Welcome to Your College Career

Stephanie found it helpful to avoid going home for a while. “Don't go back for the first eight weeks,” she says. “Especially since friendships normally form on the weekends.”

Given time to adjust to all the changes and work through your feelings, sooner or later, you’ll start to feel right at home in your new environment. Though the ultimate goal is graduation, savor this time because the “real world” of jobs, mortgages and other, all-consuming responsibilities is just around the corner. It’s unlikely you’ll have this much time and freedom again any time in the near future.

“Learn, but always make sure you have time to have fun, relax and try new things,” Janki says. “These will be some of the most educational years of your life, not just from an academic perspective, but also in terms of learning about yourself as a person and figuring out who you are and how you fit into this world.”