During college, ones mind must always be fully active, in doing so one must remain active. Studies have shown that playing a sport or remaining active helps you stay more attentive and mentally active. Most colleges offer intramural sports, these consist of different sports that compete within the school. Intramural sports add some spark to the mundane nonstop studying. It is an opportunity to go out there and have fun and enjoy life in college in positive way. There are many perks to joining an intramural sport, such as staying physically and mentally fit, as well as expanding ones social life

Coming into college many students have played a sport before or are interested in just good healthy exercise. Intramural sports are a great way to continue past experiences and passions in a friendly competitive way and are also simply good exercise. It is crucial to step outside the dorms, run around and get some fresh air and what better way to do that through some competitive fun games with your friends. Studies also prove that playing sports and maintaining good health, benefits your academics and will allow you to excel in school. It also gives you the ability to try new sports that have intrigued you and you never had the opportunity to play or just sports that sounded interesting to you. Now you have the opportunity to play and develop and learn new skills in various sports.

Intramural sports help you also develop stronger bonds between your friends and create new ones as well. Playing on a team together involves teamwork, thus deepens your connection with your friends. Also, there could be people you’ve never met before on your team and from there you can create new friendships. A strong part of college is create a network of friends, friends that you can trust and lean on through these fantastic yet difficult years of your life, and these friends might develop into the ones you could trust and hold on to forever.

If you are interested in continuing your passion in a sport, or creating new ones, joining an intramural sport is a great way to do so. It is a great way to maintain a balance in school, while having healthy fun that also benefits your academics. Also, it is a great stress release to go out and kick or throw a ball around with your friends and get your mind off things and just relax and have fun. So go out experience these opportunities and enjoy college while you are in it, so join an intramural team.

Sophomore at University of Virginia

The admission into college is an admission into a new life with new opportunities. Every college has countless benefits and offerings, and it is your duty as a student to go out and grasp what is being handed to you. One such golden opportunity to expand your horizon and meet new friends, who share the same interests as you, is through the clubs that your school offers.

Clubs at the university not only is a small body of people discussing thoughts or ideas. Rather it is a group of your colleagues who most likely share the same passion and desires as yourself and thus, its an opportunity to make monumental and influential friends. These friends and members of the club will be of all classes and has been in your shoes as a freshman before and have seen their successes and learned from their mistakes and have that golden knowledge in which they could spread to you. In order to take advantage of this, you must know how to find clubs and determine which clubs are fit for you.

To find which clubs are out there is fairly easy, but you just need to take a little initiative. You can start by going on to the school website, where there will be a section for clubs and a complete list of every club at the school and their description. From this list you can select which ones catch your interest and sound intriguing to you. Now, just because a club has a cool or interesting name, does not mean that they are the greatest club. Many times the clubs are actually just started or were started and never grew and are not very active, these clubs you want to watch out for because they will not be very beneficial to your progress in college. This is when you can ask around, ask older students or even freshman, which clubs they suggest, or which ones they like and why. Then you can ask if they have heard of the clubs that you are interested in and their opinion on them as well. This will give you other people’s input and a different perspective on the club and could be very beneficial into really understanding what the club is about. Another option to get more inside information is facebook. Here you can contact members of the club and find out more information and really try to find out the real meat and what the club is all about and how they go about things.

Once you decide you like one or more clubs then you can join them and if it is too much work then do not be afraid to drop out, but definitely go and learn more about the club first hand develop your own assessment and meet new people and make new friends. This will not only help you stretch your thinking but also develop a stronger social connection in this new college environment that you are thrown in, so embrace it learn and have fun.

Freshman at UC Davis

One of the greatest parts about college is that they often have free or very inexpensive gyms for students. Official college gyms are often expansive with the latest state of the art equipment from treadmills and elliptical machines to bench presses and free weights to things you have just never seen before.

In addition many gyms feature basketball courts, swimming pools, rock climbing walls, tennis and badminton courts, and much more. Hence, it can be a great place to work of the “Freshman 15″ or just go for some fun recreational athletic activity. It is a resource you most definitely want to take advantage of.

A lot of college gyms also offer a wide variety of programs and courses from strength training programs to kickboxing sessions, karate lessons, dodge ball tournaments, and just about everything else you can think of. While some of these programs (especially lessons) aren’t free, they are for the most part very affordable and a great way to meet people.

Stay fit and check out your school’s gym as early as possible. Take time over the summer before your freshman year to see what the process is for getting a gym membership.

Senior at University of Georgia

Over the course of freshman year we cooked a lot. Some recipies worked, some didn’t. Here is a great list of easy food you can make in your dorms.

