- It’s exciting to leave for college, but it can also be scary and lonely sometimes. If you’re going to a campus where you know no one, it can seem like you’re the only stranger around. Remember that everyone else is making new friends too; you’re not the lone outsider. Remember that old song “make new friends and keep the old; one is silver and the other gold”? It’s true.
- Get some sleep. Maybe you’re a morning person. Maybe a night owl. Maybe naps in the middle of the day work great for you. Any of these is fine, as long as you know your body and care for it. If you have an early class, staying up until 2 or 3 am may not be so smart. Bedtimes are not just for babies. Respect your schedule and your body.
- Reinvent yourself. Don’t like who you were in high school? This is your big chance to be your new self. Be careful to be true to who you really are though, so you don’t betray or exhaust yourself trying to be someone you’re just not.
- Walk your route before the semester starts. Look at your class schedule. Walk the campus. Find the buildings. Find the classrooms. Find the labs. Find the bathrooms. Find everything you need to find before classes start. Then you won’t be so stressed trying to get there when you’re crunched for time. (OK, so this tip implies the yet unstated: GO TO CLASS.)
- Carry your campus map. If you’re heading to a big school, or even a small one that you just don’t know well yet, don’t be too embarrassed to throw a campus map in your backpack. They’re made to help you find your way, so use it if you need to. Remember that you’re there to learn, and learning the campus is part of it.
- Check the weather forecast. I know it sounds like something your grandparents do (and with the volume up way too loud for way too many hours on The Weather Channel), but wouldn’t you rather know to take your umbrella with you than to be forced to walk home in the rain?
- Call home. Miss your parents? There’s no shame in calling home. And there’s something about actually talking to someone that can help in a way that texting can’t. Whether you just want to say hi or you have a funny story or you need advice (or money), just call. They probably want to talk to you too.
- Don’t procrastinate. Think you can wait until the last minute to write that paper or finish (or start) that project? There’s a reason a semester is 16 weeks long. Sometimes you need a lot of time, so start early.
- Eat. And eat smart. Eating disorders are too, too common on college campuses. Please, make good food choices and take care of your body. Your brain will work so much better when you do. And while you’re at it, help take good care of your friends too. Odds are you’ll know someone in college with disordered eating; be a friend and get them some help.
- Introduce yourself to your professors. They’re people too, and they (hopefully) wouldn’t be in this profession if they didn’t want to know and teach and help students. Besides, when they know your face and your name together, they have the chance to think favorably of you and give you the benefit of the doubt… which you just might need later this semester.
- Don’t put God last. The Bible says we should put God first, but college life tends to push Him to last, if He even makes the list. Don’t leave God out of your life now, when you have the chance to know Him in entirely new and amazing ways. Read your Bible (yes, the app works just fine). Pray. Go to Bible study and church. Remember God.
- “Study like it all depends on you and pray like it all depends on God, because, the truth is, it all depends on both,” said a college professor. Sounds like he knew a thing or two about both.
Kathy Raines, UBC College Minister
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