You hear about college in movies, TV, rumors in the cafeteria, older friends, but you never really know what it’s like to be a student until you’re there. Here are a few truths I uncovered when I got to college:
You can survive on caffeine and ramen.
While it’s true that caffeine provides (sometimes necessary) energy and ramen is a quick meal, you can’t survive on them. You need to make sure you’re getting everything you need nutritionally. If you’re only eating ramen, you need to take a multivitamin. The milk in your latte is not enough calcium.
Graduating early is no problem.
Graduating early is a legendary task that few people are able to achieve. It’s not just your major. Depending on your college and degree, there are about 60 hours of core, your minor, and outside-major requirements. If you want to shoot for this, you should probably have taken dual credit, be in summer classes most summers, and stay in constant contact with your academic adviser.
Everyone is partying/studying all the time.
If you look at a student’s social media feed, it will probably mostly be posts about studying or partying, but let’s be honest, you’re not going to spend all your time studying. And if you don’t have a job, you’re not going to spend a lot of time partying because alcohol is expensive.
You can skip class all the time/You have to go to every class.
Attending class is a balance. If you want to skip sometimes, it’s probably not going to be the end of the world. That being said, if you skip all the time, you probably won’t do well. Every student is different. Every class is different.
The freshman 15 is a rumor.
This will be most people’s first experience away from their parents. There’s no one to tell you not to eat those Chili Cheese Fritos at 3 a.m. No one to say drink plenty of water. And no high school state mandated exercise. The freshman 15 is real.
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