Choosing your classes, meeting with your academic counselors to discuss your choice of major, attending freshman orientation and meeting new friends, buying books at the bookstore, and exploring your new academic home, are all parts of the initial college experience.  It’s so exciting!

Academics

If you did not attend a summer program like Summer Bridge, which allows incoming freshman to take 6hrs or two courses in the summer toward their degree programs, then this will be your first time experiencing a class in a college setting.  Most likely on the first day of class the professor will introduce him or herself, give you a syllabus, which is a handout explaining the class, your assignments for the semester, class expectations, like participation, tardiness, and absenteeism.  After doing so you may be dismissed because most professors understand that it’s the beginning of the semester, most people are not yet settled and may not their books yet.  It’s also a possibility that class will begin at that moment, so bring a notebook just in case.

After a couple classes you’ll learn the professors lecture style.  If you are having problems capturing the important pieces of information, you may want to invest in a small tape recorder, to make sure you don’t miss anything.  You will not be able to write everything down, but listen carefully for the important nuggets from your professor and work on becoming a good note taker.

Choose Your Seat Wisely – Now some people may think this is hilarious to talk about seat choices, but the truth is as humans we are creatures of habit.  Think about it, did anybody ever sit in the seat you chose in high school.  Once you put your mark on it, it was yours, right, same thing in college.

Make sure you choose a seat where you can see the board and hear really well.  You don’t want to miss out on anything that may be on a test later.  And your classmates really won’t like you taking their seat if you decide the one you’ve chosen is not conducive to your learning style.

Set Your Alarm – If you live on campus, and even if you don’t, it’s no longer your parents’ responsibility to make sure you get to class on time.  Get an alarm if you have problems waking up on your own.  Do not make a habit of arriving to class late, it looks bad, and will cause the professor to think that you are not serious about your education.  You never know when you will need the professor to help you with a problem so keep favor on your side by being respectful to your professor at all times. 

Worker Bee’s Only, Please – For some of your classes you will be required to do group projects.  These projects teach team building as well as leadership skills that are essential in life and the workplace.  Just because your high school friend is in the same class does not mean that that is the person who should be in your group. 

Observe your classmates closely and choose your team members wisely.  You want people with good work ethic, who will do their share of the work and do it timely.  You want those classmates who are creative, can solve problems, and show up for group meetings.  Choose wisely, your grade depends on it!

Time Management

There are lots of things to do on most college campuses.  Your main goal for being in college is to study, graduate, and move on to your career path or further education.  Enjoy your college career, but plan your time.  Get a planner.  Because your professors supply you with the syllabus at the beginning of the semester, you can chart out your entire academic semester.  For example, you can list when papers and assignments are due, test dates, and time for studying, and highlight them in different colors so your eye will be drawn to them.

This is great to do, because it lets you know how much time you have for extracurricular activities, like parties, campus activities, and joining groups and organizations.  It also lets you know if you need to do an assignment beforehand because you have a test on the same day it may be due.

If you plan to go to a party let’s say Saturday night, and you have a test or paper due on Monday, hopefully you’ve already started, but if not plan time to go to the library and get the majority of it done before the party.  Waiting until the last minute is a recipe for failure.  The electricity may go out on Sunday or you may have a fire drill at 2am, when you’re trying to pound that paper out. 

Extracurricular Activities

Just as in high school, extracurricular activities are great.  Many colleges have game rooms, coffee shops, recreational centers, as well as groups and organizations.  These groups and organizations teach you teamwork and leadership skills as well as tools you can take with you into the workforce. 

It is not suggested that incoming freshman join any clubs or organizations their first semester.  You need that time to get a feeling for your course load and the time you need to study and do assignments.  Of course, there are those students who were accepted into the school on an athletic scholarship, so they have no choice, they must balance academics and sports, but if at all possible it is not suggested. 

You have plenty of time to get involved and make your mark and when you do make sure to make use of your planner for meetings and other activities.