Lessons Learned from the First Semester

Your first semester of college life can be a pretty big transition! Here are some things that can make that switch easier:

Establish a solid self-care schedule

College life can become very overwhelming, very quickly. It’s important to plan out early on what days you do laundry and what days you clean the bathroom (if you are in a suite). You can even plan out exercise days and meditation times! You can adjust this schedule throughout the semester as your social life and study times adjust. Having a system just helps you stay together in the whirlwind of college.

At the very least, have a running tally of the last time you cleaned something so you know how long it’s been. This will help you avoid not doing laundry for a month and then having to do like 4 loads in a single night because you ran out of underwear. Keeping your overall life maintained and scheduled can help the whole process of adjusting to college go a lot easier.

Go to that first club meeting

There are so many things I never thought I would enjoy in college, like joining a sorority or trying my hand at blacksmithing. If something seems interesting during the activities fair, just go to the first meeting! No one will be offended if you don’t show up for the second one, and it’s good to give as many possibilities as possible a chance!

Talk openly with your friends

Speaking of new friends, it’s good to establish solid relationships as early as possible. If a friend is doing something that bothers you, it’s best to be honest with them now rather than admit you’ve been holding a grudge against them for three whole months. This is especially true with your roommate. Unless you somehow cloned yourself, your roommate is going to be different from you in most aspects of life. You can adjust to live with most things, but if you absolutely cannot handle your roommate loudly making ramen in the room at 2 am maybe it’s best to say something the first week rather than during move out.

Bring a solid professional outfit

You honestly never know what a semester will bring, and what you might need to be interviewed for. Even if you’re just a freshman, bringing even just one solid professional outfit that you feel confident in can save you loads of stress down the line.

Do your best not to fall behind in school

Better yet, work ahead! I know a lot of students that are still ‘recovering’ from their freshman GPAs. Although college classes are more difficult than high school classes, you can make them a lot easier if you plan out your time carefully and give yourself breathing room to learn harder subject material. Write down all of your due dates the day you get them, and plan backwards from there. Once you get behind, playing catch up can be a real headache.

Though I’m sure you’ll learn a lot more as you adjust to college life, these tips should help to put you on the right path!