Here are some pro tips for all you new collegiate freshman.
To quote the speaker at my freshman commencement, "Go. To. Class." You (or more likely, your parents) are paying an exorbitant amount of money to take classes. If you skip them, you might as well throw $10,000 out of your small dorm room window, assuming it actually opens. Also, think of the poor professors. Most of them are passionate about their subjects and want you to learn and experience as much as possible. Don't waste their time, yo. It's rude!
This is probably too late, as classes have started at almost every university, but living on campus for at least a year is the thing to do. It's like a fashion trend but for housing. Seriously, if I hadn't lived on campus I don't know how in the hell I would have met people. And going potluck on a roommate, though scary, can be such an excellent experience. You get to know so much about not only your roomie, whether random or not, as well as your dorm mates. And it's nice, because you're all simultaneously excited and scared shitless so you have a lot to talk about.
Budget. Budget. Good lord, budget. This is something I totally suck at, so I can say from experience that it is a TERRIBLE idea to not budget. Set a limit for things, like groceries or shopping or eating out or whatever, and just don't exceed that limit. I don't know about y'all, but I feel like an idiot having to go to my parents and asking for monies because I ate at Olive Garden too many times this month. Because I'm an adult, dammit....sort of....and I want to be thought of that way!
Pay your rent. That seems like a total "duh," I know. But for real, if you don't pay it on time, you get charged late fees, and then more late fees, and then it all adds up and suddenly you're getting evicted for not having paid rent for three months. OK, maybe not. But still. It happens the first of the month, every month. You know when it's coming, so as Scar would say, "Be prepaaaared!"
Rent your textbooks. For some reason, I thought it was a good idea to buy all my textbooks for my first year and a half. Then suddenly, I realized I was selling them all back at the end of the semester (selling here meaning receiving approximately 1/10 of what the book was initially worth. Those things depreciate faster than cars) and not keeping them. And why pay $200 for a book only to get $20 when you try to sell it back to the bookstore? Rent it used for $40 instead. You don't make anything back, but at least you're not $180 in the hole. I would strongly suggest Chegg. They have the lowest prices and get your books to you in like four days, tops. It's awesome.
Finally, stop focusing on the future so much. I'm a chronic worrier, so of course that's what I always do. My eyes are always on the prize. But I tell you what, you miss a lot that way, and then suddenly you're a senior graduating in December and about to become a real person and it is FRIGHTENING. It's cool, you got time. I mean, don't waste a bunch of money taking classes you're not sure of, but if you have to take core classes for two years while you figure out a major, it's not a big deal. And if you change major three times, you can still graduate on time, maybe even early. Trust me, I know from experience.
So, take these tips as you will, and go be the freshman that you are—clogging up food lines for two weeks at the beginning of the year until you realize you're spending all your dining money too quickly, forgetting to set alarms, staying up too late and subsequently drinking far too much caffeine, and trying out all those cool new college things like parties and drinking and one night stands. Whether you hate it or love it, it's all about the experience, and other cliches of a similar order.
You'll figure it out.
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