15 Tips for College Freshmen

1. Don't friend everyone in your class on facebook before you have even met them. You don't want to be the creep who is facebook friends with everyone in the class especially if you awkwardly bump into the people you friended when you get there.

2. Leave your dorm room door open- when your home of course. Keeping your door open allows you to meet other students on your floor and shows you are a friendly person.

3. Introduce yourself. Don't expect everyone to come over to see you. Introduce yourself to your neighbors first and you will meet others in time.

4. Don't expect to be friends with the people you hang out with the first week. Your friends change many times during your first semester and you will find you are friends with different people by the end of the year.

5. Set ground rules with your roommate. You may think you won't have an issue with your roommate but almost everyone does. Setting some ground rules at least gives you a basis of what things will annoy each other.

6. Tell your roommate when something bothers you. You will discover things your roommate does that will annoy you. Pick your battles on what you feel is necessary to talk about but don't disregard little issues because they will build up and all come out at once.

7. Don't spend all your time with your roommate. Living with someone is hard enough but when you're around the person 24/7 it's even harder. Make sure you have friends who are not friends with your roommate that you can hang out with when you need a break.

8. Don't go home every weekend. As tempting as it is to go home for the weekend when you're homesick- you will make more friends and get over your homesickness if you stick it out.

9. Budget your money. It is tempting to spend all of your money right away but think about the end of the year when you won't have any money at all.

10. Have fun but not too much. College is a time to have fun and experience new things; make sure you do so. But don't let it affect your grades as your parents will not be happy. Remember, some scholarships require you to maintain a certain GPA- don't lose your scholarship because you were partying 5 days a week.

11. Don't leave your laundry in the machine after your time is up. Your laundry will be taken out of the washer or dryer. Do you really want someone else touching your clothes? And, do you really want to find your clothing strewn ab0out the laundry room for everyone to see and take?

12. Back up everything on your computer. Every college freshman has computer issues. Don't let yourself be the one who loses 10 pages of their term paper due to hard drive failure.

13. Don't be the one who comes home for winter break and has gained the freshman 15 or more. Try to find a balance between working out and eating cafeteria food that allows you to maintain your weight.

14. Don't think about transferring schools until you've made it through the whole year. The first semester is tough for everyone and everyone thinks about transferring. You will feel a lot differently about your school by the end of the year wait until then.

15. Embrace your freedom. Take advantage of not having to follow the rules that you do at home. You will miss your freedom when you go home for breaks and have to live with your parents again.