First day of college tomorrow...

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Hello.

I am not exactly sure if this is the right section of the forum, so I apologize in advance.

As the title suggests, tomorrow is my first day of college, albeit it is the community college. I am both excited and nervous at the same time. I am afraid that'll I mess up somehow and not find my classes correctly or something of the sort. It is a new experience for me and I am terrified. Is there any advice that anyone could give me that would ease me slightly into the college routine?

I thank you in advance.

P.S. I am only taking 3 classes (English, Macroeconomics and German), I got wait listed for my mathematics class.

Congratulations, and good luck. Here are some ideas.

Give your self extra time, and something relaxing to do if you get to a class early.

Have a socially acceptable stim toy. Maybe a nice pen <grin>.

Breath. Remind yourself. Slow, moderately deep breaths.

Make schedule, and a list of everything you need to do. Once you write it down, don't think about it.

Focus on the instructor. If you can't take notes without loosing track of the instructor, don't take notes.

See if lecture notes are available. If not, try to find someone who takes good notes that you can copy. This is a reasonable accommodation that should be available, but that doesn't mean it is.

Find a quiet place you can go to chill between and after classes. Make it your special spot. I sat on the 3rd floor ledge outside the windows in the geology building, but I don't recommend that <grin>.

Try not to put off studying. Do it while you still remember the lecture.

Schedule time every day to do something that makes you happy. You may have to set an alarm to stop.

If you can, have 1 day a week when you don't study at all. This may or may not work for you, or be possible. Studying every day grinds you down.

Do something physical every day. Walk, ride a bike, whatever. Just walking around campus may be enough, but walk a little more than you have to.

Try to make 1 friend.

if you are afraid of not finding your classes I would suggest going the day before to scope it all out, make a map, write detailed directions...or since it starts tomorrow, maybe go an hour or two early to find all your classes. the first week for me is always the most stressful and I spend the entire week working out a detailed routine for each day of the week so my day is scheduled down to the minute and then I do not deviate for the first week. Three classes is a great number to start with. And wear or carry a watch/pocket clock with you all the time. If it has a timer with to signal when to start heading to the next class, even better. Depending on the size of the college campus leave yourself with a little more than enough travel time to get to class. I found out that if you arrive early you can beat the mad rush of students.

I hope that helps. Good luck!

I agree with the others. I'm a bit of a "time freak" - I look at the clock all the time, without even realizing how obsessively I do it. When I was in college, I used to plan to be everywhere about fifteen minutes early, in case there was any sort of delay getting there. Bring a book or anything like that to entertain you if you arrive before the classroom is open for your class. Don't forget to breathe, relax and try to have fun. Also, remember that everyone else is as full of nervous anticipation as you are. I was terrifed when I was a freshman in college. Eventually, you get used to it and it all becomes second nature. Your body just kind of goes to class for you, without even having to think about it.

Good luck!

I'm also starting tomorrow (technically, as I post this, later today) and this is great advice. Thanks, everyone.

I leave for college in about 45 minutes.


duke666: Thanks for the advice! The little suggestion about the pen stim is something I already do. I have at least 70 pens in my room, and boy!, do I love clicking them. I have this one specific ballpoint pen, it's made by a pen company called Zebra, I always have it in my shirt pocket. Your advice makes a lot of sense, THANKS!

WaterWater: I actually have a map of the campus and have already figured out a route to my classes. I also wrote down when and where my classes are. Thanks.

sarbear1987: Thanks! My first class is at 7:00 AM and I believe I am arriving 20 minutes early. I have my Rubik's cube to solve to pass time. I might start bringing my 'Cajun Self-Taught' book, though. Thanks for the advice.

How did it go?

I thought of you when I posted this:

You Might Be Aspie IF: Your favorite pen went through the washer and dryer, and now it doesn't click in and out right, and you took it apart and cleaned it really well, but it still doesn't work right, and fortunately you have an identical spare, because they were in the sale bin at Office Depot, and you were afraid something like this would happen, and you've checked 3 other Office Depots to see if they had any more, because what if it happens with the good one, and how complicated can a pen be! I'm supposed to be a freakin' mechanical genious![/quote]

How did it go?

I thought of you when I posted this:

You Might Be Aspie IF: Your favorite pen went through the washer and dryer, and now it doesn't click in and out right, and you took it apart and cleaned it really well, but it still doesn't work right, and fortunately you have an identical spare, because they were in the sale bin at Office Depot, and you were afraid something like this would happen, and you've checked 3 other Office Depots to see if they had any more, because what if it happens with the good one, and how complicated can a pen be! I'm supposed to be a freakin' mechanical genious![/quote]

I actually think it quite well.

English, I am a bit nervous about. The people in the class are a bit obnoxious. My first essay has to be on a challenge I've overcome. I think I am going to write about the challenge of understanding even the basics of nonverbal communication.

German is going to fun. I am technically a year ahead of the class because I took through German 3 in high school, and we are beginning almost where I began last year during my German 3 class. It's cool though, because the professor said he'd teach me the last German grammatical case during my lab time because I want to learn it.

Macroeconomics. There's way too much to say about this class. My professor, who is very open about his political beliefs, is pretty funny. I know I am going to do well in the class.

Unfortunately I am still on the wait list for my mathematics class, but it doesn't bother me.

The library was literally my safe haven. All the books are upstairs and you have to be quiet. You're allowed to check out 10 books for 3 weeks, it was really hard to choose just 10 books!! In the end I checked out 5 books on linguistics, and 2 on mathematics (one of them was an introduction to finite, or discrete, mathematics.)

That's so me!! ! My mom complains to me about buying so many pens. I have a few favorite I keep with me at all times, clicking them helps to calm me down.

So I was at Office Depot today and was walking down the pen aisle <grin>, and saw they have my favorite pen again!

And guess what? It's a Zebra F-701. I bought 2. It has the soft click, and I really like the knurled stainless steel.

Nice!

I shop at Staples for my supplies!

Here is my favorite pen, it's got a nice click and the grip as 4 little ridges that are fun to run my fingers across.

I'm going to start college in a while, is it very different than high-school? other than having higher-level course work of course, that I know to expect, but are there any significant changes besides that?

I start my second year of college on the ninth.College is different from HS in a sense that there is no bullying and that everyone is more mature.There may be some freezing out of little groups but no gossip or name calling or physical violence.

I agree about being more mature in a bullying sense etc. but I HATE the immature stereotype of partying,drinking,Go FL Gators etc. IMO you are there to GET A DEGREE AND BECOME A LAWYER,DOCTOR,PSYCHOLOGIST ETC. NOT PARTY OR ROOT FOR A STUPID FOOTBALL TEAM!! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! ! (and your papers late whoops BECAUSE YOU WERE PARTYING LAST NIGHT! SHEESH!)

I just started junior college about two weeks ago. The coursework is tougher in the sense that I always have homework to do, but it isn't impossibly hard or anything. I'm commuting to school, so it feels kind of like 13th grade. I think it would feel differently if I lived on campus, but my options for that weren't good. There's still a handful of people who are there because their parents are "making" them, and there are adults (and teens) who are serious about their grades and stuff. It's less "everybody knows everybody" like in high school, which I really like. People are just kind of randomly thrown together. What I like the most is designing your own schedule. I have four classes (one online)-one Monday and Wednesday morning, one Tuesday night, one Wednesday night. No school Thursday OR Friday!

I like it, but I'm going to a university next year and I'm looking forward to it.

I go to college to study, but it doesnt mean the others are...They can cheer for what they want and drink and party as much as they want....Im just happy they leave me alone and don't pick on me like people do in high school.