You’re a high school senior who is so excited to go to college. You just want it to be move-in day already so you can start your first step into adulthood.  

That was me about a year ago. I had already been accepted and committed to St. Bonaventure University in Olean NY. I thought I knew everything about college and what to expect. Oh boy, I was so wrong.  

Here are the 5 things I wish someone had told me before my freshman year of college: 

1.xRoommate Selection 

What seems to be an easy task isn’t as easy as it seems. Selecting a random person out of what may be a thousand options is a tedious process. If you are lucky enough, your college might have an incoming freshman group on Facebook for you to introduce yourself and connect with fellow students. Reaching out to someone based on their interests that they have shared might be scary, but don’t make the mistake that I did. 

I was too afraid to contact people off my school’s Facebook group. It felt awkward randomly sending a direct message on Facebook to a stranger.  

I ended up getting assigned a random roommate through the university because I didn’t connect enough with people before arriving. The university gave me a questionnaire to fill out asking about the temperature I like to sleep in, how late I stay up and how early I wake up. Let’s just say that this questionnaire didn’t work very well because my roommate moved out after three weeks. No hate to her, but we just weren’t very compatible. I went to sleep at 2am every night and she would go to bed at 11pm.

2. Fake Friends 

The friends you make the first week on campus won’t be your friends forever. When you first arrive on campus everyone else is in the same boat as you unless they are a student athlete. Everyone needs friends, so groups form all around you. Most of them are forced friendships to get you through until you find people you really connect with. 

That said, don’t share anything too personal with anyone. If you go to a small sized school this is more of a warning for you. You could end up being labeled as something you don’t want to be, and rumors could be spread. If you go to a larger sized university this might not be as much of an issue if you do share too much, but you still should try and stay away from it. Once you start feeling comfortable with the people you are hanging out with it is okay to open up a bit.  

Friends will come and go. There will be many divides in your freshman friend group, but there are always more people and more opportunities.

3. Syllabus week  

Syllabus week, the first week or two of classes, is the most important week. During this week you will have so much information thrown at you. You should be provided with the basics about the class, the expectations and when major assignments are due. Point four will explain more about what to do with this information.  

Also be prepared to do ice breakers. I have done ice breakers in every class I’ve taken so far. So, make sure to think of a fun fact about yourself beforehand and write it down. You don’t want to panic when you are asked your name, year, major, and a fun fact. I stumble every time even though it’s a simple thing to say. 

4. Calendars/Planners 

On the subject of staying on task with everything, something that I have found very useful in my first year of college is a calendar. I have both a physical planner on my wall and an online planner. My physical calendar is mainly for me to keep track of what I have going on other than classes. 

My online planner is to keep track of assignments and when exams are. During syllabus week you should write down every important assignment under the day it is due. You should also make sure to mark down exam dates and times, so you don’t miss them; because there are no make-up exams in college.  

5. Get involved in clubs 

Going to college might seem scary because you think you’re going to have so much work that you’ll have no time for fun activities. That is the complete opposite, at least for me as a communication major.  

I have so much free time in college. My classes only take up about three hours of my day and fifteen hours of my whole week. I don’t get a ton of assignments because of the type of classes I am enrolled in, so I have lots of time to do things I enjoy. I joined my college radio station, WSBU 88.3fm The Buzz. This is my most involved extracurricular activity. I spend six hours of my week live on the radio, which you can listen to live from our website wsbufm.com.  

Don’t be afraid to join clubs that don’t have anything to do with your major. Being well rounded with your activities is a good thing to do. Trying something new; won’t kill you. I have joined two new clubs since the spring semester started, and they have nothing to do with my major. Try out for a club sports team or join an intramural sports team. Just because you don’t play for the DI, DII or DIII sports team that your college has doesn’t mean you can’t stay involved in a sport.  

Honorable Mention: Laundry 

Remember that you are sharing the laundry facilities with lots of other people in your building. Make sure that you are promptly removing your laundry from the washers and dryers. Others might be waiting to use the machines too.

On another note, folks might take your laundry out of the machines and put it out in the open. I bet you don’t want random people seeing or touching your clothes, so please be timely. This will happen; I am guilty of removing peoples’ clothes from the dryer to throw my own clothes in, so just know I am not kidding.