As I write this, I am about to embark on my final semester of my college career. Weird, right? It almost seems like yesterday when I was a little freshman moving in to my dorm. Except for the growth part, a lot has changed in these three and a half years. I’ve learned the hardships of picking the right classes and managing my social life and my studies, but it was all worth the ride. It’s cliché, but some say that college is the best four years of your life, and it’s true. They go by in the blink of an eye, so take the time to cherish your college life.

1. Make a Bucket List

While it should be on nearly all seniors’ to-do lists, making a bucket list at the beginning of your college career can help you get to know your campus a lot better. Who knows? If you accidentally stumble upon one of your campus’ landmarks, you not only knocked something off “the list”, but have a great story to go along with it. If your school has a great basketball team, sit in the student section and go to a basketball game. The student section of a sports game has its own little bubble, and that’s where all the excitement is. Whatever is on your list, don’t miss out and start making it happen.

2. Take Advantage of Campus Resources

The thing about college is that it offers a variety of resources that very few students actually take advantage of. From coffee houses with free Wifi to free entry to recreation centers, free printing, and basically anything with the word FREE next to it, be sure to snatch up these opportunities now before you have to pay for the real thing once you enter the real world. Syllabus week is the best time to get freebies from bookstores, so don’t miss out!

3. Learn How to Balance Academics and Activities

This is a pretty simple rule to follow, but sometimes, a freshman’s first semester can get a little out of hand. You’re on your own for the first time without Mom and Dad deciding your every move, so it’s up to you to determine if you’re going to that 10 a.m. class or if you’re going to go out every night. Here’s a handy tip: Go to all of your classes during syllabus week. While you should be attending them all semester long, this way, you can decide whether it’s worth dragging yourself out of bed every morning. And while it’s fun to go out, know your limits and know your deadlines. Don’t go out the night before you have an exam, and instead of pulling all-nighters and cramming, study for an hour a day until you have the material down. Studies have shown that you retain more information the longer you study. Plus, you can still have free time to do whatever else you want.

4. Go to Your Professor’s Office Hours

Like the rule before it, this is another handy tip for freshmen. If you’re stuck on an issue or don’t understand the material from lecture, go to your professor’s office hours as soon as you notice a problem. Professors have taken an hour out of their day to meet with students to help them succeed in the class, so it’s harmless to take an hour out of your day, too. Plus, if you go early on, you can get to know the professor and see what a future exam might be like, and if you take the time to meet with the professor, chances are if you’re on the border for a grade, he or she will bump you up.

5. Have Fun!

Simple and easy. The opportunity to be a young undergraduate only comes once, so live it up to the fullest!

Finals. While high school cared enough to only dish ‘em out once a year, we’re no longer so lucky. “So I’m supposed to remember everything since August? Is this cumulative? IS THERE EXTRA CREDIT?!” (Sidenote: Who else is psyched that EC opps still exist in college?). So what’s a girl to do?

Simple. Start now. And follow these lovely (simple, and rewarding) steps to prep yourselves for hell week.

The 6.5 Steps to Finals Success:

Get papers out of the way: Papers are majorly lame. Are they going to get you an A on a final? Nope. So knock them out of the way first in order to focus on the heavily-weighted 100 short-answer exam you have coming up in your Psych class.

Breaks: So important. Has your mind gotten clogged up with calculator functions yet? Take this opportunity to f*&k s#!t up at the gym between 3-page increments of that research paper.

Hard work (Dedication!): Keep your eyes on the prize. By now, you have a ballpark idea of what your final grades could be. Let there be no slippage! And hey, coming home with a 3.5 (or better, obv) before Christmas will definitely boost your chances of seeing a shiny 4S under the tree (or by the light of your menorah)!

Rewards: Finally turned in that research paper? Good job. Treat yourself to a re-run of the VS Fashion Show or a well-deserved blackout!

Outlines: Get this crap out of the way ASAP. Literally… just re-type those study guides your professors gave you all the time and build up this study skeleton with a healthy dose of factual meat. So mindless, yet so helpful.

