What it Means to be a College Student

I am sorry but movies, books, and television do not do the "college experience" justice. On movie and television screens college looks like it is a happy-go-lucky, boys and girls gone wild experience (which sometimes it is). However, anyone that has ever gone to college knows that most of the time this isn't the case. So here is a list of what it means to be a (real) college student:

1) More than half of your classes will be in a lecture hall... with 600 other students.

2) You will spend hundreds of dollars on required* textbooks.

3) You will learn how to cook spaghetti in the microwave and strain it over your dorm room sink (true story).

4) There is a 50/50 chance that you will hate/love your roommate(s).

5) There is no such thing as late work, makeups, or do-overs.

6) You will learn where the on-campus free printing labs are, because professors couldn't care less about how your printer ran out of ink the morning that your midterm is due.

7) Most professors/counselors/advisors will never learn your name or know who you are when you walk into their office.

8) You will be required to take online classes...that suck.

9) There is a 99% that you will gain the freshmen 15 (or 20... or 30...).

10) Single serving mac n' cheese, granola bars, and popcorn will become staples in your diet.

11) You will not make real** friends in your classes until you are in your major***.

12) You will see that the "walk of shame" is an actual thing... don't be that person no matter how crazy your Friday night was.

13) Whenever the word free is involved you are there... t-shirts, food, scantrons, foam fingers... it's all good.

14) College bars are not glamorous... they are dirty and crowded... but they are also (mostly) cheap and (always) fun so it all balances out.

15) The one thing that the movies, books, and television got right is that college is the best time of your life, so enjoy it while you can because eventually you'll become a senior (no!) and have to graduate (we don't want to grow up!), but thankfully there is grad school... so we don't have to leave quite yet!

*required- is a word that professors use that really means"we will use this book one time in class so I can show you one example and then never use it again."

**real- is a loose term meaning the other students in your first two years of classes that only want you for your notes.

***friends in your major- will save your life, explain things that your professors just expect you to understand, and be a soundboard for venting... they are invaluable!