I didn’t especially like freshman year. I felt placeless and without a sense of belonging. My classes bored me; the classrooms seemed lifeless and stifling. I didn’t know who I wanted to
be friends with. I spent a lot of time running in the Arb, and many Saturday nights in search of something to do–a party, an adventure or other quintessential college experience.

At the time I blamed Carleton, thinking I had simply chosen the “wrong” school. In reality I had underestimated the magnitude of the transition to college. I assumed it would all come effortlessly, the academics, the friends, the everything else. I eventually found the people I liked and the things I liked doing, and then Carleton felt entirely different: vibrant, exciting, teeming with possibilities. But none of it was as seamless as I’d wanted or expected it to be.

Creating a life you like in a new place takes work. Here are a few things I learned through that process. If you’re one of those freshmen who met all their best friends during New Student Week, does every reading assignment, goes to parties and still manages to maintain a 3.9 GPA while playing a club sport, attending Food Truth meetings and generally being a nice and wonderful person, well, good for you, I’m pretty sure you don’t exist. For everyone else:

1. Stop stressing about school. Do your best, and then be ok with the result. Also, don’t complain about how much work you have, because everyone has a lot of work, and no doubt, someone has more than you.

2. Get out of intro classes as soon as possible. You think they’re going to be easy, but they tend to be uniquely awful. 200-levels are much better; interesting and compelling in depth, but not overwhelming.

3. Ask upperclassmen about classes before you register for them, and choose classes with good professors. The course description on Enroll might sounds fascinating, but a dull professor will make the most exciting of subjects mind-numbing.

4. Try a lot of things and then only do one or two of them. It’s fun to go to a zillion meetings and activities, but eventually commit yourself to just a few. Quality rather than quantity is going to give you a richer Carleton experience, and no one likes a flake with too many commitments. Words to live by: “don’t half ass two things. Whole ass one thing.”–Ron Swanson.

5. Hang out with people you like (obviously) and don’t worry if you don’t find those people immediately. As I said, it took me the entirety of my freshman year to figure out where I wanted to be socially in the Carleton biosphere. It’s confusing. Even as a senior, it can still be confusing.