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Free Advice To College Freshmen
It’s Labor Day weekend, which means that professors are brushing off their dress robes, administrators are running around campus like mad men, parents are dealing with a simultaneous rush of emotions and emptying of wallets, and college freshmen are being herded from one orientation event to another while desperately trying to figure out more important things — like where their classes will be, what time the dining hall closes, and how a laundry machine works.
Those vital matters aside — what, you think I’m kidding? — college presents a number of challenges to young people for which they’re often unprepared. Many of us have been there — some recently, some a long time ago — and all of us wish we’d heard more and listened with greater attention. So, in 200 words or less, what should a frosh know and remember over the next four years?
Academics: In choosing a major, consider both what you’re passionate about and what will help you make a living. Despite the airy nonsense you’ll hear this week, these need not be the same thing. Very few people manage that feat, and those who do are either exceptionally skilled, very lucky, or have weird tastes. If you’re not one of those fortunate few, consider a dual major, or a major/minor combination, half of which addresses something that stimulates your mind while the offer half ensures that can finance your future enjoyment of it.
Alcohol: If you’re going to drink — which, for the sake of legality, I should remind you is illegal if you’re under 21— don’t be stupid about it. Getting blind drunk is overrated and wildly foolish if you’re in company you don’t know and trust. If you’re new on campus, then you don’t know or trust anyone that well yet. Also, if someone hurts you while you’re plastered, it may not be your fault, but you’ll still be responsible for the consequences.
Dating: Keep it casual, uncomplicated, and wide-ranging, at least for the first year. The rest of your life will afford you ample opportunity for serious relationships and sex. College, however, offers an unique opportunity to meet, mingle, and date tons of other people who are conveniently located and relatively unencumbered by responsibility. Play that field hard and try to discover what you like, what you don’t, what you have to offer, and what you need to work on. This is much easier to do when you can compare your experiences with a variety of romantic partners than it is when you only have a few and it needn’t involve sex. Suffice to say, if you don’t leave college without having made-out with a lot more people than you’ve had sex with — if any at all — you’ve squandered a real opportunity.
Image Credit: Flickr user CollegeDegrees360.
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If you see a sudden drop in the squirrel population, then it’s fajita night.
I would add a serious one: If you truly do not have an idea of what you want your major to be, consider putting off school for a semester or a year. You’ve just come out of 12 straight years of work, you might be feeling burned out, and a stint at a job, or 4 years in the military might help you find that focus. You’ll come back with focus, and focus means better grades.
Don’t feel rushed to declare a major day one. You have time to sample a variety of subjects to find out what you actually want to focus on. I didn’t declare a major until my junior year.
Join the co-ed intramural wrestling team. If there isn’t one, start one.
This should come with the caveat that you need not “play the field” at all. If you are not the outgoing social type, the notion of having an even wider range of people do deal with can be terrifying. In that case find a good small core of friends, compatible people will accumulate.
You might also meet the right person pretty early on. I met my wife-to-be 4 weeks in, as did one of my freshman year neighbors. If you focus too much on “playing”, out of fear that you might miss something, you could miss what’s right in front of you.
Yes it can be. But there’s something to be said for facing your fears.
If you’re not the outgoing social type (and I wasn’t, so wasn’t), perhaps that’s even more reason to force yourself to find some opportunity to meet large numbers of the opposite sex in a relatively safe environment. Attending, say, the free lessons and dances offered by various campus partnered-dancing societies (ballroom, tango, swing, etc) at least forces you into physical contact with several members of the opposite sex, probably a good thing if you’re painfully shy.
On the other hand, the more inebriated parties are probably best avoided – you’re not going to be seeing members of the opposite sex in their best light (black lights and strobes are hard on the eyes anyway).
At the end of 4 years you’ll probably be a Junior.
Agreed. A party where a bunch of strangers get blackout drunk doesn’t count as a “relatively safe environment” in my book.
Now, being around a bunch of people you already know who are quite drunk, that can be fun. Though if you’re a gal, you’re still better off being one of the relatively sober ones.
One piece of advice. If you take a science class, whatever the subject might be, Issac Asimov has written a short and highly readable book about it. Read that first. Then you’ll understand it. Most science textbooks are cruel jokes, more likely to confuse than educate.
Studying tip, and it works. NEVER pull an all-nighter before exams. Read and study your work every single day, and quit studying around 9PM the night before a test. If you get a good night’s sleep before any test, you will remember more about the subject when the test comes. I was a Psychology major, and I learned this from academic work and personal experience.
The professor is more important than the course description. A class that sounds fascinating in the catalog will be deadly dull if taught by a dull professor, while a great professor can make practically any subject interesting. Ask around, ask seniors in your major who they liked and hated.
One trick is to sign up for an extra class, then drop the least interesting class after a week or two.
Since I self-identify as a non-college graduate, I hereby file my formal protest against any encouragement for people to attend college.
Be good. If you can’t be good be careful.
It really is more fun in the back of the room.
But the first time one of the jocks hits you up to “help with homework,” smack him down. You won’t have to do it a second time.
1) Don’t get behind in your studies (sounds simple, but it isn’t).
2) Hand write your class notes (sounds primitive, but it works).
Important: life is an adventure. Have fun!!!
uh, there really isn’t “dating” anymore at college. It’s the “hookup culture” and it’s not pretty.
“Very few people manage that feat, and those who do are either exceptionally skilled, very lucky, or have weird tastes.”
Man, how I envy these people.
While you won’t likely have an opportunity in the Fall semester, try this experiment at least once. Spend as much time researching the professors for your upcoming classes as you do researching the girl/guy you like. You’ll be amazed what you find out, and it will get you to take some classes you won’t have necessarily picked.
Really, really, really think about studying abroad. I fell into the trap of not wanting to “miss anything” and missed out on a great opportunity. Start laying the ground work freshman year.
All the people you meet and become best friends with in the first two weeks will be complete strangers (including your roommates) by Halloween. Don’t sweat it.
While college will be a time for new opportunities and new explorations, it may also be a time of quiet despair where you feel like you don’t fit in anywhere. Take the chance though to get yourself grounded in some things that are familiar and good. If you have been a churchgoer all your life, get yourself connected to a good church and an on campus organization if you’re inclined to and help out. If you’re accustomed to charitable volunteer efforts, find some organizations with values similar to yours and share some sweat with others. If you’ve been involved in music or sports, find some school clubs that help tie you in.
Involvement with any of these will not only help you acclimate to your new surroundings, but will help you develop community with other students that you might not come across in your classes and develop a relationship with those who live in the surrounding areas who are not students or related to the school. Even if you have no intention of staying where you attend school, the new relationships with those outside of the school may help you in times of trouble or discouragement and may assist you with your career as you near the end of your college time. The relationships you build in these side aspects may last you a lifetime.