Inside Info: Tips for College Freshmen

Freshman year can be a tough learning experience, not just in the classroom but outside as well. Dorm life can be hard to adjust to, but there are a few tricks to make it a little easier. Here are some helpful tips on conquering the trickiest troubles of freshman year.

1. Your student ID card is your lifeline. At pretty much all schools, your ID is used as a form of ID, an access card, and has some sort of cash value whether it's campus-only cash or your general ATM card. If you lose it, it's pretty much as bad as losing your wallet or your purse. Oh, and those lanyards that some students hang them on? They pretty much shout "freshman!" Keeping your ID card in a pocket of your backpack or in your wallet will help you conceal your underclassman identity.

2. The dorm laundry rooms are quietest on the weekend nights. Think about it; if everyone's out, who's doing their laundry. If you crawl out with the late-night group and get a load or two in before your festivities, you can save yourself a great deal of hassle in the long run.

3. There is free food everywhere; you just have to go find it. Seriously, someone is always recruiting new members, or looking to inform you of something, and is more than willing to feed you in return for your attention. Usually they don't get too mad if you sit and study during their meetings, and you get a free meal for your "troubles."

4. Toothpaste will basically solve everything. Nailholes in your walls? Fill 'em with toothpaste. Need to clean your coffeepot and don't have soap? Scrub a little toothpaste on there. Need a cost effective version of sticky-tack? In a pinch, toothpaste can hang papers or pictures to the wall. Toothpaste has hundreds of uses, not to mention that you should probably brush your teeth with it once in awhile.

5. In the common bathrooms, never take the middle stall if either of the others is available. It's just an unspoken rule. Think about it; chances are there is someone else is in the next stall over, especially in the common, three-stall setups. Would you really want someone setting up shop right next to you while you're handling your business? Probably not. It's just proper etiquette to take the stall furthest away from the occupied one. After all, this might benefit you in the end too - do you really want to sit next to them?

6. DO NOT sell back your books to the bookstore at the end of the semester. I know, I know, you're strapped for cash, but trust me, there are more cost-effective ways to get rid of your those tomes you never read in the first place. Half.com or eBay.com are two sites where you can small your books for a small commission. At these two, you set the price and buyers come to you, meaning you get what you ask for. You can also typically sell your books to incoming students or those taking the class the next year. Any money you take off the bookstore price is usually incentive enough for them to buy from you and not the store. Remember, the bookstore is going to give you far less than it's worth because it has to make a profit. Make your own profit and forget about them!

Ok, that should get your started. There's many more tricks you'll learn along the way and even more you'll invent yourself. Good luck on your first year in college - enjoy it while it lasts!