Sleep: Awkward that I need to remind you… but I guess that’s what happens when you move outta momma’s house. It’s been scientifically proven that you’ll be 100% more alert if you sleep before an important exam or project than if you pull an all nighter. (And I didn’t even need to research that! Thanks, common sense.) It’s more efficient to do a bit of studying before bed, say 11:30ish, and rise half an hour earlier to put in that much more effort. You’ll retain the information better because it’s being repeated at another time, and you won’t wake up ugly. Win-win!

Rewards: Yeah, there’s the other .5. Go rage again, you deserve it. Or be mellow and buy a holiday latte. Your call.

Good luck, fellow freshies! Break is right around the corner.

Leah is a freshman at the College of Charleston whose hobbies include underwater basket weaving, painting hopscotch blocks for inner-city schools and harassing unfaithful celebs and politicians via Twitter (@leahsparagus).

But before you sign those papers to withdraw from college – or the college experience – completely, let me tell you: college is awesome. It’s exciting and fun and full of new people, new places, new experiences. This is the beginning of the rest of your life! You’ll find your lifelong friends and deepest passions while occasionally losing your cell phone and too many hours of sleep. You’ll wake up with more stress than your shoulders can handle and fall asleep in shock at what you’ve achieved in a single day. Because for the first time, it really is all about you: learning from your past (or leaving it behind), savoring the present and focusing on your future.

It’s just the first month that’s incredibly and painfully rough: you’ll feel like you’re the weird new kid on campus, contemplate breaking up with your high school sweetheart and crave the company of family, friends and homemade cooking. But honestly, it’s all the unfamiliarity of these years that holds so much potential for what it all could be. And it could be – no, it’s going to be – absolutely great.

Don’t listen to all your friends at other schools who are “lovin’ it!”. They’re not. Well maybe some…but most people admit at the end of freshmen year that the first month was more scary than fun. More lonely than they thought it would be. So just know that it will get better and you will have fun. It takes time to make the bestest friends of your life. You probably won’t meet them the first month.

And with the help of CollegeCandy, you’ll quickly learn how to navigate in these new waters: which classes you really should be taking, how to look chic after rolling out of bed, what recipes are actually manageable and how to do your makeup so you really do look like that girl on your fake ID. CollegeCandy always has the campus scoop that you’re hungry for, all you have to do is make sure you’re getting fed!

Move-In Day can either be a hit or a miss. The worst part is over when you finally chuck the deuces up to your parents as they get back in the car (“Later, guys! No, I totally won’t give in to peer pressure. I’ll def study hard. Love you too!”). Trust me, missing them won’t be as bad as you think. It’s like ripping off a bandaid. Don’t do it slowly or you’ll both cry.

Now, may I be the first to remind you: just because your new friends take full advantage of the free beer and meal plan doesn’t mean you should, too. Keep that cute lil ass of yours in check!

That said, rest assured that everyone is friendly. So be outgoing, Hang out with your God-fearing RA’s rather…um…interesting roomies. Don’t freak out if you don’t instantly click with someone- you’ve got four years to make another impression. And also- this is important!- don’t be weirded out by the idea of tagging along with the crew you meet heading out at the same time as yours. Bigger crews = better fun. By doing this, you’ll make connections for next week as well!

Be prepared to introduce yourself upwards of 35 times whenever you go out. More if the music is nice and loud. Introduce yourself to the cute guy in the backyard of Phi Kappa Gamma if you’re so inclined (it works). And clubs (the school kind) are obviously great places to a) get free food that’s cooked by people instead of the machines in the dining hall and b) meet people with similar interests. Getting involved in every aspect is so much easier than you might have thought.

Waking up for class, you guessed it, sucks. If you’re smart, you will have chosen the classes that start at 10 AM or later, but if you’re one of the unlucky ones who had to fill the 7:30 class, my heart goes out to you. Stick it out, braveling.

Sit where the teacher can see you. Always have a pen in your hand. Look somewhat interested (even if you rushed out before grabbing your extra-caf iced coffee), and don’t answer questions with valley girl answers (“Tell us about yourself and why you decided to take this class, Susie Jones!” “Well, ummmm…. I don’t know? I like, needed it for a GenEd requirement? Um, I really wanna be an aaaaaactress, um…. *nervous laugh* I don’t really know what else?”). Just keep it short, sweet and matter-of-fact.

