What I Wish I Knew as a Freshman

Being the seasoned veteran of the college life that I am, there’s a lot I’ve seen and done.  But there are a few things I wish someone would’ve told me when I started my college career.  Freshmen, here’s your first cheat sheet.

Social

• Meet as many people as you can at the start of the year.  After a week or two everyone starts to settle into their groups and you don’t want to be on the outside looking in.
• Pregame with a small crowd then go to the party.  The select few you start your night with will be the ones you have the most fun for the night.  And it’s pretty difficult to get to properly meet someone, let alone hold a long conversation, at a party/crowded bar.
• DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE!  I know it sounds like parental advice, but everyone thinks they’re the best designated drunk driver until they get their first (or second, or third) DUI.  Taxis are cheap.  Cheaper than the thousands of dollars you don’t have so spend on a DUI.
• Take lots of pictures and videos.  I know it’s what “girls do”.  But looking back at these times will be almost as fun as living them.
• No glove no love.  Pregnancy & STDs will ruin change your college experience.
• Fights are a waste of time.  Nobody is impressed, and you probably ruined the party.
• Halloween is a MAJOR holiday.  Take it seriously.  Don’t be that guy  who looks like you came up with your costume idea 5 minutes before you walked out of the door.  Whether it’s store-bought or original, just make sure it looks good.  And no, “College Student” and “Nudist On Strike” don’t pass.
• Accept the fact that you won’t keep in touch with everyone from high school.  You’ve moved on to the next stage of your life, and on a brand new campus with tens of thousands of potential new friends.  Don’t spend all your time shut in on Skype & FaceTime keeping back up with people back home. Your close friends will always be there for you, and you’ve got summer to meet back up with everyone else.
• Go to EVERYTHING.  There’s always an RSO meeting, sporting event, concert, etc. to go to.  It’s all everyone talks about for days after.  You don’t want your college experience to consist of reading everyone’s #DrunkTweets from the night before.

Class

• Avoid Friday classes at all costs!  Thursdays have accounted for some of the best nights of my life.  Working Monday through Friday will come faster than you know it.  Don’t take a class before 10 am either.  You’re setting yourself up for failure.
• Pay attention in class.  It’s tempting to spend your entire lecture class staring at your laptop/iPad/phone, I know.  But the more you pay attention while you have to be there, the less studying you have to do when all your friends want to party.
• Block your classes into groups.  Schedule them back-to-back-to-back. You’d think the time in-between is nice for studying, but you just end up wasting valuable daytime waiting for your next class to start.
• Balance is everything.  “Work Hard, Play Hard” isn’t just a Wiz Khalifa song.  A 3.x student who knows how to have some fun is a much more attractive job applicant than someone with a 4.0 and no social skills.

Living 

• Find future roommates with the same living style as you.  They have to match your cleanliness and party schedule.  Having blaring music keeping you up sucks, but having to keep the music down when you have people over is worse.  Either way, your night is screwed.
• Never let the dishes pile up.  Girls hate it, your place will start to smell, and it will always cause a fight with your roommates.
• Going away to college for the first time is a confusing time.  The first few weeks may be uncomfortable, but give it a shot.  It may not be for you.  But know once you go back home you have parents on your back, fewer parties, work, and community colleges waiting for you.
• Enjoy the dorm life.  Yes it sucks sharing a room with three other people.  But it’s a great time to get to know some (hopefully) cool people, and having food from the café will be missed greatly come apartment and house years.  Another tip, leave your door open as much as possible.
• Go home every once in a while.  You have to find a happy medium between being the girl who goes back every weekend to see her boyfriend, and the one who only goes home at Christmas.  Having a few breaks helps you recharge a lot.

Other

• Play an IM sport.  It keeps you active and you can meet a lot of people that way.  Just watch out for the “try-hards” who think they’re all-stars.
• NOBODY cares about what you were or weren’t in high school.  Your varsity letters, numerous awards, crew you used to run around with, don’t matter.  If you weren’t the “cool kid” in high school, don’t worry.  College is as fresh as a start as it gets, and there are 100 times more people to get along with.
• Finally, take Tom Petty’s advice… “You have four years to be irresponsible here.  Relax.  Work is for people with jobs.  You’ll never remember class time, but you’ll remember time you wasted hanging out with your friends.  So, stay out late.  Go out on a Tuesday with your friends when you have a paper due Wednesday.  Spend money you don’t have. Drink ’til sunrise.  The work never ends, but college does.”

Wise freshmen, seasoned upperclassmen, graduates, have some advice of your own? POST IT BELOW!!