Someone said stay at home as long as possible. I suggest exactly the opposite. I spent my first year at home and then 3 year flatting. You grow and develop so much more when you've moved out and you have to do everything for yourself and pay all your own bills and you meet so many more people. Uni is a growing and learning experience and this should be embraced.
Also attend other peoples classes. It is a very refreshing experience to go and learn about something without worried about being tested afterwards and you'll learn all kinds of crazy knowledge that is useful later. It good.

Hmm college advice... Here's my advice, even if I didn't quite follow all of it myself my first year.

1. Get involved with something. Fencing club, anime club, video game club, storm chaser club... Find a club or something to join. If your campus is anything like mine, there's a million clubs to choose from, and they're usually pretty good about flexibility because of classes and homework. It helps you meet people and find your niche so that you're not just hanging out in your room all day. Even if you go to the club a couple times, it can just be enough to meet someone. Note: Swing dancing clubs (or other dancing clubs where you are forced to be paired up with a partner) are a pretty good way to meet someone of the opposite gender.
2. Get to know your professors. And don't be afraid to ask for help ever (especially in your major classes). College professors are usually 100x better than high school ones, and generally easy to talk to and reason with if you need help or an extension with something.
3. Think of college as your job. A very good advice that we got was to get your homework/studying done, and get it done early. If you spend that hour between classes on an assignment, or reviewing the chapter (rather than dinking around, wasting time until your next class), that's an hour you don't have to spend later, when you would rather be doing more fun things.
4. Find a good study place. I personally had a hard time studying in my room, because my computer was there, my roommate was there, and many many other things to distract me. I found I studied best if I found a place to sit somewhere other than my room. Under a tree, in the lounge, sitting on the floor in one of the buildings, etc. I always got my work done faster and better when I was there rather to somewhere where I was distracted.
5. Study. Just doing your homework usually doesn't quite cover it. Many times they won't cover things in class that you need to know that are in your book, so read it. Even if you don't have new material to read in the book, you should read up on what you're going to be learning the next day. I found that it helped a lot with my comprehension once I got to class if I quickly looked at what we were going to be learning beforehand. And your probably going to have a class or two where a couple of tests decides your entire grade. You can't afford to be under prepared.
6. Don't be afraid to get help. This is my biggest problem, since I guess I've got some pride issues with going to get a tutor, but anyway. As far as my campus goes, we have free tutoring for any subject and a writing center where you can take your papers to get graded before you get it really graded (so you can make proper revisions) among many other things to help you, so if your campus has something, be sure to use it, especially if it's free. There's no reason not to get help if you're struggling in something, especially in college.
7. Don't be a weekend warrior. (other people may not agree with me on this one but..) If you're living on campus, don't go back home every weekend. It makes it harder to adjust to campus life and just makes you more homesick than if you were just to stay until breaks or when you might NEED to go home.
8. Don't skip class. Another one that's been said before, but just don't skip class. It is the stupidest thing you can do to yourself. Even if it's one of those bad classes, that feels like you don't get anything from the class. Just don't do it. The only reason good enough to skip is to be sick, and even then try and make it in. You generally get most of your information from class, information that you NEED. Also, you're paying for this education, get what you paid for. You're just ripping yourself off by skipping.
9. Find a good friend. I know this sounds kind of silly, but it's important to find a good friend. Meaning, one who will listen when you just need to rant about anything, but not just that, find a friend who will push you to be your best. Who will encourage you to do your homework, who isn't afraid to confront you if you're doing something you know you shouldn't. There will be rough times and I think it's important to have a friend who really knows you and is looking out for you. (yaay cheese)


So yeah, I hope my advice was useful. Good luck with your first year.

The big lesson I learned at uni was moderation. First year I was too gung ho with the parties, socialising too much in the classes and WAAAY too much time at the campus pub. Make sure to put study first.

The other trick I've found is to get yourself to think of the universtity as a place where you work. Relax off campus(or at your dorm if you're there, but make sure to study somewhere else as CJ said), for example I no longer go tot he uni pub to drink, I use the one nearby offcampus. When I eat there I make sure to study too. Otherwise just chill, it's a thousand times better than High School, the work, people, surrounds and activities are all far more interesting and less annoying.

Most of you already beat me to the advice I was going to offer: ask questions, be friendly to others, talk to your professors, buy used books, but I still got a few tips for any future collegiates.

1: Get used to the smell of cigarette smoke. A lot of people in college light up. A. LOT. Of people.

2: Don't take too many classes at once. I think that's common sense, but you don't wanna take a ton of classes at once.

3: Don't assume the worst out of anyone you meet. College students actually care about getting an education, believe it or not. They also tend to be much nicer than grade school students. Also, don't be surprised if your fellow students volunteer to help you out on your assignments between classes. "Oh my god! People actually care about someone other than themselves!" I know. Threw me off at first too, but I came to appreciate it.

Oh, also, I need to comment on this:

That's a myth. Most women at college aren't even the slightest bit attractive. In fact, it was like that in grade school too. In fact, it's like that everywhere. But, there is one thing I've noticed: college girls dress a lot nicer than high school girls. Unless . . . you prefer women to dress like whores. If that's the case, prepare to be disappointed.

