My freshman year in college was filled with uncertainty and thrill that goes beyond the feeling you may have felt when entering high school. Knowing that you will not hear another classroom bell ring is exciting but being responsible to go to class on time without a classroom bell ring is serious.
I enjoyed the college food, the access to any choice of food…be careful, with great “[food choice] power” comes with great “[food choice] responsibility”. Don’t buy Ramen noodles. Please eat fruits and vegetables. If you bring your own tea, a nice cashier should let you get free hot water. Buy snacks in the supermarket and save them in plastic bags to eat on campus. Take heed to this advice because saving money is really difficult if you are spending money on food. Which you will see yourself buying a lot of food because of all of the choices! Or you know you should study but “you are hungry”.
The study skills that are great to adopt are: start early and read the reading material, go to office hours and be respectful to your professors and TAs, pay attention in class by sitting in the front and taking notes, sign up for free tutoring through CSTEP and/or the subject’s department and please eat breakfast! If you are taking lab classes, please do the pre-lab at least two days before the lab day! If you have to write lab reports, start early and start section by section!! It will be more manageable. Use an assignment book or a weekly schedule book to remember assignments and appointments. Find where your class will be located at least a week before classes begin.
Find time to exercise or at least walk around campus (oh yeah, buy walking shoes!), join a student organization or an intramural club (I tried lacrosse, key word “tried”), definitely join your school’s CSTEP, volunteer, buy a leisure book at your school’s bookstore, attend school pride events (usually free food is there!), read the college newspaper(s) and the New York Times or other available newspaper. Be careful when texting and walking, look both ways! Actually, don't text while walking!Please reduce your Facebook-, Myspace-, YouTube-, and/or Twitter-surfing to a minimum. If you will bring your laptop to class, please use it for note-taking or class-instructed online searches. There’s a time for everything, so don’t worry.
Be a focused student. Remember to sleep! Strengthen your faith and find your religious denomination in your school. Keep organized and get to know the students around you. Be safe and be smart, do what’s right and you can’t go wrong.
These are the notes I wished I received but really, what’s most important is that you listen to good advice and use it.
Remember to have fun! The most fun I had during my freshman year was having the opportunity to go through all of these trials and errors (which are now experiences).
Your freshman year will be a learning curve. For me, after the first two weeks, I was worried about college. But remember college is worth it. You will learn so much about yourself and your community. Open yourself to the opportunities that your CSTEP has to offer. That’s where I had a great support system and found a lot of great students.
I really hope your freshman year will be filled with new experiences and remember to enjoy college. Keep growing and never give up! You are a success story waiting to happen. (:
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I enjoyed the college food, the access to any choice of food…be careful, with great “[food choice] power” comes with great “[food choice] responsibility”. Don’t buy Ramen noodles. Please eat fruits and vegetables. If you bring your own tea, a nice cashier should let you get free hot water. Buy snacks in the supermarket and save them in plastic bags to eat on campus. Take heed to this advice because saving money is really difficult if you are spending money on food. Which you will see yourself buying a lot of food because of all of the choices! Or you know you should study but “you are hungry”.
The study skills that are great to adopt are: start early and read the reading material, go to office hours and be respectful to your professors and TAs, pay attention in class by sitting in the front and taking notes, sign up for free tutoring through CSTEP and/or the subject’s department and please eat breakfast! If you are taking lab classes, please do the pre-lab at least two days before the lab day! If you have to write lab reports, start early and start section by section!! It will be more manageable. Use an assignment book or a weekly schedule book to remember assignments and appointments. Find where your class will be located at least a week before classes begin.
Find time to exercise or at least walk around campus (oh yeah, buy walking shoes!), join a student organization or an intramural club (I tried lacrosse, key word “tried”), definitely join your school’s CSTEP, volunteer, buy a leisure book at your school’s bookstore, attend school pride events (usually free food is there!), read the college newspaper(s) and the New York Times or other available newspaper. Be careful when texting and walking, look both ways! Actually, don't text while walking!Please reduce your Facebook-, Myspace-, YouTube-, and/or Twitter-surfing to a minimum. If you will bring your laptop to class, please use it for note-taking or class-instructed online searches. There’s a time for everything, so don’t worry.
Be a focused student. Remember to sleep! Strengthen your faith and find your religious denomination in your school. Keep organized and get to know the students around you. Be safe and be smart, do what’s right and you can’t go wrong.
These are the notes I wished I received but really, what’s most important is that you listen to good advice and use it.
Remember to have fun! The most fun I had during my freshman year was having the opportunity to go through all of these trials and errors (which are now experiences).
Your freshman year will be a learning curve. For me, after the first two weeks, I was worried about college. But remember college is worth it. You will learn so much about yourself and your community. Open yourself to the opportunities that your CSTEP has to offer. That’s where I had a great support system and found a lot of great students.
I really hope your freshman year will be filled with new experiences and remember to enjoy college. Keep growing and never give up! You are a success story waiting to happen. (:
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