Things I learned in my first year of college
This is more for my reference than anything else, but if you find this info helpful then cool. The ones with *** are the one I found most important or didn’t find on the internet when I was looking for tips.
***Your feet will hurt from walking around so much. Don’t bother getting new shoes to cope because by the time you break those in you’ll be used to walking around. Save that money for food.
***Go to career fair. You’ll probably not get the internship or job your first year, but at least you’ll know how to dress yourself, research companies, and present yourself.
Go to club meeting where a company rep is present. Company reps have insane memory. They’ll remember you. Especially if you go see them every time. Helpful for when you’re applying.
Get a foam mattress topper.
Don’t have a crush. You’ll waste so much time thinking about it it’s not even funny.
Make friends. Make connections. Have fun. Get lit (safely).
Always plan your safe ride home or you’ll spend $56.50 on an uber at 3 am.
Use the free bus rides you get with your tuition.
Always ask for student discounts.
***Don’t just do academics. Having a 4.0 is cool and all, but no company or grad school wants you if that’s the ONLY thing you did.
***Be busy. When you’re busy, you manage your time better and be more productive instead of procrastinating because “oh that test is in like a week and I have nothing to do besides that so I’ll do it later.”
***Know your limits. You can’t handle being actively involved in 5 clubs and school. You’ll kill yourself in the process. Limit yourself to 3 clubs because it only gets harder from here.
Join clubs. Find something besides just academics that peaks your interests. It’ll make you a better student and expand your views.
Join one fun club like a sorority and one serious club like business council.
Work out. You’ll gain weight if you don’t. Set a routine in the summer so you can follow during the year when things get busy.
Be safe. Let’s be real, it’s college and there’s drugs and alcohol everywhere. If you choose to do it, be safe about it. Here’s some safety tips.
Always use a condom. Get them free from your university health center.
If you’re gonna drink for the first time, do it at home or somewhere that you are comfortable and know
If you’re gonna do drugs, again do it at home or a safe environment
Don’t ever leave your open drink unattended. Get a new one if you do.
You know when someone is sleazy or creepy. Stay away. If they’re persistent, give a fake name or number, get some random girls to let you (Oh jessica we’re leaving lets go), or straight up get away
Never go somewhere alone at night. Even if you have pepper spray.
Visit your family at least twice a semester if you can. They miss you and do a lot for you. Go visit them. I visited mine once a month because empty nest syndrome is real.
Don’t study where your friends are. You’ll get distracted because when it’s 3 am and your getting sick of studying, procrastinating with friends seems super fun.
***Study with a group. Sounds counter intuitive considering my last tip, but for things like ochem, engineering classes, business projects, or whatever, the classes are designed that if you don’t work in groups you will fail. Find a group of people/friends that are actually productive for studying and stick with it. Form a study squad. Join with other squads from time to time.
Don’t eat out a lot. You’ll get fat and broke.
Drink lots of water. Refillable water bottles ftw.
Get off your phone in class. No you can’t pay attention and listen at the same time.
Email your professors. Go to extra review sessions. When you’re .04 off from getting an A this will help you.
***ONLY go to TA sessions if they grade the work and/or actually help you learn. Some TA’s are garbage because they’re required to do it for grad school. But they grade your stuff and if you’re one the few people who’s name they know, that’ll definitely help you. If you learn nothing from them and they don’t grade your stuff, don’t waste your time.
Sleep. That all nighter is worse for you than not knowing anything. Cram the best you can and at least get 3 hours.
Save your notes. You’ll never know when you’ll need it, if your friend needs it, or sell it.
***Use a notebook. Don’t write notes on loose leaf paper. You’ll lose track of it. If you take notes on a laptop, use onenote or something idk I have math and science notes, I can’t take that on a laptop.
If you’re business or something along the line of that, look nice to class. Everyone else is too. Don’t have a professor notice you for your scrubbiness. Comb your hair, throw on some mascara, and wear whatever makes you feel good to class.
***If you’re stem or something like that, don’t worry to much about looking nice. Unlike business, the professor is probably dressed scrubbier than you. If you look nice, cool, you’ll get noticed for not being scrubby like everyone else.
***Have desk space. You’re gonna have your laptop, a million papers, and studying utensils out. Have the space for it so you don’t go crazy trying to look for stuff.
***Have a planner. The most important one. Whether it is hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, or whatever, have one. You have a lot of stuff to do, and you can’t remember it all. Buy one, print one, use google calender, doesn’t matter just have it.
This might not work for everyone, because some of you are these highly motivated studious students that has their life together, which is awesome please teach me your ways, but if you’re a mess like me, these are some tips I wish I found on a studyblr or college tips.
