By By Jenna Grasso, Special to The Chronicle
College is something that all teenagers and young adults are excited about. They look forward to picking what time to go to class, whether to be a resident or commuter, whether to go to class or sleep late, and whether to do assignments or go out on a Friday night.
College is a really fun time where young adults realize who they are, but sometimes they make mistakes that are difficult to correct, especially when it comes to the academic aspect of college.
In high school, all students are told exactly what to do. Homework is checked, teachers tell you (or your parents) your progress, and you have no choice but to go to school. Although college may not be for everyone, a majority of teenagers decide to graduate high school and go to college. College is a completely different ball game than high school.
More work is given, and it’s on you to do well. The first year of college is when mistakes are made: such as going to a party and not doing work, or just not going to class at all. Freshmen are prone to making mistakes as a result of their new pronounced freedom. Once freedom is given it is the student’s job to make the decisions, not the parents or the teachers.
College is a time of work, work, and more work and all students need to the weekend to go out and have fun or go home. Partying to much can lead to not doing assignments that were given, not going to class, and possibly issues with roommates and the parents that are concerned you are doing to much partying. What many students should not do is go out every night and party.
Another huge issue all students have is procrastination. Procrastination is one of the worst things for a student to do. Procrastination leads to rushed work and bad grades.
One more huge issue that freshman encounter is the lack of communication they have with professors. Talking and expressing your concerns to a professor will do nothing but help you in the long run. Freshman year should be the year where students should organize time and devote a decent amount to schoolwork and studying.
Reading and looking over the notes taken in class that day is a helpful way to remember information, and help studying easier once it comes to midterms and finals. Freshman should also get a study group together, and study with other people. This makes you study and it will help getting others viewpoints on a topic.
Freshman should also limit the amount of time that they devote to partying. You might not realize it, but going out on a Thursday night will affect you the next morning when you have an 8 o’clock class.
Freshman year is something students should be excited about and have a good time. Just make time for studying, and make time for friends so you have the best college experience!