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Jul 7 , 2022 • 5 min read

How to survive and thrive through freshman year

How to survive and thrive through freshman year
The first few weeks on campus are critical for new students. It’s during this time that you make critical decisions that will have an effect on the rest of your life.

Schools out for…..ever? Well, at least high school. And whether you were the class president, the prom queen, valedictorian, or anything else… it no longer matters. You’re about to start college with a totally clean slate, academically and personally and you can be whoever and whatever you want to be.

How can I survive the first few weeks of college?

To be totally honest, this is your first real transition into adulthood, where the decisions you make and the actions you take during your first year of college will have a major impact on the entire experience. But! We’re not here to scare you, rather…to help you. It’s one of the most joyful and exciting times in your life that’s filled with a lot of anticipation too. The first few weeks on campus are critical for new students. It’s during this time that you make critical decisions that will have an effect on the rest of your life. You will encounter many distractions – parties, drinking, meeting new people, college sports matches and more, so how you manage your time and what you choose to make your top priority will have an effect on the coming years too.

How can a college freshman be successful?

There are a couple of main verticals to think about – social and academic. Socially – try to be yourself. Go out, meet people, engage and be safe. Remember it takes time to make new friends, but with time you will have a new core group of friends that you’ll feel like you’ve known for years. Academically it is slightly more difficult as you might get distracted by “having fun”. You must remember that having fun in the short term can really impair your success in the long term. 

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Here are BlockSite’s 10 tips that you can implement immediately and with minor effort on your part to have a successful start to your Freshman year;

  1. Always go to class. Make a point of going as you never know when your professor may drop a crucial piece of information for a test or maybe give you extra credit for attendance. This also helps you stay on track of what is going on in class and will reduce stress when the test comes around.
  2. If you have to choose between doing a double major or getting involved on campus get involved. All the knowledge in the world won’t help if you come out of college with no experience or professional relationships. Sometimes, the phrase “It’s not what you know but who you know” should resonate. 
  3. Manage your time. We can’t stress the importance of this enough. Making sure you set aside ‘working hours’ and some free time is crucial to your success. With BlockSite’s ‘Work Mode’ you can make this happen. Once you’ve downloaded the extension and app you can set your working time frames and break times as you wish. Don’t forget that you can also sync BlockSite from desktop to mobile to make sure you are totally covered 
  4. Take smart notes. Find a system that works well for you and focus on learning rather than simply recording the information.
  5. When you study, make sure you have a change of scenery other than your dorm room. Head to the library or try using an active study methods such as flash cards to make it less boring and a lot more effective than reading material you were given. If it gets noisy or hectic where you study bring noise cancellation headphones with you to get you in the zone.
  6. Find out when you can register for classes and do so straight away. We promise that you’ll thank yourself later when your friends are having to do an extra semester because they couldn’t get into a required class.
  7. Create a resume if you don’t already have one, and have it critiqued by someone who knows what they’re doing. Maybe a friend who is already employed or someone who works in HR and knows how resumes should look. 
  8. Go to every career fair, even if you’ve already lined up a summer job. You want to build relationships with recruiters, and they’ll remember your face if you show up every time.
  9. Get an internship for the summer. You’ll be able to forge professional connections early on and make it easier to get another internship next summer. Graduating with two under your belt will give you a real advantage on the competition.
  10. Be confident, get out of your comfort zone, and try new things. College is the greatest opportunity you’ll ever have for personal development.

Most importantly, we wish you the best of luck! Study hard and play hard, and make the most of this experience. It’s important to stay mindful and make sure you have all the tools you need to make your first year at college successful and fun. Let us know how you get on with using BlockSite by tagging us on any social media platform with the hashtag  #BlockSite, we’d love to hear your feedback 🙂

Today is a good day to start, try for free
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