Hello guys, gals, and non-binary pals! With the school year fast approaching, I was starting to think about where I was last year in my life. I was a scared little college freshman, having never set foot on my future college campus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and not knowing what to expect. Therefore, in this blog post, we will discuss some things I wish I had known before starting college.
1. Bring a fan with you.
An absolutely essential item during your first year is a fan. Honestly, any size or type of fan works well. The freshman dorms do not have air conditioning, so the best way to stay cool during the first couple of months of the school year is to use a fan. Luckily, it’s pretty chilly for most of the school year, so the lack of AC isn’t too hard to deal with.
2. Don’t be afraid to be yourself.
When your first year starts, you’ll be meeting a lot of new people. Not everyone that you meet will end up being your friend, and that’s okay. During orientation and the beginning of the school year, it’s important not to put up a front for people. You may think that there’s a certain expectation of a student that you need to meet, and I’m here to tell you that that really isn’t the case. The best way to make friends in college is to be your authentic self and make the leap to talk to people. Don’t be afraid to sit with new people at lunch or talk to others before or after your classes. In time, you will find people who you can call your friends.
3. Things take time; be patient.
Now, as someone who’s notoriously impatient and terrible at waiting for things, this one was tough for me to accept. I wanted to have a friend group from the first day I started college, but that didn’t really work out. I didn’t find the majority of my friends until the end of September, a whole month after starting college. I also wanted to be confident in my classes from the beginning, instantly know my way around campus, and know what I wanted to major in right from the start. However, the truth is all of these things will take time. Of course, the amount of time they take does vary based on the person, but regardless none of these things will happen instantly. You need to be patient with yourself and figure things out one step at a time. Baby steps at the end of the day are still progress, and you will eventually be where you want to be.
4. Try new things
Much like the other two points, this one is pretty cliche, but that doesn’t make it any less true! College is a fantastic opportunity to get out of your comfort zone and try something you’ve never done before. Who knows? You might end up finding your new passion. I took a music theory class during my first year, despite having never formally studied music since sixth-grade band class, and I ended up loving it! It was one of my favorite classes that I took that year, and I was so happy that I tried something new!
5. Don’t give up when you’re rejected.
Rejection is a part of college. I know; I hate it just as much as you do, but it’s the truth. When you’re in college, there are admittedly many things that you’ll end up applying or auditioning for, whether those are performances, jobs, internships, etc. There’s a good chance that you’ll get rejected from at least one of them. It’s important to remember that these rejections do not determine your inherent value as a person. There are so many reasons as to why you could be rejected from something, but it’s best not to dwell on these. My family has a saying that it’s important to have a “rubber butt” that way when life knocks you down, you can bounce right back up and keep going.
6. You deserve to be here.
When first starting college, it’s easy to believe that you don’t deserve to be there or that the admission office made a mistake when admitting you. Over time, you’ll learn that this simply isn’t the case. You add value to your college community, and your presence adds so much to your classes and the people around you; you matter. It may take a while to see this at first, but when you do, it’ll feel like a huge weight has been lifted off your shoulders.