When it comes to freshman year of college, there's a lot of things you should and shouldn't do. Here's a few do's and don'ts for your freshman year!
Do:
Get Involved
During orientation, they drilled into your heads to get involved. But really, find your place on campus. Every university has many organizations that you can join. Whether it be going Greek, joining an organization having to do with your major, or just a fun organization that correlates to your favorite hobby, there is something for you on campus. So find your people and make a difference on your campus.
Explore your college town
Be a tourist in your college town. I can promise you, if there is a college in a town, they have fun things to do. They have free festivals all the time. I know that for me, exploring downtown opened my eyes to how amazing my college town is.
Go to the college sporting games
Athletic teams love to see supporters at games, especially when they are the students. Be proud of the student-athletes for going to school and being able to represent your University in such a special way.
Go outside your comfort zone
“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” –Neale Donald Walsch
A very bright man once told me this quote and I was taken away by it. Wow, my life is actually going to start when I stop acting just like everyone else. I can tell you from personal experience that I would never have been able to talk in front of a rather large group if it wasn’t for getting out of my comfort zone.
Learn time management
I know we all want to think that we have an endless amount of time but we really don’t. If you want to be in three organizations, do it! But, don’t forget about the reason you are in college. You want that degree, don’t you? Make time for your schoolwork. Don’t make your life all work and no play, but also be responsible with your time.
Find a study buddy
Find somebody who looks like they know what is going on. I found at least one person in every single class to be there for me if I had questions. If they had questions, I wouldn’t mind answering their questions for them. Go to a tutoring session together so you can better understand the class material or learn little tricks to pass the exams with the grades that you want. You never know if that same study buddy will be in a future class.
Go to your professor’s office hours
They aren’t scary. Coming from one of the shyest people you will meet, I am telling you that you need to go talk to your professors. Don’t wait until the week before finals and go beg for your professor to help your grade out. The students that actually go to their professor’s office throughout the semester will show their drive and their want to succeed and the professor will realize that and will help you out to the best of their abilities.
Promote your university on social media
Where do most people find out the new gossip? Social Media! Promote your unCiversity; make your friends who went to another University jealous of how much fun your university is. Did you go to an amazing event put on by SGA? Take a picture and post it! You never know who will see your post and realize how amazing your university is and end up attending school there the next year.
Don’t:
Go home every weekend
Yes, I understand you miss your friends and family. I missed home cooked meals the most, but you shouldn’t go home every weekend. You will miss out on so many wonderful opportunities that college has to offer. Your university knows that you don’t have class on weekends, that’s why they hold different events on the weekends to keep you intrigued with college life. Yes, please visit your family if you can, but maybe stay around a few weekends and venture out and meet new people.
Pack too much stuff
I’m a girl, so I feel like over packing is in my genes. When I tell you I over packed, I’m not even lying. You will be surprised by all the free t-shirts you receive during your first few weeks of school. So, packing that shirt you’ve had since 6th grade probably isn’t a good idea. I had the mentality that I would be in school for a long time, so I must need to bring a lot of clothes and all my shoes need to feel my love. Reality check, you do wash your clothes and honestly only wore about 5 pairs of shoes the whole semester. Don’t make moving out of your dorm more work than it needs to be.
Waste your meal plan
If you live on campus you are probably paying for a meal plan. There is no need to go grocery shopping every weekend for a ton of food when you have good quality food right in the cafeteria. Yes, I understand it isn’t your grandma’s home cooking, but it is food and it is edible. Don’t waste your meal plan.
Judge a book by its cover
Your university has so much to offer. There are students from all over the world and each student has a story. Listen to someone’s story before you go straight to thinking something about him or her that is probably wrong. Everyone just wants to feel wanted and if you completely avoid someone because of what you think you know about him or her, you could miss out on a friendship of a lifetime.
Lower your standards
We all have standards, whether we want to admit it or not. It could be for what we want to see in a significant other or it could be what you expect in a friendship. Just because you are in a new environment doesn’t mean that you have to conform to those people’s ways.
Skip class
But really, you are literally throwing money away when you skip class.
The professors will get paid whether you are in class or not. Why would you want to waste your money? Instead, you could just go to class, learn the information, make a good grade on the exams, and get a degree.
Procrastinate
A semester will go by WAY faster than you think it will. That essay that you think you have such a long time until it is due will creep up on you and you will wonder where the time went. Once you receive the syllabus for your classes, grab yourself a planner and write down when everything is due. I know this sounds like a lot of work but really; do you want to be in college for 4 years or 6 years?
Forget about your family
Your family loves seeing you have fun in your college town, but they also like to hear your voice. I’m not saying you have to talk to them every single day, but maybe instead of watching that next episode on Netflix, you can call your mawmaw and ask her how her day is going.
