December 23, 2014

Embracing Your New-Found Freedom


When you got to college, you recognized right away the freedoms that you had. OK, so it probably wasn’t be in bed by 9 p.m. or you’re grounded back home, but even if you had lax parents, rules were always there, spoken or otherwise. Now that you’re in college, it’s all up to you. But don’t go crazy just yet!

Sometimes the lack of restrictions can be a bit of a wake-up call. Yet it’s too often that this lack of rules is applied only to getting crazy. Instead, take a more holistic view of the freedoms that college offers. You have freedom in every sense, and you can embrace that from a developmental, social, and, yes, even academic standpoint.

So maybe your parents didn’t like some of the friends you hung out with. Maybe they had reason, or maybe they were just being old-fashioned. Now that you’re in college, you’ll be the only person who decides or really has any influence with whom you hangout. No, this doesn’t mean you should jump to hangout with the “wrong crowd,” but what it does mean is that you can take the chance to get to know a variety of new people. Even if your school isn’t huge, there will be plenty of people to meet and people from a lot of different backgrounds. So take advantage and make some new friends, friends that might be different from who you usually hung out with.

College is also the time to explore some new hobbies and fun freedoms. If you’re interested in an activity, be it dodgeball, rock climbing, or computer programing, there’s probably a club or group out there just waiting for you to join. So now that you have the freedom, why not? After school, you won’t have such a wealth and concentration of new activities and things to get involved in so readily available. Since you’re in college, now’s your chance! And there’s really nothing to lose when it comes to trying a new activity, so take advantage and have some fun.

You might not be sure for quite some time what you’ll major in. That’s all right, since, once again, it’s time to be free and explore. But whether you’re sure or not, take the time—and the freedom—to explore some new classes. You’ll probably be majoring in what you find to be the most interesting, but there’s bound to be more that’s interesting to you out there, and now you can learn all about it. If you despised history in high school, you probably won’t magically love it in college, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t yet unknown subjects out there that you’ll enjoy. And you’re free to choose whichever ones you’d like.

This is really just a sample of freedoms that college offers. All the choices you make, on a daily level, on a semester level, and on a level that may impact the rest of your life, are yours to make. That prospect might be a bit scary, but take your time to think about any such choices and just remember that such opportunity won’t be around forever. So, let freedom ring. 

December 12, 2014

Don't Just Sit There Your First Year. Get Involved



When it comes down to it, college is what you make of it. If you plan to succeed, it’ll mean long study sessions all alone into the wee hours of the night. But where’s the fun in focusing only on academics? No, we’re not condoning treating college like one long party, but there’s a fun side and social side of going to school, and yes, those aspects take some effort as well.

If you’re dorming your first year, as you probably are, you’ll be meeting plenty of new faces and making all sorts of new friendsthat’s one of the best parts about dorming! When you’re living in such close quarters, frankly you have to make an effort not to get to know your fellow dormmates.

And then there are classes. As in high school classes, you’ll be paired up with other students for projects, in-class debates, and all sorts of academic group work. These all provide opportunities to speak with people you otherwise wouldn’t have and to make new friends. But in some classes, namely those big lecture-style classes, don’t be surprised if you don’t speak with anyone; with a professor lecturing in monotone to a group of 100 students, there’s not exactly much room for conversation.

Next to dorming, the best way to meet new friends involves a simple process: find a club or activity that you’re interested in and … join it! You’re really just making up excuses if you say there’s no club that interests you. Your school, not matter how big or small it is, will have a plethora of clubs and activities for you, the student. Some involve interest in an academic field, some focus on sports, and others revolve around downright eclectic interests such as medieval philosophies and lesser-known board gamestrust us, no matter your hobbies or interests, there’s an extracurricular club out there for you.

Not only does getting involved in an activity further your initial interest, but you’ll be surrounded by people with a common interest. Again, you’d have to practically try not to meet new people. And whatever your chosen activity, you’ll only further develop that interest by being immersed in a group of just-as-avid other students.

The sooner you get involved in a club, the better off you’ll be. It’s easier to get to know other members when everyone’s still new and looking to make new friends. That and if you arrived to school without knowing anyone, you don’t want to spend your first semester eating alone and hanging out with your goldfish all the time, do you? So be quick to get involved. School clubs and organizations will be peppering you with fliers and handouts to get the word about their club. Don’t just stuff those in your trash. Read them. And better yet, sign up!

December 5, 2014

The Other Side of College Learning: A Well-Rounded Education Beyond the Textbook

No matter your major, there are plenty of facts to learn and memorize throughout college. Yet, there’s an unstated group of skills that college should also teach, skills that are often picked up if not studied directly, though you won’t find them on any syllabi. As you go through college, there are other skills worth making sure that you’ve learned, as, like it or not, you’ll be expected to have working knowledge, if not be a master, of the said skills.

Writing
You don’t need to be an English major to know how to write well, or at least how to write concisely, properly, and effectively. No matter your major, college life will require you to do plenty of writing. This is a huge annoyance to some students, but if that’s you, then you should actually be more  appreciative of the chance to practice. You probably won’t be writing many 10-page papers after graduation, but you will be writing emails, memos, and other messages that require the written word. It’s quite frustrating when, after writing something, it’s ambiguous and incomplete in its message. Also, there are a number of grammar and punctuation rules your expected to follow that college helps to entrench correctly—hopefully you caught that slip-up in the last sentence if you’re paying attention.

Speaking
Speaking in front of large groups isn’t a pleasant activity for most, neither is speaking about yourself during a job interview. Even so, college again is supposed to help foster such communicative skills. There are public speaking classes in most schools, yet even just communicating well on a personal level is a skill worth making sure you’re capable of. This one, at least, isn’t too hard to work on, as, if you talk to anyone, you’re practicing. And while most of us don’t go around starting conversations to boost communicative skills, at any workplace, it’ll be a skill that’s used daily.

Politics
OK, so maybe you didn’t vote in your last local election or maybe you still need to update your registered voting address. And maybe you’re not tuned in to CSPAN daily. Either way, it’s not a bad idea to have a basic knowledge of politics and to maintain it throughout college and afterwards. Knowing and caring about what’s happening in your community, and the whole world for that matter, will never be a bad thing. While so much discussion about politics is synonmous with frustration and anger, no one says you have to get feelings mixed up while trying to make yourself more aware!

Manners
You might learn to say please and thank you while you’re in kindergarten, but now’s the time to make sure you’re putting all of that learning into effect! No, once again you won’t find many classes in college out there on manners and etiquette, but by now, you probably know what’s right and expected. Your parents’ generation might appreciate such old-fashioned etiquette more, yet good manners are never a bad thing to posses, whether you’re grabbing lunch with a professor or on a first date.