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lose that 'freshman look'
After three months of people watching, I still cannot distinguish the seniors from the juniors or the sophomores at a glance. However, in any given crowd, I can pick out a few freshmen. As a first year in college, you should make it your goal to lose "the freshmen look" as soon as possible. Why don't you want to look like a freshman? Well, freshmen are often made the scapegoat by upperclassmen. They are blamed for long dining hall lines, the breakdown of equipment, a lack of a curve on an exam, global warming and the Kennedy assassination. Freshmen habits can be grouped into three categories: awkward fashion, excessiveness with textbooks and novice travel habits. Fortunately, these can all be easily corrected. Do not wear a lanyard around your neck. Just don't do it. Do not argue that a lanyard is intended to be worn around your neck. Only a freshman would bother to argue that. Pocket protectors are meant to be worn in one’s pocket, but wearing it properly doesn't make wearing one cool either. Retire the varsity jacket. Sure, in high school you might have earned a letter in every sport offered. In college, no one cares. Just let it go, my friend, let it go. Getting lost is better than to carrying a campus map. While they both have the potential to make you look like a freshman, getting lost is easier to cover up. Anyone could accidently enter the wrong room, but a campus map cannot be explained away. If you are unfamiliar with the campus, just look over your map well before you leave for class. Also, if your campus has a bus system, memorize the bus schedule back in your room for the same reasoning. Your books should under no circumstance be covered. Only freshmen are worried about keeping their book corners from getting beat up. While on the subject of books, in most cases it is best to wait to buy your textbooks. The average bookstore will give you a week to return books at full price. If you wait until the day before class starts to get the book, and then you find out the book isn't really necessary for the class, there is plenty of time for a return. Often times, you can even get away with buying your books after the first day or two of class. You can follow all of the above instructions, but at some point you probably will end up looking like a freshman. That's OK. At times you will look a little new. You inevitably will learn a few things the hard way before you catch on. All things considered, it doesn't matter if you look like a freshman this year, but these are habits that you will want to have broken by sophomore year, so start practicing now!
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