Here’s to an eye-opening blast of a first semester, fellow froshies!

Remember freshman year? How scared you were? Nervous? So determined to make all the right decisions? Don’t you wish someone had handed you advice on what you should actually know before going into college?

Well, our good friends over at College Magazine compiled 100 postcards by upperclass students, sharing something they wish they had known while in their freshman year. And here, at CollegeCandy we consider ourselves experts on college life so we wanted to add in some things we wish we had known.

1. It’s okay to change your mind. We’re not all that mature or worldly during high school. It’s okay to change your mind if you hate your major or your school. It might only be four years of college, but it’s worth choosing something that will keep you happy the rest of your life.

2. It’s okay (and often better!) to do things on your own. So you really want to join a club or play on an intramural team, but you’re feeling too nervous to go alone. If you wait around for someone else to join you all the time then you’re always going to be waiting. So go to that club meeting or sign up as an individual for capture the flag. Without your safety blanket friend, you’ll be forced to meet new people and hey, maybe you’ll even make a friend. There are of course some exceptions to this rule, such as going out drinking or other situations when it’s best to maintain the buddy system.

3. Try and get a job on campus. If your campus offers work study positions apply for them! The hours are flexible around your schedule, they already know when exam periods are so will work around your need to study and usually pay more. These jobs could range from shifts at the gym, to doing campus tours, to helping out international students.

4. Find your study groove early on. Not everyone can study in their room, especially if they have a roommate. This is why it’s important to find out where you work best early on, so you don’t spend all four years constantly looking for a good workplace. You’ll also thank yourself later on in your degree if you’ve figured out time management in your freshman year.

5. Know when to spend your money and when to save. If you learn how to budget your money and when to say no you’ll inevitably end up with more money at the end of the year. Every cheap beer or coffee accumulates to equal a lot of money. It’s all about moderation; skimping on everything might pay off financially in the long run, but sometimes on a really bad day, you need that Starbucks Latte. But remember you don’t need one every single day. It’ll be easier to justify traveling or taking an unpaid internship if you have money left over from the year.

Reach more advice right here at College Magazine! Then tell us what you wish you had known freshman year.

Going to college with my BFF wasn’t always so kosher. Here are a few things that really helped us out.

1. DO make your own decision. We didn’t decide to go to school together. In fact, we refused to tell each other what our final results were from each college, just in case one of us would be swayed by the other’s decision. We wanted to make our own, independent decision.

2. DON’T rely only on each other. We didn’t speak for the first month of school. Okay, after that last one, I’m sure you’re beginning to wonder if we really were friends at all. Yes. I swear. We decided it was more important to make friends on our own during that first, crucial month. I fell in love with my floor, and she, hers. After that month passed, it was like we had two sets of friends. Her new friends became mine, and vice versa. It became a God-send to be able to escape to a different dorm or get coffee with a different crew. But it never would have happened, had we only held on to each other.

3. DON’T be afraid to not speak to each other for a while. It’s okay! College is a time to learn about yourself, and sometimes, that may mean ignoring your past for a little while. This doesn’t mean you’re not friends anymore, it means that you’re just figuring your life out. No harm in that!

4. DO realize how lucky you are. Most people don’t get to go to college with anyone they know, let alone their best friend. You’re guaranteed a shoulder to cry on, someone to call when your roommate goes off the deep-end or maybe just when you need a ride all the way home. Don’t take the little things for granted.

College is going to be the best four years of your life, and you’re lucky enough to spend it with your BFF!

Did you go to college with your BFF? Do you have tips?

It seems like just yesterday I was an awkward freshman getting ready for the big move in. Before you take the plunge into the best four days of your life, pretty much everyone from older siblings to family friends reliving their frat days has some advice to offer you. Sometimes you receive gems, like tips on how to navigate a gross cafeteria or where the best study spots on campus are, but sadly that’s not always the case. Here is a round up of the worst advice incoming freshman receive.

initiating the gallery...

