Not a parent but here are some things I learned as a freshman a couple years ago:
- Laundry was harder than I thought. It was def an experience learning how to do that
- Things actually costed money. The amazon prime bill didn’t zero out by itself anymore. Took a quarter or two to learn how to budget for extra expenses.
- Learning to be flexible for whatever comes up. The predicable schedule of living at home and in high school went out the window once I got to school.
- Engineering isn’t easy. High school was easy and I thought engineering would be like a slightly harder high school. Adults and my parents always said AP classes were hard and when they said engineering would be tough I thought it was an exaggeration. First quarter I used high school study habits and spent too much time having fun/goofing off. Let’s say I quickly learned my lesson after final grads came out. Now I’ve learned how to manage my time much better. I had friends that went to UCLA for Poli Sci and Econ and they said it wasn’t too hard so I also assumed it would hold true for stem.