People talk a lot about college as being a big, dramatic change from high school life. I'm sure that many of them are sincere - even if they exaggerate a little bit - in that sentiment. Entering college gets a reputation as a period of "finding your own place in the world", as you learn to manage your time, explore new experiences, and make connections that will last for the rest of your life.
But for me, college has been really not much of a change at all. The format of my classes now - focusing mainly on self study and personal motivation - is the same as it was in high school. While the content is a little different, as I take more major-specific courses, the fundamental ideas are the same. Multivariable Calculus is, unsurprisingly, no different from Calc 1 or 2. The engineering courses I take now are analogous to the ones I've been taking for the past 4 years. If anything, the classes are less impersonal than I expected them to be. People talk about large class sizes changing the dynamic between teacher and student, particularly at a campus as big as UMCP, but that hasn’t really been the case for me.
Living on campus has also changed much less about my life than I would expect. It's given me a little bit of freedom in the way I present myself, which I've enjoyed, but doesn't really change my day-to-day. I get up at about the same time, get ready in a similar way, and spend my day working like I would off campus. I do think that there's a sort of sense of community that comes with living at UMD, which is nice but doesn't impact my day directly. Even living with a roommate - in a single - hasn't really changed my life in any meaningful way. I've been pretty lucky in how respectful they are of our shared space, as well as how our schedules sync up. I leave in the morning before they wake up, and often am asleep before they come home. The only slight change from living in a dorm is that I have a bit less freedom over what I eat, since I can't cook for myself now.
The one major difference between how I envisioned college life and the real experience has been College Park Scholars. When I signed up, I had very little idea exactly what we would be covering. I expected a focus primarily on the topics Elizabeth Kolbert touches on in The Sixth Extinction. We delved much deeper into the concept of science as a whole, and the understanding of the scientific (hypothetico-deductive) method, than I was expecting. Conversely, we didn't touch as heavily on potential paths to reducing climate change as I was anticipating in the first semester. The biggest difference with my expectations was the amount of outside-the-classroom activities I had the opportunity to take part in, at one point going on Scholars-related trips three weeks in a row. The amount of activities SGC has had off campus has been one of its biggest selling points for me, with some very cool opportunities that I didn't really anticipate.
For me, there are two major keys to integrating well into your college life. First, be engaged in class. Sit in the front couple rows. Ask questions. Answer questions. If you can - my schedule rarely allowed it - go to office hours. Making connections with your professors will help make the class feel more manageable, and the effort you put in during class will reduce the amount of time you have to spend outside of class. For me, it has been very helpful to take notes physically. I don't have a choice, exactly, since my computer is too fragile to bring to class, but I do think it provides you a much better system for focusing. Avoiding notetaking on a device keeps you from getting as easily sidetracked, and gives you a better opportunity to understand the topics being discussed.
The second key to integrating into college is to find a small club to join. There are a lot of great clubs on campus, and having something to involve yourself with outside of class is a good way to add structure to your time at UMD. More specifically, I would suggest finding a club that doesn’t cross over too much with your major. It can be fun to join a robotics club as an Electrical Engineer, and I'm sure members of those clubs have a great time, but in my opinion it is very helpful to find something that interests you and is distinct from your education. For me, that club is Sketchup - a 12 person comedy group where I work backstage on lighting and projections. Having a club with only a few people meant that I knew everyone's names on day one, and that I've had the opportunity to become friends with all the members easily. I've always been particularly interested in theatre tech, but for you it could be any number of activities.