Things to know before freshman year of college

Just wanted to know what all I should be prepared for before starting college this fall. I’m not staying on campus if that helps. Thanks!

Making friends takes time and patience.

I wish I had known how challenging the first year would be. I’d always made straight As and didn’t expect the freshman year to be so hard. My advice would be to ask for help as soon as you need it. Don’t be afraid to go to profs’ office hours and get tutors if you need them. Work hard and don’t be tempted to party too much.

I second @MaineLonghorn and another tip that kinda leans towards what you buy for your dorm room if your gonna stay in one. Don’t settle for what its cheap and available. You want to buy something that you use often once and once only. Buy quality the first time. I made the mistake of buying a cheap Hoover vacuum cleaner and paid the price by the amount of dust in my room. Now, coming into my second year, I just purchased a Dyson V11 Torque Drive. Saves me money in the long run from having to buy a vacuum over and over again when they keep breaking. At least the Dyson comes with a warranty.

Get ahead of your work and stay ahead - in all your classes. If you fall behind, it’s better to derail the train (catch up as much as possible in whatever time you have before the next deadline, even if “as much as possible” is much less than the best effort you intended) than to ride it over the cliff.

Just because it’s 3am already doesn’t mean you may as well just stay up all night.