In a couple of days, I will be leaving for college for the first time. No big deal, right?

Try telling that to my wobbly knees and trembling hands.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m totally excited about going to college. But, at the same time, I’m nervous as hell. My type A personality is rearing its ugly head in the form of innumerable “what ifs” and “holy sh*ts.” While most of my friends have been counting down the days with New Year’s Eve-esque anticipation, I’ve put a 24-hour ban on talking about college in my house and can hardly look at my suitcase without having a mini-freak out.

For me, it’s a combination of doubts, fears, and just plain nostalgia. Going to college is a huge deal for me, perhaps more so than it is for many of my peers. It’s my first time being away from home for longer than a five week stretch, and since I’m generally a homebody and have a very close relationship with my family, the idea of going from seeing them every day to seeing them once every few weeks is hard to deal with. Plus, I have the general anxieties that I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling: coping with the workload and stress, making new friends, living on my own.

That being said, I’m also very excited for the new opportunities ahead of me. I know that, once I get settled in, I’ll find my niche and have the best four years of my life. It may take a couple of weeks, but I’ll find my place eventually.

Do you current college students and grads have any advice for an anxious prefrosh?

[The following post was written by the smart, savvy and totally rad ladies over at SomeoneSpoilMe.com]

August is here and it’s time to gear up for back-to-school.  In preparation, we, the gift experts at SomeoneSpoilMe.com, have compiled our list of the Top 7 Products Every College Student Must Own. This includes the latest gadgets for dorm rooms, cool devices to take to class and sentimental items to make home seem not so far away.

Video Camera Pen
Yes, we are serious.  This James Bond-like device can record up to two and a half hours of footage! While it may look like a ballpoint pen (it is), it has a built in video camera that records video and audio. It’s great when attending lectures.  If you need a bathroom break, leave behind the Video Camera Pen to record what you have missed!
Read more… $130 Read More »

The times, as Bob Dylan says, they are a-changin’ for those of us counting down the days until obligatory public schooling ends.

While change has been the topic on everyone’s mind since second semester senioritis kicked in, it didn’t quite hit me until last Friday, the official college decision day, on which my classmates proudly wore t-shirts to school bearing their college’s name to celebrate this momentous milestone. Some called it tactless, others called it pointless, but I saw it as truly emblematic of the change we are all about to go through. Especially since just a day earlier, we had received our caps and gowns for graduation while the rest of the school elected next year’s student government. Talk about symbolism!

The more I’ve thought about it, the more interested I’ve become in what this seemingly insignificant ritual truly means. No longer are we going to identify ourselves as high school seniors, students that attend X High School or live in X town. Starting in the fall (or even sooner for those who can’t wait to get the hell out of Dodge), we will refer to ourselves as freshmen at Y College or Z University. This transition is almost like a change in our identities as we move on to the next phase of life, discovering our passions and skills and setting the groundwork for future careers. Read More »

As the congratulation confetti poured out of my acceptance letter (yes! I actually received confetti as a part of my acceptance letter), I knew the decision in applying at a small all-women’s liberal arts university completed my college application process.

Packing up the car for a short weekend, I fell absolutely in love with everything from the rolling mountains surrounding the university, the slew of handcrafted rocking chairs on the porches, all the way to the historical landmarked buildings. Every college student has that moment when they know that this is their school – and walking across the front quadrangle, I knew I found a place to start my college journey.

Little did I know, signing the paperwork and sending a $400 deposit for my enrollment to be a student in the 2010 class was my way of making a deal with the devil.

Since being in college, I have been through hell and back, and then some. The façade of a well polished community really seemed too good to be true, but once the parents left and the magical fairy dust of being a brand-spankin’ new college student wore off and our student IDs lost their luster, so did the support and cooperation of the administration, the ideals of “sisterhood” as a unique kinship that unites community (the word ‘sisterhood’ plays a major marketing role for all-women’s colleges across the nation and sororities), the spirit of traditions, and the premise that college is actually about learning subjects in a manner of breadth and depth. Read More »

The first week of college is summer camp. The second is back to reality. When I arrived on campus a little over a week ago, I never imagined going from name-games to essays in a blink.

My college has a week of orientation, so it never really felt like school until I walked into Geology on Tuesday morning. Before that, I had been watching movies with other freshmen, exploring—well, really getting lost in—the campus, and trying every imaginable ice cream combination at the dining halls.

