As the final semester of my freshman year comes to an end, I’m reflecting on the many things I will miss about this unique period and, admittedly, a few things I am happy to leave behind. As I prepare to say goodbye to my dorm room, my classes and my out-of-state friends for the summer, I can’t help but reflect on my first year at Virginia Tech and think about all the advice I would give if I could go back and talk to my terrified first-semester self. Here are the five things I would tell my first-semester self as my freshman year comes to a close:
- Don’t expect to be adjusted by week one
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Before coming to college, I had spent time away from home — even staying by myself for weeks when the rest of my family was away for the summer — and I had never grown homesick. I consider myself a pretty independent person, and I was used to moving around and adapting to new places, so I had sort of expected moving to college to be easier for me than it was for the other less-independent people I knew. I was shocked and somewhat disappointed in myself when I grew extremely homesick in the first few months, thinking I was ruining my own experience while everyone around me enjoyed themselves. However, after talking to my friends — even the ones I had compared myself to in terms of adjustment level — I realized that everyone gets homesick and that adjusting to freshman year is a process. Now that I’m more comfortable with my surroundings and being on my own, I would tell myself that it’s okay to go through the motions of adjusting to such a drastic life change and that the fun aspects of college will still be waiting for you once you finish.
- Be open-minded
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Secondly, being open-minded was one of the most beneficial choices I made during my first semester in two ways. First, it’s extremely difficult to adjust to a new life at college if you are constantly comparing your friends and experiences to the ones you had at home. I knew multiple people who were guilty of making these comparisons, myself falling victim at some points, and it made it impossible to enjoy the new additions that came with life at college. I would remind my first-semester self to stay open-minded because not every friend you make or experience you encounter will be the same as the ones at home, and that’s okay. The beauty of college is that you get to meet people from different areas and backgrounds, and staying open-minded about the various types of people entering your life helps you relish the novelty of these experiences. Secondly, tackling this chapter with an open-mindset also meant being open to clubs and activities I had never considered joining in high school. I think coming to college with an open mind about exploring different majors, meeting different people and considering joining Greek life and other organizations instead of writing them off is what helped make my freshman year experience as rich as I could, and I would remind myself to get out of my comfort zone and say yes to more things.
- Stop listening to sad music
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While this may not be a universal experience, at least for me, I comforted myself through any homesickness or hard times by listening to my carefully curated playlist of sad songs. I soon learned, though, that listening to Taylor Swift repeat “Wish I’d never grown up” over and over didn’t exactly leave me optimistic about this new chapter. I was never going to feel happy about all the great things around me if I was constantly listening to heartbreaking songs. After switching to more lighthearted music, I found my mood improved drastically. So, I would tell my first-semester self to “fake it till you make it” because listening to upbeat songs on my way to class helped me move past any sadness and open my eyes to all there was to be happy about.
- Spend some time figuring out what you want to do
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Throughout such a whirlwind of a year, it is easy to get wrapped up in the joy of newfound freedom, late nights with friends, homesick days and a million new other experiences. However, if I could go back, I would remind myself that — at the end of the day — college is a place to learn and figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life. While you don’t have to stress about having everything figured out right off the bat — many people change their majors two to three times before graduation — I would remind myself to devote some time to taking classes I am interested in and learning all I can about what future career I might want to pursue. If the next three years fly by as fast as this one has, it’s only a matter of time before these decisions become real.
- When CHOOSING a ROOMMATE/ classes, know yourself
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Finally, while it’s important to venture outside of your comfort zone in college, when choosing a roommate and building a schedule, I think it’s also important to know yourself and your tendencies. While the rose-colored aspiration that you can move to college and become a different person is appealing, you’re still you, so having a schedule and roommate that coincide with your habits and preferences help make this transitional period more comfortable. I have never been an early riser — in fact, I usually fall victim to the 4:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. sleep schedule — but for some reason, my ambitious first-semester self thought I could handle early classes. While I am not endorsing a poor sleep schedule in any way, I think it’s important to take your habits and preferences into account when building your schedule because it is your personal learning experience. If later classes help you learn to the best of your abilities, you should not be afraid to cater your schedule to your needs. Additionally, I have always been fairly messy and somewhat shy. When choosing a roommate, I told myself I could abandon my messy habits and pressured myself to choose a roommate who was more outgoing than me even if I was intimidated by them. In the end, I decided on a roommate who wasn’t obsessively clean or intimidatingly outgoing, and I thank myself for that every day. So, when I was scrolling through Instagram and Facebook posts for the class of 2026, I would tell myself to remember who you are when choosing a roommate because even if you don’t end up being best friends, sharing your space with someone you are comfortable around makes the experience much more enjoyable.
Overall, as the year winds down I can truly say that, though it was difficult at some points, I did enjoy my freshman year at Virginia Tech. While I can’t go back and tell myself what I know now, I’m thankful for what I have learned, and I can’t wait to apply this knowledge as I enter my second year of college in the fall.