College. The word that brings freedom, fear, excitement, and confusion all at once. If you chose to continue your education at college, good for you and congratulations. As summer and your high school career comes to an end, you may find yourself in a weird state of excitement and uncertainty. This new era of your life is going to be great, enjoy it and make the best out of it. So, to help you out, I have put together a list of some advice that I wish I heeded going into my four years of college.

1. Don't take 8 AM classes.

I don't care what anyone says, these classes are the worst. Unless of course, you are a rare species that actually enjoys mornings, then I say proceed with caution when applying for a morning class. That being said, sometimes they are unavoidable, in which case, suck it up and just go to class. Also, make sure you quadruple check your alarms. Missing a class because you accidentally slept in is the worst.

2. Go to class.

This might seem like a no brainer, but it's easy to slip into a lack hole of avoiding classes. Even if you have giant lecture hall classes with no attendance taking, you should still show up because you might miss some really important information.

3. Push yourself out of your comfort zone.

Now, I'm not asking you to do something illegal or life threatening, but you should try new things. During your first week of classes or orientation, talk to new people, go to new events and challenge yourself, even if you tend to be introverted. During my orientation week, I didn't really go out and try new things and it made making friends a lot harder. Once I pushed myself out of my comfort zone, I found out some neat things about myself, made tons of new friends and was so much happier.

4. Self Care is important.

This sounds crazy but a lot of times, especially when life gets hectic, people forget to eat or sleep. It's good to be on that college grind, always studying, working, joining clubs, but don't forget to take time for yourself and make sure you are okay. Besides the basic necessities of eating proper meals and getting enough sleep, try to find ways to keep stress at bay. College life is crazy busy so you should find a hobby that helps you stay sane when your stress levels are through the roof. Make sure to take time for yourself and just detach from the world for a little bit. You're body and mind will thank you for all the self care later.

5. Get to know the professors

If you take a few minutes before or after class to talk to your professor, it makes your academic life so much easier. Visit them during their office hours to ask them questions and get help. The professors are there to help you succeed so you should take advantage of that and get the help you need. Creating a good bond with your professor not only makes it easier to ask for help, but then they will remember your face and could even help you out with recommendations and other things in the future.

6. Don't procrastinate.

This is coming from a serial procrastinator, don't do it. You will regret everything. If something is due within a week, do parts of the project/essay/assignment every single day. Instead of cramming it all in one sitting a few hours before class, if you spend a half an hour every day, you will be stress free and have plenty of time to check your work and do well. Learn from my mistakes, just don't do it, trust me, it's not worth it.

7. Get involved.

Find clubs and groups on campus that you enjoy. It could be something as simple as a coloring club to something like student government, anything is okay. Try out new things, go to activities fairs and talk to others to find out your niche. Not only does joining clubs help you de-stress, but you also build amazing connections and get to build your resume at the same time.

8. Have fun.

Who would I be if I didn't use this cliché piece of advice at the end? Just stay safe, be smart and have an amazing time. You're going to do great things, this is just the start. I wish you the best of luck.