50 things to keep in mind as you navigate through college

1. Your friends will change a lot over the next four years. Let them. 2. Call someone you love back home a few times a week, even if just for a few minutes. 3. In college more than ever before, songs will attach themselves to memories. Every month or two, make a mix cd, mp3 folder, whatever - just make sure you keep copies of these songs. Ten years out, theyll be as effective as a journal in taking you back to your favorite moments. 4. Take naps in the middle of the afternoon with reckless abandon. 5. Adjust your schedule around when you are most productive and creative. If youre nocturnal and do your best work late at night, embrace that. It may be the only time in your life when you can. 6. If you write your best papers the night before they are due, dont let people tell you that you should be more organized or that you should plan better. Different things work for different people. Personally, I worked best under pressure - so I always procrastinated and always kicked ass (which annoyed my friends to no end). ;-) Use the freedom that comes with not having grades first semester to experiment and see what works best for you. 7. At least a few times in your college career, do something fun and irresponsible when you should be studying. The night before my freshman year psych final, my roommate somehow scored front row seats to the Indigo Girls at a venue 2 hours away. I didnt do so well on the final, but I havent thought about psych since 1993. Ive thought about the experience of going to that show (with the guy who is now my sons godfather) at least once a month ever since. 8. Become friends with your favorite professors. Recognize that they can learn from you too - in fact, thats part of the reason they chose to be professors. 9. Carve out an hour every single day to be alone. (Sleeping doesnt count.) 10. Go on dates. Dont feel like every date has to turn into a relationship. 11. Dont date someone your roommate has been in a relationship with. 12. When your friends parents visit, include them. Youll get free food, etc., and youll help them to feel like theyre cool, hangin with the hip college kids. 13. In the first month of college, send a hand-written letter to someone who made college possible for you and describe your adventures thus far. It will mean a lot to him/her now, and it will mean a lot to you in ten years when he/she shows it to you. 14. Embrace the differences between you and your classmates. Always be asking yourself, what can I learn from this person? More of your education will come from this than from any classroom. 15. All-nighters are entirely overrated. 16. For those of you who have come to college in a long-distance relationship with someone from high school: despite what many will tell you, it can work. The key is to not let your relationship interfere with your college experience. If you dont want to date anyone else, thats totally fine! Whats not fine, however, is missing out on a lot of defining experiences because youre on the phone with your boyfriend/girlfriend for three hours every day. 17. Working things out between friends is best done in person, not over email. (IM does not count as in person.) Often someones facial expressions will tell you more than his/her words. 18. Take risks. 19. Dont be afraid of (or excited by) the co-ed bathrooms. The thrill is over in about 2 seconds. 20. Wednesday is the middle of the week; therefore on wednesday night the week is more than half over. You should celebrate accordingly. (It makes thursday and friday a lot more fun.) 21. Welcome failure into your lives. Its how we grow. What matters is not that you failed, but that you recovered. 22. Take some classes that have nothing to do with your major(s), purely for the fun of it. 23. Its important to think about the future, but its more important to be present in the now. You wont get the most out of college if you think of it as a stepping stone. 24. When youre living on a college campus with 400 things going on every second of every day, watching TV is pretty much a waste of your time and a waste of your parents money. If youre going to watch, watch with friends so at least you can call it a valuable social experience. 25. Dont be afraid to fall in love. When it happens, dont take it for granted. Celebrate it, but dont let it define your college experience. 26. Much of the time you once had for pleasure reading is going to disappear. Keep a list of the books you would have read had you had the time, so that you can start reading them when you graduate. 27. Things that seem like the end of the world really dobecome funny with a little time and distance. Knowing this, forget the embarassment and skip to the good part. 28. Every once in awhile, there will come an especially powerful moment when you can actually feel that an experience has changed who you are. Embrace these, even if they are painful.

29. No matter what your political or religious beliefs, be open-minded. Youre going to be challenged over the next four years in ways you cant imagine, across all fronts. You cant learn if youre closed off. 30. If you need to get a job, find something that you actually enjoy. Just because its work doesnt mean it has to suck. 31. Dont always lead. Its good to follow sometimes. 32. Take a lot of pictures. One of my major regrets in life is that I didnt take more pictures in college. My excuse was the cost of film and processing. Digital cameras are cheap and you have plenty of hard drive space, so you have no excuse. 33. Your health and safety are more important than anything. 34. Ask for help. Often. 35. Half of you will be in the bottom half of your class at any given moment. Way more than half of you will be in the bottom half of your class at some point in the next four years. Get used to it. 36. In ten years very few of you will look as good as you do right now, so secretly revel in how hot you are before its too late. 37. In the long run, where you go to college doesnt matter as much as what you do with the opportunities youre given there. The MIT name on your resume wont mean much if thats the onlything on your resume. As a student here, you will have access to a variety of unique opportunities that no one else will ever have - dont waste them. 38. On the flip side, dont try to do everything. Balance = well-being. 39. Make perspective a priority. If youre too close to something to have good perspective, rely on your friends to help you. 40. Eat badly sometimes. Its the last time in your life when you can do this without feeling guilty about it. 41. Make a complete ass of yourself at least once, preferably more. It builds character. 42. Wash your sheets more than once a year. Trust me on this one. 43. If you are in a relationship and none of your friends want to hang out with you and your significant other, pay attention. They usually know better than you do. 44. Dont be afraid of the weird pizza topping combinations that your new friend from across the country loves. Some of the truly awful ones actually taste pretty good. Expand your horizons. 45. Explore the campus thoroughly. Dont get caught. 46. Life is too short to stick with a course of study that youre no longer excited about. Switch, even if it complicates things. 47. Tattoos are permanent. Be very certain. 48. Dont make fun of prefrosh. That was you like 2 hours ago. 49. Enjoy every second of the next four years. It is impossible to describe how quickly they pass. 50. This is the only time in your lives when your onlyreal responsibility is to learn. Try to remember how lucky you are every day.