Pre-script: I honestly don't think I've been here nearly long enough to give anyone advice of college life, considering I'm still figuring everything out, but regardless, I shall try. Just take my advice with a grain of salt.
Hello there ladies! I know you've just about had it with people telling you how different and hard college is and at this point, you're one of two groups. Either you're absolutely scared out of your mind, or you think you've got it 100% figured out because you graduated high school with honors, how hard could it be?
Well, college isn't all that scary, but it's definitely not a walk in the park either. Coming in, I thought I could handle college no problem. I never really had to study much in high school, even with dual enrollment, and music up until then had been pretty basic. Well, I was wrong.
The very beginning of my first semester, I got behind quickly and was completely lost in lectures. I had no clue what was going on, but then a miracle occurred!: I got my act together and realized that there is a life outside of high school! A life that actually requires effort for you to succeed at it!
First things first: get sleep, for the love of God. For surface reasons, you're not going to want to wear makeup and dark circles under your eyes are NEVER sexy, but more seriously, you can't function properly with 5 hours of sleep. It just won't happen. Chances are you have 8:30 classes every morning, and will for the next year or so. Be aware of that, and remember that just because other ladies on your hall are out until 3am on school nights doesn't mean you should be too.
Quick little side note: MacGamut will take you an extra hour or so when your tired, and NO ONE wants more MacGamut!
On the same page as sleep, don't procrastinate. Procrastination creates a vicious cycle of misery and exhaustion. You procrastinate your paper, stay up until 4am writing it the night before it's due, fall asleep in class, learn nothing, fail test, and spend all of your time stressing over the class instead of doing your work. And repeat. Just get it done as soon as possible. That way the night before an assignment's due and everyone else is stressing out over it, you can smile in satisfaction, and relax for a few hours with a Cosmopolitan magazine and a Cook Out milkshake.
In conclusion, you are not in high school anymore. You actually have to work now, and your parents aren't here to make you do it. Just remember that you can always ask for help from us Bigs, because we've definitely been there, and are more the happy to help.
We wish you all the luck in the world, and don't worry, you will survive. :)
I love the title of your post. I wish I had thought of it. Also just like your blog over all. Its great to know I wasn't the only one lost.
ReplyDeleteYou give good advice, Julia. I know that college poses particular problems for folks who did well in high school without needing to work really hard. My own roommate in college was the salutatorian of her large Dallas high school, but she almost failed her college literature course because she had never needed to learn how to study before. Make sure you take advantage of various tutors, and avail yourself of the Center for Success as needed.
ReplyDeleteAs to the writing, it's mostly ok, but it could be a bit cleaner. Casual style is just fine here, but do go back and reread your entries to make sure they'd be as clean and fluid from the reader's point of view as from your own.