1. Top Ramen (Classic)
2. Cereal and Milk
3. Microwavable Burritos and Taquitos
4. PB&J
5. Bagels and Cream Cheese
6. Ham/Turkey and Cheese Sandwiches
7. Soups
8. Gatorade, Soda, OJ, etc.
9. Snacks! (Chips, Cookies, Popcorn, etc.)
10. Get a Water Filter!

Junior at Syracuse

If there is one tip that I would give new incoming freshman it is this: schedule your classes wisely. Find what classes you want to take and sign up for them EARLY so that you not only get into the classes, but also get the time slots you want.

A lot of classes feature one time for standard lecture, but also discussion classes that occur once a week. If you wait to the last minute, slots are only open either in the 8 AM or 6 PM sections.

However, if you stay on top of your scheduling, this can often be avoided. There will be situations when the classes you want to take only occur in less than ideal times, but most of the time you can get a great schedule by taking the time to plan ahead a little bit.

I knew people who had managed their schedule so that their classes never started before noon or didn’t have classes on Fridays. Taking the time to develop a favorable schedule can have a huge payoff in the long run.

From: Freshman at Boston University

Before you sign up for a class, make sure that you know all about your professors. There are easy professors and hard professors, and more than picking the right classes, picking the right professors is one of the greatest determinants of how well you do in college.

Remember different professors sometimes teach the same classes so if there is a “bad” professor teaching a course a particular semester, this can change the next semester.

In order to get the “inside scoop” on professors at your university, look online. A number of great websites, such as RatemyProfessor.com or PickaProf.com have valuable information you can use. PickaProf even provides a grade distribution which comes in handy.

You can also always ask upperclassmen about what classes and professors they like and don’t like.

From: Sophomore at Boston University

I took an Earth Planetary Science class this past semester where the textbook cost around $100. Instead of just buying it off Amazon like I had done for my other classes, I visited the Earth Planetary Science library to see if the textbook was available. They didn’t have a copy I could take home; however, they told me that the Engineering Library did.

So, I went to the Engineering Library and checked out the textbook. I thought I would have it for a week or so and order my copy of the textbook online, using the library copy until my copy arrived. However, to my surprise the librarian told me the book was due back in a month.

So, instead of buying a copy of the book I used the library’s copy for one month and renewed it for another month once it was due. I ended up doing this four times for the semester and returned it at the end of the year, saving me the $100 it would have cost to buy the book myself.

In addition, the library had a reference copy so if anyone wanted to see the book during this time period, the library had one for them to browse.

From: Sophomore at UC Berkeley

It is true that as you start your college endeavor in this new atmosphere, you may seem lost and insecure. This is no excuse to just sit back and let the world go by because you do not know what to do and where to even begin. Almost all of the freshman students will be in your position, some might have guidance from elder siblings or friends and some may have no help at all. But help is out there and people usually will be more than willing to help you and get you situated in the school.

Joining a club and finding one that is right for you is a great idea to jumpstart yourself in this new environment and help familiarize yourself with some few new faces. Like this, you should take the initiative to meet new people and not be afraid to join and start new things. It is a learning experience that will shape you into who you are to become and the earlier you start the more beneficial it will be for you. Also, starting new things and meeting new people in all age groups, even your professors, can help develop a personal network that can help you throughout college and beyond.

So, don’t be shy or scared go out there embrace your opportunities. Start something on campus and try new things as soon as possible because you never know what you may learn or who you may meet.

Sophomore at Bentley University

Chances are some of your best friends throughout your college years and beyond will be people who live on your floor. You will be living with these people and well get to know them very well. The most important piece of advice I can give to anyone coming into college is to socialize with your floor and get to know everyone.

With as many as 30-40 people sometimes living together on a floor, chances are you aren’t going to become friends or like everybody, but during the first few weeks of school take the time to introduce yourself to your floormates. After all, you will be spending the bulk of your time with these people.

One of the main things I found freshman year was that because people don’t usually know too many people when they arrive, they tend to become friends with their floormates and then become friends with their floormate’s other friends.

In addition, get to know other people in your building. During the first week or so of school go from floor to floor and knock on doors introducing yourself to everyone. It is during the first few weeks of college that people will be as friendly and outgoing as they ever will in their lives.

Written By: Freshman at Davidson

A great way to collect money over the course of freshman year is to create a savings jar for loose change. At the end of everyday, put your change in this jar and you will see, it adds up quickly.

Example: I usually had somewhere around $.40 in change in my pockets at the end of every day. Saving this $.40 in the jar added up to over $100 over the course of the school year. Not bad for money that probably would have been lost in the laundry.

From: Sophomore at UMASS Amherst