i do have to say though – i beleive the high school boyfriend/girlfriend situation has some exceptions. when you are lucky enough to go to college near eachother, or are especially serious, i’d say stay with them. obviously don’t give up new opportunities at making new friends, but i wouldn’t suggest just dumping them because you think you’ll find someone better off the bat.

haha, sorry for the rant. i’m an optimistic hopeless romantic. good luck everyone!

2- Don’t see the freedom of college as an excuse to act stupid. Don’t hoot and holla at the top of your lungs outside the dorms at 2 am, move out of the way of people when they are walking and driving, don’t ask stupid questions.

3- DO ask smart questions. If you are lost during the first week, find someone that looks like they have been there a few semesters and ask them where your classes are. Most upperclassmen don’t mind pointing the way.

4- If you feel like going Greek, wait at least till second semester or even sophomore year. That way you can get a feel for the Greek life at your school.

5- Find the local bar, taco place, coffee shop, grocery store. They probably offer discounts if you have a student ID and you may meet some cool people there.

6- Don’t feel like you absolutely have to be social. College is for learning too. If you have a test the next morning, don’t go out all night just because you think you need to make friends.

7- If you live in a dorm, learn to clean up your own shit. Your room mates are not your substitute mother.

8- Get to know at least one or two professors in your major. When it comes time for job or grad school recommendations, you don’t want to be empty handed.

9- Be generally respectful on a daily basis. Respect your room mate, your professors, your classmates, the librarian, the chick at the burger stand and your RA. People will remember respect and appreciate it a lot.

10- Don’t bend over backwards, but try to be nice to people. College can be hard and it can totally suck ass sometimes. If you are a bit nicer, some one will have a better day for it.

2— Open your mind and shut your mouth. You’re 18 years old and there’s never been a better time for you to learn that you know an utterly insignificant amount about the world. If you get this right, you’ll never feel like you know everything there is to know. Overconfidence is a bitch. Nothing is less sexy and nothing will blow apart your dreams any faster.

3— Learn about your school’s Greek system. Some colleges have great Greek life, some do not. If it fits you, join. If it doesn’t, stay the hell away. Don’t let other people decide this for you. Feel it out and move forward.

4— Drink, smoke, get stoned, get laid, do the walk of shame, hallucinate, streak, stay up all night, listen to music way too loudly, skip class on a Tuesday to get wasted mid-morning and drive across state or across country or to Mexico and back with $6 in your pocket. Or don’t. It’s your life, this is your time to figure out how YOU want to live YOUR LIFE.

5— Buy an army surplus duffel bag. A huge one. Because doing laundry blows, you won’t motivate yourself to do it more than a couple times a month. That said, it’s best to be able to lug it around easily. These are THE BEST things you can get.

6— Get a box of condoms. Keep them in your dorm. Make sure they aren’t expired. When they expire, buy new ones. Even if you throw away a full box every 6 months, keep at it. Even if you are committed to remaining a virgin until you’re married, do it. College is about learning responsibility. Shit happens. Maybe you’ll wind up with a member of the opposite sex in your dorm and things will go places you didn’t mean for them to go. Well, regret over sex is a hell of a lot easier to manage than pregnancy or an STD.

7— Keep a gallon jug of water near your bed. If you go out and get wasted, commit yourself to drinking as much of it as you can stand before you go to bed. Hangovers are nothing more than alcohol-induced dehydration. You can avoid them pretty easily by drinking loads of water before bed. In the morning, wake up, pop 3 Advil, drink a Gatorade and get on with life.

8— Make friends. When you graduate, your friends and their friends will become your network. Your network will expand and grow, and let me assure you that your network will serve your job-hunting needs better than ANY degree you’re ever going to get. Your friends are also the family you choose, and it’s by pouring out our love for others that we find our own happiness.

9— Learn what it means to do for others. School clubs are great, but they don’t mean a damn thing to anyone outside of college. Join the rescue squad or the fire department. Volunteer a day a week at the soup kitchen or a local homeless shelter. You’ll learn more about the world and yourself than you would during a lifetime of classes, you’ll learn some valuable skills and you’ll get something that you can actually put on a resumé that people will care about.

