college advice from a former student

You will change your mind about what you want to do at least a few million times and panic over your future. Eventually you’ll think you have something figured out, and then you’ll change your mind again. Don’t be like me and stress yourself over things that are years in the future when you don’t even know what your next year will look like. However, do explore different options and talk to other advisors. There’s a lot more resources in high school than in college, and you don’t have to be lost all alone. 

While we’re on the topic of resources, go to office hours. Even if you think you mostly understand the material, go anyway. You aren’t wasting the professor/TA’s time, given that helping you is part of their job. I can only speak to STEM classes, but the office hours helped me understand the material more deeply, instead of trying to memorize twenty formulas in three weeks and remember when to use each one. In one of my classes, I put in no extra study time for one test versus the next one, went to office hours four times, and my test score increased thirty percent. Had I realized the helpfulness of office hours, I would’ve gone a lot sooner instead of now trying to dig myself out of a hole. 

I never start class before 10 am. On one hand, it’s nice to wake up in daylight and still have time go to the gym, do homework, or just relax in the morning before going to class. On the other hand, I’m very jealous when my friends get to go enjoy the rest of their Friday starting at noon and I have class until 3. Starting late is nice, but when it’s the end of the week, ending late can be exhausting. Side note: if you aren’t going to use your mornings productively, don’t start late, and just get your classes out of the way earlier. 

On the topic of schedules, those one-hour gaps will never be used productively. Also, while you spend way less time in the classroom compared to high school, you have to teach yourself a lot more outside of class and the homework takes longer. Establish a good routine at the start so you don’t waste all the “free time” you have. 

Get ahead on your work when possible, especially in the beginning of the year. Some of your classes in the first semester may have material you’ve seen before. If possible, use it as a time to get ahead in the assignments so that you never have to stay up late and cram. Speaking of cramming, study for tests slowly over the course of a week. The material moves much faster in college, and you’re more likely to blank if you don’t spend an extended period of time reviewing concepts. 

I have a policy where I never do work past 10 pm, and I meticulously plan my homework schedule every Sunday night so that ideally, I do no work past 9. Doing work late usually takes me twice as long, I don’t understand or remember what I did, and I feel burnt out the next day. I’m never the smartest person in a room, but I’m usually the only one who did the work when they were fully awake. 

Sometimes your professors will grant extensions, whether to the whole class or you personally. One of the worst traps to fall into is to keep getting further and further behind and asking for more and more extensions. Take your extension, enjoy it, and barring extenuating circumstances, avoid future ones. Or you can spend Thanksgiving finishing overdue assignments, which is considerably less enjoyable than just doing your work on time in the first place. 

Another reason to stay ahead: there will come a time when you are completely burnt out and have nothing left in you. Sometimes you need to take a day to do absolutely nothing and worry about absolutely nothing (or four days, in my case, which was a very regrettable decision). If you always have a million assignments due tonight/tomorrow, taking a mental break day will never be possible. 

Mostly importantly, take care of yourself. Get enough sleep, eat regularly, and take time to do things you enjoy and get involved in campus activities. Keep in touch with your good friends from high school. Make new good friends in college. Have people who will be there for you when your life is going great, and who will be there for you when it feels like your life is on a downward spiral. Have friends who support you but are also willing to have the tough conversations with you and bring you back to reality. Have friends that look out for you and tell you to put the books away and go to bed. Talk to your parents on occasion because it makes them happy. Your relationship with them gets a lot more peaceful when you’re out of the house, and it can be nice having the two people who’ve known you the longest to be there when you need them. 

Personally, I’ve loved college so much, far more than I ever liked high school. The independence and freedom are amazing. Classes are so much more enjoyable when you’re interested in the subject, and you’re not stuck in the same building for seven hours a day. It’s a nice glimpse into life on your own, but without all the adult responsibilities that come with it. College might sound stressful, but it can also be the best times of your life.