By Musa Laity
1. Financial aid will look you dead in the eye and lie to you. Bring your parents and they’ll have no problem lying to them. The thing is, you’ll have to learn how to be your own financial aid counselor. If they tell you that you owe $2000, you’ll end up paying $7,000. The scholarship they told you about, well that was only for a semester, and the refund checks you were supposed to receive mysteriously turned into a $200 check you now owe.
2. The cashier’s business office is where you go to get disrespected. In this office, they like to welcome you with a face that says, “try me.” Since you’re already stressing out about your finances, you’d think the least they could offer is kindness but no, that doesn’t exist here. You’re better off trying the chapel.
3. The foreign students will do a better job of helping you pass your classes than the professors. Get cozy with the international students in your classes because they are the real plugs. They have suspicious amounts of access to all the hidden resources and tests you need to ace all your classes.
4. Your suitemates will be disgusting.
They’ll leave hair in the bathroom, won’t flush the toilet, and will leave their
underwear in the sink. If it’s nasty, they’ll do it.
5. Campus life will never meet your standards. Just party in the city. After a while, you’ll learn to entertain yourself— a skill we’re sure you’ll appreciate later in life. 6. You’re going to end up taking classes that have nothing to do with your major. You’ll end up failing them too.
7. Your RA’s will think they’re Mr. Moseby. Yet in every building, without fail, there’s that one cool RA that not only has your back but will let you get away with a lot if you’re not bothering anyone. 8. The school is simply too small to avoid anyone. You’ll see your one-night stand in the cafeteria, the union market, the library, Thompson Hall, and the chapel. All in the same day. 9. Student organizations are desperate for members.
At this point, they’ll pay you to come to one of their meetings. I mean, you need the extra money, right? 10. Your advisor has no idea what they’re doing. If you listen to them, you’ll end up in a whole different major with two extra years of college to complete. 11. There’s no way to escape those community service hours. Believe us, we’ve tried.
12. Your first friends will last as long as that cheap lanyard they give you during orientation. Everyone has their orientation friends. You know, the friends you only really hang out with at the beginning because you’re too scared to go to anything alone. They never last longer than a few weeks and every now and then, you’ll see them in the hall and smile at what once was. 13. Hurricane season is just a spring break in the fall. If you’re feeling homesick during that first couple of weeks, hurricane season is the perfect time to pack up and go home. Or you can just stay because nothing is going to happen anyway. 14. Everyone says they’re going to transfer out.
Yet you always end up seeing them next semester. The ones that do leave end up coming back or hating their new school even more. 15. It gets WAY better. Freshman year is loads of fun and throughout your college years, you’ll reminisce about the good old days. But the best days are yet to come. At Barry, you’ll build relationships with friends, faculty, and significant others that will last a lifetime. You’ll grow and evolve and have experiences you’ve never even dreamed of. Freshman year can be tough, but there’s a reward for those who stick it out.