, you aren’t working hard enough.
6) Don’t become a Resident Adviser/Floor Monitor. You won’t be able to get out of the responsibility for an entire semester if you manage to land a real job.
7) Don’t let the laziness and incompetence of your peers influence you. Calculus I isn’t ssoooo hhaaarrrdd, your friends just suck.
9) Women looking for their Mrs. degrees on daddy’s hard earned dollar–get it fast and get the hell out of everyone else’s’ way. The rest of us have success to achieve and money to earn.
10) Try to avoid student loan debt if you can. Graduation is generally considered the cut off point for all financial pity from family, and you want to be sure you have enough to live on while you job hunt.
Reality–it’s harsh.
September 30th, 2008 at 2:17 am
1) Do what you want to do, not what everyone else says you should do.
2) Don’t waste your time. Yes, it’s the most amazing 4 years of your life, but don’t throw it away on partying every day and not getting out and doing something actually worth talking about 20 years from now.
3) Remember you’re an adult now and Mom and Dad, while still important, do not make your decisions for you now.
4) Go Greek. It’s the easiest, funnest and most memorable way to meet people. And do it for the right reasons, i.e. meeting interesting people, making life long connections and broadening your social network. These are things you will greatly appreciate in the future. And if you do go Greek, don’t be the idiot who ruins it for everyone by routinely casting your house in a bad light by making a fool of yourself. Leave that for live-out parties without wearing your letters. And if you don’t go Greek, at least have some friends in the system. We have your best interest in mind when we tell which houses NOT to party at.
5) Don’t be afraid to change your major! Yes, it will add time to your stay there, but it will most likely be worth it in the long run. Especially if you’d like to be happy.
6) Live in the dorms for at least one term, you will make some good friends as long as you’re sociable.
7) Take advantage of office hours! Even if they are at ridiculous hours.
9) Some of your most important lessons will NOT be learnt in class.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:01 am
To the author of Truth … thank you. I have two teens in college right now and you mirror exactly what I have been trying to convey to them since day one. This is not a party and it’s not supposed to be easy. Networking is one of the most important things you can do for yourself in college. I hope my own college students are reading this.
September 30th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
1. Learn to communicate well. You will be living in other people’s space. You will be working in groups. You will be organizing your own life. If you don’t know how to express yourself clearly, you’re going to find yourself in heaps of trouble.
2. Find like-minded people. Even if you were the oddball in high school, chances are you’ll find someone even weirder than you when you go to university. And unlike high school, you can choose your friends from a set of thousands, instead of being limited to a few hundred.
3. Find your own niche to fit in. You don’t have to join everything if you don’t want. You don’t have to join anything, if you please. But make sure you’re comfortable with what you’re doing. You don’t want to reach your 30’s and then wish you had done more with your life when in university.
4. Study and keep up with your classes. You know all that money you shelled out? Yeah, you don’t want to pay more because you have to take Physics I again after discovering your professor doesn’t give part marks. Believe me, your first failed midterm will hit you hard. Don’t go there.
5. Your high school friends are important, but realize that if you lose contact with them, it’s not the end of the world. Chances are, you’ll still be able to hang out with them whenever you visit. But your life is here now. Embrace it.
6. If you don’t want to drink/smoke/do drugs/have sex, you don’t have to. Most people won’t judge you for it, as long as you don’t wear it on your sleeve, and those that do aren’t worth your time. But if you make such a commitment, don’t slack. You will face much greater peer pressure to get drunk as an occasional drinker as opposed to a non-drinker.
7. Get to know upper-years, especially within your own program. They will be invaluable when you find yourself in need of answers about both your classes and your life, and you might be able to score some sweet deals out of it (they may sell you their old textbooks at 25% the going rate).
8. Be frugal. Don’t run into a situation where you have too much month left at the end of the money. Food/rent/tuition come first, then treat yourself. And remember: money you don’t spend is money you won’t have to pay the bank back later.
9. Learn to cook. Seriously, take-out gets really disgusting after a while, and those living with you probably won’t appreciate the mountains of garbage it produces. It doesn’t take a lot of time or effort (or money) to eat delicious, filling, nutritious meals that you’ve prepared yourself, and you’ll probably feel better about yourself because of it.
10. You may have come from high school with a 99% average, but you WILL meet someone smarter than you. Don’t ever think you know everything. This especially applies when dealing with professors/TAs, even if speaking in coherent English isn’t their strong suit.
12. Have fun. It’s your life now, so live it the way you want.
October 3rd, 2008 at 4:16 pm
1. Don’t worry about what other people think. You really DON’T have to party all through the weekend. It’s not lame to take a day off and spend the night in with a movie.
