It’s repeated in every class, shouted from every angry parent, and tastefully written in every college brochure, everyone and their mother could tell you, College is nothing like high school.
By Kayln Reyer
Sure, the English teachers might have the same pep in their step when they talk about The Great Gatsby but the workload could easily be all four years of high school put together. As if the shift isn’t big enough there’s a few more things I’m almost sure you forgot; you’re but a few short years from being thrown into the real world and the biggest changes are already expected to start happening. The academic perspective isn’t the only transition you’re going to be expected to make; your daily life in general is going to un-supervised and require outside-of-school knowledge. Knowing this, here are a few life things you should probably know how to do before college:
- Wake up on command– Surprise! Mom and Dad are no longer there to double check and regardless of what teen movies have shown you, your roommate is not your parent.
- Properly use a busing system– Most colleges have a required time period of living on campus and as freshman you get the bottom of the barrel. No parking pass for you! Get very familiar with your local busing system.
- Leave a good tip– Chances are, at some point you’re going to have a temp job before you put your degree to use and it could very well be something that involves the majority of your pay being based off of tips. 20% is usually the standard amount to leave for a tip.
- Address an envelope– Even though snail mail is going out of style it’s still a good skill to have.
- Write/update a resume– This one’s a given but just in case you haven’t put thought into it, start building a resume.
- Make a living budget– Getting an idea of how much you spend, how much you make, and how much you want to save can only help you as you progress in the adult world.
- Wash/dry clothes– Again, Mom and Dad are running for the hills. Unless you can afford to go until holidays (gross) you better learn a few things about cleaning your clothes.
- Keep up long distance friendships– In school you see mostly the same people every year but that is sure to change. College is demanding and with less time and possibly more distance, you’re going to have to make special time to keep relationships.
- Write a check– Believe it or not, as you get older paying for something over $30 in all change is kind of frowned upon Get a checkbook. Not the Mocking Jay ones either you Hunger Games fanatics.