Top 10 College Freshman Mistakes _ How to have a successful first year
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00:00 What's up you guys so today I thought I would start my back to school series
00:04 I know it's kind of early, but I plan on having like a lot of videos about like
00:09 Well college because I am a college student, but and just like advice to give you guys for back to school
00:15 So this is my first video that I'm going to do in this series, which is top 10 mistakes that freshmen make
00:21 I definitely made a lot of mistakes my freshman year and so did a lot of my friends and like you just like
00:27 see a lot of things that people are doing and I wanted to share that with you guys because I
00:31 definitely didn't watch any videos on that before I went to college and kind of
00:34 Wish that I had because it you know it would have been nice to know a lot of these things
00:39 Let's get into the first mistake, which is when kids try to major in everything
00:44 Like kids will literally come in trying to be there and they're like oh, yeah
00:48 I'm like an engineer pre-med with like this like random minor and
00:52 Like then they literally like at the end of their freshman year come out being none of those
00:56 Like it's best to just like no one judges you if you're just like I'm undecided like cuz then it's like, okay
01:01 You're just exploring
01:02 I would definitely recommend trying to explore like a lot of your interests or things that you at least think you like and
01:07 Schools have majors that like you haven't even heard of as well
01:11 Like I go to Duke and we don't have like that many majors
01:13 But we do have a program where you can make your own major
01:15 So if you like really have this obscure interest you can just like design that major yourself and then other schools
01:22 Will let you like they have like so many different majors like finance like
01:26 Advertising communications. These are all majors. We don't have a Duke, but I'm just saying lots of different majors
01:33 Mistake number two is taking all of the same type of classes in your like first semester
01:39 So this is a mistake that I definitely made I you know came out of high school being like, oh my gosh
01:44 Like finally I can only take science classes cuz like I love science. It's like the only subject I like really like and
01:50 Or so I thought I found like other interests obviously, but so my first semester of Duke
01:56 I took literally four science classes and
01:59 None like no classes that like satisfied like any like GE's really G's are just like general education credits
02:07 So I like really regret doing that because I could have gotten some like easy G's out of the way and now I'm like going
02:13 Into my senior year still doing some like G's that people can finish like their freshman year
02:18 So definitely try to take like a wide variety of classes to both help you
02:22 You know find some new interests and also just get some like credits out of the way
02:26 Mistake number three is not getting a job
02:30 So in college you're in class a lot less than high school because your classes will probably only meet like
02:36 Two times a week unless you're in science classes like me where you have like three hour labs
02:41 In addition to your like class time, which is a little much
02:44 But anyway, you'll definitely have more time than in high school like in high school
02:48 You're in class from like eight to like three every day in college
02:51 like you maybe have a class from like 10 to 11 30 and then maybe another one from like
02:56 Three to four thirty kind of thing and it's just a lot more like free time and breaks throughout the day
03:02 So if you just like found like a work-study job for like five hours a week ish like between your classes
03:08 And you're probably not doing work
03:09 Anyway, you can just that's just an easy way to make money when like you probably wouldn't be doing anything really productive
03:15 Anyway, mistake number four is spending all of your time in the library
03:20 Maybe this is just my school, but I know my freshman year
03:24 I definitely spent a little too much time in the library just because I like new college would be an adjustment and I wanted to
03:29 Like get all my all my work done and make sure it was all like really good
03:33 Which of course it's like important
03:34 But I definitely spent more time in the library than I needed to
03:38 Even I even do this like up to this year and I know it's bad
03:41 But I should really stop like I will like, you know
03:43 If I'm having a busy day or not even that busy of a day
03:46 I'll just like eat like grab food and eat in the library for lunch and like just really try to like
03:51 Eat with people like at your meals
03:53 it's just like just it's only 45 minutes or 30 to 45 minutes of your time and
03:58 It's just more like healthy for you to be like eating and engaging with other people than just sitting by yourself and eating while you're
04:04 Studying tip number five or mistake number five is not making plans
04:09 So in high school everyone has the same schedule, right?
04:12 Like you eat at home for breakfast and then you have lunch and everyone has lunch at the same time
04:16 But college everyone schedules like all over the place
04:19 So you actually need to like think about like what like who you're having lunch with and like who is the same breaks as you?
