Here you go high school senior, the ultimate insider survival guide to college. Now I've only been at this college thing for a couple months but I've learned a lot and hopefully some of what I have learned will help you out! So here it is, 99 tips to survive life in college straight from the hands of a preppy college kid!
1. Don't stress. College isn't as scary as you think it is.
2. Have fun.
3. But not too much fun, you don't need to go party in the middle of the week when you have a test the next day. Use your brain okay?
4. Make friends! (Even with people you wouldn't have been friends with in high school because this is a whole new ball field)
5. Get involved.
6. Prioritize. What's more important, your paper for your History of Disease class or going to the student ambassador training?
7. Go do things in your new college town! (It's totally okay to be super touristy, you're new here!)
8. Learn to love alone time because it is hard to come by living in a dorm.
9. If you need a break from all that is going on at school, go to Chick-fil-a by yourself.
10. Eat in the dining hall. Trust me, eating out adds up fast. And on the subject of food...
11. Don't buy groceries in bulk. You will get tired of having the same snacks everyday.
12. Become friends with your CA. She is there to help you and is super cool!
13. Invest in shower shoes. Even at a women's college those showers are gross sometimes.
14. Get a pet. You need someone to love on. (Note: most schools will only let you have fish)
15. Don't make your fish's water too warm when you change it. He will have seizures and almost die. (I so didn't almost kill my fish....)
16. Make your dorm room 100% you. Literally you will spend so much time in here so you need to love it.
17. Have a planner and use it.
18. Seriously, plan out your entire life. If it's not in your planner you will get overloaded and forget things.
19. Color code your planner. Have a color designated for each class and one designated for other things you want to do (i.e. going home for the weekend or grocery shopping or seeing friends)
20. Wash dishes and take out trash daily. Not only is it a fire hazard to have trash stacked up in your room, it's gross.
21. Open your blinds and let some light into your room. (Especially on a Sunday when you are locking yourself in your room to do homework all day. An open window is basically the equivalent of fresh air right?)
22. Decide on the first day of each class whether you are going to write or type notes for that class. Don't switch back and forth or you will lose your notes.
23. Find study partners that you can meet in the dining hall at 5:30 every Sunday night and study for your weekly Bio quizzes with.
24. Find a best friend at school with the same name as your best friend at home and life will seem perfect.
25. Have an awesome Big. (Okay so you can't make this one happen but it's really nice to have an amazing Big; I would know :))
26. Coffee.
27. Coffee.
28. Coffee.
29. Literally, coffee is your best friend.
30. Find a variety of shows you can binge watch on Netflix when you need a break.
31. Find a friend who will go sit in the communal tv room and watch Grey's with you.
32. Go to sporting events.
33. Go to choir concerts and ensembles.
34. Even if you didn't do the above two things in high school, trust me, it's fun.
35. Be prepared for a fire drill at all times...even if you're in the shower.
36. Go home. Take weekend trips home and see your family. You are going to miss them.
37. Go watch your little brother play football when he plays close to campus because even though you used to hate him and you fought a lot, you love and miss him lots.
38. Talk to your mom everyday. Even if it's just a text.
39. Call your dad sometimes and tell him you love. He feels neglected because you call your mom so much.
40. Send your family letters. (That way they send some back and bonus, they usually send money or gifts!!)
41. Plan day trips to meet your mom for lunch, she will probably let you shop and get your nails done while y'all are out.
42. Use your student discount. (It's the best thing ever. Legit.)
43. Find a church nearby you can attend sometimes. It won't be like being at your home church but it's better than nothing.
44. Get involved in your new community. Participate in service projects.
45. Make friends on other campuses around you. This will allow you to get off of your campus and get you involved in events at other places.
46. Use the campus library.
47. And the writing center or tutoring centers if your school has them.
48. Make friends with your professors and the other staff at the school.
49. Unplug. Take out your headphones and smile and say hi to people when you're walking to class.
50. Bring a stuffed animal or pillow from home that you can hug and cry to if you get homesick .
51. Embrace your homesickness. It's okay that you miss home.
52. Have an abundance of big tees and Norts and/or leggings. That's literally all you are going to wear.
53. Hats and Lilly headbands. These are essential because you will not wash your hair every day. It's just not going to happen.
