College Tips for High School Seniors (Part 1)

Dear 2020 Seniors,

The fact that your senior year was cut short makes my heart ache for you. I can't even imagine how hard it is to say goodbye to high school so quickly and without preparation. Suddenly, some of you are preparing for the next stage of your life: College. I know how intimidating and scary the thought can be. For me, it was the fear of not knowing what to expect that scared me the most. You might be moving out of your parent's house for the first time or starting to have to think about new things like money. As a person who struggles with anxiety and who was so nervous about college, I can honestly tell you: it's not as scary as it all seems.

Fall 2019 started my first semester of being a college student, and I am currently finishing my second semester. As I learned and experienced many things, I made a list of the things that I wish I had known before going into college and during the first semester; so whether you are a senior in high school and are ready to graduate and attend college or already a current college student, I hope these tips are useful and put your mind at ease about this giant step in your life!

First, here is some information about myself so you are able to compare your situation to mine: I attend a university in the city that I grew up in meaning that I am about 10 minutes away from home. I started my college career as a Theatre: Acting/Directing major, but this semester changed to a Human Development and Family Studies major. I live in a three-person suite on campus where we each get our own rooms and share our own bathroom.

*I mention these things because they do have an effect on some of my tips!

I wrote down 10 tips in my notes throughout the year, but I decided I'd split them up into two different blog posts since the first five ended up being so long. These tips are regarding the school aspect of college. I will post the social/mental part of college tips I have later!

1. Be to Class Early

As a person who lives by the fact that being on time is being late, I think that this not only can help you academically, but also socially. Finding a seat in a lecture hall, especially on the first day, can be a difficult task. Normally, when classes start, lecture halls are filled to the brim. On my first day of my Pop Culture class, my roommate and I had to sit on a table at the back of the room because the hall was completely full. This made it really hard to pay attention, but mostly, it made it really hard to hear. Something you’ll hear a lot is that you should march in on the first day, sit in the front row, and introduce yourself to the professor, and by some means, yes, absolutely you should, but to tell you the truth, I didn’t. Going into the first day of all of my classes, I chose a seat right in the middle of the room, which really worked out for me and the way I learned. In smaller classes, I wasn’t sitting right in front of the teacher so they could call on me all the time, but I also wasn’t sitting so far away that they didn’t know I existed. As for big lectures, if you can hear and you’re learning, then you’re doing what’s best for you because in my experience, the big lecture professors don’t know or, in some cases, really care to know who you are. Most of them are just there to teach and grade. Going to class even a few minutes earlier will help secure your chance of getting your perfect seat.

I mentioned earlier that being early to class could also help you socially. At least, it helped me tremendously. Specifically, I had a speech class this semester containing about 20-30 people, and by the end of the semester, I was friends with almost all of them. Every day, I came to class about ten minutes early and all of us chatted and caught up while we waited for our professor to arrive. That’s when we had the most time to get to know each other, and it was a blast! This was also the case for my script analysis class, which was another small lecture I had, and I made so many great friends in that class as well.

I am not saying by any means that if you’re not early, you’ll fail the class. I know a guy who came into our lecture out of breath every day because he was running to get to class in a reasonable amount of time. I’m trying to convey that coming to class early has many benefits, and it has really worked wonders for me during my experience.

2. Go to as Many Classes as Possible

This is something you hear from almost everyone you talk to about college. GO TO CLASS. It’s nearly imperative for every class you’ll take to show up to as many lectures as you possibly can. Get into that habit early. Don’t skip class unless you absolutely have to. Many professors understand if you catch a cold or the flu or even just need a mental break every once in a while, but don’t make it a habit to skip class if you’ve just had a rough day or you’re tired. You will absolutely not regret going in the long run. I promise you that you’ll be better prepared and learn way more if you’re in a classroom setting than in bed on a computer trying to teach yourself the things you could have learned easily by just going to class in the first place.

3. Take Good Notes

As much as I’m starting to sound like your mom when it comes to school, this is something to keep in mind always. It’s so important that your notes are legible and easy to understand because we all know you’ll forget almost everything until you start studying for exams. It’s at that moment when you’ll count on your notes to guide you through your studies. My recommendation is to use colored pens, but if not those then a black pen and highlighters.

