Now that it is April, there is officially only one month left of my freshman year of college. I am astounded at how quickly my first year of college has gone by, a feeling that I'm sure my fellow freshmen can relate to. Although I spent the first half of my year at one college and the second half at a different one, I have learned more from my freshman year than I have in all of my four years of high school combined. College throws you into situations that you are nowhere near prepared for, but are required to figure out in order to survive.

Here are just a couple of things that I believe were essential to my freshman year of college.

1. High school does not prepare you for college, no matter what anyone says.

College is at a much more difficult level than anything you've been required to do before. The work is harder, you're living in a place that is not your own home, and you're in an environment that is unlike anything you have ever been in before. However, you will quickly come to call your school your home.

2. Learn how to study.

This was one of my biggest issues coming into college. I went through high school hardly studying at all, maybe once or twice for my regents exams. When I came to college, I realized that I was going to have to learn more effective study habits because, without those skills, going to school will be 10 times harder for you.

3. Take advantage of the free resources that are provided for you.

This is the only time in your life when you can go to the gym or go see a counselor for free. These things will be expensive in real life, so take advantage of them now.

4. Get involved.

I am speaking from the experience of not getting involved my first semester of college, and it definitely was a mistake. If there's one thing that I could change about my freshman year of college, it would be to get more involved on campus. A lot of time during my first semester was spent in my dorm building and not much anywhere else. I think it would have been greatly beneficial to my first year to be involved in an extra curricular activity.

5. Appreciate the time you get to spend at home.

There's a saying that goes like "college makes you appreciate being home, and being home makes you appreciate being at college." This statement is so true because there are benefits to being at home as well as there are to being at school. Being in each place makes you appreciate the other a little bit more.

While these are not the only things that I learned during my freshman year, they are some of what I believe to be the most important things to remember when coming into college.