What to Expect Freshman Year of College

POV: You’re moving into your dorm your first year of college. Your mom or dad is tearing up, the room is a little dingier than you expected, and you have communal bathrooms that everyone on your hall will also be using. You couldn’t be more excited or scared.

Freshman year of college comes with a whirlwind of emotions. There are so many new people, professors, opportunities, and new freedoms. It’s time to learn a new balancing act. There is no one to tell you when to go to sleep, wake up, do your work, eat a meal, or whatever other rules you used to live by. Now, it is up to you to navigate life and make the right choices for you. 

Your freshman year will bring about so many opportunities. There are classes you didn’t know you could take, there are organizations you can join, and innumerable friend groups to break into. Those are the fun things. The things that make your college experience memorable. You could play intramural sports, join the campus Greek life, create your own club, find amazing professors, explore your new campus, meet people through study groups, etc. The point is, you have to get involved in some way to truly make it all worth it. 

The not so fun things are the required freshman classes you’ll have to take no matter how boring they are. Your roommate will annoy you at times. Your hall RA will either be your enemy or your friend. Depending on your school, the cafeteria will have either great or awful food (in my case it was the latter). Lastly, some of your professors will be awful and wicked and aren’t there to hold your hand through the class. 

There will be so many awful aspects of college, but they’re offset by all the great, amazing things you’ll learn and experience, too. The tricky part is trying to balance the really important things like, you know, grades and what not, while still having fun. ;)