Hello, and welcome to college! Let me be the first to tell you that college is completely different from high school; in some ways better, and some ways worse. College is a crazy roller coaster with ups and downs, but ultimately it’s the best four (or more if you’re lucky) years of your life. Here are a few reasons why.

You get to pick your classes and your schedule. Yeah there are Gen Eds you have to fulfill, but you get to choose those classes (most of the time). If you want to take a Music Appreciation class, you totally can! You also get to manipulate your classes so that they fit whatever schedule you have. If you’re lucky you could be done by 12:00 every day. Yes, it’s fun because you have a ton of freedom, but this freedom can also hurt you. No one is going to make you go to class every day; it is your responsibility to get your butt up and go to class. Your professors aren’t going to baby you anymore; if you miss important material in class, it is your job to get it from your classmates. They see you as an adult, and as much as you don’t feel like one, you have to act like you are.

You can eat whatever you want, whenever you want. There are dozens of places to eat around campus. If you really wanted to, you could eat cheeseburgers and fries everyday next year. That does come with consequences: freshman 15 (or 50 if you’re really unlucky) is definitely a real thing. Your mom isn’t there to nag you about eating your vegetables or drinking your milk. My advice to you: get a few vegetables at dinner (they won’t kill you), get a salad from the Salad Bar for lunch every once in a while, and don’t get dessert every night. Those extra hundred calories aren’t worth it.

Join a club. I know you’re probably tired of hearing this, but getting involved on campus really makes your college career one to remember! Whether that be Greek Life, student government, or intramural sports, I bet your school has it. Getting involved is a great way to meet people because you are not guaranteed to have friends in college. If you just go to class then go home every day, you probably won’t get to know many people.

Make yourself known. More often than not, your professors won’t make an effort to get to know you. It is your job to go up and introduce yourself to your professor. Sometimes that makes the difference between a B and an A. Also, if you really like a class or a professor, chances are they like you. This could be really helpful down the road in your college career when you are trying to get a grown-up job. You can use these professors as references, and in order for them to give you a good reference, they have to know who you are. If they don’t they will either give a generic response or be honest and say they don’t know who you are. By just going up and introducing yourself to your professor, you could be opening all sorts of doors for yourself.

If you take anything out of this, just know that you are paying a lot of money for your college education. Every class you miss, every assignment you don’t turn in, and God forbid, every class you fail, costs you money. College is a time to have fun, but just remember that you aren’t there to just party; your main priority is to get your education.