Leaving for college tomorrow! Got any advice?

[Fauxtrot]

This is it. This is the last time I'll be seeing my home as it is now, with my relatives as they are now, and my town as it has always been. I'm leaving my home in two hours to stay with other relatives for the night, and then we ride for Los Angeles. It feels so strange consolidating everything I own into just a few boxes. This is truly the beginning of the rest of my life, and I feel very uncomfortable about it. I'm probably going to break down in tears on the ride there, but that's alright, because I've been wanting to since this morning.

I'm going to college, actually. It's not a total leap into the abyss, but it is the beginning of it. I have thousands of dollars to worry about now, and a checking account, a wardrobe and my own life to manage. I am very, very hesitant, but there's no going back at this point.

Would any of you older furs be willing to share your tips and lessons in life for me and anyone else who is going through the same thing? I/we would very much appreciate the advice.

[HagenK]

Dont worry that much

[Aldebar]

I can't say much about leaving home since I didn't go too far and regularly came home on the weekends, but my best advice for you would be to develop good study habits and do your best to attend every session of every one of your classes. I thought I could skip a class here and there and just catch up through textbook reading and whatnot, but that was a very stupid thing to do on my part and just attending the lectures and paying attention helps immensely. If you at least do all of your coursework then it won't be as challenging as it might seem.

When I was fresh out of high school I pretty much did everything wrong and had a terrible time and only lasted about three semesters at a massive state university, but I'd attribute that mostly to some mental health issues I wasn't aware I had at the time, as well as a lack of general maturity, and I think my own mistakes are easy to avoid. For the record I'm doing much better with myself now, but being overwhelmed and not taking the initiative to do anything about it was not a fun time. A lot of schools also offer workshops and whatnot about things like time management, budgeting, dealing with stress, finding a job, etc. that you might consider attending if you're in need of information. At the school I attended, students were constantly urged to get involved in clubs and other sorts of extracurricular enrichment and while I, in all my dunderheadedness at the time, never did anything of the sort, I think it's a good thing to consider when it comes to adjusting and making friends.

A lot of your fellow students will be in the exact same position you are, so remember you're not alone in having to deal with these things for the first time.

[Halei-Helai]

People have probably already told you this, but you cannot treat college like high school. Yeah, you might only be taking four classes, but they are much more intense than those from high school.

For every hour in class you should be spending one to three hours studying and reviewing. Seriously.

Go to every class, even with the flu, even with two hours of sleep.

Do every assignment, read every reading assignment, burn through highlighters, and work your butt off.

The top three tips are extremely important. If you fall behind in college it can be really hard to catch back up. Take it from somebody currently going for their second Bachelor's.

And study something that you really love, not something that seems like it will treat you well that you have no passion for. Take it from somebody currently going for their second Bachelor's.

[anoni]

My advice? Meet friends!

College is all about motivation and people who don't have friends in college aren't motivated, they don't do the work, have a terrible time and drop out.

College is not like highschool, it's much better, you'll meet like-minded people with similar interests to you, you probably will even meet some furries, so reach and out make friends! Don't be shy and not say hi to the person sitting next to you, in fact probably do that EVERY LESSON for the first three weeks and try to sit next to different people, meeting people is expected in the first few weeks of college, but after that it's not as expected so there's more pressure in saying hi. Just try to meet as many people as you can and make as many friends as you can, that's my advice.

[White Wolf Guardian]

^ I would take this advice with a grain of salt.

You should work on building contacts in college that can potentially assist you in finding work after you leave school, which will typically be older students, faculty members, or maybe even talent seekers that visit your school campus. Avoid the frats, they do absolutely nothing for your career that you are going into debt for hopes of attaining someday. School is meant to be a job before the real job and employers will respect that perspective more than the applicant who spent most of their time not focusing on the work at hand.

I do say however you should participate in some sort of community event, or better yet organize your own events. The more you do yourself, the better it looks on the resume and that internship that could be your's. Los Angeles is perhaps the most knife-edge of all job markets, you better be the best, or you are dead last. You are after all, taking on a debt that you will have to pay for perhaps the next 10 years on top of trying to get by daily.


Get in, get out, and move on with life. Wearing rose colored glasses will not get you anywhere in the competitive world.