College Prep

Congratulations! You’re in college!! This is an exciting time for you, as it was for me, and you want to do your best for you and your family. High school may not have prepared you for what you’re going to face in college, so you might need a little help getting to where you need to be. That is what I am here for. Going into college on the first day can be scary, and you want to make sure that you’re prepared. There are many things you can do to prepare yourself for your first day of classes, and I am going to take you through some of those so that you don’t walk in blind.

Where Do I Go?

You have already met with an advisor, I hope, who gave you a list of classes and their locations in the college. If you have never been anywhere in the college but the advisor and maybe financial aid, you will want to get the lay of the land. My suggestion is that you take note of room numbers and hunt them down before you go to your first day of classes. Many is the time that I ran into a student who was flustered because he or she didn’t know where the classroom was and need assistance. Because you don’t want to be late for your first class, you will want to get a map of the floorplan so you can see where you need to go. It’s not enough, however, just to go by the plan. You want to physically find the rooms. This will ensure that you’re not flustered, and you will make it to your classes on time.

What About Payment?

If you’re receiving financial aid, you want to make sure you can get your books in time for class. Sometimes you have to wait until it comes through before you can pay for anything at all, including your classes. You have to keep track of this so that you don’t get dropped from your classes for non-payment. If you’re paying out-of-pocket for classes and books, you want to make sure you pay for your classes on time and that you buy your books before classes start. You don’t want to walk into class on the first day and have your teacher assign readings that you can’t complete because you lack the text.

Besides the Text, What Do I Need Day One?

For the first day, you should always take your class schedule, especially if you have more than one class on that day. It is important to keep your schedule with you until you have times and locations memorized, as this will keep you from being late to classes. You should also pack notebooks and pens and pencils for taking notes. And, don’t forget your textbook. Instructors will sometimes have you reading from the text on the first day.

What Do I Do Once I Get to Class?

Studies have shown that if you sit in the front of the classroom, closest to the instructor, your grades will be better. I know this may seem somewhat counterintuitive, as in high school we always wanted to sit as far away from the teacher as possible lest we be mocked and called teacher’s pet. But, this is college. The rules are different here, and you shouldn’t be afraid to sit in the front. It’s worth it for better grades.

These are just a few pointers to get you started on your first day of college. These are the things I wanted to know and had to learn myself. I can say that you’re on an exciting journey, and I want you to be successful. Congrats again on getting in. Now go make the most of it while you can because it goes by quickly.