10— Don’t get married right out of college. Wait at least a couple years. Once you’ve graduated and had the world kick your ass for a while, you’re going to look at things very differently. A deferred marriage is an awful lot easier than a divorce.

11— Ok, so the original post asked for a list of 10 things, but you’re getting a freebie eleventh from me. Here it is. Ready for it? If you haven’t by now, learn to write and speak and punctuate. I don’t care if you have a PhD in Nuclear Physics from Berkeley, you’re going to come off as an idiot if you can’t communicate. From engineers to journalists, we all need to be able to use language to the best of our ability. Take some English classes, learn to diagram a sentence in your sleep and acquaint yourself with the fundamentals of successful argument and debate. You’ll be more interesting, you’ll seem smarter and you’ll succeed in ANY job you take, regardless of the field, easier as a result.

I’m always baffled about the legitimacy of someone who feels the need to tell someone else their opinions are ‘wrong’.

clearly there was alot of things wrong with the greek community that you joined. Your generalization however is exactly the same as someone who went to a notorious party school saying that a college education is completely useless because everyone just drinks until they’re hospitalized and no one goes to class.

If you don’t look into the group you’re joining and get to know the people in it then it’s your own fault for joining a group that will waste your time. If you read my first post I specifically said that you shouldn’t just join any greek organization, you should figure out which one you feel is right for you. It’s the same as any group of friends that you could make, there’s some that party too much, there’s some that study all day and there’s lots in between. You have to know what it is that you want to get out of it.

You will get out of greek life whatever you put into it. Because I have taken on officer positions in both my sorority and panhellenic (the organization that governs over the sororities) I have had opportunities to plan events, influence the direction that our greek community is going, attend regional conferences, workshops on ettiquette, business attire, networking, marketing, leadership, resume writing, and so much more. I know more students, professors, advisors and others who work in every area of my university than I could ever imagine.

Not everyone has the option of finding a job that applies to their career, and not everyone knows exactly what career they are looking for. If there is a homeland security job in Daytona Beach that would also work with my class schedule I would do anything for it. In the mean time, I plan on taking advantage of the infinate opportunities that I have not found anywhere other than the greek community.

JAK:

Good luck! Let the rest of the posters be an indicator of the “feel” of college campuses these days. This crap goes from RAs mouths straight into their heads–most professors don’t even try to give students the real scoop on life and work because they know most wouldn’t make it through one semester of reality.

The smart ones get it from day one, though. If you prepare your kids, they’ll see through the vanity of Naked Bubble Parties and Frat Fun Houses.

If anyone doubts the legitimacy of the large amounts of community service that millions of greeks have contributed to society then they should probably take the time to talk to someone and ask them about what they did. Just because I chose to join one organization that has given me the opportunity to do community service, make friends, network, attend conferences, speakers, educational events, as well as have fun you shouldn’t dismiss me as a potential employee. Your father is passing up alot of really great, motivated and experienced leaders that I’m sure would contribute to his company.

…and coke? seriously? If my national organization ever found out I was doing drugs my membership would be terminated.

I’m sorry you haven’t had all of the opportunities that i have

2. Papers are easier to write if you enjoy the topic, so try to pick topics you’ll like. My favorite elective ended up being the one I did the most work in.

3. Nine times out of ten, if you don’t like the people you associate with, it’s because the people who you would like don’t like you. It’s up to you to change that.

4. Related to the above: be who you are. It will make your life alot less stressful, and the right people will like you more for it.

5. In high school, people always wore some sort of mask. It’s not the same at a university. People have dimension, even if they seem uninteresting at first. Remember that.

6. Spilt alcohol really stinks up a small, carpeted dorm room.

7. It’s cheaper to pre-drink.

8. Figure out what is your hugest stress-releaver, and practice it. Always. Mine is looking at an hourglass or a lavalamp, so I have each of those in my room. They get looked at often.

9. Try to sleep 8 out of 24 hours. How you get them is up to you.

10. Smile, cause it’s going to be a heck of a ride.

AND THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE!!!