Personally, this semester was pretty easy in terms of the amount of work I had to do, so I decided that during the day, after I finished all of my homework, I would rewrite all of my notes. I know, this is absolutely insane. I agree. I’m not sure what made me think to do that, but I have to say that it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It was so easy to find things while taking online quizzes and making note cards on Quizlet, and honestly, it was kind of fun. I used different colors to separate headings, definitions, and other things I needed to know. I took my time on this and often watched the Hallmark Channel or listened to music as a way to wind down from the day. It was relaxing but also very productive.

If you aren’t insane like I am and don’t want to do this, that’s perfectly fine too! I just want to make it clear that having and taking good notes is extremely important and will benefit you in the best ways.

It's satisfying though right?!

4. Don’t Worry Too Much About Majors

This is something that sort of gets forced on you during your years in high school. In my high school, we had a program where we took a small personality type quiz and it told us what areas of study would be best for us. I remember taking that and being so stressed out because I had my parents telling me that I didn’t need to know for sure what I wanted to do the rest of my life yet, while it felt like that was the only thing we talked about at school. It’s a stressful decision and something that can overtake your mind in seconds. Take it from me: DON’T WORRY AS MUCH AS YOU’RE WORRYING RIGHT NOW! If you know what you want to do, that’s incredible! Get right into it and enjoy it! If you don’t know, that’s totally fine too. Use high school and maybe even your first or second year of college figuring out what’s best for you.

Here’s what’s going on with me regarding majors: As a kid, I never had an idea about what I wanted to do when I grew up. While picking a major, I was told to think about things that interested me. I’ve always loved theater, performing, and dancing, so naturally, I aspired to be a musical theatre director. I started my first semester of college in that field, and although I adored the people involved in the program, I felt that theatre wasn’t for me. I’ve now transferred to being a Human Development and Family Studies major. You know how you always hear that everyone is passionate about something? Well, I’m not really passionate about anything, and I know that’s super weird and you’re probably thinking, “that’s ridiculous,” but let me explain. I love theater. I love performing, acting, singing, and dancing while playing a whole other person in front of tons of people, but I didn’t love it enough to want to know everything about it. I went in to the program thinking I would simply learn how to direct a play or musical, but it’s not even close to that simple. In order to become a director, I had to learn how to sew, build sets, stage manage, and maybe throw in acting in a show once or twice just for the experience. There were so many things that I wasn’t at all interested in doing or learning that came with the package of becoming a director, and that was kind of a newsflash for me. I didn’t know going in that I would have to do all of those things, and if I had, I’m not sure I would have pursued it. There were so many people in that program who would do anything to get a job on Broadway, but I wasn’t one of those people. I didn’t have the drive that you should have when doing something you love. If you feel this way too, IT’S OKAY! Just know that getting your degree can get you far in itself. If you find you’re not feeling passionate about what you’re doing, I recommend getting a broad degree such as a degree in Human Development (take it from me!).

If you’re a senior in high school frantic about all of the people telling you that you should decide what you should major in, do me a favor. Don’t be frantic. Don’t feel stressed. You have plenty of time!

5. Check Rate My Professor

I CANNOT STRESS THIS ONE ENOUGH! Before/while you schedule your classes, there is a website called Rate My Professor where students who have had a certain professor can leave comments about them, rate them, and tell you about their experience with said professor. This is SO important. As you pick your classes, make sure to look at who’s teaching and compare different professors on the website. It’s so easy and takes barely any time at all. Before you go and tell me that this is silly and that I’m now an infomercial about Rate My Professor, let me tell you about something that happened to me.

This semester, I had to get a speech class out of the way for my major in theatre, so when I was signing up for classes, I really didn’t know what I was doing, so I just put random classes in my schedule. This speech class was on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays at 10:30a.m. The first few classes, I enjoyed the professor. She was very nice and seemed very concerned about how well be performed in the class. I even remember telling my mom that she was my favorite professor. That is, until I realized she was absolutely nuts. The first red flag occurred when she put us into groups to practice different ways to write and give speeches. On speech days, she assigned groups to either go on the first, second, or third day depending on how many speeches she could fit into a day. After she assigned us our groups, she proceeded to tell us that if all of our group members didn’t show up on the day we were assigned to give our OWN speeches, everyone in the group would get a zero on their speech. Yeah. If one person from our group accidentally forgets to set their alarm or sleeps in, all of us get zeros… but don’t worry. It gets even better than that.