Click on each image to see the next.

You know, Groundhog Day. The movie. You’re with me? Right. Well in Groundhog Day Murray gets to relive the same day over and over again, Groundhog Day, which wasn’t so great for him because he kept messing everything up. But still, we’re a little bit jealous. There are plenty of days in college we’d love to live over and over and over again, and never change a thing. (Editor’s Note: Or the whole thing? Please?)

Here are our top 5:

1. Your 21st Birthday. This is it. The day you’ve been waiting for. The day you take your first legal drink. The day that’s all about you. An excuse to splurge on a fabulous new, totally 21 outfit. Silly hats. Sashes. Maybe even a tiara to go with that sparkly dress? Free shots. Lots and lots of liquor. And the perfect excuse to go up to a boy and ask him if he’ll buy you a drink. The perfect excuse to do whatever you want, whenever you want to. Because nothing is a better excuse for drunken bar top dancing than “It’s my 21st birthday!” It should be noted though, powers that be, that we want to relive our 21^st birthdays, not the morning after hangovers.

2. Your First Freshman Year Brunch Recap. The first few weeks of college have been hard. You don’t really have a group of friends yet, you’ve thrown up in the bathroom twice from drinking Bartons, and you failed your first college test. And then one Sunday afternoon, you don’t remember the exact date, you ended up sitting in the dining hall for hours cracking up about last night, telling jokes, saying things like “and then I fould Liz making out with her T.A in the bathroom.” And as you eat your third helping of waffles with whipped cream (yay for dining hall health!), you realize that you finally have friends that you really like and you fit in and you love college and there’s no place you would rather be right now.

3. Homecoming. Senior Year. Homecoming is a big deal. And I’m not exactly sure why. It’s not about the game. And it’s not about the tailgating. It’s about the entire process. It’s an experience only college students will ever really understand, and its different every year. But if you have to pick one homecoming to relive over and over again, it should be the your senior year homecoming. You’ve done this enough times by now that you have your routine down perfectly, but yet you’re nostalgic enough to truly appreciate the experience. In fact, you’ll probably even manage to catch a little bit of the game that year. (Sidenote: This probably only applies if your team wins. Because the team that loses probably isn’t going to want to relive that game everyday.)

4. Classes Canceled for the First Time. Maybe it was a snow day. Or a professional holiday you forgot you had off. Or maybe your professor just unexpectedly canceled class without warning. Whatever the reason it’s still an awesome feeling, hearing your alarm go off, waking up, expecting to spend a day listening to lectures as you try not to fall asleep, only to find an e-mail informing you that your classes have been canceled. Maybe you roll back over and spend the day half sleeping, half catching up on your favorite television shows as you lounge in your pajamas and order take-out. Maybe you and your friends build a snowman. Maybe your organize your entire room or head to the beach with your friends. What you do doesn’t matter, it’s just the fact that you got to do it that feels so great.

5. Your “only at my school” day. Whether it’s Hash Bash or Winter Carnival or Mayfest or whatever your schools does, it’s the best day of year. EVERYONE you’ve ever met in college is hanging around together, drinking, smoking, laughing, talking, bringing up old memories, making you mimosas, serving free hot dogs, doing kegs and eggs, and best of all, handing out t-shirts. You don’t have a worry in the world (besides Where are my shoes?) and you’re absolutely convinced that you go to the most fun school in the entire world.

Which days would you want to relive?

[Everyone’s got a morning after story (though most don't involve a Harry Potter references?) and we wanna hear yours! Send it over to us and we’ll post it – anonymously, of course – right here!]

It was my first night of freshman year. After my parents finished helping me unpack and hugged me goodbye, I had only one thing on my mind: to get drunk that night. What can I say? I happen to attend one of the schools that consistently makes the Princeton Review’s list of biggest party schools every year (OU, Oh YEAH!) and I had high expectations for my first night out and about. Also, unlike my fellow freshmen, I knew some older kids from high school and had a solid invite to house party. Score.

In honor of the occasion, I insisted that my new roommate and I start the night by taking shots of 140 proof absinthe I’d smuggled back from Europe. Needless to say, we were both pretty trashed before we’d even left the dorm. Not that that fact stopped us from downing the endless cans of Keystone Light that were handed to us throughout the night.

