“Advice for college freshman” is something I remember Googling vigorously before entering college.
Going from high school to college can be SO hard just from the school aspect of it. But I feel like that’s pretty common knowledge.
College is harder academically than high school, so most people should study more. Pretty well known.
I feel like a lot of pieces of college advice for freshman surround this academic aspect of starting college.
What I feel like a lot of people don’t talk about is the more mental health / lifestyle shifts that should happen so that you don’t go absolutely crazy.
Now that I just recently graduated college (YAY), I feel like I’ve gotten a pretty good idea of how to survive college (after many breakdowns of my own oops).
I’ve come up with a short and sweet list of things that I wish someone would’ve told me before I started college / things I wish I would’ve done from the beginning.
1.Get a Planner
Time management is so so so SO important. I cannot stress it enough.
When you get your syllabus at the beginning of the semester and you think, “I’ll just reference this throughout the semester.”, you won’t. Write all the due dates down for the whole semester.
If your professor gives you a little assignment and you think “yeah, I’ll remember it later”, you won’t. Write it down.
Friends make plans with you a few days in advance? Write it down.
Have to make food for the week? Write it down!
Are you sensing a theme hahah. Write everything down!!
I personally like physical planners more than things like Google Calendar because I don’t have to schedule a time for it (which just brings me more stress) but do what works for you!
Have everything written out will help you feel just so much more put together and you won’t feel so unorganized and like you have no idea what’s going on.
At the beginning of each week, I wrote out all the things that had to happen on a certain day (class, plans with friends, turning in assignments, etc.) and then fill in the rest of the days with things that needed to get done that week, but didn’t have to get done on a specific day!
Knowing what you need to do on what day will help you better understand how you need to manage your time so that you don’t spend all day on your phone.
It’s a little more complicated than that, so if you guys want a full blog post on exactly how I planned out my week, let me know! It’s honestly a game-changer for me.
2.Make Time for You
When you’re writing everything down in your planner, make sure to write down multiple forms of taking care of yourself every single day.
Trust me, I know how busy college gets and how the first thing to go is usually how we take care of ourselves.
“I don’t need to wash my face tonight, I’ll do it in the morning.”
“I’m too tired to read this book I got myself”
“I don’t have time for breakfast”
These might just seem like little things in the moment, but skipping out on just basic things we do for ourselves actually impacts our mental health so much.
The only way that’s worked for me to consistently take care of myself is literally to write down basic things like “eat breakfast”, “workout”, “skincare”. I have to write it down because I need to check off everything on my to-do list and this way, I’m actually make time for myself.
Please, please, please, take care of you! You won’t care that you have A’s if you’re miserable (trust me I KNOW).
3.Don’t feel rushed
Do not feel bad or stressed that you don’t have your major picked out or have any idea what field or industry you want to be in.
It’s fine, you’re just starting out. Hell, even if it’s your 3rd year and you still don’t know, it’s fine!!
Don’t feel pressured by people who say they know exactly what they want to do the second they step foot into college.
I was one of those people (:/) and let me just tell you, I was wrong. I literally graduated with a major I am not interested in whatsoever. Honestly, I graduated with a degree in a field I don’t even want to be in (sorry future employer, pls still hire me hehe).
I was one of those people who thought I had to know exactly what I wanted to do like 2 weeks into college. So, someone said that I should do the major I had now, and I just did it because I didn’t really know that I could say no and that I could take explore my options and not have to decide right away.
So please, take your time in figuring out what you want. Take fun classes that you usually wouldn’t take. Take time to figure out what your true interests are. Try to find an area that makes you happy and fulfilled.
You might feel “behind”, but trust me, you’re not. In the end, you’ll come out a happy soul if you just take some time in the beginning to do things right.
4.Join clubs/extracurriculars
I am actually super happy that I did this my first semester!
I only joined 2 clubs, one that was related to my major and then one that was more related to my ethnicity/background.
I highly highly recommend doing this! Meeting new people can be so intimidating and daunting, especially in college where no one really wants to talk to each other and everyone kind of just stays in their own lane.
Joining clubs is a great way to meet people in a smaller social setting! And honestly, it can’t hurt. Worst comes to worst, if you really hate it and there’s no one that you really vibe with, just don’t go to the next meeting. But at least try!
I got to meet so many new people that made college so much easier because I felt like I found a few people as my support system!
5.Quality > Quantity
I know you’ve probably heard that having a few close friends is better than having a lot of friends, but its so true.
And I’ve never really realized that until college.
I was kind of down on myself in the beginning of college when I saw all these people on Instagram seem like they had a ton of friends in their sorority and were always partying and just having fun.
“Why couldn’t I get more friends?”
I honestly was so hard on myself for having like less than 15 people who I could actually go to and be comfortable around in college because it seemed like everyone else had SO many friends. Kind of sad tbh.
But, I remember once I was talking to these 2 girls who were part of the same sorority and who seemed like such good friends on Instagram.
One of the girls left to go to class and literally 3 seconds later, the girl who I was still talking to started to talk smack about the girl who left. WHAT
I was so shook, but in that moment, I truly realized that I just needed a few people who I could really trust, and that I need to stop having my happiness and joy depend on what other people are doing with their lives.
Because honestly, it’s usually not what it seems.
(because everything is not, what it seems do-do-do-do-do-do) comment below if you know where that’s from – bonus points for you.
6.Go Easy on Yourself
College is such a huge transition.
Socially, academically, mentally, it’s a lot.
And I am one of those people who has to be the best at whatever I’m doing (trust me, not a good thing), so I would like slave over getting all A’s and being the best at a major I don’t even like.
Part of it is definitely the cultural aspect of it, South-Asian households generally have a reputation for wanting their kids to have the best grades (even if parents don’t say it, the underlying pressure is still there). Part of it was also a personality thing.
But the biggest part was that I honestly didn’t have time. I took on WAY too much every semester.
My last 3 semesters of college I was taking 19 or 20 credits each semester and dying.
I wish I said no to school more and yes to life more. I wish I realized that I didn’t have to rush to finish college in 2.5 years.
I wish that I had realized earlier on that worth is not defined by grades, looks, abilities, or anything else other than who you truly are as a person.
I skipped so many days out with friends, so many nights of relaxing, I literally didn’t have time to take phone calls.
I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason, so this isn’t me feeling bad for myself or wallowing in sadness.
But I just wanted to share my thoughts and experiences because if this helps even one person have a better college experience, then I’ll be happy 🙂
I truly hope you learned something from this and that you make the most of your college experience!
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