MASTERING FRESHMAN YEAR WITHOUT DISAPPOINTING YOUR PARENTS · 12:25pm Jan 23rd, 2022
Your dorm is unpacked, you’ve met your roommate, you went to orientation, and now it’s time for your parents to leave you on your own to fend for yourself. If you’re like me, you’ve lived in a little bubble for the first eighteen years of your life and now you’ve stumbled upon.
Now that you have this freedom, it’s really easy to lose your shit and lose focus on what’s important (to Mom and Dad, anyway). We often forget that, ultimately, we are at a college/university to actually learn something and earn a degree in a field we probably won’t even get a job in, but that part is besides the point.
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Of course it’s time to party and hook up with random frat stars you’ll only see in that 400-person lecture and wonder, “Isn’t that the guy I banged at ΤΚΕ last week?” This is something that most students will likely experience and after the fact you will feel like you’ve been initiated into the infamous “college experience.”
Your parents left you at this institution with one thing in mind: your education. Your parents have sacrificed a lot to get you to where you are and earning a degree is the least you can do for them.
Here are some basic tips that can help you bring home a half-decent report card and assure your parents that you might actually graduate:
- GET ENOUGH SLEEP: I cannot stress this enough. I know it’s really easy to stay up until 4am hanging out in the dorm room of the stoner down the hall playing League of Legends with everyone while you order a pizza because you have the munchies. You can’t function without at least 5-7 hours of sleep so this is the pinnacle of being a good student and still having fun.
- Schedule Your Life: Get a spiral notebook-sized planner and put your entire life in it. Put your classes, meetings, study time, relaxing-with-friends-time, and even when you’re going to sleep in there. It’s really easy to forget about that TA- taught study session for a class you’re struggling in because you didn’t write it down. A planner can keep your life organized and make your schedule less stressful and more attainable.
- STUDY: This isn’t high school anymore kids and that was a rude awakening for me! If you’re like me, you didn’t have to study for anything in high school and you could still pull out A’s and B’s. Well, that isn’t gonna fly in college. If you try that in your BIO 101 class, you’re going to end up with a D- and spend your time crying while you pack your dorm and go home at the end of the fall semester because your parents aren’t going to pay for you to mess around and bring home a 1.3 GPA. For every hour of class, you need to be studying 2-4 hours on your own to prepare for your exams. Studying doesn’t have to be boring! It can be a fun and social too—create a study group with classmates and invite the hot basketball player who sits behind you or make it a pot-luck study session where your neighbors bring over different junk foods and stay up all night playing games with the study material. Get creative with your study sessions because you’re going to get the grade you have prepared for.
- Prioritize: Getting high with your roommates isn’t as important as preparing for the exam you have the next day (especially if it’s worth 30% of your grade). Don’t be that freshman who thinks they’re invincible and can do everything right before class because guess what? You can’t. Sorry. Be smart and use your time wisely.
- Have Fun: I know that being a good student sounds like you can’t have any fun, but that’s not the case. Getting good grades and having a social life while getting enough sleep takes practice and you’re not going to have a smooth ride from the beginning.
All anyone wants for the people they care for is to do well and lead a positive and productive life. Disappointment stems from not doing the best you, and others, know you can achieve. The only way you will truly disappoint yourself and your parents is if you don’t do your best work throughout your college life.
Especially your Freshman year, because that is when you discover how college really works.
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