It’s the summer after you’ve graduated high school. You’ve finished your exams. You’ve finished the college application process. You have your diploma, you’ve taken the pictures in the cap and gown and you finally decided on a college. So now all you want to do is kick back and relax and enjoy an entire summer free of responsibility and full of hanging with your friends before you each go your separate ways to start some new adventures.
Believe me, I know exactly how you feel. I was there four short years ago. And because I’ve been there already I know what comes next. So I thought I’d give you a little advice. Because all those papers that came along with your acceptance letter, they weren’t there just to stuff the envelope. Starting college involves a lot more than checking off the box next to “I will attend.” So here are a few things to keep in mind.
1. Send in a picture for your id. Chances are you already have a form telling you how to do this. So send in the picture. And make it a good one. One you like. One you won’t regret four months later, or better yet, four years later, when you’re a senior using an id that looks nothing like you because you no longer have pink hair.
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I’d rather not redirect to another website, but in response to number one… I’ve never heard of that before. Usually colleges take your photo at an orientation session or some other sort of freshman gathering.
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Again another post not geared to commuters…..
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@PiNkLaCe8691@xanga - This. I got my photo taken and id at orientation. There wasn’t a “send in a photo” option.
orchid / 127 posts
She pretty much opened the first page of the most generic college packet ever. Then told us to buy clothes and find cool places to hang out. Where are the actual tips? Like, “Don’t under any circumstance do to a frat party your senior summer, you will be remembered and blacklisted.”
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oh. I thought this was going to be more of a bucket-list-summer-before-college post
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Don’t make yourself stick out by wearing your lanyard + id around your neck.
sunflower / 413 posts
Don’t bring a fucking rolling backpack. And if you choose to do this, do not act like a tractor trailer on the highway and bulldoze other students on the walkways. Plus it makes you look like a 4th grader.
rose / 853 posts
These are all obvious if you read the acceptance packet and actually know what college is. Follow directions? Buy a new outfit? Have fun? Duh…
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1. Skip all of the above and go to your university’s orientation, where every single one of these topics will probably be covered.
(minus the last few)
orchid / 203 posts
@feelslikejuly@xanga - my college everyone wears their id’s, it how they pay for their food and get into the student center/gym
sunflower / 350 posts
@PiNkLaCe8691@xanga - at my university we had to send pictures in! Thank God, because I got to use my senior portrait
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@sarah2013 - lucky! What university is this??/
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@lisajenelle@xanga - At Penn State, all freshmen stick out like sore thumbs for wearing their lanyard/id combo.
sunflower / 350 posts
@feelslikejuly@xanga - Fordham! In New York
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Most of these don’t apply for me since I’m just going to community college. Woo!
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An incoming freshman should have at LEAST $1,000 saved up to pay for books. The less money you have to take out as a loan the better and all college students should check to see if their school offers any free money that doesn’t have to be paid back. The less debt you’re in the better!
If you have loan or grant money left over after paying all your fees and dues, save it for next semister don’t go out and spend it on new clothes and the like unless you have to.
Some schools allow you to work up there and the money you make can go towards paying back your student loan (that option is on the FASFA so make sure you have it checked for next year).