The first word people may think of when they hear the word “college”, is freedom. To me that meant: No parents, No rules, and No responsibilities. These things may be mostly true, but in college you have to begin to “adult”. You are probably wondering, “What is adulting?” Adulting, is what you have to do when you grow up. It is grocery shopping, taking your car to get its oil changed, and making your own doctors appointments. Mom and Dad are not there to do that for you anymore. For possibly the first time in your lives, you are on your own. These are a few things that you might want to know how to do before you go to college.
1. Laundry
This is a necessity. Whether you are 2 or 12 hours away from home, you will not want to drive home every weekend to do laundry, and your parents won’t want you to either…
2. Talk to Adults
You have to do this a lot in college, whether it is to a professor, people in financial aid, a boss, or a pharmacist. You will need how to effectively communicate with real adults in person and over the phone without using the words “like” and “dude” too many times.
3. Change a Tire
About twenty percent of adults have no idea how to change a tire. This is not just an important college lesson, but an important life lesson. Be the handy friend, or save yourself when AAA is going to take 5 hours before they can come fix your tire.
4. Cook Food Other than Popcorn
In your first-year, you will most likely attempt to live off of dining hall cereal and ramen. Maybe you don’t think you need this skill as much, but one day you will have a stove. Don’t be the person who forgets to put water in their Easy Mac, is constantly burning their popcorn, or only knows how to make frozen waffles- you’re better than that.
5. Make Appointments
Also related to talking to adults, you will need to make your own appointments. Don’t be afraid to make appointments with your professors or academic advisors. These people are on your team, so don’t be scared, they won’t bite.
6. Balance Your Time
The further you get in college the more stuff you will have to do. College is really just a giant science experiment to see if young adults know how to manage their time well. Between lab reports,club meetings, campus jobs, and writing papers- the real challenge is figuring out how to do all of those things and still find time to nap.
7. Budget Your Money
Being a broke college kid is a real thing. You won’t want to spend all your time working, so make sure to budget that money. Get a side hustle, check the couch for coins, or just make sure to save that birthday money from your Grandparents. Trust me, something will come up and you won’t want to have to get mom or dad to send you money.
8. Treat Yo Self
Self-care and a healthy school-social life balance can be hard to have as a Freshman. Sometimes, you will get a bad grade on an exam or maybe you’re just having a bad day- either way, you have to remember to invest in the most important thing… YOU!
