5 THINGS I WISH I KNEW BEFORE GOING TO COLLEGE

Why does everybody around me always say that college is the best time in your life? I have some experiences in studying at the college and most of them are not that good. Looking back, I wish I had known these five things before stepping foot on campus because It would help me navigate the challenges and make the most of my college experience.

Here are 5 things that I wish I knew before going to college

College is not easy

I heard it from my seniors when I was in high school. They always say that when you are in college, you will have more freedom, meet new friends and all these great things that my young self dreamt of. However, things do not always go my way. I started college and I found myself struggling to finish my assignments in time, communicate with people in my class, as well as struggling mentally. Additionally, if i would have known these before going to college i would be physically and mentally prepared for the long night studying, and getting out of my comfort zone to make new friends. That is exactly what I did in my second year and my academic life has been extraordinary since.

You won’t have time unless you know how to manage it

college requires a significant commitment of your time and energy. You have to attend classes for more than 20 hours per week, you also have to do the pile of assignments that your professor provided, plus exam preparations. Managing time is hard at first but once you get it together, your life will be a lot more in order. I would suggest you to try not to procrastinate, get things done before the deadline, as well as prepare for the exams beforehand.

You are now an adult with responsibilities

Entering college means going forward to a new step in your life. It also means that you are fully an adult now. Being an adult is really challenging, especially for people who just entered college. Transitioning from a teenager to an adult means having more responsibilities, managing financial situations, and also you are now in the driver’s seat. As you are turning 20, you try to find a job and earn some money as what a responsible adult should be, only to find out that it is not easy to get hired. If I were to go back in time, I would spend more of my freetime doing volunteer work and also internships

Make a lot of friends

Finding friends in college can be hard, especially when you are an introvert like me. I started out my freshman year with only a few friends which I’m grateful for. Having friends would help me out a lot. I always did school work by myself, sitting by myself, and studying by myself. But now I have more friends and I study with them and hang out with them which overall helped me a lot with my academic difficulties as well as my mental health.

Life is not that hard anymore when you stop complaining

As a freshman, I thought college was easy but it was not as I expected. So I complained a lot, I blamed the school for the problems that I actually created myself. I complained about my GPA and thought that the school system was flawed. However, as time went on, I realized that all of these complaining do not matter at all. So all I did was stop complaining about everything and my life slowly turned out to be less difficult and less stressful.

I hope this advice is gonna be at least a little bit of help to my fellow college students that are struggling to make it. Just so you know that you are not alone, you are not the only one that is struggling.