Freshmen Syndrome: 10 Tips to Avoid Common Mistakes
BY DAVID GUTIERREZ
Being a freshman is a new and exciting chapter in your life. New environment brings new opportunities. And those increase the number of choices you have to make. However, the wider range of what is available makes right decisions harder.
Choices are increasingly more often paired with consequences, out of which some are capable of destroying your future life and career, without properly starting it in the first place. Here is the advice that could help you avoid that.
- Pair studying with fun
Although, as a student, your main role is to grow intellectually and to develop as a professional and expert in your field of study. Your college years are limited, and you should not spend all of your time in the library. Remember to have fun. Positive emotions can actually boost your effectiveness and will make you enjoy your studies more.
- Sleep enough
Many freshmen students give up most of their sleeping hours to do other things. However, having enough sleep boosts mental performance. It is estimated that to be effective, an average university student should sleep 8 hours per night. So don’t forget that sometimes sleep can be more beneficial than pulling an all-nighter.
- Get to know people who think differently
As you start your academic life, you will undoubtedly meet people who come from different cultural, social and ethnic backgrounds. Resist the temptation to avoid those people. Try to learn about them and from them. This way you will expand your worldview and will see a more realistic picture of the world. Don’t think you only have to be with people who think the way you do.
- Try out new things
Do what you have never done. Through this, you might discover new hobbies or hidden talents. Or maybe you will find things that you don’t like and will never want to do again. Take opportunities to experiment and learn new things about yourself.
- Remember, that you don’t have to try everything
Although it is a good thing to try out new and different things, some are just not worth it. Be wise with your freedom and think if you want to help solve problems or become a victim of something like the opioid epidemic by exercising your freedom to use substances, which often become more available once in college.
- Build intentional relationships with people
Some of the people you will meet in university might become your business partners, your employees or employers; some will become your friends for the rest of your life. So don’t take people lightly and invest in relationships with them.
- Plan your time well
Procrastination is the greatest enemy of every student. So make a good use of tools like Google calendar to schedule your time, so you wouldn’t miss assignment deadlines and would reduce the stress of having to write all papers night.
- Try to get the most out of every opportunity
Be active, look for opportunities to use your skills and talents practically. Take part in competitions and projects to get your name out there and to gain experience. Also if your classes will seem boring, look for at least one thing that you could take from it to develop yourself.
- Stay physically active
Physical exercises have been proven to increase academic performance. Therefore, try to add some type of physical activity into your routine to boost your success as a university student and also to increase your emotional stability and life quality in a wider sense.
10. Do not forget why you started
With all the exciting things happening around the campus it is easy to forget yourself and focus on anything, but studying. So keep in mind that you didn’t come to university just to party, but also to graduate with a specific education in mind.
David Gutierrez has worked in the field of web design since 2005. Right now he started learning Java in order to get second occupation. His professional interests defined major topics of his articles. David writes about new web design software, recently discovered professional tricks and also monitors the latest updates of the web development.
