1. THE BIGGEST LESSON EVER. Act like an adult and your professors will treat you like one. They know better than anyone what it’s like to be a student, so they’re hard to fool. Professors see you as adults so you need to do conduct yourself as an adult. Treat them as a mentor and don’t expect them to babysit you. Take initiative and responsibility. Be proactive. That’s how you earn their respect and they’re more likely to do favors for you because of it.
2. At my school, accessibility and accommodations were available to every student. Set a meeting with an accommodations advisor and talk through the issues you’re having with them. They at least should have resources to share if they can’t do anything else.
3. Learn how to send a proper email. You have strong vocabulary so this shouldn’t be difficult for you, but if you email professors like an adult they are more likely to treat you like one.
4. For me, kissing ass never worked in my favor. Authenticity and honesty with my professors is what actually got me the help I needed, not telling them what I thought they wanted to hear. Again, act like an adult and they’ll treat you like one.
5. I go to a massive school so this may not apply to you, but be very very careful with who you give permission to film you and use your image. In my experience it is almost always malicious and can come around to bite you in the ass.
6. If you have online classes, turn your camera on. Same thread of “act like an adult and they’ll treat you like one”.
7. Don’t let appearances fool you, everyone is studying and doing homework even if they don’t talk about it. Don’t let that enable you to not perform at your best.
8. At the end of the day, college is an individual race. If your group members are screwing you over, speak up. Especially if you’ve already earned your professors respect, this pays off in dividends. There’s tons of places to make friends, you don’t need to do it in the classroom if that will back you into a corner where your grade suffers.
9. Have fun :) don’t place too much pressure on yourself to meet social milestones. The “college is the best 4 years of your life” thing is bullshit. Adulting is hard and you don’t need to pretend it isn’t. Take it easy, have grace for yourself and do it all with integrity!
BAE... i'm sorry i took like 50000 years to reply to this (i was gatekeeping it) thank you so so much for being here for me and for taking the time to write this....i really really REALLY appreciate it <3 i think your last point is especially comforting because i've had that told to me so many times... i don't know about doing well in college etc because i haven't started yet, but i'll definitely keep your advice in mind and also try to be happy 😭 sounds really duh but i'm not used to considering my own happiness when it comes to the decisions i make, so i'm going to actively do that in college because i am my own person and i trust myself 🫂
THANK YOU SO MUCH again 🥹 i hope you're doing well you deserve the BEST