From the moment I walked into my class, I realized I can’t just watch movies and eat ice cream for the next four years. Buying textbooks before the class was its own problem—really, if a book is used, shouldn’t it be dirt cheap, not just a fraction less expensive than the new version?—but being in a room filled with strangers, most not naïve first years like me, was unnerving.

In high school, the first day was one of my favorites. Sure, I hated knowing I had a year of work ahead of me, but I loved seeing old friends, catching up on summer gossip. Here, I sat down and immediately started taking notes. What part of this lecture was important enough to write down? Who was the person sitting next to me? Was I allowed to raise my hand to ask a question? Read More »

To put it plainly, my first college roommate was a megabitch. Sharon* (named changed to protect the dreadful) and I never spoke. Our room was silent and filled with angst. I would try to start conversations on topics I knew she enjoyed (dance, The Bachelor, being the biggest jerk ever) but she would usually respond with one word answers or with exaggerated sighs.

The worst part? Sharon was super fun and nice with every other person on our floor but for some reason couldn’t stand me.

I made myself scarce and tried not to be in the room when she was. I hid out in the dorm lounge and the cafeteria. Meanwhile, Sharon did the opposite and made my life a living hell.

The final straw came the night she came home drunk at 2 AM before my first big test. She shushed her gentleman friend loudly as they stumbled into our room, then she dragged the poor shlub up onto the top bunk of our bed for what had to be the most awkward dorm sex ever. I told myself that night that I would try to find a new roommate. Sharon must have heard my prayers because a few weeks later she asked ME to move out so she could live with her best friend. I didn’t even feel like arguing or complaining. I just said sure and amazingly enough moved into the open room right across the hall.

Since then, I’ve had some great and not so great living situations, but none of them taught me as much as my first semester at college. Here are a few tips for those of you taking the plunge into dorm life. Read More »

So you enter your freshman year of college a confident single gal (or guy) ready to take on your new independent lifestyle and hopefully meet some hotties. The first week of college you meet someone who you happen to really hit it off with. A few weeks later, you’re still talking to this special someone and you start to wonder where this is all going.

But is it really a good idea to start dating someone you’ve only known for two weeks into your freshman year?

In my experience, no.

Freshman year is all about new experiences, whether it be living with someone you don’t know or having to do your laundry for the first time. While the idea of meeting a new boyfriend or girlfriend is exciting, the first semester of college might not be the best time to start thinking of a long term relationship.

I met a guy during the summer at one of my school’s orientations and I continued to talk to him once we met up in the fall. We started hooking up almost immediately after classes began and I wondered if he was feeling as strongly as I was about him. I soon realized, as he hooked up with multiple other girls, that there really were no feelings involved on his part. He announced that it was no big deal since he and I weren’t officially anything and he didn’t want anything serious his first year. I was hurt because I had read too much into the situation. Even more, though, I was angry at myself because I could have spent the time getting to know other people (or studying) instead of hanging out with him. Read More »

With everyone heading back to school (yay!), there are so many things going through everyone’s minds. “Will that guy from last year still want to hang out?” “Am I going to survive living in an off campus apartment?” “What the hell do I do about choosing my major?”

And for incoming freshmen…it is only worse. They are entering a scary new world. They will once again be the babies. They are going to experience their first Welcome Week, their first oversized lecture, their first time being sexiled by a wild roommate.

We at CollegeCandy feel it is our duty to steer those college newbies in the right direction; it would be unfair for us to let them make mistakes (and take the same awful photos…) and miss out on great opportunities. After all, college only happens once, so we want to ensure everyone does it right.

This week, we asked our writers to share some advice with the lucky ladies who are still in school and the even luckier ones who are just beginning. We have learned a lot from our time in college, so listen up and heed our advice….

If I knew then what I know now:

Kelly – UMass: I would not have spent my entire 4 years in a relationship. I would have not trusted every single person I met. I would have taken some yoga and art classes and I would have definitely brought some more Lysol.

K – NYU: I’d have gone to office hours. For everything. Even if you hate freshman year calc and your professor says things like “There are going to be lots of flunks on this exam” and routinely asks if he is speaking English, my GPA would’ve been much more promising.

Sara – NYU: I would be less pretentious. I’m almost 24 now, and, looking back to when I was in undergrad, I can’t believe how seriously I took myself. God, loosen up!! Read More »