Lastly, concerning reinvention . . . that's for you to do. I can't offer advice as to how to reinvent oneself through a college education. I can, however, tell you that I've been reinvented through my thus far one year of college. Before I enrolled, I was a bitter, cynical misanthrope who did not trust almost anyone and automatically assumed the worst out of complete strangers. A few months of college, and then I became a hopeful, semi-pleasant scholarly-type person, who, although somewhat still cynical about a few things, now sees the bright and beautiful sides of life whenever possible, and nowadays doesn't assume the worst out of complete strangers. And I'm still like that now. Weird, huh? If that's what you mean by reinvention, then yeah, college might be for you.

Even though I'm not the topic creator, I want to thank you guys for all your help, seeing that I too am going to college in two months.

Now, I know this may be a bit like a stupid question, but what do you think one should have his mentality like the first day of classes? For some reason, I cannot help but be worried about how I'm going to handle all the pressure of being a full time student.

Be open minded. Some professors are great, and others are total pains in the butt. You'll run across a few I have a Ph.D. so I'm better than you types and you'll run into some that are absolute masters of their field and are learning from the college experience as much as you are. I've had some professors tell me that each time they teach a class, they learn something new, and they've been teaching it for five years.

Be Relaxed. It's one of the biggest things people in America forget to do. Go look up how your parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems work to get an idea of why it's not a good idea to be stressed all the time. Learn ways to relax yourself. Meditation and self-directed breathing work well for me, but find what works for you. Do this often.

Try to learn how to write papers. I'm a fiction novelist (unpublished) with close to a million words written, but I can't write a paper to save my life. Well, that may be saying it a little too strongly. I've written many good papers, but each one was hard and frustrating and left me drained because the words weren't mine. I guess the best advice I can give here is learn how to research a subject thoroughly and don't use quotes unless you have to, paraphrase instead (but still cite).

Find the time to read something other than a textbook. Even if it's just a couple pages between classes, I'm never without a book to read. Look for something that has nothing to do with the subject matter you're studying. The slight distraction will refresh your mental capacity and you tend not to bore on the material as quickly.

Most importantly, don't be afraid to succeed or be great at what you choose to do. See my sig for an idea of what I'm talking about.

Hope that helped.

Thanks for the advice. One more question: I heard that there's not as much of a problem with cliques in college, is this true or just a myth people say to make freshmen optimistic?

It is indeed true. Based on my observations, (read: my college campus) cliques are non-existent on colleges. I know; so awesome. No cliques of jocks, no cliques of goths, no cliques of anime whoring assholes, no cliques of mean girls with tiny cell phones and blonde streaks and fake tans, and, to take a page from George Carlin, there are no all-male, "Let's go get some pussy and beat the shit outta queers." cliques. It's heavenly bliss, I tell you.



Though, to be honest, I never had any problems with the jock cliques and the goth cliques back in high school . . .

For what it's worth: when I was a freshman, during the very first class of every course I took, I took detailed notes on my professors. I wrote down what they lectured on of course, but more importantly the details on them. What someone wears, how they hold themselves, their mannerisms and methods of speech, they all give you hints as to who this person is. My goal was to get to know these people as best as I possibly could. I wanted to know how they THINK so that I could think like them. I talked to them after classes frequently, gave them a reason to learn my face and my name. It's not necessarily WHAT you know, but WHO you know. I have become very cozy with my professors, which will come in very handy when I need recommendations for grad school. Simple as that.

Well, I just finished my first three years, and I've been living on campus the whole time. Here's what I've learned about it, there are probably going to be some repeats.

Treat people with respect until they lose it, even then don't be an ass to them unless they really deserve it. You're going to meet lots of people with different opinions in college, and in life, this is where you really learn about how to deal with that.

Be confident and comfortable with who you are. As you start to have so much more freedom with your life you're going to have lots of different opportunities at everything from classes to jobs to sex to drugs and alcohol. If you don't think you should do them, don't. For instance: I was raised a Christian, so I don't do any illegal drugs...for the most part, I did drink underage. Like wise, I'm celibate. The key is in the next point.

Try not to judge people you don't know because of their choices. There are some great people that don't live the most moral lives compared to how..say I was raised. If you turn them away right off the bat you'll never get to know them, and you'll miss out.

Those can all be summed up in "Don't be an Ass"

Now also important. Make a budget. Try to track how much you spend per month on things like rent and food. If you have quarter or semester expenses track them that way. These can range from car payments to insurance to tuition and the like. Once you've got this done you'll know how much you need to make at a job and how many hours you'll have to work every week, just don't forget about taxes. This can be done really easily in excel if you just use the formula functions.

Keep a balance between fun and school. If you only ever work and do school, you'll burn out. If you only have fun, you'll fail out. Part of college is learning that balance of work and play that you'll use for the rest of your life.

I think that's all the important stuff I can really say for starting off college. Living at home is a good way to stay out of debt, but moving out really helps you to grow and become independent.

Oh, learning to cook and clean and keep good hygiene is really important to keep up too.