7 of My Best Decisions of My Freshman Year

Posted June 14, 2017 by Emily in college / 2 Comments

7 Things I DON'T Regret from my first year of college

Last week I went over 6 of my regrets from my freshman year so I figured this week, I’d do the opposite. Today, I’m talking about some of the best decisions I made my first year of college. You know, the one’s I’ll do again if I had to.

Living on Campus

I go to a college in state (yay in-state tuition!) so I don’t live that far from my college. But I still chose to live on campus and I’m very glad I did. I can’t imagine if I had to commute – I would have missed out on a lot. A lot of the fun in my dorm building went on at night and my university held a lot of events (like music shows) at later times. Plus a lot of clubs meet later and if I didn’t have a dorm on campus, I’d be way too pooped to go to any of them.

Getting a Random Roommate

Okay, I’ll admit right now, I’m not the biggest fan of the roommate I was assigned. We didn’t see eye on eye on a lot of things and both of us, or at least I was, too passive aggressive to bring up any annoyances I had. I could go into a whole blog post about this but I’m not because even though I hated living with her, I don’t actually hate her, as a person. But enough about that, getting a random roommate taught me so much about dealing with differences and building tolerance. Not only that, I’m glad I didn’t room with one of my high school friends since I’ve watched so many friendships end that way – just because you’re friends with someone doesn’t mean you can be roommates with them too.

Living in a Living Learning Community

I’m pretty sure LLCs exist in most colleges. They’re basically a small community you live with. At my school, besides a building, LLCs usually shared a few classes and a peer mentor. Being a part of an LLC for my major was a big lifesaver. Not only did I get to make so many great friends, many of which will have to face the same struggles and coursework as me, but I also got to be in a special section for some of our shared classes. Some of those special classes were very nice to my GPA. LLCs are also a great way to make a large university seem small. Even though I’m apart of one of the smaller schools in my college, there’s no way I would have met such a diverse group of people outside of my LLC.

Getting a Peer Mentor

I had a peer mentor as part of my LLC but I also got another one as part of a program the business (my potential major) honors society ran. Having multiple mentors is helpful since they have different experiences and perspectives and thus, have different things to offer. Honestly, I probably would not have done as well my Freshman year if I didn’t have my two peer mentor’s brains to pick. So thank you, Danielle and Isabella! ❤️️

Using Rate My Professor

This has saved my grades so much. The trick is not only picking a professor that’s easy, but also one that enjoys what she does and is good at teaching.

Taking that 8am Class

I only one 8am class. But it was three hours long and I was miserable. But it really helped me. Mondays, that semester were probably some of my most productive of the week, even though I was only half awake. There’s just something calming about the morning. Also, it helped that the reason why I picked the 8am section in the first place stayed true the whole semester – my professor was very lenient and easy. 😉

Going for Every Interview

Okay, so maybe the word “every” is a bit misleading, but I did go to a lot of interviews. It was odd and tiring and took a lot of effort but it was all worth it. My experiences with interviewing made me better at it. It made me more confident putting myself out there (even though I almost never got the spot). It also landed me a potential job that I thought for sure I would have no chance getting. So, you never know unless you tried.

What are some decisions you’d make again?
Do you have any tips for my sophomore year?

Emily

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2 responses to “7 of My Best Decisions of My Freshman Year

  1. Yes! I did all of these things as well (aside from taking an 8 a.m. class – the earliest I had was 9 a.m.), and I completely agree! Living on campus is how I met several of my new friends, and I think getting a random roommate helped my friendship with my high school friend (who I was considering rooming with) stay intact, haha. I hope we both have a great sophomore year!