First Day at College: Tips and Guide

A college is an institution providing education for the higher education either in the form of diploma course, degree course, master’s course or vocational training. Sudden transition in the life of a student from school life to college life can both be interesting as well as confusing. College life is totally different from your normal school life. All of a sudden, you are completely surrounded by members of the different institution, have almost total freedom, and your only responsibility is to make good grades. For decades, freshmen have faced challenges like homesickness, ragging, difficulty in concentrating, making new friends and hellish roommates. Change is the law of nature and you cannot do much about that, but you can do few things that would make your stay ahead quite interesting and a memorable part of your life that you would not forget for the years to come. Today’s college students can add cyber-bullying, intense drinking pressure, ragging, smoking drugs, and campus crime to their list of worries.

A lot of students encounter a lot of anxiety and stress for the first day at college. The main reason for anxiety and first-day stress is the sudden change of events in the life that comes with the transition from school to college. College is totally different than school in so many ways which is precisely why you are out there looking for all the advice regarding that first day that you can get. There are a lot of changes in the college life as compared to your life at school. To deal with these changes and give you clear information about college culture and other useful tips a lot of colleges start off with a Welcome Week and Orientation for the fresher’s. Orientation week is aimed at making freshers aware of the college culture and at the same time students get to meet other fellow students who are also new in the college and can help to make new friends.

The first day is always important as well as memorable. As the saying goes ‘the first impression is the last’ hence it is very important to have the best impression on the day one. Not necessarily for your college only but the first day at school, job or anywhere else is a memorable moment and you should always start with your best. When the first day of classes arrives, give yourself enough time to shower, drink coffee, and perform all your other morning rituals. You’re going to be excited and a little nervous about your first class, which is totally natural. Just stay calm and you’ll make it through the day. And ask for help when you need it, your parents, elder siblings or friends can help you a lot in dealing with these things. So it is better to go in after preparing well and start with a bang!

Difference between a School and a College

College and school share just 1 same common goal: teaching students to learn and everything else is totally different in the case of both. There are a lot of differences between college and school. In fact, college and school are completely different experiences. And the list goes deeper than the no-duh: many students (although not all) live at colleges and universities and none (with the exception of those who go to boarding school) live at school. From childhood to adulthood, the school allows you to gain a sense of what it will be like to be an adult whereas college allows you to fully take ownership of your time, responsibilities and who you want to become. There are so many differences that one can tell about. School and colleges can never draw a parallel line between the two of them. There is a change of environment, attitude, culture, methods, rules and probably everything that concerns your academic life.

Freedom is one of the major characteristic feature of the college that was not theirs during school life. One of the biggest changes between school and college comes in the form of attendance. In high school, kids are penalized for a day off and were only allowed to miss a certain number of days. However, there was also no system where a student could miss or bunk a particular lecture. Whereas in college there is no restriction on missing a lecture and it is very common to bunk lectures in college. Some teachers at universities count attendance, but the truth is most of them don't really count. A lot of professors couldn't care less if a student shows up for class, although a lot of professors offer extra credit or will bump grades from B’s to A’s for students who attended class regularly. There are even some classes where the attendance of a certain class doubles, maybe triples, on test dates.

College Atmosphere

As you enter college after completing your school, you encounter a lot of changes on the campus as compared to your school. To be very true the first thing that you will notice is that the number of students in the canteen or the lawns of the college is much more than those attending the classes. College symbolizes a cool behaviour, where no one actually cares what you are doing, what you are wearing and how much grades you got in your test. College is all about freedom and self-realization of responsibility. There is no teacher dictating notes in the class and it is your own wish if you want to take down notes or not and even if you really want to be in the class or not. There is probably no restriction of dress in most of the college except a few handfuls of professional ones.

College is a time when you step out of few boundaries and barriers and a phase transition of the learner to professional takes place among your personality. Also stating teaching wise a lot of things are same that you were taught in school, but it is just that you tend to learn practical aspect of those facts and the application of all those things into life. College gives you an opportunity to transform your knowledge into professional behaviour as well as being an independent person. There is no one in college to hold your hand and teach you what to do or not, unlike school where you used to spoon feeding. In fact, in college, you would be just told that you have to submit assignment or project which you have to do on your own and no one else would really be able to help you with that. Hence you tend to become independent and responsible in college.

