The Five Lies Your Older Friends Told You About Freshman Year

August 26, 2010     Posted in Back to School, College, Reality

So you’re going to college. You got your GPA up and your admissions essay down, you got in, and now you’re out! Happy times are here. Your final days are characterized by blasting Lil’ Wayne with the sunroof open and going to lunch with the people with whom you’ve spent the last four, eight, or even 12 years of your life in school. You’re pretty sad it’s over, but you know that your life isn’t about to end; in reality, it’s only the beginning.


By Melissa

But before you unpack those Yaffa blocks and stock up on the highlighters, allow me to dispel a few of the myths your older, wiser and drunker friends have told you about your freshman year. Is freshman year awesome? Hell to the yes. But there are some things you just gotta prepare for.

“You’re going to become best friends with your floor.”
Maybe. Or maybe not. Yes, while the people on your floor are going to be the first people you meet and become friendly with, don’t feel pressured to become best friends with them. The only thing you may have in common with these people is that you live on the same floor in the same dorm at the same school. They’re great for trips to the dining hall, party wandering in the first week of school, and swapping hangover stories on Sunday mornings, but don’t feel bad if that’s it. You might find yourself laughing a month or two into school saying, “OMG, I can’t believe I used to go to breakfast with her” if your neighbor becomes “that girl” at parties on campus. Your real friends in college will be eclectic, and while many people find them on their floor, many do not. Friendships are rooted in a sharing of values, not a sharing of a hall. You’re lucky if you find both in the same place.

“Your classes aren’t that hard.”
Kind of a lie. Senior year you don’t do any work at all, and it’s really hard to turn your brain back on and retrain yourself to read and understand 60+ pages of reading a night. This lie depends on the school you go to and the classes you take, but the way I experienced it and the way most of my friends experienced it is that your classes are kind of hard. Especially when you’re trying to decide on a Tuesday night between $1 pitchers of beer and making notecards. You need to do a lot of the learning on your own and if you’re not careful, it’s very easy to fall behind. You might have floated through high school, but college is an entirely different ball game. You’re going to have to retrain your study muscles for those college classes!

“Being a freshman in college is nothing like being a freshman in high school.”
Such a lie. Everyone knows you are a freshman. Everyone. Between the maps you carry, the way you lug all your books to the first day of class, and the way you travel in huge gaggles down the streets of your college town trying to find parties, you’ve got freshman written all over you. But the thing to remember is that everyone has to experience that. Carrying the maps and traveling in the gaggles teaches you how to adjust to college life so that second semester, you don’t scream freshman. You definitely have to pay your dues a bit as a freshman, just like you did in high school, but don’t expect any mean seniors to shove you into lockers or try and sell you tickets to the pool. Unless someone’s having a pool party and they charge you for alcohol and you end up getting so plastered that you wake up in a locker.

“If you don’t go out every weekend, you totally miss out.”
Definitely not true. While partying is really fun at college and very different than at home, you do not miss out at all if you decide to skip a night out or go somewhere else for the weekend. If you feel like sitting in your bed in sweatpants and catching up on your shows, do it! There is always going to be a party, and there will always be an opportunity to go to the bar. Don’t burn out. If you need to study, study. You might miss out on making a few drunken memories, but you have four years to make more. Your report card, mental health, and physical health will thank you when you follow your instinct if you don’t feel like going out. Plus, your friends will be excited to tell their stories to you the next day and start planning the next time you’re all going to go out together.

“You’re going to love everything about school right from the get-go.”
Doubtful. You move into this tiny dorm room in the unbearable heat of your non-air conditioned dorm with a stranger. Your stuff is a mess and everywhere, and your parents kiss you goodbye and are on their way. And then you’re there. And you don’t know anyone. While yes, the first few nights of college are exciting, fun, and usually pretty drunk, they’re definitely uncomfortable. You need to be awkward (all the time) and put yourself out there to meet people more than you have ever tried in your life. Sometimes you just want your mommy to hug you at the end of the day, make you dinner, and ask you how your day was. But all you have is your roommate and the ice breaker games your RA facilitates. It’s rough at first, but the thing to remember is that everyone is in the same place as you. Everyone is feeling the same way, but most people won’t admit it.

Here’s the deal: The word “lie” is subjective, meaning a lie is found in the mind of the individual. What I view as a lie, you may not, so don’t put too much stock into what you read about freshman year. Just because I view these comments as lies doesn’t mean that you will feel the same way. Everyone has a different experience in college, and no matter what happens, you’re going to enjoy parts of freshman year and you’re going to learn a lot about yourself. So get ready, because you have a lot to look forward to.

15 Comments on "The Five Lies Your Older Friends Told You About Freshman Year"

  1. Emily says:
    Thu, 26th Aug 201012:48 pm 

    As a senior working on her thesis and applying to grad school I can say when your a freshman your classes are ridiculously easy. And I kind of resent the fact that you would imply seniors in college aren't working their asses off trying to graduate. Freshman make classes hard for themselves when they don't find that balance between fun and studying. Freshman year is an exceptionally care-free time enjoy it while it lasts.