As we left the party, trashed beyond all measures, myself already having broken my shoes, neither of us was looking forward to the trek home. Luckily, one of my guy friends from high school offered to walk us back. He claimed he wanted to make sure we got home safely, but he didn’t do much to help as I fell flat on my back in the middle of the sidewalk.

But it wasn’t until we got back to the dorm that the real trouble started.

During the move, my dad methodically set up my new loft bed so that my roommate and I would have more room in our absolutely tiny dorm room. I thought it was a great idea at the time….until I realized the difficulty in climbing into bed after a few (or far more than a few) cocktails.

Flash forward to my roommate pushing my butt up the ladder as I grabbed the frame of my bed to pull my drunk ass up. I didn’t know at the time, but the frame wasn’t secured to the loft, just heavy and set on top of it with the mattress on it. I somehow managed to dislodge it and the entire loft came crashing down on us. Instead of freaking out/calling for help/doing anything at all, my roommate simply got into her own bed as I tried, by myself, to push my loft back to a point where I could sleep on it.

Eventually I gave up, pulled my blankets onto the ground and made a nest for myself. The next morning, after waking up and reliving the entire evening via my roommate’s hazy memory, we got a few boys from the hall to help us put the loft back together. (Great ice breaker!) Then I spent the next few weeks working tirelessly to master the art of getting into that loft while drunk. It took some time and a few more late night spills, but I finally got the hang of it sometime near Thanksgiving.

Looking back, it’s hard to believe 1) that this all happened on my first night of college, 2) that I survived my night of college, and 3) that my roommate and I actually became best friends. But it did, I did and we did. And for that, I. love. college.

[A special thanks to our anonymous reader for submitting this hilarious and horrifying tale. Want more? Check out our other cringe-worthy Morning After stories.]

Needless to say though, I’ve noticed that it’s a bit easy to go stir crazy when outside is an arctic tundra. Which can be difficult to deal with when you’re trying to boost the good ole GPA after your mom almost had a stroke after seeing your first semester’s grades. . .

It’s tough being stuck inside. Here’s what happens: First, you are concentrating on conjugating your Spanish verbs. Next thing you know, you’re on Facebook and looking at people’s spring break plans. Then, you’re thinking about being in the sun looking hot in your cute ass bikini. Then, you realize that your bod isn’t quite in the shape that you want it to be in for bikini season. Then, that just sends you in a spiral of limp pathetic whatever-ness that ends with you watching Modern Family in bed and then eventually falling asleep until it’s dinner time. And then you just give up on your Spanish homework.

Oh wait, maybe that’s just me?

Regardless, this is a problem that needs to be addressed. Second semester should be a time for renewal; hibernation is for bears, not cool college girls.

I’ve found that exposure to natural sunlight really helps to perk me up. Waking up in the morning is such a drag—half of the time I just fall asleep again and then run to class sans eyeliner or mascara (and no one need to see that, trust). To conquer this problem, I picked a bed by the window and every day, I stare outside for five minutes to wake me up. Gwyneth Paltrow recommended to her GOOP readers that they buy “dawn simulation devices” to accomplish the same task, but let’s be honest—I don’t even have money to buy nail polish remover, I’m certainly not going to drop ca$h money on a freaking dawn simulation device when I have a window.

Also, according to a study by Johns Hopkins researchers, half an hour of natural sunlight helps to improve your hormonal balance and your sleep cycle. So bundle up your pretty little self and go outside to play a bit. Build a snowman, take an extra long walk to Starbucks, offer to run some errands for your roomie.

Even if it’s at night when there is no sunlight, go outside to frolic a bit. It’ll give you a much-needed break from your room/library/coffeehouse and you’ll still get some much needed exercise in, prepping your bod for spring break beach bumming.

Anything can get boring after too long—even if you want to sequester yourself in your room to get that A on your next transcript, you’ll get glassy-eyed and lose focus at some point. Perk yourself up with something other than hot chocolate! Bundle up, battle the elements and come back refreshed!