This has been one of the most hectic times in my life. Moving away from home for the first time and finding my bearings, needless to say I've lost a lot of sleep but it's all been worth it. As this school year comes to a close, I have great friends and a good job, and I just wanted to share some of the stuff I learned that may help incoming freshmen, or anyone really, that I wish I knew when I started school:
Only schedule 8 am classes if you are a super morning person
Just because you had to wake up at 7 for high school doesn't mean it's going to be easy to wake up for an 8 am class in college. A lot of people gave me this advice and I didn't listen. LISTEN TO IT NOW.
It's okay to skip a class (just do it sparingly)
In my first semester I was pledging a social club, and they kept us on Wednesdays nights till 11 at night. I had an 8 am the next day (see tip #1), so I was struggling to say the least. One Wednesday night I finished all my homework and got back from the pledging meeting and immediately passed out on my bed. I woke up the next day at 9, and I thought the world was about to end. But, as it turns out, it kept right on turning. The moral of the story is this: some classes give you a certain amount of absences for events like that. If you're sick, don't go to class. If you feel you can miss a class that you're doing relatively well in to study for one you aren't? Do it. You're health and success in school is more important than your attendance record.
People won't hate you if you leave early
If you decide to pledge a fraternity, sorority, or any other social organization, school still happens. Life isn't like those college movies. But the great thing is your organization will understand that. Because nine times out of ten the active members have stuff going on too and they plan on leaving a function early. Sometimes, if you have a small group like I do, it's possible to fit a function around every one's schedule. They want you to be there, if they didn't they wouldn't have asked you to join on Bid Day (or Squeal Day or whatever your school calls it). So, they will do what they can to include you.
Taco Bell will be a good friend of yours
Even if you don't eat it now, you will have many opportunities to eat it at college. If you're one of those people that refuse to eat fast food because you're healthy and care about your body, you will most likely be sitting in a booth writing a paper with people that do.
Always ask about teachers
When signing up for classes, ask around about the professors. Let me tell you, the worst thing is getting to a class and have it be ruined by a teacher you don't mesh with. I learned that my first semester in my Comp I and my History I class. Everytime I did their work I just had this feeling of disgust because I hated the way they taught or the way they talked to me. When I registered for my second semester, however, I had a chance to talk to some people and I found the teachers to take that way and now I'm almost sad to leave my History II class because I adore my teacher.
ALWAYS CARRY AN UMBRELLA
I don't care if you have never seen rain in your life. I don't care if you go to school in a desert. I don't care if you were cursed as a child and now every city you go to falls into a drought. You WILL be in class and you WILL hear a clap of thunder and you WILL have to walk back to your dorm in tercentennial down pour without an umbrella. Trust me.
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