College is often students’ first taste of adulthood. While exciting, it can also be incredibly overwhelming. Here are six tips to help you not only survive but thrive in college.
1 | Don’t Treat It Like High School
First, it’s critical that you do not treat college like high school. College is an entirely different animal. Beyond the material being more difficult, your professors aren’t going to chase you and hold your hand like your high school teachers did. Plus, it’s much more difficult to secure great grades just by showing up and doing minimal work.
Many people take the same study strategies they used in high school and apply them to college. This is exactly what I did. I added intensity to the study methods I used in high school, and simply by working much harder, I got great grades. However, my results came at a massive cost to my time and wellness.
What I didn’t know was that those suboptimal study strategies took up way more time to achieve the same result. It took me until medical school to realize I could completely change the game with active learning. If I made the switch earlier, I would have had far more time for friends, family, hobbies, and prioritizing my wellness, which, as many of you know, took a bad turn in college.
2 | Build Systems to Stay on Track
Second, you must build systems to stay on track. Now, can students get by in college without routines? Absolutely. It happens all the time. That said, your college life will be so much easier and more successful if you take the time to build your own systems.
This means building routines that work for you that you will stick to. If you’re curious about how to get started, check out our guides on building effective morning and night routines.
The further you get into college and your future career, the less time you’ll have to build these routines, so now is your time to experiment with different systems to learn precisely what works best for you.
For example, you might schedule exercise in the morning for a few weeks, then try the afternoon, and then the evening. The same goes for studying. Experiment with what part of the day is the most effective for you based on your energy levels. When do you feel most focused? When do you feel the most energized? Experiment early on in college to find what feels right.
Study plans are crucial, too. Again, no one is going to chase you. The college still gets your money if you fail the class or get by on a near-passing grade. The onus is on you to keep track of deadlines, balance your workload, and prepare throughout the term for exams—exams that will be worth much more than they were in high school.
And if you hope to go to medical school, building these systems and routines in college will make the transition into med school far less arduous.
And speaking of making the transition easier, our Premed Roadmap to Medical School Acceptance Course is the step-by-step process we wish we had when we were premeds. We cover the nuances and details of how to be a stand out premed, including course scheduling, extracurriculars, research, common mistakes to avoid, and our tactics to securing full scholarships to top medical schools.
3 | Make Time for Relationships
Next, understand that the friends you make in college can last your entire lifetime, but you have to put effort into it. Make time for building relationships.
The further you progress in your education, the more likely you are to meet people who share your values and interests. This is true of college and especially true of medical school.
Put yourself out there and meet different people. Unlike high school, more of the people you meet in college will be like-minded because they care more about their education. There are also just more people to choose from, so you can find people you truly connect with.
The best way to make connections is by building these opportunities yourself. Plan simple events, start a club, or create a study group. How can you be the person who brings people together? How can you be the connector?
Your grades are important, but they aren’t everything. The relationships and collaboration skills you learn in college are invaluable. It’s the people you surround yourself with who will make college a great experience and help you persevere through the tough times.
When I think back on my time in college, it’s the experiences, wild stories, mishaps, and adventures with other people that stand out—not the difference between an A or an A+.
4 | Choose Your Friends Wisely
This brings us to our next point: While making time for relationships is essential, not all relationships in college are positive ones. Some relationships will lift you up, while others will bring you down, making college all the more difficult to survive.
Strive to find like-minded friends. You don’t have to have everything in common, but having similar goals will help you achieve your own.
Watch out for people who are negative, drain all of your energy, or pressure you to go against your own personal values.
Think about how you feel after spending time with someone. Do they make you feel good? Or do you feel worse after spending time with them? Relationships all have ups and downs, but you shouldn’t feel worse than you did before after spending time with someone time and time again.
George Mack said it best. Treadmill friends are the people who make you feel that you have so much energy you want to run on a treadmill to calm down. And Sofa Friends are the opposite; they make you feel so drained that you just want to lie on the sofa and recover. Quite simply, if you feel drained, avoid it. If you feel energetic, double down.
Befriend those who go above and beyond. Don’t look for friends you can do better than or beat. Instead, surround yourself with people who will help you become the person you want to be—people who will challenge you to do better in all aspects of your life. This includes school, your social life, health, and hobbies.
5 | Sleep, Exercise, Nutrition
Next, “healthy body, healthy mind” may sound cliché, but it’s cliché for a reason.
The younger you are, the more you’ll scoff at this advice. It’s the “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” mentality. And I had this mentality myself. I didn’t realize just how much my mood, performance, and cognitive function were affected by my lack of sleep.
As a young student, you can get by treating your body like garbage. You’re resilient.
However, if you want that extra edge, prioritize the three pillars of health: Sleep, exercise, and nutrition. When optimized, these three magical things will help you focus, do more in less time, perform more effectively, and feel better in general.
Plus, if you get sick often, have mood swings, are tired, feel lazy, or are struggling with mental health, these three pillars are likely the culprit. There’s a good chance at least one or more are out of alignment. Ask yourself—are you getting enough quality sleep? Are you exercising regularly? Are you fueling your body with nutrients rather than junk?
Surviving college is easier when you have a healthy body and mind. I experienced first-hand at a young age what it’s like to not have your health, and, spoiler alert, nothing else really matters if you don’t have your health.
Most of you will be able to get by with poor health habits in college, but if you truly want to perform better than other students and feel better along the way, you’ll dial in your sleep, exercise, and nutrition.
6 | Check In & Ask for Help
Lastly, keep in mind that college is a huge transition. It’s far from easy, and so many students struggle. Take time to check in with yourself and ask for help if you need it. How are your mental and physical health doing?
On top of the changes in your school work, your personal life will be different, too. Many students in college leave their parents’ home for the first time, which means diving straight into some of the pains of adulthood, like budgeting, buying your own groceries, cooking, cleaning, laundry, and more. It’s a lot to be thrown at someone all at once.
It’s okay to struggle, and it’s natural to feel worried, stressed, uncomfortable, lonely, sad, or confused while so much in your life is changing. Understand that it’s okay to feel this way, and allow yourself to feel these emotions instead of suppressing them.
At the same time, recognize when it’s too much. It’s okay to ask for help. Reach out to your family, turn to friends, or contact support groups at your college. You are not alone in struggling to get through college, and there are so many resources available to help make college bearable and, ideally, a positive experience that you will remember for the rest of your life.
There’s a ton of pressure on college students, and this is especially true of premeds. Let us give you peace of mind with our step-by-step process for getting into medical school. Our Premed Roadmap to Medical School Acceptance course covers everything you need to know as a premed. It was built by our team of top physicians, and it’s the guide we wish we had in college ourselves, as we would have avoided many costly mistakes.