04:25 So I'd recommend
04:27 finding a friend that has like a similar like class schedule to you or similar break or maybe had the class before lunch with you and
04:33 Just like planning to like, you know
04:36 have those people to always like know who to contact for like if you want to get lunch with someone and
04:41 Definitely like planning out your dinners
04:43 Like I had a I definitely had a group chat with all my like freshman friends and we would
04:49 Always like coordinate when we were going to the dining hall so we could all eat together
04:52 No one was like stranded and anything
04:54 I think that's like really important because again, it's always better to eat with someone if that's your thing
05:01 Rather than to just like eat alone if you don't want to
05:04 Number six is going out too much. So I know freshman year. It's like oh my gosh
05:09 You have so much freedom like there are all these parties like some schools have parties literally every night at Duke
05:15 It's definitely more like like you can go out once you can go out Wednesday through Saturday
05:19 But I know some schools have like huge parties like Tuesday Monday Tuesday like all these times
05:24 So like I'm just like that seems like a lot but you definitely don't need to go out every single time
05:29 There's an event just to like have friends like I'm sure you have a friend who's not going out and who's like
05:35 Well, I get home and like doing nothing and you could have like a chill movie night or anything
05:41 Definitely don't feel like you always have to say yes to things like if you're having a busy week and you say like oh
05:46 I don't think I can make it to this party tonight
05:48 Like I don't think anyone's gonna be like mad at you like they maybe will try to convince you if your friends really want
05:52 You to go but I don't think it's like
05:54 It won't be the end of your life
05:56 So just say no sometimes and have some you time because my freshman year I had like zero time to myself
06:01 So number seven is not sleeping enough
06:05 I am just completely talking to myself on this one because I was so bad about this my freshman year
06:11 Between like going out a lot having more freedom and having like weird class times or like late class times
06:17 Let's say you have class until like 11 at 11 a.m
06:20 And you're like, oh, I don't really need to like go to bed early or anything
06:23 But then you end up missing out on like so much sleep and this will get you sick
06:28 Everyone calls it the freshman plague if you're going out too much and not getting enough sleep and not prioritizing your sleep
06:34 You are going to get sick
06:36 Like I was sick literally all my freshman year then I got mono then I had I was in the hospital during finals
06:41 It's all a great time
06:43 Please just don't repeat my mistakes and actually sleep and take care of your body mistake
06:48 Number eight is sharing drinks with people
06:50 Please don't do this everyone at parties like people will reuse cups for beer pong
06:55 Which is like gross if you think about it
06:57 like first of all
06:57 The beer pong ball has like or the ping-pong ball is like been on the floor goes in your cup
07:01 Then you drink out of it like think about how many like people stepped on the floor
07:04 Oh frat party floors are like so gross and then like think about how many other people like drink out of those cups
07:10 If your friends like I'll have a sip of my drink just like don't do this
07:14 This is literally how I got mono and was out of classes for three weeks. So just don't share drinks
07:20 No one's gonna be like like what's wrong with you?
07:22 If you're like, oh, I just like don't like sharing drinks like or be like, oh, I'm not feeling well
07:26 like I don't think you want to share a drink with me, please do yourself this favor and
07:30 just
07:32 Number nine is going home too much
07:34 so this definitely isn't a thing so much at my school because I go to a
07:37 Private school with like people from all over the country and like most people don't live close by
07:42 But I know what a lot of state schools people go home like every single weekend
07:46 And just like think about how much like you're missing out on if you like go home every single weekend
07:51 especially like you're like
07:52 It's freshman year like you're making a lot of friends if you're like you have these friends and you're constantly gone whenever they're like doing
07:59 Fun things and making memories I guarantee you're gonna regret that later on
08:02 So my friends who now that it's like junior senior year like they go home a little more because they're like, you know
08:08 I miss my family finally been in college for like three four years
08:10 So that's like a little more acceptable and you already have your friends
08:15 But freshman year you definitely should focus on
08:17 You know like making friends and making sure that you have like a solid friend group if that's what you want
08:22 of course
08:23 but it just like it just makes college a lot easier to have like a group of like people to support you and like always
08:27 Be there for you tip number 10 is taking on too much. No one expects you to do everything
08:32 Like I think this is also definitely like a Duke thing, but people just try to take on way too much
08:37 They try to have like multiple research jobs
08:40 So many like classes like three lab classes and like work in two different labs and on this project and volunteer these days and all this
08:47 Stuff I'd say like a great balance of things to do is, you know
08:51 First of all have your friends and make sure you're always like, you know
08:55 Trying to see them because no one likes a flake. So always try to make an effort to see your friends and
09:01 Definitely try to get involved in like an extracurricular group
09:05 I joined my school's dance team and I made like some of my best friends in the whole world on that team and I like
09:10 And I know so many other people have joined groups like that. It made really good friends and
09:15 Get a job just like like when I say I get a job. It really doesn't even need to be that long
09:21 It's just kind of nice to have some like money coming in on the side and like and it looks great on your resume
09:26 like if you're looking for things to add to your resume people want to see that you've worked and that you've like done stuff and
09:32 Then I like occasionally I volunteer like I did like I volunteered like six times this year
09:38 for like an hour each but like it's still like it's like making a difference and
09:43 It's just good to like give your time and do things and that also looks great on a resume
09:47 But you don't need to do like 50 million things
09:50 So those are all my tips or all my mistakes that you should definitely try to avoid
09:55 If you guys have any more questions on this
09:58 Please feel free to let me know in the comments below if you like these college related videos
10:02 I'm definitely going to be doing a lot more as
10:04 School is going to start up again soon
10:07 if you have any requests of
10:10 College advice videos or any college videos, please. Let me know in the comments below as always
10:15 I love to see you like requests from you guys
10:18 So yeah, if you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe to me. And yeah, I'll see you guys next time. Bye
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