people will tell you that you should dress up to make yourself feel more productive. honestly, if you need to go to class in sweats with yesterday’s mascara & a bucket of coffee, do it. whatever gets your ass to class is what works. truly, nobody cares what you look like.
if you’re going to drink, fine, but for the love of all things holy please have a sip of water between every sip of alcohol. I have lived by this rule for all of college and have never had a hangover once. it’s magic
don’t have one-night stands. it’s honestly such a bad idea. you never know what kind of STDs you could be setting yourself up for.
if you have a roommate problem, TALK ABOUT IT before you’re so close to exploding that the tiniest things set you off. your dorm or apartment should be a safe space for you, & only you can make that happen.
don’t be afraid to talk to your RA about … well, anything. they’re there to support you in your academic, personal, and relational life & they’re getting paid to do that.
eat fresh fruits & veggies at least twice a week. campus food might be more convenient than going to the grocery store, but the freshman 15 is so real.
if at all possible, give yourself a schedule break in the middle of the day so that you can regroup, eat some lunch, & do any extra assignments you didn’t have time to the night before
I HIGHLY recommend getting an on-campus job if at all possible. you’ll get something to put on your resume, get some extra cash in the bank, & make some faculty contacts
if you have a TA in a class - any class - hit them up. ask them to grab coffee with you. email them with questions, check on your grades, ask them how they’re doing, & say hi when you see them on campus. more often than not, TAs remain a completely untapped resource, but they have so much knowledge (& sometimes some extra influence in the gradebook) that it’s worth taking the time to get to know them
ALWAYS BRING CHAPSTICK & A WATER BOTTLE. I DON’T CARE WHERE. CLASS, A DATE, AN INTERVIEW, A FRIEND’S HOUSE, CANADA. EVERYWHERE.
if you didn’t shower this morning, fear not. a baseball cap & deodorant will mask most of yesterday’s bad decisions.
if you have a really important assignment coming up that you forgot about & need to pull an all-nighter for, pull the all-nighter. lots of people on here will tell you to email your professor about it - don’t. if you’re not emailing your prof until the night before with some made-up excuse, they will see right through you. suck it up & do your work. you can nap once your paper is safely turned in.
find a secret place to study and don’t tell anybody about it. the library will always be packed, the lawn outside the business building is sometimes too sunny, & all the best hammocking trees will occasionally be taken. you don’t have to study at your secret spot all the time, but when you need to, it will be there for you. For example, mine is the university president’s conference room, which I stumbled across accidentally when I was a sophomore. the facilities staff that cleans up there knows it’s a bad night when they see me, and they just tell me to make sure the door is closed when I leave. it’s an excellent working relationship.
it does not hurt to suck up to your professors like your life depends on it. they’ll know what you’re doing (if you’re not tactful), but that’s okay. they appreciate, in a weird sort of way.
bring 2 blankets with you to university, minimum: one big cozy one for inside or to sleep with, one big outdoor one to study on when the weather’s fine.
wash your pillowcases every time you do laundry. your acne won’t be as bad, & your extra makeup smears from last week’s kegger will be a thing of the past
try to keep your weekends mostly free of recurring obligations so that you can go on roommate mini-vacations, drive to the beach, explore your town, or have some you-time.
that’s all I got right now but I’ll probably make more of these posts tbh. let me know if you have any questions or input for future lists :)
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