Things I’ve learned in college

I blame my lack of blogging on my lack of 1. Time and 2. A computer. Good thing, because of graduation, both have been fixed! I am now blogging from my brand new motorola zoom, which I love. And since I have some time before my big girl job with Marriott begins, I figured I would take this time to reflect a little bit on the things that college has taught me.

I can hardly believe that four years has gone by since I began my journey with Missouri State University. In beginning college I received many different pieces of advice, most of which I ignored and continued to live my life how I felt it should be lived. However, upon my completion, I can now confess that not all of it is total BS. Some advice really has weight and I have decided to dediczte this post to that.

Below are the top seven most important things I have learned in college. They may not apply to everything and everyone, but its how insurvibed, and if one piece of advise helps just one person, all the better.

1. Get Involved
The best way to network, to expand your knowledge, and to grow as a person is to get involved. It may sound cliche, but a lotI took away from college is from various leadership positions I help outside of class. join different clubs and organizations. You don’t have to be president or in a leadership position, but the more team building and group working experience you have the better you are at handling these situations in a work environment. It also puts you face to face with diffent advisors and other leaders on campus, which encourages professionalism and expands your network.

2. Clean Up Your Social Media
I’ve said it a million times, but its relevant here again. Clean it up. You won’t get hired if you’re making a fool of yourself on the internet.

3. Get to Know Your Professors
Before I got to school someone told me that if you pick one professors every semester to get to know, youll know 8 (or for some people 10 or 12) professors really well by the time you graduate. That’s 8 potential letters of recommendation, or 8 different connections to potential job opportunities. My advice to add to this is to get to know the professors in your major, and your department head. If they can recognize you, and even if theybjust know one thing about you it can go a long way. Make use of their office hours and class time. This also goes for the other students in your major. Get to know them, they’ll be great connections later in life.

4. Use the Library
I didn’t do this enough in school. Mostly because it never stayed open late enough for my study habits… however, as I got older I realized that it had a lot of really great things to offer (including a text book or two that I didn’t need to buy) but the library has a lot of different things to take advantage of, so use it.

5. Don’t Buy the Text Book until the Professor says so
It never fails. You spend $400 on a text book, never use it, and sell it back for $6 because the professor decided to upgrade to a new edition. Wait until they tell you you need it to buy it. My entire last year of college I didn’t buy a single text book, and I received some of by best grades.

6. Have Fun
Don’t spend all of your time studying. College isn’t just about learning book smarts, its also about learning social skills, meeting new people, and making life long friends. If there is one thing I did in college it was have a good time. I don’t mean you have to party all the time, but certainly make sure you take advantage of this time. You’re only in college once (well, most people are..) so enjoy it.

7. Use Your Resources
Every college and university is filled with different opportunities to help their students further their professional skills. Take advantage of all of these. The career center, career testing, resume workshops, mock interviews and career fairs are just a few examples of what Missouri State offered. I got my job through a recruiters fair, and I know many of my friends have too, and many who haven’t attended often regret not doing so.. Even if you don’t get a job offer, get business cards and send thank you notes. They’ll always remember you!

Those are my seven tips on college. I could probably write 100 more, but that would be excessive, and probably make me go into stories that I don’t want to discuss at this point in time. College was the best four years of my life, and while I know I’m in for some really amazing new experiences, I wish it didn’t have to end just yet. I guess that’s why some people take 6 years to finish, huh?