In Which I Bestow (Hopefully) Helpful Advice onto Future Friends

Dear Class of 2017,

I can’t believe that I was standing—more like sitting—where you are two short years ago. You know what how the old saying goes: “Time flies when you’re having fun.” Unfortunately, time also flies when you’re in college and you have to manage your own time, on top of managing your social life, and that’s my first piece of advice:

1.    This campus practically eats time. 

You should invest in a good one of these. One that's on the wall, in your face, not in your pocket being forgettable. 

It’s true. There were so many times when I would be sitting in my room, minding my own business, just me, myself and Netflix, when I glanced at the clock and realized that my next class was in ten minutes. Uh-oh. I’ve been able to recover from such lapses in responsibility, but if you were careful with your time in high school, you’ve got to be like an over-protective parent in college, which is a not-so graceful segue into my next nugget of wisdom:

2.    Check your Converse email constantly.

You see this screen? It's your new homepage. And that's an order. 

 Your Converse email not only serves as your primary form of communication on campus, it can be good practice for the “real world,” where your future bosses aren’t going to check your latest status update to find out why you didn’t show up to work. Funny thing is, your professors won’t either. Even you get along swimmingly with your English Composition professor, he or she isn’t your instant BFFAE. (That’s best friend forever and ever for those wondering...) Use your school email; it will change your life!

3.    If you find yourself stressed, freaking out or just generally losing control, talk to someone about it!

Find time to de-stress, or this will be you...

Anyone. It can be your roommate, your best friend, one of your CAs, one of your PEAS, even one of your professors. It simply isn’t worth the anxiety and emotional turmoil to just bottle everything up inside and let it all build up until you break down. Trust me on this one. It’s important. I really let my workload get to me, and one day I found myself unable to talk to anyone or even laugh with my friends because I was so worried about how I was doing in class. When I finally broke down, it took my best friend, half a box of Kleenex (no joke!) and ice cream at Gee to get me back to some semblance of normal. Heck, if you don’t feel like talking face-to-face with someone, practice using your Converse email. (It’s better than nothing!)

4.    Find your best schedule, and stick to it.

Okay, so it's not your schedule, but you get the point. 

Pithy advice about surviving college doesn’t get any shorter or sweeter than this, kids. As soon as you get your classes straight, you’re in all the courses you wanted (or almost wanted), and you’ve figured out where they all are, make friends with Microsoft Excel and make a handy dandy schedule chart. I don’t care if you color-code it, write it in Braille or jot it down during class, just do it. It will help you more than you know.  Getting on a stable, efficient routine will help you in so many ways.

If you have any questions, or want to talk more, just email me (using your Converse email) or come and find me.

Love,

Grace Egan