Change is never easy, especially when college comes around: for your parents and guardians, it means letting (or pushing) their baby out of the nest. For you, it means new people, new places, and new expectations. When you’re 18 and moving out for the first time, you’re sure to feel everything from joy to stress to (maybe just a little) fear. But whether or not you’re jazzed to hit the quad, I can guarantee you college life won’t be what you expect. Here are five tips (from a senior) to keep in mind as a freshman.
Tip No. 1: Know The School’s Policies And I don’t mean all its policies. All school rules are important, sure, and you should be aware of and heed them, but academia is the reason you’re in college in the first place. Knowing the ins and outs of things like the add-drop, withdrawal and academic standing policies can really help if you get in trouble, especially during your first semester. Most students go through a period of grade-dipping when they first get to college: their essay and test scores aren’t as high because they’re still adjusting to the new workload. You should be fine as long as your grades don’t tank, but you should know what resources are available to you if your GPA takes a nose-dive. Tutoring is a great option if you just need an extra push, but I would consider dropping or withdrawing from a course that you often do poorly in.
Tip No. 2: Communicate With Your Roommate. I stayed in my dorm a lot my freshman year. It was my first time on my own and I struggled with balance: my sleep schedule went bonkers and I slept through classes. My laundry was a mess. I had no idea how to take care of myself and I had a horrible time making friends. Everyone on our side of the floor loved my roommate, who was the complete opposite of me: spunky, outgoing and much more well-adjusted. That said, she had a hard time telling me that the things I was doing were bothering her. While I felt ashamed and alone, to her I was a problem she wasn’t sure how to fix. Because my messy self was in our room all the time, she never felt it was her room, too. Our resident assistant got involved. What resulted was a lot of hurt feelings between my roomie and me, especially since we went into things expecting to be friends.
My second roommate was amazing. She helped push me to fix myself and be a better person. We were on the same wavelength, both introverts and both open to the other’s feelings. As communication went smoother, so did the school year. The best part? We barely knew each other before moving in together. We’d selected one another, as my first roommate and I had the previous year, but this time, another step was involved. I made sure that our lifestyles were compatible, that we were looking for the same things in a roommate. We laid ground rules when needed and were never afraid to talk to each other. Had I known how to communicate then as well as I do now, maybe freshman year would have gone differently. When choosing a roommate, my first tip will always be to go with someone you’re compatible with — and I don’t mean just personality. A nice roommate can be good, but if their living habits are as atrocious as mine were (and that’s not okay with you), problems will bubble up fast. Live with someone you can live with in the long term, and if you find you’re having issues, don’t hesitate to speak up (in the nicest way you can).
Tip No. 3: Take Care of Yourself Please for the love of all that is good and righteous, do not mess up your sleep schedule. Take it from me, it’s no joke. But in addition to my sleep issues, I gained anywhere between 20-30 pounds in my first year. I became complacent and lazy and a lot of the clothes I brought with me no longer fit. Worse was my self-esteem drop; I was already pretty fragile before I came to college, and losing control of myself just made it worse.
You don’t have to be a gym junkie, but I would definitely pay more attention to yourself than I did. I’m still in the process of balancing self-care and responsibility three years after I first came to campus, so any leg up you can get I seriously consider taking. There should be a gym somewhere on campus, but if that’s not your thing, do some workouts in your room when your roommate isn’t around. Take the stairs. Eat as well as you can and drink plenty of water. Be sure to do laundry regularly and shower as often as you realistically need (not as often as you think you need). Set reminders in your phone or make a buddy system to keep yourself accountable and to give yourself that extra push. If you can keep up with healthy habits, you’ll thank me (and yourself) later.
Tip No. 4: Go To Class No, seriously. Go to class. This goes hand-in-hand with the “academics being the reason you’re here” thing. It’s what you’re paying all that money for, and it’s the easiest thing you can do to pass. You get 10 percent or more of your grade just for showing up and you learn the material in a broader, deeper way than you can by only reading the textbooks. Sure, you can pass some classes by handing in the work and doing nothing else, but you’re short-changing yourself that way. You miss a lot by missing a lot, and you’ll pay for it in the long run.
Tip No. 5: Have Fun! All this talk about responsibility and adulthood can make college life sound boring. It doesn’t have to be! Your time in college will be some of the happiest years of your life. When push comes to shove, you get out what you put into it, so enjoy it while you can. Make friends and pursue your passions; the only thing stopping you is you. Don’t stretch yourself too thin, but don’t hesitate to go after what you want, either. The real key is balance, which you never stop learning. As long as you persevere, though, the trials you’ll face don’t stand a chance.