Currently within my senior year as a student at UK, there are multiple things I wish someone had pulled me aside and told me before starting my freshman year as a student to and warn and decrease the amount of struggle I experienced. From not using up all of my skips to simply just asking your professor for help, here are four of those various little things i’d definitely drill into an upcoming freshman’s head.
- Explore your options and don’t be in such a rush to choose a major and minor
My freshman year I basically had no idea whatsoever what direction I wanted to go in and what major I wanted to choose. Being good at writing basically led to journalism being the first thing that popped into my head when my advisor grilled me on choosing a major and choosing psychology as my minor. Journalism, great choice! But psychology on the other hand, so random and so not me. Now in my final year of college I wish I had known the importance of truly looking into the various majors and minors. Finding the right major and minor for yourself that you are genuinely interested in is so much more beneficial for yourself over worrying like I was about your answer being “undecided” when constantly asked what your major is.
- Stay focused and get serious early on
It’s safe to say I was definitely still in that high school mind set my freshman year or I was constantly thinking “eh, I’ve got three more years.” Still a procrastinator today, I wish I had known the importance of truly being the best student I could be my freshman and even sophomore year. No matter what year you are in college how you perform as a student affects your college career and education. The stress of falling behind can definitely affect you in the present and in the future and it is truly not worth it!
- Seriously, don’t use all of your skips so fast!
You could probably call me the skip queen after how much I use those three little skips you’re guaranteed for each class. One thing i’ve learned forsure is to break these skips up and to ONLY use them on those days where you literally cannot get out of bed, you’re sick, or if you just wanna reward yourself. Using your skips up way too soon in the semester is not the best idea and I could have totally use this helpful little tip before starting my freshman year.
- Ask for help
Yes, I’m sure we can all agree that we’ve had those classes where you’ve never struggled so much more in your entire life, your grade is struggling, and at that point you are pretty much hopeless. Asking for help or simply just talking to your professor and being honest has actually been one of the most helpful things i’ve done throughout college. Trying to slide on by and hope your grade will magically go up is definitely not what I would suggest after my freshman year. As long as you are truly putting in the hard work, your professor will literally be there to help you out a little.