10 General College Tips

Here are 10 tips a freshman should consider:

1. Before looking for a college decide what is most important to you: price, destination, quality of education, friends/significant others, public or private college, what division the college is in, trade school, and other social/campus activities.
2. Decide your housing early. Are you going to stay at home, live in a dorm, move in with relatives, or live off campus. Campus housing can be difficult to get into, especially if your college doesn't require freshman to live there the first year. If you decide to get off campus pricing, shop around for the best deal. Decide whether cost, distance, cleanliness, or roommates is important to you.
3. Be aware of activities that can keep you from your school work. This means partying, drinking, drugs, etc... Yes they do happen and yes many people drop out of college or struggle through college because of them. Be smart and make good decisions!
4. Decide whether or not you are going to need a meal plan. Some colleges require a meal plan if you live on campus. If you live off campus it can be nice to have a small meal plan so you don't have to take a lunch every day.
5. When buying text books (more on this topic later), don't get them right away. Wait until you take the class to see if you'll even need them or if you change classes. It'll save you hundreds of dollars, trust me.
6. Find friends that can help you adjust to your new environment. Meet your neighbors if you're in a dorm or an apartment. Get to know the people in your class. They come in handy when you can't remember a due date or what day the test is on. College is a great opportunity to new people and create long relationships.
7. Contact you roommates (if you have any) and figure out what how you are going to function together. Are you going to share food, dishes, or appliances? What does the other person have and how much do you need to get before you go to college?
8. Decide on a major. I know this may sound trivial but if you don't know what you want to do you might waste a lot of time and money figuring out what you do want to do. If you don't know what you want to major in, my suggestion is go to a community college and take classes to find what you are most interested in. Just because you don't know what you want to do out of high school doesn't mean you are not college material, this just gives you a chance to see what you are good at while getting general education classes out of the way.
9. Scholarships are everywhere and can save you from paying thousands of dollars in tuition. Check and see what the government can give you. Fill out the FAFSA. This is a way the government can determine how much they give by how much you and your parents make. Also see if the college you're attending has scholarships they give out. Look for private scholarships that give out money. You can find websites that will search them out for you or you can ask your high school or college counselor to help you find scholarship sources.
10. Get a computer. Although you can use computers on campus it's very handy to have your own, especially when you have a paper due the next day! Many students like laptops so they can take notes in class and study where ever they need to. Others like desktops because they are used to studying at a desk and find it most easy to work there. Lately computers have become very cheap. If you have some computer know how, you can build your own for under $150. Also when looking for software, students get major discounts!! Take advantage of this. You can go online and find websites with academic discounts. Also a word of warning: with a group of foreign computers comes lots of viruses. Make sure you have an anti-virus to protect your computer. Lastly, you might want to invest in a USB drive you can carry your work around on, so you can work in a lab, your dorm, or at home. It's very smart to keep backups of your work..