I am now a senior in college. I officially feel like I’ve been through enough to offer some tips
and tricks to making your transition to college as smooth as can be. There are definitely a lot of
high highs of college but also a lot of low lows. For anyone looking at potential colleges right
now, I am going to give you some tips that I wish I knew for the college picking process along
with living on campus freshman year.
Do your research
I did not do a lot of research before I picked my college. I toured 2 schools after doing little to no
research and made my decision pretty much based on the “vibes” of the campus and how pretty
the campus was. Looking back knowing what I know now I definitely wished I’d researched
what the schools have to offer, graduation rates, if you already know what you want to do look
up what these potential schools have to offer for your specific major. I also recommend reading
some testimonies about students living on campus because the brochure and tour guides will only
show the good and in order to be satisfied with your decision you need to know both sides of the
story.
Put yourself out there
Freshman year is most definitely something I would do over if I had the chance. I was always a
shy kid growing up, but when I got to college that simple shyness around new people blossomed
into full blown social anxiety around anyone and everyone. I was alone so much that it became
the norm for me. I wasn’t close with my roommate at all (but that’s another story for another
day) so it was up to me to go out there and find all these friends, which did not happen. I made
one friend pretty much my entire freshman year and that’s only because we sat next to each other
during orientation and were forced to talk to each other and ended up finding out that not only
were we the same major but we also ended up having every class together the first semester. We
were both new to the state so I would say we leaned on each other during our freshman year for
the big culture shock that is college. I didn’t really go out and do anything because I was too shy
so my advice would be to push through that shyness and reach out to anyone and go to
everything because you will eventually meet someone. Join all the clubs you can and
NETWORK!
Do not pack your entire bedroom/closet for your dorm
I promise you that you do not need to pack every single pair of jeans that you own. You might
think you need your high school apparel but you DON’T. Honestly I thought kids dressed up
everyday to go to classes and that is so far from true. I spent my entire freshman year alternating
between different baggy t-shirts and whatever pair of running shorts that I had that were clean.
Remember quality over quantity, you’ll thank me later – especially when it’s time to pack
everything up and take it home when the school year is over. Also bring a good pair of sneakers
because you will be doing a lot of walking.
Don’t go crazy in the campus bookstore on merch
You’re in college and you’re excited to be there and you just want to show off your school, trust
me I get it. So you go crazy in the book store and buy tons of shirts with the school name
plastered all over it along with keychains, computer stickers, etc. The farther you get in your
college career the more you won’t want to sport your school name with every outfit so now you
have all this wasted merch sitting in your drawers that you only really wear to bed or around the
house. It’s cool to buy a couple of things but don’t over do it. Save your money.