Try not to settle for the first group of friends that you meet. I made it a habit my entire first semester to sit with a table of people I didn’t know at least once a week. As a result, I have friends and acquaintances from all over the school. One time, a friend who lives on my floor and I were walking with a crowd of freshmen during freshmen orientation week. We saw four girls holding each others’ arms, so we just locked on. I am still really close with those girls, and I’ve met at least twenty people through them I probably wouldn’t have known otherwise. Whatever close friendships you may have had in high school or before, you will probably form even closer bonds in college.
– Ian Snyder
 

Start your college career on the right foot by remaining focused during your first semester. It is understandable if freshmen are still in the “honeymoon” phase, so to speak, during August and September. However, it is very important to keep yourself on track towards your long term goalsduring [your] period of newfound freedom and fresh experiences. I feel that much of my success in academics and extracurricular activities during college has been influenced heavily by the first impressions I gave to my professors and peers. There is no better way to make new, lifelongfriends and to excel as an individual than to start your first day of college prepared with a balanced mentality of fun and focus.
– John Mo

Utilize your resources. You are responsible for your learning and the grades that come with it. If you are having trouble in a class, you should go to all possible resources for assistance. These can [be] friends, family, professors, advisers, etc. I really struggled to pass my math class last semester since I couldn’t use a calculator, so I went everywhere looking for assistance with the class. I went to friends who only knew how to do the math with a calculator, so they weren’t of much help. I went to the math tutoring center, but that didn’t really help since they taught exactly like my professor. When I went to my professor, he made things worse. I finally went to my academic adviser, Kathy Atkinson. She gave me a lot of resources that would help me
understand the class. Although I couldn’t get an A or B, I did get out of the failing zone, with aC+ as my final grade.
– Antwan Gordon

IT IS OKAY TO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO DO WITH YOUR LIFE. As an English major, I’m constantly being asked if I’m going to be a barista for the rest of my life (the answer is “no,” by the way). The truth is, very few people know what they want to do with their lives, and those that do often change their minds before finishing college. Having a “game plan” doesn’t mean it’s set in stone, and the most important thing is to keep moving forward. Learn things you are interested in. Experience new subjects. Go to lectures. Figure out what it is that you are passionate about, and then try internships and jobs and research opportunities that. Just keep moving forward, because real life is going to be here a lot sooner than you think.
-Molly Mulroy