<p>Great advice!</p>
<p>I believe this has been said already but it’s definitely worth mentioning once more: be very careful over what classes you decide to take your first term! I went into my first term thinking I could definitely handle advanced math and economics classes while learning how to speak Chinese. I was quickly proven wrong and was pretty much burnt out around midterms. Just because you took a bunch of advanced classes in high school doesn’t mean you have to kill yourself in college. Make room for fun. College is about more than just what you learn in class.</p>
<p>With that being said, be extremely careful with the party scene. Partying may be fun but it definitely takes a toll either on your health (excessive drinking or drug use is definitely not healthy) or on your schoolwork and personal life. Make sure to remain in control of your life.</p>
<p>omg…this freaks me out and excites me at the same time. great advice!</p>
<p>Another thing to remember about intense schedules - if you know you’re going to be playing a sport or participating in a time-consuming activity over any given semester, plan around it. It might be better to take the more challenging courses in a different semester and switch to a lighter load during the one where you have other commitments. This way, you can try some potentially fun classes and not kill yourself over the stress of hard courses/major extracurriculars.</p>
<p>thanks a lot.</p>
<p>I’ve only got one thing to add, since every other point seems to have been said so well. </p>
<p>If you go to a small school, be aware of your reputation! This is especially important the first couple weeks of your freshman year. Do you always want to be known as that girl who got really drunk and made some horrible mistakes? Do you want alcohol citations? And most importantly, do you want to walk into a room full of people you don’t know and hear them talking about you?</p>
<p>I watched a lot of my fellow freshman crash and burn, including one that got expelled. And, because there are only like 300 of us, I knew pretty much every dirty detail of other people’s lives just from the gossip at lunch/dinner. </p>
<p>It definitely made me more aware of my own actions. So, if I had any little bit of advice to next year’s freshman, it would be to be aware that things will come back to haunt you and people are often quick to judge you over one mistake.</p>
<p>More advice - </p>
<p>Take part in activities that you truly like! If you did a time consuming activity in high school (or even when you were younger) and you find that you don’t enjoy it in college any more, let it go. Life will go on and you will still be the person you’re, even if that activity shaped you in many ways.
Just because you did soccer all your life, doesn’t mean you have to continue doing it in detriment to other aspects of your life. It’s okay to not be the soccer star in your dad’s eyes anymore. Really.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice!</p>
<p>It’s ok to be excited about partying hard coming into college for the first week or so. But if you can’t find a reasonable balance between studying/hw and partying, you will be dropping out before your second semester.</p>
<p>Don’t fit your schedule around anything but your study/work life. </p>
<p>Sit up front, and build a relationship with your teacher. You don’t have to be that kiss ass who laughs at everything the prof says, but you should participate often, and ask questions when you have them. </p>
<p>If you’re really sick, email your professor and tell him that you can’t make it. There are two ways to approach sickness when you’re living on your own. You can either get the rest you need, and get better quickly. Or you can put your body under unnecessary stress and go to class when it isn’t absolutely necessary. </p>
<p>Always remember that unlike in HS, college professors (for the most part) want nothing more than to teach and help you. In high school there are a lot of teachers who make you jump through hoops and they give you a lot of chicken **** for the sake of chicken ****. College professors will gladly help you with anything, they’ll give you extensions on a paper if you need it, and they’ll understand if you need to miss class once or twice.</p>
<p>Tip 1: Do NOT assume that just because you got a 5 in [Insert AP courses here] and your college is still making you take it, that you do not need to attend lecture/study. I realized that college courses are far more thorough than any AP, but at a time way too late to recover my GPA. 
Tip 2: Find a place that works for you (e.g. a nearby park, rooftop, under a tree) that you can always go to to meditate/study/relax … Stress/tension builds up fast, and blowing steam at your roommate does NOT make things better, believe me. </p>
<p>Tip 3: If you’re going to a top-tier school far away from home, deflate your bloated ego, at least when you return home to visit your friends.</p>
<p>Tip 4: Use Google Calendar!!!</p>
<p>Tip 5: Try not to join a frat/sorority the first semester of freshman year unless your school uses pass/fail system or hides first semester grades.</p>
<p>Agreed with Kornpopz, Google Calendar is awesome.</p>
<p>Definitely see how your school deals with breaks. I didn’t even think that some colleges close down for Thanksgiving and Spring breaks. Luckily, mine does not. I have a fear of flying so I only go home for winter break. However, my younger brother had his heart set on a school that would also require at 3 hour flight home. Turns out not only does it close for Thanksgiving and Spring Break, but ALSO for Easter weekend. We’re Jewish so it’s not like we even celebrate and flying home for a weekend is a huge waste of money.</p>
<p>Also, keep in mind your storage options if you plan to study abroad. Last summer, I stored all of my stuff in an apartment I sublet locally for an internship. I’m studying abroad all of next year and am now looking at dropping a few hundred dollars to ship home literally everything I own. I’ll also have to find people to buy my TV and microwave since there’s no way I’m shipping those. I don’t have a car so I can’t even drive it all home.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for the list!</p>
<p>You’re welcome, everyone…it was fun! </p>
<p>One more thing (I just can’t seem to stop) - to avoid going home for every single break, MAKE FRIENDS WHO LIVE NEAR THE SCHOOL! Home is 3,000 miles away from me and plane tickets are much too expensive to fly more than at Christmas and for the summer. Luckily, I now have a standing invitation to stay with a friend 45 minutes away from school and another invitation to go home with someone who lives two hours away. The option is often there as long as you look for it.</p>
<p>Go to class. There is no way to make up for absences and missed information. Only miss class if you are ill or have some other very important obligation (like a funeral). If you MUST miss classes and you know in advance, discuss this with the professor in advance.</p>
<p>I’m not a college student but I lived in a college over the summer, and these apply to normal college environments too.</p>
<ol>
<li> Leave your door open when you’re just in your room hanging out- easier to meet people in your hall that way.</li>
<li> SHOWER SHOES. BRING SHOWER SHOES. Grab a pair of cheap flipflops or something.</li>
</ol>
<p>anyone have anything to say about being a commuter? Or dorming for 1 year only? Specifically nyu…</p>
<p>and is it true that the people you’re friends with freshman year may not be the same people in soph year?</p>
<p>SilverClover - would it cost less to rent a car and drive it back?</p>
<p>what sorts of extra curriculars did people particularly enjoy their frosh year?</p>
<p>This was great- Thanks!</p>