For the last few weeks, the term “freshman advice” has been a staple on USC’s Yik Yak.
The posts have usually included sarcastic advice mocking things freshmen do out of naiveté about their new surroundings by telling them to perform said silly action.
It’s time for some real freshman advice, coming from a senior.
I won’t bore you guys with the usual “eat healthy, get a lot of sleep” stuff, though that is important. The Freshman 15 is not a myth, and getting up for 8 a.m. classes is a lot easier if you slept at least a little bit the night before.
I want to focus on why you are here: to party.
I’m just kidding, but partying is a key part of college. Meeting new people, having new experiences and enjoying your time on and off campus is important. The friends you meet and the stories you’ll be a part of will stay with you for the rest of your life. Just keep it within reason; be safe and don’t do anything too stupid.
That leads me to my main point. For all the peripheral stuff that goes with college like new roommates (try to be friends or, if not, just get along) and football games (try to go to at least one this fall, even if you don’t like sports), it’s about learning.
I’m not talking about grades. Whether you get an A or an F in a class (I’ve done both), you’ll learn an awful lot — either about the subject or how to handle failure. Everyone should strive to do their best academically and the main goal is graduation, but in the end learning at college happens in and out of the classroom regardless of your GPA.
College is the time to transition into adulthood, which is a steep learning curve (steeper for some than others). Part of that is learning the skills for your chosen profession and the knowledge of the world that is required to contribute intelligently to society, but part of that is learning how to deal with new situations, people and ideas.
Hopefully, you’ll open yourself up to new perspectives and opinions that you haven’t heard before, both from your professors and from fellow students. And hopefully you’ll read and write into our opinion section, where we try to explore the diverse viewpoints that help make our campus such a great place.
While some of this learning is passive (i.e. sitting in class and listening to a lecture), most of it is on you. Our previous editor at The Daily Gamecock had a saying — you get out of it what you put into it. That really sums up college.
Whether you go out and party all night or hole yourself up in the library is up to you. You can join every organization and go to every event, or stay in your dorm room and watch Netflix all the time. It’s about finding the right balance, one that allows you to learn the most about the world and yourself.
So enjoy your next few years as a Gamecock, and try to learn as much as you can.