31 Pieces Of Advice I Wish I Could Give To My College-Aged Self

1. Enjoy every second of it. Four years flies by faster than you could ever imagine.

2. Go to class. You’re paying for every single one. 

3. Actually do your homework and read what your professor tells you to read. This is probably the last time in your life where your main job is to learn. 

4. Spend as much time with your friends as you can, because after college, it takes a lot of effort to maintain your friendships. 

5. Get involved with every single club or organization that interests you, no matter how weird it is. 

6. Don’t feel stressed out if you don’t know what you want to do yet… you have your whole life to figure that out. 

7. Not everyone has their shit together as much as you think. 

8. Try not to treat your body like a garbage disposal. 

9. Walk around as much as you can – it’s an easy way to trick yourself into getting exercise. 

10. Don’t spend too much money on Greek apparel because you’ll feel stupid wearing it the instant you graduate. 

11. If you’re keeping alcohol in water bottles in your dorm room, do not keep these by your bed. You will wake up one deathly Sunday morning and you will drink it, thinking it’s water. And it will be the worst. 

12. Try walking to class without being on your phone sometimes. You’ll see a lot of cool things (read: other people on their phones tripping and walking into doors) and overhear a lot of funny conversations. 

13. Don’t sign up for any classes before 10 am if you can help it. Because you won’t go. 

14. Don’t try to keep in touch with every single friend from high school. It’s impossible. Learn how to focus on a few important friendships, because friends are going to be coming and going for the rest of your life. 

15. Drinking a Screwdriver does not count as your daily serving of fruit. 

16. Don’t forgot to take your bar wristband off before going into a job interview. (I am most certainly not speaking from experience.)

17. Try not going home too much in the beginning of college. Your high school friends who do this will never fully immerse themselves in the college experience and they’re the ones who are never able to fully let go of high school. 

18. When you’re an upperclassmen, try living in a place with a front lawn. Front lawns are game changers. 

19. Don’t base your entire identity on what fraternity or sorority you’re in, because once you graduate nobody gives a shit. 

20. Drink beer on bar patios as much as you possibly can. 

21. Study abroad. 

22. Don’t eat croissants multiple times a day when you study abroad and then act surprised when your pants don’t zip. 

23. Don’t come home from studying abroad and talk about how they just do things differently in Europe. 

24. Buy weird clothes at the thrift store and wear them while you’re day drinking. Offer no explanation for why you’re wearing what you’re wearing. 

25. Have a professional interview outfit on hand; you never know when you’re going to need it. 

26. You don’t have to dress like a slutty pumpkin or a slutty teacher or a slutty ghost for Halloween if you don’t want to. 

27. Don’t freak out about gaining the Freshmen 15. As my friend says, more cushion for the pushin. 

28. If you do gain the Freshman 15, don’t take it personally when you go home for Christmas and your rude relatives want to talk about it with you. Old people just like to talk about what people weigh. It’s one of their main hobbies. 

29. Don’t talk on your phone while you’re sitting in your classroom and waiting for class to start. Because everyone will eavesdrop on your conversation and think you’re annoying. 

30. Call your parents. They miss you. 

31. It’s okay if bagels make up the first 2 piers of your food pyramid. Just try and throw in some vegetables every once in a while.