Major Tips of Advice Before Leaving for College

Congratulations!

You finally graduated from high school and now preparing to leave for college. There are things that your college counselors, teachers and even parents told you about college and the things that you should expect, but some of the things that they tell are not much of the case. As someone who is almost done with college, here are some things that I wish someone would tell me before I officially became a college freshman.

1. You are your own Reminder

What this means that you can only remind yourself when something is due or when a test/quiz is coming up. Your professor will only tell you when a test is coming up and that would possibly be at most, a week before it happens.

Assignments, on the other hand, if you don't remember, then you won't be turning it in. Professors are treating you like adults and as adults, you have to remember when assignments are due and tests will be assign.

2. Expect Late nights in the Daily Routine

Remember the days when you can finish your assignments, make time to play video games or watch TV and still get a decent amount of hours of sleep?

3. Syllabuses (or Syllabi) are your best friends

You know how they say keep you friend close, your syllabus should be kept closer. This is basically your lifeline to how class will be structured. If you lose this, find another copy or ask your friend to make a copy for it. Your professor won't always remind you when assignments or tests/quizzes come up because it's YOUR responsibility to remember

4. Don't be afraid to work at the library

The library is a safe haven for all students who want to use computers, work on group projects when they do not want to work in their dorm rooms or apartments, or if you just want a quiet place to study or to work on your own assignments. A library is not just a place if you need a book or do some academic research for you projects, make it your own. I will advise you that during midterms and finals week, the library will not be the best place to be if you want to work in a quiet place. Not only the main rooms will be filled, but rooms that can only be checked out with a reservation will also be filled back to back that it would be hard to find a spot to use for a long duration of time.

5. Go to the Activities Fair

From my experience of being a mentor for 2 1/2 years, freshmen decides to skip the activities fair because they do not want to join anything their first year at school or they do not want to go by themselves. Even though I had a roommate and somewhat of a group of friends, I went to the activities fair by myself and I found a bunch of clubs to join. Another thing I would like to note is that just because you signed up for a bunch of clubs, do not feel bad if you can not attend all of the meetings or if you start to feel overwhelmed once classes start that you can not be a member anymore. College is a time where you find a balance between academics and pleasure.

6. If Your School have RateMyProfessor, Use it!

Your first semester of picking classes you will not be able to use this tool because you will be picking courses from the leftovers of everyone if the routine is you register during orientation. Once you actually get into the swing of things and have more of a variety of options of picking classes, I would use this tool to see what other students have to say about professors. It is a really cool tool because they have rates organize by the year the student took the professor, the class they taught and three words to describe that professor.

I hope this story will be useful for your new experience. I wish you all luck!