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Every year hundreds of thousands of new students begin their journey through college.
You might assume that college is just an extension of your time at school. Perhaps you believe that the challenges will be familiar, but this isn’t the case.
At school, you always have someone watching out for you whether that’s your teachers or indeed your parents. At college, you have more freedom and more independence, and this can lead to more issues. You are on your own. You have to make sure that you are making the right choices. It’s worth being aware of some of the challenges that you will likely face. Ultimately, you need to know that you can handle these tests in a healthy way.
The Pressure Is On
You’re going to feel a lot of stress and indeed pressure, even in your first year of college. You will have various decisions to make: like picking your major, the clubs you want to be involved in, and how you want to schedule out your time.
Deadlines and schedules will sometimes build up to the point where you’re writing multiple assignments while studying for multiple exams.
At the same time, you’ll need to learn how to best use your time but still get the level of breaks that you need to continue to remain healthy. Put too much of a focus on work, and you will ultimately burn out.
These mindful habits will help you to reorient yourself when you’re feeling uncentered. I’ve found that attending (free) meditation sessions at my school, taking time out to pray, and doing some yoga are activities that really help me center myself!
You can lean on those around you too, working together in study groups. This is a lot like a fitness workout. If you have someone else with you working towards the same goal, you are far more likely to succeed.
You’ll also have to battle your way through hell week. Hell week, aptly named by professors is the point where all assignments and tests align and arrives a few weeks before the end of the semester. It’s important to keep your head and find a way to deal with the stress.
College Lifestyle
The college lifestyle is filled with exciting new experiences from fresh social groups to new friendships.
You’ll get to go to more parties and perhaps go out drinking (which is only legal in the States if you are over 21, to clarify).
But you do need to be careful. Perhaps tied into the level of pressure, a lot of students will look for a coping mechanism that they can use to survive. This could be anything from alcohol to smoking or even narcotics.
Remember, the spiral of addiction always begins with experimentation and a lot of students experiment in college.
You might find that your friend can try something once and then take it or leave it, but not everyone is the same. You might be more at risk of dependency than they are so you need to be wary of even trying certain things that suddenly become more common in college.
Money, Money
Finally, you’ll need to learn how to handle money issues. It’s fair to say that when you reach college, you can struggle with money quite a lot and your student loan may not cover all your needs.
Check out these tips to help you save money as a student!
You might even need to think about getting a part-time job. However, a side hustle might be the better option. This is something that you can typically do from your dorm in your spare time to earn a little extra cash without putting yourself under more pressure.
For more college advice, check out my College Lifestyle + Advice section!
