Mayday, it's Decision Day! 6 College-Things to Get Excited About

By Julia Dunn on May 6, 2015

Happy Decision Day, Seniors! May 1st is National College Signing Day.

image via: theneedmovement.org

If you’ve decided that college is in your near future, today’s the deadline for college decisions! Congratulations on all of your tireless work to get into a university. A year ago, I accepted my admission to the amazing University of California, Santa Cruz and couldn’t be happier with my choice, despite a lot of shakiness and anxiety about going away to school on my own.

image via: blog.cappex.com

If you’ve recently accepted admission to a particular university, get excited. Here are 5 elements of college you’ll love no matter where you go:

1. You get to choose from thousands of classes focused on amazingly specific subjects.

Get ready for “The History of Monsters,” “Overview of the Universe,” “Animals in Literature,” “Foundations of Play,” and “Molecular Biology of Drosophila Development” (remember that fruit fly they taught you about in the genetics portion of high school AP Biology? Yep, there’s an entire class just about good old Drosophila melanogaster). Large universities have an insanely large variety of courses in fields you didn’t know existed, many of which you can take for general education requirements, major requirements, and just for fun. You can basically take a class on anything you can imagine.

 

image via: www.advising.ucsc.edu

In high school, you were likely forced into a specific pathway of basic classes like US History, Physics, and Geometry, and you only got to choose out of maybe 20 electives that were either art-related, music-related, or something like woodshop or computer skills. Once you’re at college, you can start taking classes that zero in on things you’re really interested in—at UCSC, there’s a class just on music by the Grateful Dead! Click here to read about other hilariously unique college courses offered at other colleges.

2. You will make better friends than you ever have in your life.

College is a place where thousands of young adults are gathered for a common purpose: they want to learn, and they care about being educated. Living in extremely close quarters with other bright and intelligent students your age makes it insanely easy to hang out with great people all the time and form friendships that essentially skip the best-friend stage and go straight to family-status. You get to eat, study, and cry (when exams come around) with the same people all year, which makes for super-close relationships with students who live on your floor or in your building.

Living on campus means it’s easy to connect with others who share interests and academic goals similar to yours. The friends I met this year through UCSC have become so close to me that I consider them lifelong family, so take college as your opportunity to meet all kinds of wonderful, new people from different cultures and backgrounds. More friends = more support = more fun at your university.

image via: www.slu.edu

3.) You get to make your own decisions

The best and worst part about moving away? You’re in charge of yourself. You get to go downtown whenever, sleep whenever, eat whenever, all on your own schedule. Newfound autonomy is super fun to exercise when you’re at school, so make sure you do a little exploring in between classes. Go out to dinner with a few new friends on a weekend, or go to the beach on a weekday (you won’t necessarily always have class every day of the week!) That being said, use your time wisely; college is fast-paced!

image via: viterbivoices.usc.edu

4.) There is always an event happening! You’ll never be bored!

Colleges are hopping with cool lectures, presentations, workshops, concerts, comedy shows, poetry slams, open mics, and more! Look around your campus or scroll through your school’s social media pages to find out what’s going on and when things are happening at your school. College events  revolve around many fascinating activities and subjects. These events are perfect places to make memories, get to know new friends, and learn about issues you might not have considered before or subjects you have never heard of.

Students participate in “DNA Day,” walking in a strand formation sporting shirts that model the DNA base-pairing rules.
image via: cbse.soe.ucsc.edu

*Bonus College Tip: Trying to make a new friend, but don’t know what to say? Ask them to come to a campus event with you! You’re not the only freshman worried about making friends at college.

5.) There are lots and lots of activities to get involved with, no matter what you’re interested in.

Throughout your first few weeks of college, you’ll be absolutely  flooded with flyers. I had to buy a folder just to keep track of all of the pamphlets I was given in my first few months at UCSC. There are numerous organizations you can become a part of in college and many activities you can involve yourself with that are all about making a difference in the community. Check out your school’s website (or sift through your stack of flyers) to learn about different ethnic organizations, LGBTQIA groups, sports activities, and more that are active at your university. There are hundreds of campus organizations that actively welcome new students to join!

A college opportunities fair featuring different organizations/tabling.
image via: opers.ucsc.edu

If you’re still not convinced that college is a delightful wonderland of beautiful people and stellar learning opportunities, that’s okay. You’ll find out next fall!

image via: imgarcade.com

Click here to see how Michelle Obama is encouraging students to “reach higher” and pursue higher education. Good luck and congratulations to the class of 2015. (Hope to see some of you at UC Santa Cruz!)

#reach higher

#CollegeSigningDay

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