54. Make your bed everyday. It's to come in and your room look nice.
55. Be nice to your roommate. If you're rude, she'll be rude and then your life will be miserable.
56. Do a random roommate. Yes it's stressful at first but it makes you meet people and you will probably have more in common than you would have if you had picked each other.
57. When packing for move-in day, use your drawers you buy. Fill them and seran wrap them so move in is easier.
58. Also, pack in totes or bins not suite cases, you can use the bins for storage and bags hide away easy whereas suite cases will just be in your way all year.
59. Learn how to study now. (I never had to study in high school so learning to in college way a struggle)
60. If you store your food where you can see it all day then you are going to be more tempted to eat all day long. Hide it away in a drawer.
61. Have double of all of you toiletries at home so you dont have to take it all home with you when you go. (This will save you from ending up like me and leaving your toothbrush and shampoo and shaving cream at home and being totally screwed for a week)
62. Take some fun classes that don't pertain to your major.
63. Participate in campus traditions such as spirit weeks or Welcome events or CramJams.
64. NEVER procrastinate.
65. Okay try to not procrastinate. It's going to happen just don't make a habit of it.
66. Do adult things like going to a Farmers Market or writing resumes.
67. Eat Cookout at 1AM. That's like a right-of-passage as a college student.
68. If you don't drive or don't have a car on campus, make friends with someone who does so when you are craving Chinese food and you don't get out of class until 9PM you have a friend to go to dinner with.
69. Don't go to a frat party. It's a bad idea.
70. Despite what you have been led to believe, not everyone drinks in college. Really at truly, the majority of people do not party and get drunk.
71. Be nice to people. Just because you are on your period and don't feel well doesn't mean you can bite someone's head off. You do live with these people now.
72. Clean up after yourself. If you lose hair in the shower, pick it up and throw it away when you get out. No one wants to get in the shower and be sharing in with a rat-sized clump of your hair.
73. Don't get a job unless you know you have time for it. Or if you need the money.
74. Go to thrift stores. If you have a shopping addiction like me, this is a great way to shop and not go broke.
75. Or just restrain from shopping but that's sometimes hard to do.
76. Tell your grandparents you want Starbucks cards.
77. Get the Starbucks App so you can rack up on stars when you use the afore mentioned gift cards and get gold status and discounts!
78. Take other people's points of view into account.
79. But don't let their points of view change yours.
80. Read your bible and do devotions. Just because you aren't at home anymore doesn't mean you can just forget about God.
81. Go to events on campus like Fall Fest and Casino Night, there are normally free shirts at these events and who doesn't love a free tee?!
82. Become a rep for a company like SFC on your campus.
83. Fuzzy socks and slippers are wonderful.
84. Buy cute sticky notes and colorful pens. It'll make your notes more fun to look at.
85. Buy your favorite fruites and veggies and keep them in your fridge.
86. Also buy your favorite candy. You need a good balance right?
87. Know that you may never talk to your friends from high school again.
88. But also know that the ones you have group messages with and who call you and them selves a "package deal" are forever friends.
89. Learn to be okay with not wearing makeup everyday. Life is hard and makeup is not a priority.
90. Work hard.
91. But also take breaks and reward yourself sometimes.
92. Have your mom make you essential oil sprays to spray on your pillow at night to keep from getting the funk that is going around campus.
93. Make friends with the people who clean your hall.
94. If there is a pencil box on the counter in the bathroom, don't ask questions about it. Just know it is there if you need it.
95. Take roommate agreements seriously. You are living with this human, you need to have rules and boundaries.
96. Get a cute roommate who hand makes you Halloween cards because she's just cool like that.
97. When too stressed or tired to go down to the dining hall, eat mac-and-cheese.
98. When mac-and-cheese gets old, order pizza.
99. Enjoy it. College only happens once and it is pretty great if you do it right.
