As a rule of thumb, you anyways shouldn’t be taking any advice from strangers on the internet without knowing their credentials. Tiktok is at the top of the list of social media sites with so much information coming from very unreliable sources. In this pile, there are, however, some diamonds in the rough. This is a list of college advice that I found to be on point and highly practical.
I scoured TikTok for hours (I was totally productive though, I didn’t get distracted at all *wink wink* ). I found these gems of college advice! As a graduate in a very competitive major of Biomedical engineering with a 4.0 GPA, I completely agree with the pieces of college advice that I have listed here.
1. Do not take an 8 am class (unless you have to or you are a morning person)
you might think, well I used to wake up at 6 am in high school. How hard could an 8 am class be? Trust me, 8 am classes can be one of the hardest things during college (unless you are a morning person).
Your day starts with such a regret when the rest of your roommates/dormmates are sleeping and you have to drag yourself to class. College culture is so adamant about staying up late to hang out and study; Going to sleep late and waking up early just do not mix well.
More importantly, you are more likely to be lazy and skip your early morning classes. I have always said the first step to being a successful college student is to never skip classes unless you ABSOLUTELY have to. If you are not a morning person, do yourself a favor, and DO NOT TAKE AN 8 AM CLASS.
2. Want any social life in college? Join clubs.
Yes, you might have heard a thousand times how important it is to join clubs. However, the funny thing is that most people don’t even join them until their junior/senior year when they realize they need to pad up their resume. Don’t be that person.
For a club to look good on a resume, you can’t be just a member. You have to hold a leadership position in that club as well. For this reason, it is essential that you scope out the clubs of your interest starting freshman year. Once you have been part of a club for at least a year and made a lot of contacts, you can run for some board position.
I am putting a snippet of some of the clubs and organizations that I took part in. After just one year of being a member, I was able to snatch board positions in all of them; it’s actually not that hard.
In college, you don’t make friends from classes. The friends you make in classes tend to only last for a semester and you never see them again. The friends you make in clubs and organizations last you for your whole college experience, or even for a lifetime.
Many clubs also have contacts with a lot of alumni that used to be part of that club and are now working in the real world. These contacts are going to come in handy once you start looking for that first job right out of college.
3. Go To Office Hours (Even if you don’t need that much help)
I swear this is one of the most underrated college advice. Going to office hours is the best way to get to know your professors. Getting to know your professors can prove to be beneficial. Numerous times, I have gone back to get grading corrections on my tests and let me tell you, the corrections proved to be very generous in my favor when it was a professor I knew. Plus, if you go to office hours before test days, the professors are more likely to nudge you toward content that is going to be on the test.
Plus, it is literally free one-on-one tutoring. Why wouldn’t you take advantage of this opportunity?
When you are applying for grad school, you will have many options to ask for reference letters if you have built good relationships with your professors.
4. Ratemyprofessor.com is your friend during registration season.
Ratemyprofessors.com is your go-to resource for finding out about professors’ strictness, teaching quality, class workload, and hotness (not that it matters, but can’t hurt). In my experience, looking up reviews here before signing up for classes never let me down.
I did not know about this site during my first year, and I did end up with some not-so-great professors. Save your life and check the site before you sign up for classes.
5. Freshman-15 is a myth
Well, it’s not completely a myth, but the “15” is in fact a myth. Yes, it’s true that first-year college students do tend to gain unexpected weight. However, it is nowhere near 15 pounds on average.
Most studies show that about 66% of students experience weight gain during their first year. Contrary to popular belief, most students actually only gain 2.5 to 3.5 pounds on average.
If you are interested, find out the reasons why students gain this weight all of a sudden and how you can avoid it entirely.
6. Do Not Buy Textbooks Before Classes Start
This is one of the most cost-saving hacks that first-year students just don’t seem to know. Never buy textbooks before classes.
Attend the class at least once before you buy the textbook for that class. There are multiple reasons for doing this:
- You might end up dropping the class, thus having to let go of the textbook rental fee or return the book.
- Even though the class requirements mention a book, the professor might not actually require a textbook.
- The professor might let you know if a free PDF of the textbook is available online. OR if he can provide scanned pages that are necessary for the class.
- You might even end up making a friend in the class that has a PDF of the book.
Basically, the chances of you actually not requiring a book are significant enough that you should wait until after the first class to buy or rent the textbook.
7. Take advantage of being able to pick your own schedule
You pick your own schedule in college, so be smart about how you distribute your classes across the week.
Are you the kind of person that likes to focus on one thing per day? Then schedule all your classes in 3-4 days, and have 2-3 days free per week. Personally, I could never actually focus on doing homework or studying during breaks in between classes. Therefore, I would just jam-pack my schedule without breaks in between classes. This allowed me to focus on homework and studying after I would be done with all my classes for the day. Plus, I would schedule all my classes in 4 days keeping one extra day off per week.
Another thing you want to keep in mind is to diversity your classes for the day by topic and difficulty. You don’t want all math/science classes on the same day. If you have different topics in a day, you would be able to concentrate with much more ease. You should also keep a mix of difficult and easy classes so your brain gets some rest as well.
8. Make Coffee at home
If you are a coffee drinker, make sure to buy a coffee machine for yourself. There are so many coffee places on college campuses that you will definitely be tempted to purchase coffee if you don’t bring your own.
The amount of money you can save by not buying outside coffee really adds up. Once you get into the habit of carrying your coffee from home, you won’t be tempted as much.
This is money-saving college advice that I followed religiously during college.
9. Get a Relaxing Campus Job
There are so many campus jobs available and trust me, it is not that difficult to find one that is not very demanding. If you put in enough effort, you might be able to find a campus job that pays you well and be flexible enough to let you do homework on the job.
I had an undergraduate research assistant job that paid minimum wage, but I got practical experience while being able to study and do homework on the job. My roommate was a tutor for a math class, but during her tutoring hours, students didn’t really show up to get help. She basically used to sit in the tutoring center and do her homework while being paid. Another super relaxing one is a library front desk attendant. You can just sit, read, and answer questions if someone approaches the desk.
This college advice will help you eliminate or, at the least, reduce your college debt.