Make The Best Of Freshers’ Life In College: Tips, Tricks, And Suggestions

To transition from school to college is indeed a watershed moment for any student. However, as much as it is thrilling, it might bring along some confusion as well. Despite our parents, teachers, and siblings often guiding us, the sudden, major change of place, people around us, and our whole academic lifestyle, may become slightly daunting. Let us discuss a few tips for college life to help you make your ‘fresher phase’ smooth and fun.

Get To Know Your College

One of the first tips for college life is to get to know the college/university you are in. This would mean checking out its history, famous alumni, culture and social setting, administration, NAAC reviews and NIRF ranking, accreditations and gradings (if you’re a college student in India), political leanings, management, faculty, placements, grading system, awards, drives, so on and so forth. Another one of the good tips for college students is to explore your college’s website and social media handles in-depth. This would help you in two ways:-

Sense Of Control | Knowing the new place well will give you a sense of order, control, and peace. If you know what you are getting into, you are likely to experience lesser jitters and cold feet. It might also give you an edge over other students who do not have this background information while they join college.

Great Conversation Starter | Talking about your college is a great conversation starter, be it with people from your college or outside. A little trivia goes a long way.

Attend Lectures

Movies and fiction often mislead us into believing that college is just about having endless fun with friends. While friends and fun are indeed an indispensable aspect of college life, one must remember that it is also the time when they’ve to lay the foundations of their career.

Another good tip for college students is if whether or not your college mandates a certain percentage of attendance, you must attend lectures regularly. College lectures are often a compilation of the professors’ own experiences, researches, and information collated from different books, unlike school, where one textbook is the go-to source. So, you may not be able to make up to a missed lecture by borrowing a friend’s notes. What is missed is missed, and there may be no repeats. Go for lectures, be a part of class discussions, and study on your own simultaneously to strengthen your knowledge base. (Going to the library is one helpful tip for college freshers, and also you can get previous year papers and extra study materials there)

Maintain Orderly Conduct

We keep hearing of numerous instances wherein students get into trouble for disorderly conduct, only because they saw in some movies that college is about all sorts of ridiculous behaviour, disturbing and bunking classes, drinking/smoking in class because it’s cool.

No one finds it cool. It might just become a problem for you.

Find Like-Minded People

College is a great place to meet people who are on the same wavelength as you, and have invigorating and highly stimulating conversations and debates. Many of these may also turn into close friendships that you shall carry with you for a long time. So use your time to debate, discuss, and foster close friendships.

College Is A Great Place To Meet People Who Are On The Same Wavelength As You

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Be Compassionate

Everyone joins college with similar hopes, fears, and anxieties as you. So, be kind, and help people where possible. People are naturally drawn to those who are compassionate, especially because it signals our brain about honesty and genuinity. However, of course, when we say one should help, it should not be at the cost of one’s own needs. Create polite boundaries and function within them.

Engage In Extracurricular Activities

College shouldn’t only be limited to studies. This is also the time to explore other avenues in your life, passions you had left behind or those you’ve never tried before. One of the useful tips for college students is to try engaging in extracurricular activities within college or even outside, involving yourself and perhaps your college friends too. Try a sport, join one of the college teams, play, compete, and go for tournaments. Or, join a club or two, or three. Explore the work they do, take leadership roles (they look great on CVs), meet people, go places, innovate, create, etc.

Be Socially Active

College is a great time to not just make friends but interact with people doing different courses and activities. All these interactions teach us some real things about ourselves, other people, relationships, and the likes of these. So, be socially active. Make use of the different platforms available in your college to interact with people. Seniors, super seniors, perhaps even alumni!

We are social creatures and learn best from other individuals.

Gel With College Staff

It is always great to be on good terms with one’s educators, and even more so because professors often have on-the-field experiences and wisdom to share. Find ways to be known by your professors, either through leadership roles or academic performance- this often helps one in being recommended by one’s professors for awards, other roles and responsibilities like student councils, and even later if you need letters of recommendation for your higher education.

Furthermore, get to know the support staff, especially if you will have to frequently interact with lab staff or library staff. One, it's always good to treat them well and secondly, you never know when it may come in handy to be on good terms with them.

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Discover Hangout Spots

While you explore your studies and college campus, also ensure that you essentially experience another charm of being in college, so another tip for college students would be to discover hangout spots and eating joints in and outside the college, find cool party spots, find events in the city, explore concerts, food/film/literature festivals, bazaars etc.

Go live, have fun. Make memorable experiences!

Own Your Mistakes

The more and often you’ll fail now, the less likely to make mistakes later or be unable to tolerate rejection or failure. So, fail, learn, try again, and live.

College is a great time to learn from and beyond the books, about people, work, life, and all sorts of “real-world” things. Utilise these years to make the best of yourself, and thereby set strong foundations for success.

Nilanjana Parijat is a depth-oriented, and holistic wellness psychologist, with extensive hands-on experience in working with children, adolescents, and families. She currently works as Consultant with Reboot Wellness, Gurugram.