6 Tips to a Successful Freshman Year

We are almost done with our first week of classes here at Maranatha. What a week it has been! We have enjoyed special revival services with Mike and Mark Herbster, we have welcomed our freshman with copious amounts of syllabi, and we have seen campus get back to “normal” for the school year.

Many freshman students probably are exiting this week thinking “what have I gotten myself into?” College comes at you quick, fast, and in a hurry sometimes if you were honest with yourself. Don’t worry, freshman, we’ve got your back with 6 tips to facing this year and making it the best of your educational career.

Ask lots of questions

This is the first tip because it is the simplest tip to do, yet most people are afraid to do it. Every person at college has been where the freshman currently are. You are new. You aren’t going to know everything about college, dorm life, or the surrounding area. So don’t wander around college like a middle-aged man who won’t ask for directions and just ask!

There are four types of people that would be a benefit to ask constant questions to:

Advisors – If you can’t tell by their name, these people’s jobs mainly consist of answering questions. Not just from a freshman, but from everyone. When it comes to academic questions, go to your advisors!
Teachers – You see these people every day, yet some people think teachers are “off limits” when it comes to questions. Teachers at MBU teach so they can invest in your life. If you have any questions about a class, go to a teacher and ask away. Even if the question is not about a class, I’m sure teachers are more than willing to help in any way.
Staff – There are positions on positions at MBU to help you with specific situations: financial aid office, business office, admissions office, registrar’s office, student life office and so on. If you have a specific question about anything, these offices probably will be your fastest way to an answer.
Upper Classman and Dorm Leadership– this one might be the hardest for some freshman to get comfortable with, but hopefully, these people are making themselves the easiest to talk to. Hopefully, upperclassmen have already reached out to you offering help. Dorm leadership for sure has already reached out in some way or another. Some upperclassman can come across as intimidating, but they have all been where you are now. Make friends with upperclassmen and you will be glad you did. There are many older students who would love to help you but just might not know who you are yet. Go. Up. And. Ask. Questions.

So I think you get the idea. Sometimes we walk around frustrated that we don’t know what is going on, but we don’t ever ask anyone questions to help us find out. Fix that about yourself this semester and this will be a great year!

Make goals for this semester

This one might seem needless to some people, but hear me out. Making good goals is important for living a productive and purposeful life. So much so, that we will be writing a separate article on how to make goals during your time at school in the coming weeks.

Moral of the story with goals: It sets the tone for your semester. Without any goals, you set a “low-achiever” tone to your semester already. Set yourself some goals, and start working toward them.

Know when to say “no” and know when to say “yes”

Students at MBU are given the opportunity to be involved in many things at once. Here are four quick rules to follow regarding this idea:

Set your priorities – know what you want to prioritize this semester. Figure out the opportunities you have and then prioritize them. This way you know for sure how much time you have to spend on different things. This might mean some things you want to do you are not able to. Know your priorities.
Get involved – once you know what your priorities are, get after it! Spend the time. Do your absolute best at those things you have prioritized.
Get some sleep – I know crazy, right? This is so important. It commonly joked about that college students don’t get any sleep. While that might be common, it shouldn’t be. Prioritizing your time should be so you CAN get sleep. Take care of your body.
Take one thing at a time – There was a semester that I had an activity of some sort (class, soccer practice, play practice, etc.) planned from 7:15 in the morning to 10:30 at night. While I loved that semester, I wouldn’t suggest it for everyone. The key to that semester was just taking one thing at a time. If you think about everything at once you will be overwhelmed. Take a step back, and do one thing at a time.

Stay close to the Lord

At a Christian university, this should go without saying, but the business of college gets to the best of all of us at times. Remember that prioritizing of time thing? Yeah, this should at the top. Here are three ways you can prioritize your walk with the Lord while at college:

Devos – Simply put, do them. Plan them ahead of time, and don’t let anything keep you from doing them. Even if that means you wake up a little earlier, you skip out on that taco bell run, or that cute girl you’ve been talking to doesn’t get to see you right before dorm lock.
Chapel – Chapel can be hard for even the most in-tune Christian. It is almost every day, early in the morning, and you have other things on your mind. If you go into chapel already checked out though, you are not putting the effort you should into it. Don’t go into chapel indifferent.
Church – there are so many things to say about church participation. While at MBU, there are many churches to choose from, and they all have different ministries to help with. This can be stretching for you, and it’s a big part of what MBU is trying to teach. Get involved at your church every chance you get.

Don’t get mad at the weather

One of the first things many people think of when they think of MBU is the weather. Yes, sometimes it gets pretty cold up here, but that is not all I’m talking about here. What I mean here is that there will be so many things in your life at college that are out of your control. The roommates you have, how cold it is outside, what food is made in the DC, and so on. Your time at college will be so much better if you learn how to not worry about things you have no control over.

Stay off your phone

WHAT. Yeah, I went there. This is not easy, but it is a very simple idea. Be present. Instead of sitting on your bed scrolling Instagram, take a second to get some extra time in the Bible, ask your roommate about his day, or call your parents. Imagine what would happen if every time you would normally reach for Instagram you instead did something productive.

If you haven’t noticed, these tips are not only for freshman. Here is some friendly advice: learn this now and you will thank yourself later. If every senior had learned these things as a freshman, they would be far better off now.