The 14 Worst Mistakes I Made as A First-Year Student
I made a lot of mistakes as a first-year student.
Admittedly, it is an inevitable part of being new to something, especially something so complex and novel as the first year of college or university. My own semesters gave me plenty of opportunities to make mistakes. Fortunately, though, I managed to learn from these experiences and take their lessons to heart.
With the lessons I learned below, you might even be able to avoid making the mistakes I made altogether.
1: Focusing more on looking and feeling studious than actually being studious
Most students fall into this trap throughout their careers.
I myself dedicated too much time to working on the outer look and inner feel of my new role as a student. For instance, I spent more time editing my notes to look pretty than actually taking good notes, and I spent more time attending lectures than diving into the material itself. All of these were just useless distractions from sitting down and studying.
At the end of the day, the thing that really paid off was doing the actual work.
2: Buying the syllabus before the class starts
This is one of the most common first-year mistakes.
You buy the book a couple of weeks or months before that class starts. You arrive at the first lecture or seminar only to discover, to your horror, that the syllabus was updated and that the book you actually need in order to pass the exam has been replaced. Since realizing this fact first-hand, I choose to always attend that first lecture to confirm with a teacher which books or articles I actually need access to.
Otherwise, I could end up wasting a lot of money.
3: Attending every lecture
Lectures are not the paramount source of information that students believe them to be.
Instead, they tend to be less in-depth alternatives to other, more thorough sources — like the books and articles that the lectures are founded upon. Despite this, I used to attend almost every lecture, in the hope that if I did not go, I would miss out on some key information that was needed for the exam. Instead, I ended up wasting my time receiving the same information that I had already gotten from the book, but in a more unclear and watered-down format.
Indeed, if you have the choice, skip the lecture, not the chapter.
4: Taking notes from the presentation slides
Copying the professor’s PowerPoint is a waste of time.
Those bullet points are incomplete summaries of information — and by taking notes from the lecturer’s slides, you are essentially condensing someone else’s incomplete summaries of information into even less encompassing summaries of information. Based on a friend’s recommendation, therefore, I learned to move my attention away from the slides and towards the lecturers themselves. It was there that I found the actual, fleshed-out information that I needed for my notes.
Besides, the lecturer would not be there if the PowerPoint itself was sufficient.
5: Avoiding campus to spend time at home
Loneliness is many students’ best friend.
I, for one, attended my first semester of university completely alone. This lead to even more loneliness and isolation, which had a negative impact on my self-esteem and quality of life. Funnily enough, I sometimes go to campus now just to be around people, and to ward off that feeling of being completely alone.
Going outside really does help, even if there is no one to talk to.
6: Neglecting my physical health
Physical health influences us mentally.
As a first-year student, I used to work out at inconsistent hours and some days not even leave the house. This past year, on the other hand, I have worked out six times a week and taken hour-long walks outdoors every day. Working on a paper or reading a chapter no longer feels like an insurmountable endeavor but rather something I get to do to stay on top of life and reach my long-term goals.
Feeling well feels good, after all.
7: Eating out regularly
Buying groceries is pricey, but buying food from elsewhere is even more expensive.
Although it is tempting to go the easy route and buy some of the pre-packed food served on campus, it is an unsustainable habit in the long run. The food tends to be less healthy and more expensive than home-made meals. So, since my third semester at university, I stopped relying on outside alternatives and instead prepared my meals at home the night before.
Something about that effort made the food taste better too.
8: Not keeping up with notifications and updates
Keeping updated as a student can be challenging.
You have to keep track of seminars changing dates, new assignments, feedback from teachers and peers, and announcements about surveys and social events. My first year around, I decided to ignore most of these kinds of updates and missed out on a lot of important news and changes to the schedule. Since then, I have made a commitment to check my notifications and student e-mail twice a week.
It only really takes a minute anyway.
9: Focusing too much on performance
For some study programs and institutions, grades do not matter.
If this is the case for you, I recommend that you focus less on your grades and more on enjoying the learning process itself. Grades are just empty validations of intelligence and performance decided by a few individuals behind a desk. People that seek a desired end result more than actually learning along the way have, therefore, missed the point of university, which is to learn within a specific field to prepare for a future profession.
Learning should not be the means to an end, but the end itself.
10: Sharing my grades with others
Sharing leads to comparing.
And comparison either leads to disappointment or vanity. Whenever I would share my grades with someone, I would notice how their treatment of me changed based on what grade I got in relation to them. Nowadays, I keep my grades to myself, because deep down I know that people will judge me or feel jealous of me if I tell them.
Grades are personal and should stay that way.
11: Spending time on the details
Studying is about acquiring knowledge.
Knowledge has to be built upon a sturdy foundation, and details are mere decorations to that foundation. Thus, I focus on learning the most central information in the book and apply more specific information onto that surface through subsequent discussions and class projects. I have found that focusing on learning and understanding that central 20% makes it much easier to get to that 80% down the line.
After all, knowing what depends on knowing how.
12: Reading last minute
Postponing is procrastinating.
I used to postpone reading so much that I became a procrastinator. I knew it was important, but decided to spend my time reading, eating, or watching TV instead. Now, I space out reading sessions from the very first week of the semester, so that I finish all of my goals early and get to spend the following months working on discussions, group projects, and assignments, without any added stress.
Choosing to postpone these tasks would be like choosing to prolong the stress they were giving me, after all.
13: Showing up unprepared
Being prepared is imperative.
The difference between the prepared and the unprepared is stark. During my first year, I did not check where I would need to go prior to any of my seminars, and I used to show up to study group sessions without having read the material beforehand. After that, I changed, and I always come to lectures, seminars, discussions, and projects fully prepared and effective.
By preparing, classes go from learning something new to learning something more.
14: Thinking I needed to understand everything
The first weeks are always tough.
They are all about adapting to a whole new system with new people and new locations and new forms of learning and living. Those first few weeks, I cried every single day because I wrongfully expected to master it immediately. It was only when I took things one thing at a time that the puzzle pieces fell into place and I managed to adapt to my new environment.
Challenges always precede adaptation, and only challenges lead to learning.
This is one of those challenges, and I promise that you are going to overcome all of yours in due time.
