Letter of Advice to College Freshman

I had to write a letter of advice for incoming freshman and thought that I would share it!

College is such a different experience compared to High School. Sure there is your academic side that you must make sure is the top grade so that you can continue on and there is your social side of college, like friends, dances, sports, activities, church, and so on. But did you know there is another part to college? I am sure that each incoming freshman is excited to live on their own and not have parents nagging at them to do their homework, go to sleep on time, keep track of your money, and etc, but that is what makes college so considerably different than high school.

College is about managing your classes, your life, your time, and your money. I personally thought that I was prepared to live on my own because I was such an independent person. I was wrong and I will share with you the three things I wish I had known as an incoming freshman.

In high school I was busy with seminary and my high school band and softball programs. I rarely got to bed before 11 or 12 at night and was up on a dime at 5:15 every Monday-Friday for Seminary.  That is only 4-6 hours of sleep, depending on the night. I could easily work with that schedule and was rarely tired. When it came time to register for classes I signed up for whichever classes were open, since I was a new freshman with 3 credits my choices were limited. Due to the lack of choices, I had a Monday, Wednesday, Friday class at 7:45 in the morning. I thought I could easily handle that since I had been getting up earlier for the past four years! This is my first piece of advice, the amount of credits you take and the times they meet need to leave you time to sleep 8-9 hours each night. Trust me when I say, you cannot function with less than 6 hours of sleep on a regular basis when taking 15+ credits. You need to give your mind and body time to rejuvenate so that you don’t have to cram during finals at the end of the semester.

Studying, the most dreaded periods of a person’s college life. During high school, I never once had to study for a test and passed them all with A’s or B’s. College, however, is a completely different story. My second piece of advice, schedule and maintain studying times and habits. Make them early in the semester so that it will become a habit for you. If one way of studying doesn’t work, try another, and if none of those work, walk to the library and ask them where the Tutor Center is and believe me, you will be glad for that piece of advice. I am not just saying this because it is important to make A’s on all of your tests and assignments, I am telling you this because if you train yourself to study and make time for it, you will have less stress throughout each semester you are in college. Remember me saying I never studied during high school? In college I have never once not studied for an assignment or test.

My third piece of advice is simple. Don’t overwork yourself. After the first couple weeks of the semester have passed by things will seem like they are starting to pile up and are becoming harder. Don’t stress! It is okay to take breaks when you are doing homework. It is much better to take a moment to relax than to overwork and overstress yourself because it does more damage than good in the long run. You are going to have roommates that are stressing out just like you and taking a break to do some bonding time is a great way to let your brain relax.

College is fun and unique depending on how you make it. All you have to do is remember to get your sleep, set a schedule, relax and enjoy learning and growing as a son or daughter of God!