How was your freshman year in college? What advice would you give to a freshman?

Go to class. I know that may sound simple, but a lot of students get carried away with the freedom of college,where you're not required to be there all day every day, and with not having their mothers tell them to go to bed every night. You'll find that studying for tests is a lot easier if you've been in class listening to the lectures. Getting someone's notes is not the same. I wish someone had told me that my freshman year- I had to learn the hard way!

Don't join "the Greek scene".

I am going to be a senior in college this September. I would do anything to be a freshman again- truly the best four years!

My number one tip would be to stay on top of your coursework, studies etc. It is 100% possible to have a great social life and to get excellent grades. IT’S ALL ABOUT TIME MANAGEMENT. Do not procrastinate. Stay organized. Map out on a calendar when you have assignments/ test/ quizzes etc. If you have any questions with an assignment or if you are not understanding what is going on in class 1. You are most likely not alone 2. USE YOUR RESOURCES. I have been up my professor’s asses with email and it’s the best thing. Do not hesitate to email your professor or go to their office hours. It shows that you care and you’ll get a lot of clarity through that.

Get involved! Join Greek life, a club, something! Go out, have fun. It’s college. You are supposed to have fun. But remember the main reason you are there - to get an education. Whether you know what you want to do in life and in your career or not, do not neglect your grades. Because you may realize your junior year you want to go to grad school and grades are and extremely important factor for that. You don’t want to be having to save your GPA in your junior/senior year.

Overall, work hard, stay organized, use your resources, get good grades but also meet people and have fun. Don’t listen to anyone who says its impossible to do it all - because it’s not!! Enjoy!!! I would give anything to start this amazing experience over again.

A few tips:
DON'T get behind. If you don't understand something, don't wait until the last minute to get help. At the first sign of trouble, get help somehow. Ask your instructor, classmate, a tutor, the Internet, or some sort of combination. But do whatever you need to understand the material.

Make sure you know deadlines, both for your classes and your school's deadlines.

Be organized. It's often easy to forget what you're supposed to do and when it's due. I like jotting what I need to get done either on paper or on my phone depending on what is handiest at the time.

Some points are better than no points. If you know for a fact you're going to fail a test or homework assignment, it's best to just get it over with rather than not doing it and forfeiting all points. Even a few points can make the difference between failing and passing or bumping you up the next grade level.

Understand that in college, you will be treated as an adult. Your instructors will expect that you do a lot of things on your own without much guidance from them, such as reading a lot or doing outside research on your own time.

If you take online classes or classes with an online part, make sure you know how to use your school's online class system and get familiar with it. Also make sure you have at least 1 spare computer you can use, either a school computer or friends computer in case your main one doesn't work. Most professors won't accept technical difficulties as valid excuses. So if you've had weeks to write that essay and you are barely starting it the night it's due and your Internet goes out, well you are out of luck. Even if it's a few seconds late, the system won't accept it.

Going back to the 1st tip: don't procrastinate; it's too easy to do it and very difficult to break from that habit. As soon as you get an assignment, try to do it ASAP.