Tips for College Freshmen

 

Well, the time has come for many of us to make our way back to our respective goulogs *cough* I mean colleges. :P
I'm about to start my junior year (my second "actually away from home" year) and I thought I'd write a post of things I've learned to help those of you who are making the trip for the first time.

Note: These tips are not necessarily in order of importance.

1. Don't stress too much  There's a lot of things to get used to when you first go to college and yes, it will probably be more difficult than your high school learning, but try not to get too stressed. Stressing won't help you.  Do your best, be aware of what you need to do to improve, but recognize that one bad quiz/test grade won't kill your chances of an A in the class. 

2. Don't hide in your dorm room the first few weeks. Trust me, it will be tempting (unless you don't have a good roommate) but don't hide in your dorm whenever you don't have to be in class. Venture into the scary world of the campus a little. Most colleges have activities for you to do, especially the first two weeks. Save barely leaving the room for midterms/finals week.

3. Try not to play on your phone before class. Again, this one is tempting, even if you're like me and don't normally play on your phone that much. The phone is just safer than sitting staring at the wall before the lecture starts or *gasp* speaking to someone near you. But seriously, you'll enjoy your classes more of you have friends in them.  Even if you don't end up with a best friend or even a study buddy, just having one or two people to chat with before class starts is really nice. So at least make an effort.

4. If your professor tells you to read something before the next class, READ IT. They will know if you don't do the reading.  And a lot of the assigned reading will probably come up on tests/quizzes. Even if you think you can skate by without it, you will at the least cheat yourself out of some learning and at worst you'll do poorly on a test because you don't have a clue how to answer half the questions. (One of my professors last semester gave written answer only tests, so if you didn't do the reading there was no multiple choice to help you guess.)

5. Use the study helps available. At least give them a chance. A lot of schools have a variety of options to help you learn like personal tutors or group lessons taught by a student who has already aced the class. I strongly suggest that if you have free study help options, you at least give them a try. Not everything will help you, and if they don't you can stop going, but some of them will help you improve your grade.

6. Time management is your best friend. Stay on top of your homework, reading and writing assignments. DO NOT wait until the day before something is due to start on it. You don't have to be weeks ahead, but do give yourself a little bit of a time buffer in case something comes up. Last semester I had a lot of reading, so I made myself a master schedule of everything I needed to read for every class so I wouldn't miss anything.  Maybe your not a list person but I like being able to see all my assignments so nothing falls through the cracks. (Otherwise you might end up slapping together a paper with one hour to go before it's due. Yes, this happened to me one time early on and trust me, it is very stressful and usually doesn't end well grade wise. Hence I now make lists.)

7. Talk to your professors. If you don't do as well on a test as you'd like GO AND SEE THE PROFESSOR. Most of them genuinely want you to learn and will be more than happy to try to help you. Most of my professors have given me great advice on how to do better when I have asked for help after a less than pleasing grade. Even if  you don't feel what they tell you doesn't helps that much, showing initiative will defiantly raise their opinion of you.  They will remember those office visits if they end up trying to decide whether or not to bump your 89 to a 90.

8. If a professor offers an extra credit opportunity DO IT. I don't care if you have great grades in the class, and I don't care if the assignment is boring/stupid. Do it. You never know, you might end up needing those extra points later in the semester. Not everyone offers extra credit so please, do yourself a favor and take them when you can.

9. Try to go to all your classes. Even if you can't stand to listen to the professor and feel like the class is a waste of your time, go. Attendance often factors into your grade. Some teachers will drop whole letters of you miss too many classes.

10.  Try to be at class early.  This factors into the initiative mentioned in tip 7. Your teachers will like it if you are already there, ready to go when it's time for class to start. ( Just don't be sitting there doing the reading for this class you should have done yesterday.) I always try to be there 10 or 15 minutes early. And then even if you are late, you won't be.

11. Don't study ALL the time. Yes, you need to study, usually for several hours a day at least, but don't study all the time. I know, I struggle with doing this especially near midterms/finals, but there comes a point where your brain will not hold anymore information.  Once you've study for several hours straight take a break. Go for a walk, go to the gym, watch a little TV, read for enjoyment; it doesn't matter what you do, just give your brain a rest. You'll be happier and will actually study better once you come back to it. (Just don't take so many breaks that what you need to be doing isn't getting done.)

And the part of me that won't let the TV volume be on an odd number not divisible by five is telling me not to stop at eleven, but I can't come up with another at the moment.

So anyway, I know these things have helped me and I hope they will do the same for some of you. If you have tips of your own, feel free to share them in the comments. Good luck to everyone in this year's academic endeavors. May all your papers be properly formatted and your Internet connection sound.