Since this is the first fall semester that I’ve been out of college, I decided to reflect on my four years and share my experience with you. It’s been an incredible journey and I have learned so much about myself personally and professionally. I am so grateful to all of the friends, family, professors, bosses, and coworkers who have pushed me to go after my dreams. So for those of you who don’t know, I began college as a Direct-Admit nursing student at a Carroll University. Going through my clinical and science courses I began to realize nursing wasn’t the career path for me. Not because of the difficulty, but because I realized I cannot handle blood AND I have more of a passion for administrative and business work, rather than science. I then ended up transferring to UW Madison, where got a degree in Personal Finance and a Certificate in Entrepreneurship. Throughout the four years, I feel like I have gained a decent amount of tips and advice that I can share with those of you who are thinking about attending or are currently attending college now. I thought it would be fun to share that with you today!
1. Call you’re family!
After being in college, I feel like I have grown so much closer to my family. There is something about moving away and living on your own that makes you realize how great your family is! I talk to my family every single day, whether its Facetime, text, snapchat, or talking on the phone, I am always in contact with them. I call my mom every time I am walking to work or class!
2. It’s okay if you don’t want to pursue a career with what you majored in.
So many students stress about finding the perfect major and finding a job that correlates with that major, but honestly your major isn’t that important. Unless you are going for teaching, nursing, med school, etc your major doesn’t make a huge difference. There are many majors that are pretty versatile and allow you to get a job in various fields. Your experience and skills you bring to the table are what really matters!
3. Roommates make all the difference.
Having a good or bad roommate can make or break your college experience. I had a great roommate freshman year and we became good friends and did so much together! Having someone to eat lunch with, make friends with, work out with, and everything in between, makes college so much easier. What gets hard is when you don’t get that experience. My advice: Choose roommates who share similarities with you in regard to cleaning, going out, and personality.
4. Get Relevant Job Experience!
It is so important to gain experience working in the field that you want to work in. Companies that you’re applying to for after college will look at how your past job experience has prepared you for the job you’re applying for. I worked multiple jobs in college and they were all beneficial and helped me develop relationships with supervisors and coworkers that I can use as references. One of these connections may even land you a job some day. You never know where opportunities lie!
5. You don’t need to drink.
I will go out occasionally with friends to bars and have a good time, but I’m not the one throwing down shots. And you don’t need to be. There are some people that feel like they need alcohol to have fun or to be outgoing, but that doesn’t have to be you. I never felt peer pressured by anyone to drink either. It’s my choice to drink or not and nobody else’s. I love to dance, it’s one of my favorite things to do! So I think it’s fun to go out, dance, and have a good time, but I don’t need alcohol to do it.
6. Find Balance in your Diet
I learned this my freshman year, when I gained 30 pounds from eating dining hall food and late-night snacking. Thank goodness I lost it all. Living on your own you have the freedom to buy and eat whatever food you want. It is important to maintain a healthy diet, even with all the junk-food temptations out there! You’ll feel so much better and more energized throughout the day if you eat healthier meals, instead of relying on microwaveable ones.
7. Be willing and open to meeting new people and friends!
You can never have too many friends or too many connections.
8. Always be yourself.
Don’t try and change who you are to fit in with a group of people. If you have to act differently around them anyway, they aren’t the people you want to be hanging out with.
9. Find one good friend that you can rely on.
Find someone that you can confide in and can always count on to be there. I definitely believe in quality over quantity. In my opinion it’s better to have a few best friends than a ton of average ones.
10. Find a work out that doesn’t feel like exercise!
Finding a work-out or fitness class that is fun and doesn’t feel like you’re actually working out is so important. This will make you want to exercise, especially if you can get a few of your friends to do it with you. Usually the gym on campus offers fitness classes for free or at a small cost, so I would check those out. I also have found a couple studios on campus that I really love; Barre Code and Cyc Fitness to name a few.
11. Everyone feels lonely sometimes
It’s normal. You’ll miss you’re family, you’re house, you’re friends, but it’s okay. Everyone experiences this in some way or another you’re not alone.
12. Pray!
There are going to be times that you will feel alone and stressed out from exams and prayer truly helps! It helps ease my mind by verbally stating my stresses and worries. Leaving all my anxieties to God and knowing that he will continue to lead me through life is what gets me through those tough days.
13. Get your own Bedroom!
I shared a room with another girl my entire college career, even living in my apartment. I will never do it again. Although it’s cheaper, and you save a ton of money, you have no alone time. If you’re having a bad day and want to be alone, you don’t have that luxury of going back to your own bedroom. It’s difficult if you are on different sleep schedules or you want to have a friend stay over and you may get into arguments over different things. My recommendation is to spend the extra money and get your own room after freshman year.
14. Develop good Public Speaking skills
Most people don’t enjoy speaking in front of other people, however, this is one of the most valuable skills you can learn and you will use everywhere. Many companies look for individuals who have strong interpersonal communication skills and confidence in their speaking abilities. Taking a speech class will help you immensely, from speaking at company meetings, doing a wedding toast, or presenting a project to a board, speaking skills are highly necessary.
15. Get Involved and Volunteer!
Even if you don’t know anyone else in the club or anybody attending an event, put yourself out there and try something new. You won’t regret it and you may find a true passion for helping your community. This is one thing that I wish I would have done more of in college.
16. Learn Time Management
It is so important to be able to schedule your classes, work, social life, org meetings, etc. Buy a planner and keep track of everything. Writing your to-do list down on paper will also help you prioritize your tasks and get things done more efficiently.
17. Work in your University’s Admissions Office
I actually worked in two (at both school’s I attended) and it was one of my favorite jobs! You learn so much about the school and the people are always wonderful. This job also is great for practicing your public speaking (taking families on tours, calling prospective students, assisting students who come to the office)!
18. Don’t Stress yourself out
Everything will work itself out, it always does. One bad exam grade won’t make you fail the class. Prioritize your time and keep track of due dates. And remember take care of yourself! I like to take the time to read a few chapters in a book, go for a run, take a bath, etc. Doing these things takes my mind off of studying or work and puts me in a better mood.
19. Use Slugbooks.com
This is a life-changing website for buying and renting textbooks. All you have to do is type in the title of the book or the ISBN number and all the websites currently selling the book (with their prices) will appear. It compares the prices of all the websites side by side so you can be sure that you are getting the lowest price!
20. Register for the Maximum amount of classes
I learned this trick my junior year and have used it ever since. Everyone is always in a hurry to pick out their classes because there are only so many time slots for certain ones. So, when it is your designated time to enroll, sign up for all the classes that you might want for the next semester. Then, later go through and choose the ones that work best for you and drop the others. This gives you options! It allows you to make sure the classes you’re hesitant about don’t fill-up.
21. Take Pictures, Videos, Journal, Document Everything you can!
You’ll love looking back at everything you have accomplished and achieved during your college career.
Those are my 21 lessons that I have learned throughout my time in college! It was such a wonderful experience and I am so happy to have met so many inspirational people. College is about discovering who you are as an individual and what your true passions are. I encourage you to do whatever makes you happy and to not submit yourself to peer pressure. Live a life that will make you and the ones around you proud. Do things outside of your comfort zone and push yourself to be the best that you can be. Sorry this post is so long, there is so much to be said about my college experience and I wanted to make sure I captured everything!
I hope you enjoyed reading!
XO
Cassie
