Preparing for College Life

Posted by Naomi Rockler-Gladen Apr 8, 2008

Students: are there some things you wish you had known before you went to college? Here's some things I wish I had known.

I wish someone had told me not to live in the freshman dorm. For some reason I thought that would be a good idea, but unfortunately it was like High School Part II. I would have been better off with a more mature mix of freshmen and upper classmen. For that matter, it wouldn't have been so bad to live in a single sex dorm instead of a coed dorm, but at age 18 that idea sounded horrible to me.

I also wish someone had told me to register for a full load of classes my first semester, and then to drop the class I liked the least. That would have saved me a semester with the calculus professor from hell. Someone did convince me to take fewer classes my first semester, which was a good idea.

And I wish someone had warned me to stay away from the drama. Honestly, it doesn't make the least bit of difference who's dating who, or that someone said something about someone else. Years later, I have no idea what the drama was about, but it sure seemed important at the time.

I also wished someone had persuaded me to get a summer internship. Because I had to work during college, I figured I wouldn't have time for an internship. But that's not true, as many internships either pay or expect students to work for free for a limited number of hours, leaving time for a part time job.

Here are some things that every student should know before freshman year.