As I’m going into my last semester of my senior year of college (CRAZY right?) it’s been pretty easy to say that you live and you learn. Every part of my college experience has been trial and error–there’s no other way of putting it. My mistakes that I made freshman year I carried along with me for the coming years of my academic career. Instead of dwelling on the mistakes I’ve made, I let them be learning moments and have helped guide friends alongside me. I’m truly blessed to have the experience I have had at Missouri State and I hope every incoming freshman after me has as good of an experience as I did without making all the little mistakes I did. Here’s a look into my mistakes I made (or that my friends had made) and how to make the best of your college experience.

What is Rate My Professor?

Every student should use Rate My Professor if you have multiple options on professors. Rate My Professor is a website in which students can rate professors at their college. The topics can range from taking them again, if the textbook was used, if attendance was necessary, and so on. The website also gives students an insight into the professor’s overall quality and their overall difficulty by giving them an average score out of five. Students are also able to give a professor “tags” during their ratings. The tags include things such as “hilarious,” “skip class? won’t pass,” “gives good feedback,” and more. I personally have had the best luck with my professors using this website. My GPA has majorly benefitted from it as well! It can’t hurt you, it will only help you.

Overpack

I’m calling myself out here. This is the biggest mistake I ever made. I was always to find room in any nook and cranny open just to store my clothes–and I didn’t wear half of them. You don’t need every t-shirt you own even though you’re tempted to. I promise you that you will not wear everything. I’m one of those people that will find a really comfy outfit and repeat it constantly… I mean it’s comfy. Bring things that are comfortable or that you know you’ll wear. Same goes for shoes. Don’t bring something you’re not planning on wearing to class at least a few times a week. No one is going to judge you for wearing a sweatshirt that’s twice your size or wearing sweatpants every once in a while. Everyone else around you will probably be dressed similarly.

Go home every weekend

You’ll never make memories with friends away from home if you are constantly at home. Going home prohibits you from establishing yourself away from home. Going away to college is supposed to allow you to grow into who you’ll be for the rest of your life. You build trust in other people that aren’t your parents, you rely on yourself to get from point A to point B, meet deadlines, get your mail, do your laundry… all the adult things you never did before. I can personally say that forcing myself to stay home for weeks on end made me more independent, and my mother appreciated the fact that I never brought laundry home for her to do (and still to this day I haven’t).

Not expanding your circle

Coincidentally, my best friends that I’ve made at school aren’t from my hometown. One of them isn’t even from the same state as me! If I had just stuck to people that I knew when coming to college, I would have sorely missed out on two of my greatest friends I’ll ever have. I’m still friends with my close friends from home, but it’s really rewarding when I can have two worlds collide. Some of my college friends are friends with my friends from home and it’s amazing. Find someone that compliments you in the best way or someone that reminds you of home. It will make your transition to college much easier, while still allowing you to grow separate from where you grew up and who you grew up with.

Waiting to register

This can literally ruin you. Granted, if you have a set time to register like I always do, you won’t have this problem. But if you don’t have a certain date and time, get that schedule submitted ASAP. Nothing is worse than getting your last choice classes with your last choice professors. It’s a horrible feeling and you’ll never want to go to class. Classes are harder to get into the further along you get in school (at least in my case) so please, do not put it off.

Misusing dining hall opportunities

During my orientation dates, everyone always talked about the freshman 15 and Mo State 28. For those that don’t know, this is supposedly how much weight you can gain in your first year at college on average. Spoiler: they’re both so real. I didn’t gain that much weight (thank god) but do not take weight gain lightly. It can easily be avoided. It’s so easy to eat balanced meals in the dining hall. Even if you aren’t hungry, find ways to make sure you get the most important food groups in your diet like proteins, grains, dairy, fruits and vegetables. My most common meal in the dining hall was a panini (which I usually tried to load with vegetables), an apple and the occasional salad. It really depended on my mood, but it is very possible to pick at least one healthy option per meal in the dining hall.

Skipping class

This is one of the worst things you could ever do in college, and even worse if it becomes a habit. I’ve seen some of my friends get dropped from their classes by the professor when they fail to show up. If you’re anything like me and like to stay ahead of the game, skipping class will not be for you. I skipped once out of the fact that I was with a friend who had a medical emergency the night before. I thought I was too tired to go to class but I was more tired trying to catch up for the next class period. I’ve never found skipping effective and have not missed a day of class since.

Not getting to know those around you

I got to know my neighbors that lived across the hall from me in the dorms. While this was great, I never got to know my whole floor. My friends that lived across the hall would routinely sit in the hallway with me. We would end up talking so late that on-call RAs would have to walk around us. I’m still friends with them now! They are some of the most loyal friends I have. They’d do anything for me and I’d do anything for them. Most of our hangouts now include Andy’s and it is just as fun as sitting in the hall. The people that live around you are the easiest way to make friends, especially since you don’t have to go far to see each other.

Settling on a major

Thankfully, this didn’t apply to me. But a lot of my friends have changed their major, or their minors, collectively probably 20 times. Their classes always change and they’re a complete 180 flip from what they were doing before. It created a lot of stress for them. Take some classes you re interested in and see if that’s a route you’d like to go down. I was lucky enough to know what I wanted to do. While I know that is a luxury, please wait until you have a good idea of what you want to do first. It will be 100 times easier on you and your bank account.

Not making friends in your major classes

This is a mistake that I didn’t know I was making until last year. I had friends from previous classes, but none that I ever really talked to about things outside of the classroom. I never texted any of them to see if they wanted to hang out; it was only ever strictly classwork. I now have a good circle of friends within my major classes. It makes me happy coming in to see them and share things about my day. I’m thankful for those that allow me a comfortable space to “spill the tea” and just talk about what is going wrong in our lives.

Did you make any mistakes as a college freshman that I missed? Let me know in a comment below!