Advice to Freshmen (First Year) Students
I was hopelessly naïve in my first semester at university. It took me over a month to realize I didn’t have to go all the way across campus to staple my assignments; I could in fact staple my math homework in the very same building where I handed it in. And it took me a while to figure out that the student newspaper was free for the taking — I furtively took a paper once when I couldn’t figure out where to put the money for it.
This week I have spent a bit of time on the campus of my alma mater, observing all the wretched, lost first years. Watching them frantically adjust to a whole new state of being, while simultaneously attempting to find room 3-145E v1.1 in the Physics Building really brings me back.
Hopefully all you first year freshmen are starting to figure things out, more or less. But let me share with you some of the wisdom I gained as a blundering, earnest young fresh-faced freshman.
The first lesson is a no-brainer (though I apparently had no brain, since I learned it the hard way): Try not to schedule consecutive classes more than a few blocks apart.
My very first class ever was a racquetball/squash class. I thought a little physical exercise would be a welcome break from all the academia. It was a pretty good plan, too, but I foolishly scheduled my very next class in a building five blocks away, on the southernmost tip of my campus. That gave me all of a whopping 10 minutes to shower, change and get to Statistics 151. I think I made it on time once.
Fortunately, this building had the most comfortable seats on campus, complete with full-on head rest, so I was able to rest quite comfortably after my active mornings.
Sleeping, in fact, became something of a thorn in the side of my university career. All of us will need to take unscheduled snoozes from time to time — that’s normal — but try to avoid getting all of your sleep during class time.
Aside from the loss of academic acuity, you might also be interested to learn that each nap you take in class costs you roughly $21.00 (more if you are an Ivy Leaguer), based on a very unscientific and inaccurate mathematical formula I once devised in order to discourage me from catnapping in calculus. Plus it’s really embarrassing when your class ends and another has started before you wake up.
Which brings me to my next lesson: learn how to save money. You know, buy used textbooks when you can, find out what’s on special at your local watering hole, go to matinees or cheap Tuesday night movies, discover the pleasures of thrift-store-shopping, that kind of thing. You can still have a good social life on a small budget; you just have to be smart about it.
Learn how to use a library. I know, you grew up with the internet and are planning on doing all your research with Google. Sorry, my friend, it doesn’t work that way. And libraries are actually trickier than they look. It took me a good three years to fully appreciate and use what was all there. So do yourself a favor and sign up for a library orientation course — it will be worth it. I know, how lame can you get? Reward yourself afterwards with an orientation course of a different sort — the Brewy Decimal system perhaps.
And here is the most important thing I have to say. I am not so sure it is always necessary for an 18- or 19-year old to know what they want to do with their lives. You don’t even fully know who you are yet! Seriously. Don’t get in a sweat to grow up and chart out your future just yet.
If you’re one of the rare people who has known all their lives what they want to do when they “grow up,” then that’s great. But I know I had no clue back then, and I am still working on it as unexpected changes in my life and personality occur. I started out majoring in zoology, which I was kind of terrible at, especially since I just couldn’t handle dissecting cats. Then I switched majors to geology, which ended up as my undergrad science degree, but I was pretty bad at that too. So in my fourth year, I switched minors to English, finally doing something I liked and had some aptitude in.
So don’t feel bad about taking some time to figure out who you are, where you’re at, and where you want to go. And like I always say here, a wrong turn isn’t the end of the world, nor is it the end of life.
You’ll notice I haven’t said that much about developing your social life — I assume you can handle that on your own. I think it is one of the most important aspects of your time at college, so don’t neglect it. But enough said about that.
So here’s to all you first-year freshmen. Enjoy your year. It won’t necessarily be easy, but it can be an awful lot of fun. Before you know it you’ll be writing final exams and wondering what happened to that innocent, bright-eyed youth you were just a few months ago. Don’t worry, (s)he’ll be back when you apply for your first real-world job!