My freshman year of college at the University of College Park has been normal and crazy at the same time! Coming in as a first-generation college student, I didn’t really understand or know how to navigate how to sign up for classes, contact professors, know how credits worked, or even knew how to get to my classes physically! When I first came to UMD, I was really determined to major in Computer Science but I had no idea what I would do within that program- a very scary state to be in as a freshman but nonetheless, very very normal! When I signed up for classes, I was more focused on making sure I was signing up for classes that would fulfill my gen-ed requirements while keeping my personal interest in the loop! One of the classes that I was very pleasantly happy with was CCJS105 (Introduction to Criminology). I’ve always had an interest in criminal justice and knowing why or how people commit crimes so I decided that it would be a good idea to take it! I was very very happy with taking this class because not only was my mind very curious about the subject being taught, I found friends in that class that I wouldn’t have made otherwise! I’m delighted with taking this class because I really enjoyed learning more and more about the topic which is very important to incorporate into your schedule because it makes learning more interesting and easier! Another class that I was very happy with taking was ASTR100(Introduction to Astronomy)! I took this class because it also combined another interest that I had outside of my major and learning! The professor that I had for this class was amazing as well as the TA that I was assigned to! They went above and beyond with every lecture and every discussion section we had: by showing us live experiments or even just thinking of creative ways for us to understand the material we were learning. You could tell that the teacher and the TA were very keen on making sure all students were performing to the best of their ability and were more than understanding of late assignments and flexibility. The biggest takeaway is: yes take classes for your major but make space for classes that you are interested in personally/take fun classes! Coming into a huge university such as UMD, it can be very intimidating to reach out to your professors or faculty when trying to make mentoring relationships. I think for me since I’m a pretty introverted person, it took me a little longer to reach out to my professors just because I was never one to go up and introduce myself. Something that helped me a lot to get over that kind of anxiety of introducing myself, was introducing myself with a friend! I think it was less intimidating to introduce myself if I wasn’t the only one doing it! Even if you don’t have the courage to introduce yourself to a teacher in person after class, I would recommend dropping in during their office hours or even just shooting them an email that just introduces yourself. I think developing mentoring relationships with your professors or TAs is such a helpful tool because not only do they know who you are but you are able to ask questions more truthfully and with more comfort! Again, coming to this huge university, it was very intimidating to make new friends and keep those friendships! It’s hard for me personally to go up and introduce myself and start a conversation with someone completely new! For me, I got lucky because I had some friends from high school that helped me with making new friends because I had a small but mighty support system when branching out. Once I started attending my classes and getting involved with clubs and organizations on campus that I was interested in, I started making friends that I still am friends with now! I think branching out can be difficult at first but honestly, it is necessary to feel more at home and comfortable on a bigger campus such as UMD. When I only had my roommate as my friend, I felt like everyone around me was getting huge friend groups and we were falling behind- but this was so far from the truth. I realized that we find people that we create great friendships with on our own time and there’s no rush at all! I think one of the greatest obstacles in pursuing friendships is not necessarily literally finding people to be friends with but finding GOOD friends that care about you! Not that college is fake but sometimes you find people who you get along with but finding the friends that genuinely care about you and want to hang out with you for quality time is sometimes difficult! At first I had friends who were almost conventional friends(friends that were just convenient and because I didn’t want to be alone) but once I started developing friendships with people who genuinely wanted the best for me and would help me become a better person, I was much more satisfied with my friendships! Once you find those friends, make sure that you and your friends are working towards making each other better! Study together, watch movies together, go on a walk together, and just do about anything you can do together! A big campus feels that much more like “home” when you surround yourself around people who feel “homey”. The best tip that I would say is that make sure your friendships are equally balanced and that you aren’t bending over backward in order to keep those friendships alive. It’s important that friends build you up and respect your boundaries always! The aspect of the university academic life that I was least prepared for was knowing how to manage all the extra free time you have. Although high school did prepare me for only having a few classes a day and it did not prepare me for the countless time gaps that I had within those classes! In college, you can set up your schedule in so many different ways, and depending on that schedule/course load you are able to have gaps in between classes to do whatever you want! You can go ride a bike, go buy food, take a nap, or do homework for upcoming classes! I would say that the best way you can make the most out of that extra gaps of time is to really be productive academically and knock off some easy assignments! This really helped me with handling the course load and homework load I would have every week because I didn’t put things off last minute! In this free time, you can review lecture notes, complete reading assignments, or even work on assignments that are due that same day(wouldn’t really recommend this though!) This free time allows you to work on smaller assignments that will alleviate stress in the long run and really help you improve your understanding of the material you are taking this extra time to study! This free time can also be used to visit your professors or TAs during their office hours and take advantage of tutoring services provided on campus! Just making sure that you are using this time wisely really can help you with productivity and making sure you are your best self academically.