A Survival Guide for College Freshmen

Every fall a brand new batch of freshmen are delivered into the dorms at universities nation wide, each year they seem slightly more lost and confused than the last. Freshmen are incredibly easy to spot. They are the ones who have a notion that it is necessary to dress up and look nice to go to class. They are still of the believe that the campus serves pretty good food and are often seen waiting in line four hours to purchase books at the bookstore. If this describes you, you should probably keep reading, I will be offering my time tested advice for incoming college freshmen.

The first suggestion I can give to you is to go to the orientation activities, no matter how much fun you may think they are. I am sure you have played hundreds of name games in the past and are quite tired of them, but a few more cannot hurt. You will make your first new friends on campus during these events! You will also learn pretty much everything you will need to know to deal with campus bureaucracy. If you happen to be one of those people who are just “too cool” to go to such things, I guess you will just have to miss out. Seriously though, you should go. Skipping a bunch of mandatory events is not the best way to start a college career.

If you know where you are going and have your classes figured out, one must remember that the whole point of going to college is to get a good job after graduation. Remember, you will be competing with your classmates for jobs after graduation, so you need to find a way to set your self apart from the crowd. What does this mean? Get involved. Do things that look favorable on resumes, such as get involved in various clubs related to your studies, join campus organizations and get as much relevant experience while in school as possible. Try to pick up an internship after your sophomore or junior year! Network with people! Personal contacts are one of the largest means of finding employment.