What College Freshmen Need to Know

By Chiyierrja Grant on July 26, 2017

Courtesy of Pixabay

Entering college or university for the first time can feel daunting. Being away from home for long periods of time, complete independence, and hearing how heavy college work loads can be may feel like a brain drain just thinking about it.

Here are a few tips to make going into freshman year worry free.

One of the most important tips is to go in with an open mind. Movies and television shows have it all wrong. You don’t want to go in with a sour taste and expectation.

The best way to solve this is to keep an open mind and experience things for yourself. Just because a friend or relative shares their horrible first-year experience doesn’t mean you should go in expecting the same. Who says that college has to be this terrible place where you’re going to pay thousands of dollars to spend the next four years? Life isn’t perfect and things happen but the stories you hear aren’t yours.

Courtesy of Pixabay

Most freshmen will room with someone, most likely a stranger who you barely know. As strange as it may seem, having a roommate doesn’t have to be as bad as you think. Not everyone will want to be best friends. If that’s the case it doesn’t call for rudeness, disrespect of their space, or making the room a war zone.

It’s okay not to be the best of friends, as there will be numerous other ways to make friends besides your roommate. Not everyone will want to just sleep in a room with awkward passings throughout the day either. Having a roommate can work either way.

Although there are a ton of roommate horror stories you may be surprised at how well you and your roommate get along. You may end up becoming great friends. No matter which end of the spectrum you’re on, the room should be comfortable enough for the both of you to eat, sleep, and study.

One of the last things that you should worry about is making friends. As long as you’re being yourself good friends won’t be hard to find. The opportunities to meet new people are endless, especially for larger campuses where there are thousands of other students. Not being able to meet at least a few people is very hard to do, especially as an introvert.

Most schools kick the school year off with a few days of fun activities. Within that are usually a few days or up to a week with clubs and organizations open for sign ups. This is one of the many ways to meet people and get involved. When joining different clubs and organizations keep in mind possible interfaces with class or study time.

College work loads are a lot different than high school. Some courses will have weekly assignments, while others may only consist of one or two major assignments throughout the semester. There may even be somewhere your grade is made up of exams only with possible extra credit. As you go on to becoming an upperclassman and depending on your major, you may feel the courses become more hands-on or project based. Class size also varies depending on your school size and courses. It’s extremely important to put classes and study time first. Everything else should fall in line after.

Courtesy of Pixabay

It’s also important to go to class. There will be days where you may not have any energy to drag yourself to an 8 a.m. lecture but it’s important that you don’t make a habit out of skipping.

The first year will be filled with lots of fun activities, meeting new people, and learning what study habits work best for you. There may be lots of distractions but school should be at the top of the list above all. If you learn to manage your time well and keep an open mind you’ll be fine. Freshmen year is definitely one to look forward to.

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