  2. Andiie says:
    Thu, 26th Aug 20101:55 pm 

    @Emily

    I think she meant senior year in high school …

  3. Alison says:
    Thu, 26th Aug 20103:48 pm 

    @Emily

    Do you realize what sorts of classes that freshman engineers have to take? Freshman year is the year that you take all of your weeder classes be it calc III, physics I and II, or Organic Chemistry. My freshman year was anything but easy

  4. Melissa - University says:
    Fri, 27th Aug 201012:53 pm 

    Emily – thanks for reading! I did mean senior year in high school, as Andie pointed out. I meant to highlight the difficulties from transitioning from prominent senioritis, as so many seniors in high school experience, to the necessary study skills of freshman year of college. Also, as I stated in my article, the word "lie" is subjective, and the way I wrote about the difficulty of classes is the way I experienced it, which of course may be different from how you and other readers might have experienced it. I just wanted to make those clarifications. Thank you so much for your comment and for reading!

  5. Rachel says:
    Fri, 27th Aug 201010:50 pm 

    Great article.

    I really agree in particular about not being besties with your room mate or the people in your hall. But the first days of freshman year mean that EVERYONE is in the same position and looking for friends, so don't be shy and you'll be surprised at how friendly everyone will be in return.

  6. Camille says:
    Sat, 28th Aug 20104:46 pm 

    Oh cool, you go to UMD just like me! I'm a returning sophomore and I couldn't agree more with some of the things you listed, especially "You're going to become best friends with your floor" thing. Last year my floor alienated both me and my roommate, LUCKILY me and my roomie became good friends. So this time around I'm not going to care so much if the girl across the hall never talks to me.

  7. misnomer says:
    Mon, 30th Aug 20108:08 am 

    The first few weeks of school I hung out with my roommate and our neighbors. Now, I never see those girls and am unsure of how many of them still go to my school. After I moved up a floor I got closer to those girls as well. But at the end of the semester, I had the chance to find out who my real friends are.

    Another lie I would add to the list is that RAs are the enemy. They are students just like us, and I doubt they appreciate feeling alienated just because they have to follow stricter rules. I know many RAs who are pretty understanding about some policies and they are there if you are stressed about school or are going through a crisis.

    http://studentswhostillhavesouls.blogspot.com

  8. jillian says:
    Mon, 30th Aug 20107:04 pm 

    "Your classes aren't that hard."

    Agree, huge lie… with certain majors. If you are an Engineering major, then your Freshman year is SET IN HARD STONE, lol. You have killer classes, everything's required, and the homework load is insane–you need the work ethic and energy of Hercules to get through just the frosh year! And, you must choose that ONE party you can go to your frosh year wisely. You will have no life. And, that's why all your friends will be from the Engineering department and your first long-term significant other will be too. Misery loves company.

    However, if you are an International Relations or Rocks-For-Jocks (Geology) major, then party up!

    Another Lie–You Will Gain The Freshman 15

    Yes, if you are forced to stay on your school's meal plan the entire frosh year and don't have massive restrictions on the number of meals you get weekly/monthly, and you don't have special dietary needs, and you're not a student athelete, and don't have self-control over your mouth-n-stomach connections, then you are a likely candidate for shopping in the plus sizes in the near future.

  9. Rowena says:
    Wed, 1st Sep 20108:12 pm 

    I think the "freshman year is easy" thing is subjective. I actually worked my butt off senior year of high school, because I was a full IB student and because I'm a music major so I had to prepare for auditions. The whole pattern of taking slack-off classes senior year is becoming less and less common, I think, so for people who were like me it might not be that big of a jump.

    My first semester was actually pretty easy compared to high school, and it bored me to tears. I unfortunately went too far in the opposite direction second semester of freshman year and was in over my head.

  10. just some guy says:
    Wed, 1st Sep 20109:46 pm 

    when i think about it, i am not sure if the whole your calsses are easy thing is a lie or just something more like selective memory. i never got a killer gpa in high school but, i did ok with very little effort when i think about it. so i basically had next to nothing in study skills and learned the hard way that my effort level from high school simply wasn't going to cut it in college.

    like the writer said- everyone's story is different and such (some were workaholic perfectionists in high school- others were more slacker-ish like me) the workaholics stand a better chance of being ready unless they were unrealistic about how much workload they could handle. they already had solid study habits. us slackers had to learn they couldn't float through like in high school.

    those who tell you your classes are easy are telling you that because they are seeing it from their current point of view most likely. already forgetting how sometimes scary and intimidating going somewhere freshman year can be in a strange place around people you don't know. staying focused on classes can be a bit difficult for sure.

  11. peachykeen says:
    Thu, 2nd Sep 20105:10 am 

    I'm an International Studies major. It is anything but easy. It is always frustrating when science majors act like we have the easiest major. Most IS and IR majors are required to take economics and often statistics.

  12. rogjack234@gmail.com says:
    Mon, 6th Sep 201010:39 pm 

    I am a music major so I had to prepare for auditions. The whole pattern of taking slack-off classes senior year is becoming less and less common, I think, so for people who were like me it might not be that big of a jump.

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