How to Anticipate What Every College Freshman Must Know

Freshman year of college brings excitement, independence and all the dining hall pizza you can eat. The first year at a university can be incredibly overwhelming, and most college graduates have a long list of things they wish they had known before their first day as a freshman. Here are a few of the most important.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Go to class. Yes, it's difficult with no one around to threaten detention. Attending class (even while sleeping) is almost a guarantee for a higher grade in the course. Plus, many college professors take off marks for absences.

2. Save that graduation money. You probably racked up a nice pile of checks in celebration of your high school success. Resist the urge to blow it all in your first year. You'll be kicking yourself mid-semester of your sophomore year.

3. Take more classes than you are required to each semester. Tacking on extra credits is definitely more challenging, but your friends will be mighty jealous when you're sitting around sipping beer your senior year and they're still taking biology and statistics.

4. Find an older friend. Juniors or seniors can be very helpful to have as you walk across the quad as a frosh. Having young blood around will make them feel old and important, and seniors will happily dispense much-needed advice and campus secrets.

5. Find time to exercise as you will probably gain weight as a freshman in college. Unfortunately, this is just a fact of life. Dorm food, late night pizza and a total change in lifestyle are the biggest reasons for putting on a few extra pounds.

6. Keep an open mind. You'll meet every type of personality and absorb a lot of new experiences. You will learn just as much outside of the classroom as you will in it.

Tips & Warnings

• Participate in at least one extracurricular activity, intramural sport or university group. Many college freshmen resist joining organizations because of their class work load, then regret it later. Join right away, and alter your level of participation as you learn to manage your time more efficiently.
• Science and math courses are often composed of two meeting times, a main "lecture" and a smaller "discussion" or "section." While many professors won't take attendance in lecture, most profs and TAs make these small group sessions mandatory. In fact, your grade can go down as much as a half-letter (B to a B-) for missing just one.
• Don't wait until finals to introduce yourself to a professor or TA. Not only do they hate this, but it won't help you improve your grade by brownnosing on the last day of class.