5 Things I Would Never Change About My College Experience

The quality of your college experience is determined by lots of different factors. As I see new and returning college students beginning to head off to campuses for the upcoming academic year, I am reflecting a lot on my own college experience. If you read my post on the things I would do differently if I could go back, then you know there are lots of things I wish I could change about that time. But there are also a lot of things that I LOVED about my college experience!

Here are the top five things I did in college that made the biggest positive impact on my experience.

5 Things I Would Never Change About My College Experience

Embracing the Awkwardness of Orientation

As awkward as freshman orientation has the potential of being, I still credit it as one of the best weeks of my college experience, and I fully believe it was because of how all-in I was about it. 

One of the things I’m proudest of from my first year of college was how quickly I made friends during orientation. On my second day on campus, I found a few people from my orientation group sitting in the dining hall and asked if I could take the extra seat (even though every cell in my body was screaming at me that it wouldn’t work and I was too hopelessly awkward for any of this). None of us knew each other then, but by the end of the week we were basically inseparable. We were a group formed by pure coincidence, with different majors, interests, and ambitions, but it worked. I said for a long time that deciding to sit at that table was the best choice I made in that first year, and I still believe that today.

Participating in all of the orientation events, even the optional ones, also made a huge positive impact on my transition into college life. We went right from saying goodbye to our families, to several jam packed days of events and activities, to starting classes, and I was so busy and having so much fun I didn’t even have time to be homesick. 

My best advice for anyone nervous about freshman orientation is just to remember that everyone is feeling some level of awkwardness, and that won’t stop until someone breaks the ice. Embrace the awkwardness, enjoy the events (even the ones that seem too cheesy to be helpful), and don’t be afraid to ask about the open seat.

Using the Counseling Center Resources 

It took me longer than it should have to admit to myself that I needed some kind of counseling in college, and even longer to build up the courage to actually go for it. Over my junior and senior years, I attended a group for students dealing with anxiety and overwhelm, an “anxiety toolbox” workshop, and individual counseling, all offered (for free!) through my school’s counseling center. It took a lot for me to get there, but I don’t regret a single second of it. My college experience benefitted hugely from all of these resources.

College is stressful enough without all of the other facts of life piling on. If you find that you are struggling in any way to cope with those stressors, or you just need someone to listen, find out what mental health resources your school provides and go for it.  The worst that could happen is that you feel uncomfortable in a new situation, and chances are if you are in the position of needing to seek out help, you are already not feeling great. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

My best advice on this one is, if you wait to talk to someone until you are totally comfortable with it, you will never do it. Every time I reached out to participate in a counseling program I had to force myself to do it. I still have to force myself to do it when seeking help today. Getting to the first meeting is the hardest part. Be uncomfortable and do it anyway. 

Putting Sincere Effort into My Classes 

We don’t go to college just to have a good time. (If you do, you might want to rethink how you are spending your money.) We go to college to learn, and that was something that was really important to from the beginning of my freshman year all the way to the end of my graduate program. 

Despite popular belief, I didn’t focus so much of my energy on my school work just to get good grades. I did my work and studied not with the intention of memorizing facts to get exam questions right, but to really learn the material so I could use it for real after the exam was over. That’s really the whole point of it all, isn’t it? 

I don’t regret reading the assigned chapters and articles, attending all (and I do mean all) of my classes, paying attention during lectures, and taking advantage of office hours. I put in the work and I benefited from it. Now, I wouldn’t recommend obsessing over school like I did, (it is still very important to have a social life after all) but caring about the academic side of college can make a big difference. Find a healthy work ethic and make it work for you.

Work study jobs 

Between my undergrad and grad years, I had work study jobs doing data entry for the campus conduct and residential life office, building and painting sets for the theater and dance department, taking notes for the student success center, and mentoring a student through a program called Life Prep. 

Outside of books and tuition I wasn’t spending a lot of money in college (perks of not drinking coffee or alcohol for the first two and a half years), but it still felt good knowing that my bank account wasn’t totally barren. I never felt the whole “broke college student surviving only on ramen” thing, because I always had a steady, if small, source of income. 

Working on campus was a necessity at first because I didn’t have a car on campus, but work study jobs also helped me feel a little bit more connected with my school. I met some new people and got insight into the inner workings of a college campus that I never would have gotten otherwise. 

While work study specifically is something you have to financially qualify for, there are likely a lot of jobs you can get on your campus without it. Find out when the campus job fair is and check it out. And don’t be afraid to apply for something that doesn’t excite you right away. My data entry job was definitely not my first choice, but it ended up being pretty cool!

Living on campus 

I lived on campus for my first three years of school and I absolutely loved it. When I look back on that time now, it’s almost surreal. I even find myself missing it at times. 

It wasn’t always ideal, and sometimes it was downright hard, but living in a community full of my friends and peers was so cool. Hanging out in the dorm rooms, having meals together, people watching on campus… it really was like something out of a movie. There were so many things I would have missed if I hadn’t lived on campus, like the squirrel that appeared in our building’s shared kitchen and our RA’s totally underwhelming response to it, or the late night trips to the aerobics studio to choreograph dances that no one would ever see.

Living on campus made me feel like I was part of a community, even when I wasn’t fully immersing myself in it. As an adult post-college, I can better see how unique and special that experience is. Moving off campus my senior year was exciting and I don’t regret that either, but there was just something about being in the middle of it all that was so special. Even though it wasn’t always pretty, I will always be grateful for that part of my experience.

Your college experience will be what you make of it. Take advantage of the opportunities presented to you, work hard, and have fun.