First Day at College - Survival Tips

The first day of anything new in your life can be a little different from the rest of the other days. The anxiety of meeting new people and anxiety to know how would be the new place and people around can lead to tension among some people. Also, there are people who do not like mixing up with new people a lot. Freshman year can be really confusing, you don’t really know how to cope up with sudden changes in your life but still, you have to carry on in the strange environment all by yourself. There are a lot of students who also take up the option of the hostel, for those, there is also a homesick feeling that may lead to laziness or loss of interest in the class or surroundings. You should not let your energy down, as the college is all about energy and youthfulness. The first day of the college you should start with a bang and make your first impression the best one. Here are few tips on how to get started and preparation tips for the first day at college.

• Pick the Perfect Outfit: On your first day for the college pick up the best one that you think would be a decent according to your college and the one in which you feel the most confident. If there is a dress code in your college or dress code for the orientation week then obviously you want to pick an outfit that not only adheres to the dress code but also makes you feel extra confident. If you don’t know the dress code, your best bet is to pick a dressy, yet classic outfit, because it is better to be overdressed than underdressed, and it is better to blend in than to stand out for the wrong reasons on your first day. Picking up right dress for the first day is very important for you; your clothing is non-verbal communication that gives a lot of information about you and your attitude. Also, you will be going to meet new people on the first day hence it becomes very important to be confident and give out your best impression.
• Make Sure You bring all of Your Important Papers: On the first day of college, you are told to bring in all the necessary admission slips and photographs for your student id and photocopies of various documents if required. Make sure you bring everything. Though it is not an issue if you forget those to get on the first day, you can submit that next day but it gives an impression of your seriousness and punctuality. These are the opportunities when you really get a chance to show your responsibility and seriousness to you concerned heads that would be in charge of your grades during your first year and giving a negative impression on the first day would lead to a huge disappointment for yourself and may ruin your first day at college. So better be prepared with your folder in advance.
• Reach on Time: Getting late on your first day is the worst that anyone can expect of. Though college is a place where you have a liberty to miss your lectures, starting with a late day is something that will make your whole day really dull. It is best to plan everything a day before and act accordingly so that you reach on time and make out most of your first day. Arriving late on the first day may get you a bad reputation in the front of your teachers.
• Make Friends: Hanging out in the campus all alone can be very dull and boring and also it is possible that hanging out all alone you may fall prey to the group of seniors ragging juniors. Although ragging has been declared illegal and banned, still everyone knows what is going on and we really need not warn you about that. It is better to look out if you have any friend who got admission in the same college. Well if you don’t have any known out there then do make out some new ones. First of all, don’t hesitate to shake hands with everyone and don’t shy away talking to others. Sometimes, it is awkward but it is definitely the right thing to do. Shake the hand of every single new person you meet, even if it feels like your arm will off. Just like you, they are also new in the college and obviously interested in making new buddies.
• Hang-out in a Group: It is advised that you should hang out in groups. This has a lot of advantages, first of all, you get to know different people when you hang out together and talk to each other and you can identify those sharing common interest and can be your best buddies. As told earlier groups are less on the targets of bullies and seniors looking out for juniors for ragging. Hanging out with the group is always a fun where someone or other forms the group may share a joke or a funny even which can bring in humour quotient and also helps you to get along with others very well.
• Hang-out and Explore Places in Campus to Study in Peace and to Chill-out: Studying in your hostel room or at your home can be a boring thing and you may get tired very easily when studying in a room. In your room, there are lots of things that may allure you. Distracting things like music, television, internet, and bed may allure you and you can easily get distracted away for your studies. You may find a place in the college library or a calm place on the lawns of your campus where you can easily study in bright sunshine during winters. It is better advised to find a calm place where there is not much football. Library at times can also be a distractive place where students come rottenly to pick up books or get issues of various book or journals. Hence there is a constant distraction there in some form or the other, so it would be better to find a place where you could easily study without being disturbed. It's not too early to scope out a quiet place where you'll do your studying. And when you get there, turn off the gadgets. Texting, cell phones, IM, Facebook, and Twitter are responsible for more bad grades in college than all the parties combined.