By Dixon Bledsoe
As the last vestiges of summer dissipate into a few remaining hot days and cool nights, a mass exodus is about to begin like millions of young salmon heading out to sea, eager to take their new fins out for an extended test drive.
Time to send the kids off to college. While parents will cry, rejoice, cherish the fact that the house seems suddenly larger and quiet, the excitement swells in the hearts of those fry leaving the parental hatchery for the first time. It is an exhilarating, frightening and intoxicating time as they embark on their version of manifest destiny.
This column is for the first-time college student who knows everything yet knows little about what to expect from college. Sure, some will say, “things are different now, Dixon, since you were a freshman when Lincoln was a senior.” While true, certain things don’t change. Here are my college truths, and my guess is your parents are going to agree with them at least in part.
The student in the next dorm room may have doubled your SAT score. Become friends. He may become your calculus tutor. His mom probably sends cookies. Good guy to know.
This is not high school. Freshmen don’t worship you anymore. No one knows you except a few people you sort of recall from high school. Don’t regale new-found friends with how many touchdowns you scored. Open your door, make popcorn, and have a movie night. An open door says volumes about you, because everyone there is in the same boat and most are going through the same thoughts, feelings, trials and tribulations. Every one of them just left their comfort zone.
Make friends with the Resident Assistant in the dorm.
Rent your books. It is much cheaper than buying the book your Economics professor wrote and makes you read. It costs $200 in September from the same bookstore that buys it back from you for $40 in June. Speaking about professors, if he or she talks about it, it will probably show up on the test. Take copious notes and use a recorder if you can.
Dorm food is not famous for its healthy qualities even though they are getting better. You will put on weight eating dorm food. Take the gym class.
Use the IT department when your computer crashes. You are paying for it anyway.
Make a great friend in every class. Take notes for each other on that “rare” occasion when you want to sleep in.
Call your parents. Even though they were doing their “happy dance” as they booted you out of the moving family mini-van (but were kind enough to slow down first), they love you. They are also the ones who might slip a $20 bill in your makeup bag or shaving kit.
You are going to have a tremendous amount of free time. Break a 24-hour day into increments, and you will find that there is actually plenty of time to do everything. Study more, especially early on. Pre-Malthusian Theory is not going to sink in if you open the book the evening before the test. Morning is better for studying, and right after a meal or late at night is worse.
Learn from my college history teacher. “You go to the grocery store, pick out groceries, pay for them, and then leave them at the register. How stupid is that?”
Take some classes “against your grain.” It is paramount to develop the other side of your brain and remember this – two sides of the brain working together make you a more attractive job candidate.
Remember, like a young salmon, you are destined to return home at some point, even if it is just for “laundry day.” Be kind to the ones who gave you life and spending money.
And speaking of fish, classes like “Orientation to Fish and Wildlife” are great one credit pass/fail courses. But don’t get excited when the professor tells you there are no tests. That is not a license to skip. You actually have to attend and participate. Trust me on that one.
