Students enjoying the flag room of the Memorial Student Center at Texas A&M. Credit: Flickr/Jay Morgan

As the class of 2016 started appearing on campus this summer for their new student conferences, I couldn’t help but notice the expressions on the faces of incoming freshmen as they wandered around their new home. Some are excited and nervous, some look lost and afraid, and most are dragging an equally confused and frightened parent along with them. When I watch one of these students looking around in wonder and amazement at their future environment, I’m reminded of how I felt on my first day at Texas A&M. Thinking about that first year here, I’ve come up with a few pieces of advice that I wish someone had told me at the end of high school.

1.     Talk to people

In every first class you go into at the beginning of each semester, you will have people seated around you in silence – everyone waiting patiently for class to start. This is a great time to introduce yourself to people sitting next to you. You might get a surprised look every once in a while, and very rarely you may encounter someone who just doesn’t want to talk. But on the whole, most of your classmates will be glad to strike up a conversation. You could even end up becoming good friends over the course of the semester, it’s happened to me many times. In just your first year, there will be hundreds of opportunities to start conversations with people you’ve never met before, and most of those people will be happy to talk to you after just a simple greeting. We’re all college kids around the same age, and most of us like to talk to each other – you just need to have the courage to say something.

2.     Do what you need to do and what you like to do, but not too much of either

For the first time in your life, you will have the ability to do pretty much anything you want. You may like the sound of that, and it is a great thing, but it’s all too easy to forget about the responsibilities that come with your new freedom. You can stay out all night and sleep through every class if that’s what you want to do, but you will feel the repercussions of that decision. On the other hand, you can devote your every waking hour to studying, but I think you’ll find that to be a disappointment as well. We came to college to learn how to be adults, and that’s not something that happens in class or behind a book. It happens through socializing, getting involved in the community, and trying new things as well as focusing on school at times. Every part of your college experience is something that will shape who you become as an adult, don’t let yourself become consumed by one or two things.

3.     Ignore all your preconceptions of college life

Most people I know were excited about coming to college, but for the wrong reasons. Some are looking for late night conversations about philosophy and others just want to break out their newly-developing beer pong skills. While both of these can be a part of college life if you want them to be, nothing that you expect to happen will happen exactly as you expected. Some things that you imagine will disappoint you when you find out how they really are, but other things that you never expected to be interested in will entrance you. Also, every school is different, so don’t rely too heavily on what your friends at the University of Oklahoma tell you if you’re going to Louisiana State. Keep an open mind about college for the first year because you won’t know what it’s like until you’ve experienced it.

4.     Learn to enjoy doing things by yourself

This may sound depressing to some, but you’re going to be doing at least a few things on your own for a while. For some of us, this came easy, but for others, the reality of living by themselves was a hard one to bear. Phone calls to old friends and late-night visits across the hall are great, but if you find yourself needing the company of someone else at all times, this piece of advice is for you. You may have to do chores, cook, and eat alone quite often, but that’s a part of being an adult. While we often surround ourselves with companionship and much needed emotional support, I believe we need to know what it’s like to be alone and happy as well.

5.     Don’t take anyone’s opinion for fact

My last piece of advice is not to take anything I’ve said here – or anything anyone tells you about college – too seriously. People will tell you good and bad things about every aspect of college life, but they’re all just giving their own opinions. So while all of this advice is true for someone like me, it may not apply to you. Things that another student learned may not apply to my life. That’s not to say, however, that you shouldn’t pay attention to advice from older students. Take into account everything that you hear about life on and around campus and try to learn from it, but in the end it’s you who decides what you get out of your college experience.

The memories you make during the four (or five) years that you spend in college will be with you forever. After my high school graduation, a family member told me I was about to start a period in my life like nothing else, and I am constantly realizing how right he was. Every day can be an adventure if you want it to be, or you can settle into a routine that you like. How you decide to live your college years is up to you. I think that’s the craziest, scariest, most amazing thing about it.