Build bridges, don't burn them. Make connections that will benefit both your personal and professional life.
Learn how to make coffee. You'll need it when finals week comes.
It helps to study a little every night. Finals week is basically hell on earth. But it would help you to build good study habits.
If there's something going on at your school or in the community that you don't like, change it. Action builds character and your résumé.
Go to office hours! Spending time with teachers after class is no longer embarrassing. In fact, it could be what makes or breaks your GPA.
Just because you can skip most of your classes and get the PowerPoint presentations or notes online or from a friend, doesn't mean that you should.
Get an internship. Then get another and another. Get as much experience as you can, because when you graduate, everyone else will have a little piece of paper saying essentially the same thing yours does, so it's important to do things that help you stand out.
Use highlighters and note cards excessively.
Grades are NOT everything. When you look back at these years, you probably won't remember if you got an A or a C in Psychology 101, but you will remember that weeknight you stayed up until dawn, just because you could, making awesome and amazing memories with your friends.
However, if you plan on getting into grad school, just remember that pain is temporary and your GPA is forever.
It's okay to not want to party. There are plenty of people who feel the same.
It's essential to find a balance between fun and work. Grades are not everything, but they are still important. Trust us, it's possible but I can't say it will be easy.
Accept that your college ID photo will be terrible, and know that you will pull it out in four years and claim that you don't ever remember having that awful hair cut.
Check in with academic advisors every semester to make sure you're on track and in the right classes for your major.
Don't forget to use your student discount everywhere! Countless companies and stores — Apple, Verizon, and most movies theaters, to name a few — will often knock down the cost if you flash that college ID card. Most IDs don't expire for several years even after you graduate, so keep it around!
Go to review sessions. Seriously, professors are going over exactly what's on the test in these sessions. Why would you NOT go?
Take advantage of having a campus health care center while you have access to it.
Find a "spot" in the library and let yourself get attached to it. When you go to study for a huge test, it will feel more like coming home than like sitting down to do work.
Make sure you know how to do laundry before you get to school, instead of waiting until after your favorite t-shirt goes from person-sized to baby-sized to figure it out.
Accept the fact that you won't ace every test or paper. It's almost an inevitability. Instead, learn from it when it happens.
If you have the opportunity, study or work abroad. A semester or even a year experiencing a different country and culture, away from everything you know, is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Stock your dorm room with food from the dining hall. It's not open 24 hours a day, and at one point or another, you will definitely be awake and hungry when it's closed.
If you're not a morning person, don't schedule early classes. No matter how much you want to believe you'll go, you won't.
Call your parents. You may think you're doing them a favor, but you'll be surprised how much good it does for you, too.
Try to avoid the freshman 15. The all-you-can-eat buffets are easy to fall prey to, but you'll be physically and mentally healthier if you find a way to add a fitness class to your schedule or take advantage of free access to university gyms. Plus working out and being healthy will help you be mentally ready for a test.
At some point, try to squeeze a good night's sleep in.
Take advantage of anything free your school offers. Swag, free classes, free clubs, free food — take it all!
Piling all of your classes on to Tuesday and Thursday so that you can have four-day weekends may seem like a good idea at the time, but it's not. It means that all of your papers and projects will always be due at the same time, and if you miss just one day of class, you'll be very behind.
Be studious.
Be spontaneous.
When you're working on a paper or project on the computer, press save — A LOT and back everything up.
Take care of your mental health. If you need something, don't put it off until things hit a wall or spiral out of control. Ask for what you need, or seek it out yourself.
Don't miss out on the stereotypical college experience by going home every weekend to see old friends, family, or significant others. It's great to maintain ties with people you love, but don't let it stop you from building a new life where you are.
Allow yourself to change and grow. College is an experience that is mostly awesome, sometimes painful. Usually a little bit of both and almost always at the same time.
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