11. Experiment: A good thing to do is to try to set a weekly goal, something that you’ve never experienced before. Try new things. Eat different foods. Play new games. Look for cultural events on and off campus. Check out the gay bar. Visit a coffee shop poetry reading. Open mike night. Shop in small boutiques. Eavesdrop on other people’s converations, try to learn something from it (except don’t be a creep about it). Listen to new bands. Talk to random people. The more diverse your experiences, the more you’ll learn about yourself – and isn’t that the whole point of university?

2. Get a trashcan without holes in it…when ur roomie wakes u up at 3 by puking into a backpack u’ll suddenly regret not having a better puke bucket

3. Do stuff. Join things. Get out of your room. Great stuff goes down at college.

4. Become as close as possible with your neighbors they’re the people most likely to help you out and know wether or not u get home in one piece. Take care of them and they’ll most likely look after you as well.

5. DO NOT use your dust buster to suck up vom. Even if its the kind that can suck up water. If you try pouring laundry soap on ur floor and try sucking that up too it will not get the staank out. Your beloved vacuum will never smell the same. just saying.

6. Be crafty. people love interesting decor. Bring craft supplies, Don’t let your room look like a jail cell. Decorate everything and people will like being in your room. you wont get lonely…yoga balls make great chairs.

7. Go greek but not first semester!! Going greek is great. First semester is hectic. Second semester’s the way to go.

8. Have a designated friend who will save you from any and all people deemed creepy as soon as you give them the “get me the eff out of here” look. Just have them grab ur arm mid dance/mid convo/mid anything and tug you away like its important.

9. Go to the gym from day 1. make that habit early otherwise you’ll be chasing after your fabulous highschool abs for-ev-err.

10. Be independant. Dont be afraid to do things by yourself. If you’re always waiting for someone to do everything with you you’ll miss out on a lot. Not to mention going places alone you’ll meet loads more new friends. Everyone loves someone with connections.

11. Get a B.S. job. Or two such as gameroom attendant, mailroom person, receptionist to the receptionists receptionist etc. you’re basically being forced to study for hours at a time while being paid. not a bad scenario

This is from a more Aussie point of view.
And a day student point of view.

1. Student cards or ID. You’ll never know when you might do something spontaneous like go to the cinema only to find that students get 45% discounts, and you end up paying full price.

2. Don’t be a bitch!! Nobody likes lousy team-members for group assignments, and being an asshole/arsehole doesn’t help. It won’t help you in the long run.

3. Why doesn’t it help you? Because you get people like me who will name and shame you on the course boards and when people start looking for partners, they will know your a lousy team-player and prefer not to work with you.

4. Join ALL the clubs. Well, as many as you can anyway. Some unis/colleges will have “BOOZE CLUBS”. You like booze? Everybody likes Booze!!

5. If your an international student DON’T do stupid things. You MIGHT get your visa revoked. Fighting after a few drinks is one of them.

6. MAKE FRIENDS!! Connections are what makes businesses and powerful people. Be friendly and don’t act like your dads a King. Your just another brick in a wall like everybody else.

7. Don’t believe that Hollywood stereotypes bullshit. The “emo” or “nerd” who you see at time to time could one day bloom and become successful in life. He could be your boss!!

8. Money is power, and like all strong men/women, we all want power. SO!! Don’t share it. A soft heart can cost you hundreds. For guys, this is especially true with women. They only love you for your money and your beers.

9. Long distance relationships are like weights on your shoulder. Cutting lose is like lifting those weights away. It’ll be good for you.

10. Don’t be a fool, wrap your tool. Last thing you wanna be is a daddy/mommy in college.

1. All those required classes you have to take? Actually go and pay attention, you might discover something you really like.

2. If you can’t pronounce it, do not eat it.

3. Fruit juice in your room that ferments is garbage not homemade wine.

4. Make a good friend, as in one who you trust to take care of you if you drink too much and not one who would just draw obscene things on your face with a marker.

5. Just because there are more students doesn’t mean everyone won’t know about it if you’re that kid who was table dancing at the Sig Ep party.

6. Be careful what you put up on facebook, you might want a real job someday.

7. Call your mom. Seriously she loves you.

8. Don’t be afraid to change things.

9. Try out for a club or organization because it’s a good way to meet people who aren’t in your dorm or your major.

10. Explore the city around your university, especially if you are somewhere far from home!