I was part of group number two, which consisted of four people including myself. We were set to give our persuasive speeches on the Friday of speech week. I wrote my speech on Monday and ran through it once on Tuesday. I had an exam in another class that Wednesday, so I felt as though I was in a good place regarding my speech and felt like I had plenty of time. When I first ran it on Tuesday, I was a few minutes over my time limit and my professor was very strict about time and would take off many points for every second you went over. This didn’t bother me much since I still had three more days until I gave my speech… At least, that’s what I thought.

Wednesday morning, I woke up and studied for my exam, ate breakfast, and put on a sweatshirt and jeans for my speech class. It was 10:13. Normally, I left at 10:15 for my 10:30 class, so I was watching the last few minutes of a YouTube video until I had to leave when I got a text from a friend in my speech group:

“Apparently we’re presenting today… Just found out.”

This was the second worst feeling I’ve ever felt in my life (you’ll hear what took the number one spot in a minute). I jumped off of my bed where I was sitting. 10:14. I was frantically changing my clothes, gathering my note cards, and trying not to vomit over the fact that I have to give a speech I’ve only run through once in about 15 minutes. I made it to class with five minutes to spare. The friend who sent the text met me in the room. She was just as frantic as I was and we kept telling each other that there was no way we could give these speeches today. We both decided to go up to the professor, tell her we were unprepared, and tell her honestly that we were not ready because we thought our speech day was Friday.

Her answer? “There’s nothing I can do.”

It turns out that she had changed the date of our speech and didn’t bother to tell any of us. I sat down in my seat and tried to go over what I knew of my speech in my head, but I was distracted (1) by other people giving their speeches and (2) by my shaking hands, pounding heart, and a tightening in my chest.

A girl in my class had just finished presenting when my professor looked at me and asked, “Are you ready?” I nodded, and as soon as I stood up, it was like someone had hit my chest with a baseball bat and my body went immediately completely numb, and it top it all off, I couldn’t breathe. I remember looking at the people around me, one I knew very well but the others I had barely talked to, and I was talking through my heavy breathing saying that I couldn’t feel my hands and that I couldn’t breathe.

Looking back, I think this is the first time I ever truly understood what “fight or flight” means. The only thought in my mind was getting out of the room. I started toward the door and noticed that I couldn’t bend my legs and feet or move my hands, and I was walking on the complete insides of my feet. So basically, I waddled out the door and sat on a couch that was in the hallway. Lucky, I had my phone, and I instantly called my mom and dad, but they were both working, so I texted both of them about what was happening. While I texted, I could barely separate my thumb from my palms almost like my hands were claws, and honestly, I can’t even explain how hard it is to text and hold a phone when you can’t move your hands. Needless to say, I had a panic attack. I got a hold of my dad and ended up leaving without any of my things. No keys, backpack, coat, anything. My roommate let me into her room and I sat there until my next class where my friends brought all of my things (love you, Jacque and Josh). I emailed my professor, told her I hadn’t felt well, and asked if I could present Friday. She said, “Absolutely! Hope you feel better…” So much for “nothing I can do.”

This is my BIGGEST tip for you guys. CHECK RATE MY PROFESSOR. I’m now pursuing my second semester and used Rate My Professor to choose my classes. I love every one of my professors! The reviews on all of them were so positive, and it’s so easy to see why. I highly recommend.

It's easy to be intimidated by college. I was for so long before I finally got used to it and started finding the joy in it. College is a great social experience, but it's important to make the best of the experience academically too! Take classes you're interested in, and you'll find it easier to study and do the work.

For me, the biggest fear of college was not knowing what to expect. I'm here to help you be the most prepared that you can be. I have written five more tips about the social and mental aspects of starting college and will be posting that blog soon. If there's anything that I can write about, please reach out and let me know so I can help you be the best that you can be while you start this new, exciting chapter of your life!