Dear College Freshman,
Time flies when you’re having fun, and it flies even faster when you’re in college.
Ideally, some of that time overlaps. As a freshman, I was hoping every moment of that time would. If “fun” and “my college experience” were a Venn diagram, it would just be a single perfect circle.
I tried to shape that circular Venn diagram with my bare hands. I thought college could be perfect and fun if I just tried hard enough.
Obviously, it didn’t work out. On the one hand, it’s nearly impossible to draw a perfect circle. On the other hand, life isn’t air-dry clay you can craft to perfection.
Yes, college is fun. But it’s a lot of other things, too.
Scary. Monotonous. Exciting. Lonely. Full of joy, friendships and new experiences. Confusing, and then even more confusing. And then maybe, you get these singular, beautiful moments of clarity where everything falls into place and everything makes sense.
Ultimately, college is transformative, whether you try to mold it that way or not. You’ll probably walk into the first day of classes as one person and walk across that graduation stage as someone completely changed.
As a senior reflecting on the past four years, I know I’ve changed. I’ve learned a lot, and there are some pieces of advice, some trivial, some significant, that I would have loved to have at eighteen.
So for first-year students out there, here’s a list of advice from a college senior.
Student Discounts
Make use of your status as a student. Between your student ID and your university email address, you can get a lot of stuff at a discounted price or even for free! (Think academic papers, discounts at local shops or events, online subscriptions…)
Don’t Skimp on Sleep
If you can help it, don’t pull all-nighters. Seriously, please don’t. Your health should always be your priority, and sleep hygiene is integral to that. If you really, truly have to stay up and study, at least take a nap or two to recharge.
Schedule the Appointment
Meet with your academic advisor regularly to make sure you’re taking the right courses to graduate on time. However, do your own research and familiarize yourself with your degree requirements because even counselors have blind spots.
Spending Habits
It can be really easy to suddenly spend a lot more than you mean to, without even realizing. Get used to budgeting and tracking expenditures.
Office Hours
Everyone’s right about this one: go to office hours and talk to your professors! Networking is one of the most important ways to secure opportunities. For example, through the right professor you could land an assistant role for their research work or obtain a great letter of recommendation for a future job.
Your College Years Aren’t Just About Classes
Don’t limit yourself to the classroom. Seek experience outside of it. Campus clubs are a great place to start. After that, talk to professors for research opportunities, network at conferences and events, intern over the summer break or work on an independent project.
Quantity or Quality?
Quantity over quality, until you find what works for you. What I mean by this is: experiment! Join a bunch of clubs, meet as many people as you can and take niche elective classes just to try something new and explore.
Then, focus on quality over quantity. Concentrate and invest your energy into a meaningful internship, dive deep into one research project, grow steadily by stepping gradually into greater and greater leadership roles within the same club. Showcase commitment, endurance and progression in what you do.
Not Everyone is Forever
Don’t pressure yourself to find the people you’re hoping to spend the rest of your life with. They may be there, and they may not. Connect with others anyways, no matter how transient the connection may be.
Clearing your Head
When you need to clear your head, go on walks around campus. It’s also a fun way to familiarize yourself with the college layout (and maybe stumble upon an interesting part of campus you’ve never seen before).
Party!
Party if you want to! But be safe about it and take your safety seriously.
It’s important to bring a healthy dose of security and responsibility to any night out. You want to be able to have fun while also protecting your health and future.
That means using the buddy system, pacing yourself through the event, planning your way around and knowing when to call it a night. And, of course, don’t let partying become more important than your degree.
Take it Easy
If you’re feeling lonely, trust that so, so many other students feel the same way. I promise.
Don’t be so hard on yourself. College is, for most people, an entirely new venture in life. It comes with new challenges and steep learning curves. Give yourself grace, try to not compare yourself to others and take care of yourself.
Easier said than done, I know, but being gentle with yourself is more productive than any amount of guilt or shame.
Capture the Moments
Something that I’m happy I did was keep a daily diary ever since my first day of college. I love that I can look back on every single day of my university life. College really does go by quickly, and so I’d recommend finding a way to preserve your memories from this time.
Some suggestions: creating a magazine, putting together a photo album, vlogging the experience, making a time capsule or keeping a diary like I did.
And one last word of advice: what worked best for me may not necessarily be what works best for you, so take my suggestions with a grain of salt. (Or a tablespoon.)
What college advice do you have to share or do you want to know? Let us know at @HerCampusSJSU!