Up until move-in day, freshman year and college life seem like a mystical concept you can’t seem to grasp quite yet. It’s a big transition, and you’ll be finding yourself anxiously anticipating the start of your new life away at college. Naturally, you’ll find yourself turning to online sources and older friends who have already experienced it all for some insight. However, not everyone’s experience is going to be the same, and for some reason, these next eight myths that are to be discussed have managed to weave themselves into everyone’s expectations for college. It’s time to crack down and get to some debunking!
1. You’ll become best friends with your roommate(s)
While becoming best friends with your roommate would be nice, it doesn’t happen to everyone. People are vastly different, and being shoved into a room for a year with a complete stranger doesn’t always equal sunshine and rainbows.
2. You’ll go to every party there is, and there are parties on every street.
This is what I had imagined college being like, until I actually got there and realized that it’s mostly just frat row and some houses interspersed throughout town holding parties. Also, I quickly learned that instead of going to parties, most students over 21 just frequented the bars.
3. You’ll never EVER skip class.
A wise man once told me, “Sometimes there are more important things to do than go to class.” Although it’s not an everyday occurrence, sometimes there really are better things to do. Weigh the two costs when you have to choose between going to class or not. Will going to class actually improve your grade, or can you do without it this one day? I’ve found that skipping once in a while doesn’t do much harm.
4. The food at the DC is worth the $12/meal that you’re paying for.
Sigh. It’s really not (quality-wise), although the vast quantity of food options they have is pretty nice. Most people opt out of the DC life after freshman year, but I’ve found it to be extremely helpful during periods when I don’t have time to make food.
5. You’ll still be the smartest one in class, just like in high school.
Wrong. I remember that this was one of the first things I realized upon coming into college. Smart people are coming in from all corners of the world, meaning that you really have to up your game to get those A’s.
6. College will never change anything about you.
Just wait. It will. The people around you will change you, your classes will change you, everything you’re exposed to will change you…hopefully for the better.
7. “Easy A” classes mean that you can just drift along and automatically get an A.
Absolutely, positively not. Easy A classes are really just classes where you have to put in slightly less hours of work in every day to get an A; these are the “easier” (and sometimes more interesting) classes in college.
8. You HAVE to join a sorority or else you won’t make any friends.
For some, joining a sorority means making lifelong friends. For others, the thought itself is terrible. You really don’t have to join a sorority to make friends, but if it’s your style and you have the money, then try it out.
Thumbnail courtesy of Pexels.