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General advice
Hey so Im leaving for college in less than a week and im going to be a freshman! Is there any general advice/information that anyone can give to me? Is there anything that you wish you knew before going into college? Really appreciate the help guys! thanks
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Most important bit of advice that I can give is to be yourself when you get there. If you've spent the first part of your life keeping up on all of your schoolwork and not partying too much, then you'd be a fool not to stick to that routine.
I've known quite a few bright kids who went to college and figured out that it's fun to get drunk and that there is nobody taking attendance so you technically don't have to go to class. Obviously, their grades suffered and they aren't as well prepared for the real world as they'd like to be.
I've never been very good around crowds and at parties, so when I went to college I thought that I would turn it all around and start hanging out with everybody that I met, do some partying and branch out as a person and maybe finally get a girlfriend because of it. I tried that for a little while, but it didn't take long for me to realize that I was happy the way that I was, and that I was wasting my time by trying to be somebody other than myself.
I tried my best not to miss class and I did all of my work, and in the end I did pretty well in school, and I made a lot of new friends when I started working for the school paper, which is also where I met my girlfriend who I'm still with today. Got all of that done by being myself, so that's something I guess.
But that's just a general plan: here's a few little things to remember for when you're in class.
1. For the love of God turn off your cell phone. Nothing angers a professor more than hearing a cell phone go off.
2. If your class offers extra help sessions and you think that you might need them then go! There's no excuse for passing up on free help in a class that you need work in.
3. Be bold! If there's an ECA that you have interest in, sign up for it! The best times that I had when I was in college came working for the college paper, and I'd never worked in journalism before in my life.
4. Even if you absolutely hate your roommate you have to do your best to be civil until you have a chance to pick a new roommate. This may not be until after your first semester, but it will be worth the hassle in the long run. Be firm with boundaries though: if you don't want your roommate making out with someone while you're in the room or doing anything else that you're uncomfortable with, lay it on the table on the first day. My roommate and I had to fill out a roommate contract at the beginning of the year, and we at least made an attempt to be serious with it. Something must've worked: we ended up living together for all four years that we spent at school.
I could go on forever here...so message me with any specific questions that you might have and I'll do my best to help. I graduated in 2008 from a small liberal-arts school with a B.A. in biology.
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