My greatest successes were with actively going to office hours and asking professors questions, even if it was just staying a little after class, whether or not it related to the course they taught. By doing this I was able to not only meet the professor and further understand the material, but also meet other hard working students. I found that the classes where I had personally gone to my teachers office hours I was able to understand the concept to the fullest and actually build a relationship with the professors. I would say that going to office hours really helped with understanding classes, especially ones that I might have had trouble in because you are here to learn and build connections, so why not ask questions about material that you may not understand. Nothing can go wrong from asking a question to your professor, and usually they actually encourage students to visit during their office hours.
As a new student, many students are looking to build new connections, so don't be afraid to reach out to others and build meaningful connections cause you'll never know who you might meet. Even if it was just to get food or study, these were the times where I was able to build a connection with someone completely new. I know it might be overwhelming at first, being in a new environment and seeing others that might already have a whole friend group. It's going to be okay! People are different and take things at different paces, so even if you have no friends at first, you will find someone. Also, if someone doesn't reach out, it doesn’t' mean the world is going to end or that there's something wrong with you. Just keep putting yourself out there and meet other people, that's one of the fun things about college. You meet so many different people, so have fun with it! College should be a place where you're not only building your education, but also a place where you should have fun with those that care about you.
College is a place where you’ll definitely pick up some time management skills. You’re taking so many classes at once and meeting so many new people, you won’t really know how to manage your studying and personal life at first (and if you can already do this, good for you!), but this will come more naturally as you do it more often. One of the things that I found I struggled with was studying for finals. Because a lot of my finals had overlapped with one another, I had to study several materials at once, which is not easy, but I found a way that worked for me and I successfully took my finals (hopefully this applies to this semester’s finals).
Overall, I had a great freshman year and was able to meet so many different people. It was a fun year and I hope the rest of college will be the same! 🙂