College Corner - By the Students

College application season is in full swing. It might seem like the hard part is getting INTO college, but the harder part is what happens when you get there!

Don't take our word for it, check out what advice these college students had to give to perspective college students and for all students who want to go to college.

Spoiler alert: Their lessons also apply in high school and to the "real world"!

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“In my first semester at college, I learned a lot about adjusting to college and my new environment. With having hybrid classes the whole semester, it was certainly challenging at some points but overall I figured it out. There were some specific things that I did that really helped me succeed.

The first thing was making separate email folders for each class I was taking. I got a lot of emails from professors, and to have all of them organized by class really helped me locate an old email and stay on top of deadlines.

The next thing was I hand wrote all of my notes in class. This was a preference thing for me, but I truly believe that I retain more from a lecture if I hand write notes. It was also challenging for me to type notes while on a zoom lecture.

The last thing I did was very hard for me: relax. College can be very stressful, and if it isn’t I don’t think you will get better as a person. Sometimes the only thing you can do is just take a deep breath, relax, and simplify things. I am not saying that doing these three things will guarantee you a 4.0 GPA, I am just sharing my advice and stating what helped me succeed in my first semester.”
- CJ, Freshman at Fairfield University


“One of the greatest realizations in my transition from high school to collegiate life, is that one has the tremendous opportunity to enter into a new environment and become the most comfortable version of themselves. This “clean slate,” if you will, enables young people to step outside of the numerous stigmas and intangible rules of teenage sociology and develop into the individuals that they were always meant to be. It is because of this observed truth that I strongly suggest, to all students moving on to any college or university, to take advantage of the extremely rare opportunity that higher education offers. I will never forget the moment when one of my dearest family members told me, “college is one of the last times in life that you can actually determine for yourself where you would like to continue on in your future.” He emphasized that once in the real world, chances to continue on in life, in a chosen location, do not often present themselves. In preparing for the real world myself, this is some of the best advice that I had ever received as a teenager and I wish to pass it on.”
- Liam, Junior at Seton Hall University


“Time management is the best piece of advice I could give. If you take time aside to allocate to school I can promise you that you will have time to spend  with friends. Try to establish routines for when you do homework. Throw your phone across the room, go to the library etc. No one is going to hold your hand anymore and you need to be your own voice. You need to advocate for yourself.”
- Ryan, Freshman at Fairfield University


“The only advice I could give is that especially for online students you have a lot more free time than you think! When you are in your classes put the phone away and actually focus because they are very distracting and you have all the time in the world to do whatever you want after your classes.”
- Max, Freshman at Rutgers University

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