5 things I wish I knew

In the midst of all the Buzzfeed lists, I swore to myself I would never add to it. But per request (you got it MB), there was no better way to say this. Here are five things I wish I knew or wish I had taken more seriously before starting college:

1.Don’t buy supplies before going to class.

School shopping is one of my favorite things, I love going to Target and getting all my new notebooks and pens and pencils and a cute little pencil bag and folders and binders, stuffing them all in my backpack and heading off to school the first day full of freshly sharpened pencils and erasers with no signs of ever having made a mistake. In college, that was my first mistake. I wasted a lot of money. I showed up the first day, the professor gives out their syllabus and starts their first lecture and suddenly it is abundantly clear that I won’t need a notebook at all, or my lab wants a specific composition book, or that I really just needed an iPad with his power points downloaded and ready to go. So waiting until your first class to buy all those supplies is a good idea. This can go for textbooks too. Some professors don’t use the book, and either they let you know the first day or rate my professor will let you know (that website is a God send). This could end up saving you hundreds of dollars if you ended up not needing a textbook.

2.A good professor makes a huge difference.

I had to take two semesters of organic chemistry. The first semester was hard but I had an adorable little Canadian professor who was young and spritely, had regular office hours, was very patient and always ready to help. I managed to get an A. Second semester I had an older Swedish professor with an attitude even stronger than his accent, had inconvenient office hours times, was impatient, and was always ready for you to go ahead and figure it out yourself. Leave him alone. I somehow got a B, but I also had many panic attacks and trouble eating from the stress. Professors matter big time, and it doesn’t take long on rate my professor for it to be abundantly clear who is a bad egg. If he is the only professor teaching it and you have to take that class, try your hardest to find someone who has taken it already and can tell you their pet-peeves and the best ways to study, etc. Anything would help, don’t be so proud or lazy as to not seek it out.

3.Don’t ditch flashcards.

There are some cool apps out there that can help you study, can make quizzes for you, or you can type yourself up a study guide or what-not, but when it comes down to it, you can’t beat flashcards. They are the best when you need to memorize something hands down. First, the action of writing them gets it in your head once. Second, having a flashcard makes sure that part of the answer is hidden and it does require some recognition on your part (rather than just reading a study guide) which gives your brain more practice recalling a certain fact. Third, when you have some concepts down, you can put those flashcards aside and just drill the ones you don’t have yet. Fourth, they are portable and you’ll look like the coolest kid in school. Don’t redesign the wheel. The wheel already works. Use flashcards.

4.Talk to a professional.

Whatever your idea is for what you want to do after college, talk to someone who is already doing that. I wanted to be a doctor until I talked to a medical school resident, realized I need much more sleep then that, and then followed around a physician assistant in a hospital and realized I really want to spend more time with the patients than doctors do. It took one shift of actually being there and talking with someone for me to see where I would clearly fit. Classes can’t show you what the job will actually be like, and there is no better way for you prepare for that and figure out what you want to do, than being with someone actually doing it. Simple as that. Make the phone call, send the email, talk to that person who knows that guy. Shadow someone, volunteer somewhere, or just have a conversation. It is so worth it, gives you experience with reaching out to people in a professional manner, and if you end up wanting to go into that field, it gives you a reference and starts you out with a little networking.

5.Schedule in what matters.

In high school I can recall times when I would be studying or doing homework, then getting to the bottom of the study guide or whatever, closing the book, and knowing I was done. There was no more schoolwork to be had, I was free. I have never experienced that since entering college, don’t be scared of that, just acknowledge it as fact. If you are the kind of person that has a hard time with that, know that it is more than okay and perfectly sane for you to leave some things undone and is a huge advantage to be able to acknowledge that even though your work is not done, you are done, and any work that you would produce after this point would be gobbledygook anyway. Close the laptop and walk away, it’s okay.

That being said, because college does tend to be busier, you need to figure out what are the things in this world that keep you sane (for me it is time with friends, playing music, writing, reading, etc.) and when it gets busy, schedule that time in. It is so important, and this comes from someone who had an extremely stressful last semester and did not schedule in enough of this time and suffered because of it. Learn from my mistakes.

6.Make good friends.

You need people around you who will hold you accountable to the things in number five. Friends who will help take care of you when you aren't taking care of yourselves, who will build you up and be your cheerleader, but also know when you need to be taken down a step and remind that you aren't the Queen of Sheeba. You need people who you can call for anything. Besides the cutesy stuff, good friends can be strategic too. A good friend to have in college would be an upper classman who is in your major, or someone older than you who can give you a little bit better advice than your friend who is just as young and naive as you. Also having a friend that is younger than you to keep you down to earth will help a lot too. Friends are what get you through, so make sure you aren't wasting your time with bad ones. Be with people who love you.

~Kat