2. Make use of the gym! It’s probably the last time you’ll get a free gym membership as part of your living package, so use it.
3. Don’t live off ramen. It’s cheap and good but you will regret it.
4. Be friendlier and more outgoing than you knew you could be.
5. Do all the orientation stuff, even if it’s lame. You can bond with the new friends you’ll make over how lame it is.
6. Coffee is your friend, but procrastination is not.
7. It’s definitely worth it to get the printer.
8. Write things down! Trust me, you WON’T remember it later.
9. Always lock your door.
10. Enjoy yourself- college is, in some ways, like a very expensive, four-year vacation. Even the homework is stuff you technically chose to do, so make the best of it.
11. Call home once in a while. They’ll want to know you aren’t dead.
12. Bring your old books and movies from high school, but not your old boyfriend.
October 5th, 2008 at 12:55 am
1. Be the person everyone knows of during orientation. Wear something flashy, dance at random times, just don’t care what others think. You’ll meet people who are interested in you and you’ll have those friends for a long time after all your antics were preformed.
2. Experience life, be safe, but experience life. This is the opportunity to try drugs/drinking/sex whatever without being persecuted for it. Just be smart about what you are doing.
3. Learn what lectures are important to attend, some you can miss and the time can be spent better other places while others you should attend or you will be lost.
4. The outdoors is where it is at, and I don’t mean camping. Go to parks walk around campus, they are beautiful places and very relaxing.
5. Don’t let others tell you how to run your life. If you study best at the last minute, so be it, but be aware of the difference between someone controlling your life and trying to help you.
6. Get a campus job, it may be boring with low pay and crappy hours, but you get promoted quickly, make extra cash, and meet tons of people. Plus lots of free food, clothes, and other stuff.
7. Club/Job fairs have lots of free stuff, and no one cares how you got it.
8. For cleaning up stains on carpet that smell, use scented hair shampoo. The carpet will look funny, but it won’t smell.
9. Everyone is always getting rid of stuff, some broken but usable, some not broken just replaced. Always keep your eye out, you might like something more than you thought.
10. Travel safe and travel smart. If it might rain, don’t wear a shirt/shorts that are see through when wet, and if they are, wear underwear. Flip flops are your friend, so are boat shoes.
12. Rush Greek, and go to every house. You may not like all the people, but it will be a fun party, and you will likely meet one or 2 that you do like.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:13 am
1: Free food is the greatest thing ever. Volunteer, join clubs, and attend meetings. Free food and snacks are served at all of the above. Frequently there’s extra that you can take home and save in your fridge if you ask.
2: Everything you believe about yourself will change. I was a agnostic heterosexual, meat eating international management major. I am now a lesbian vegan atheist geography major.
3: Answer questions often, but as quickly and concisely as possible. The professor will stand there and stare at the class until someone does, it may as well be you. Beware though, if your answer is too elaborate everyone else in the class will hate your guts.
4: Spell check is functionally useless when it comes to grammar. Double check your papers. Professors will let stupid answers and a complete lack of a point slide before they let a grammar mistake through.
5: First year sucks for everyone. Don’t let it get you down. And for your own sake, don’t fail any classes.
6: The food in the cafeteria is not, in all honesty, food. It’s actually an unsanitary mix of every cheap fattening agent on the planet. There will be no healthy options. Also, 250 ml of milk will cost two dollars. There is nothing you can do about it.
7: Don’t talk in class. Also don’t ask questions. The question is definitely stupid as all hell. Don’t make yourself a laughing stock. Ask questions after class.
November 15th, 2008 at 12:39 am
1) make friends…………..its most important to be in a circle because once the year gets going ppl aren’t so welcoming anymore.
2) Adjust ur timetable so u can go with ur friends to malls and etc………have free time
3) study from day 1………..because the exams are not like highschool they ask things never taught in class
4) attend class regularly……..impression on teachers count……unlike highschool uni prof don’t have to explain the grades they give.
5) Live in a dorm if possible……..best and most easy way to acheive tip #1
6)Concentrate on the important subjects of ur field most……….the less important subjects won’t help u in the future
7)Concerning booze………where i live the legal age is 18………..be a smart drinker………don’t compete till u pass out………don’t compete till u start speaking spainish………(unless u are in a spainish speaking uni)
8)Smoking………..its very popular in uni……….i leave it up to u…..just don’t get addicted
9)Money……..don’t spend it on the whisky and vodka…….be wise…….and use the cheapest means of transportation if not in an emergency
10)Girls……..don’t go to pubs, bar which have naked female pic
11)Boys……….don’t go to pubs, bar which have naked male pic
12)Always stay up-to-date on all activities
13)MOST IMPORTANT ENJOY!!!!!