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Things I Wish
By Tysonn
McKinnon
I Knew Before College
C
Share this essay by an Auburn University senior
with your teens now! It’s better to know before you go.
You can write in your textbooks.
ollege. It’s as consistent and expected as the
changing of the seasons, something constant in
an otherwise unsettling time in life. It’s where
we meet many of our friends, discover who we
truly are and perhaps learn a thing or two.
In some respects, college is a caring parent,
teaching us what we need to know, challenging
us to make the right decisions and allowing us
to learn from mistakes. From this perspective,
final exams are no longer the only comprehensive tests in college.
As my college career draws to a close, I
began compiling a list of things I wish I had
known when I started my journey — things that
I can’t believe I didn’t realize earlier. Things
that would have made the path a lot less bumpy.
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Knowing this my freshman year would have saved me a ton of
time and paper. I was unaware that I could write, highlight and
even doodle in the margins of my textbooks, since that was a major violation in high school. I’d seen others do it but wasn’t sure if
the bookstore would take them back at the end of the semester. Every note I needed to take, every detail that I thought might come
in handy later, I typed up on my laptop. I don’t know if you’ve ever
tried, but it takes a long time to type out calculus equations on
Microsoft Word.
The campus bookstore isn’t always
the best price.
If time is on your side, the Internet can be your best friend when it
comes to textbook shopping. I’ve found perfectly good books online that, in some cases, cost three times less than those on campus
(even with rush delivery). Consider using Amazon.com and Half.
com to begin the search for deals.
Don’t pull an all-nighter before the exam.
Imagine this. You’ve stayed up all night cramming for a midterm.
You’re ready. You go in to take the test and start marking answers
like crazy. Ten minutes later, you’re staring blankly at your paper,
unable to focus on any words in front of you. Maybe if you rest
your eyes for a minute you’ll... you know the rest. Test is over.
Professor is gone. Needless to say, it’s not an ideal situation. If you
must pull an all-nighter, I suggest doing so a few days before the
test to save yourself some embarrassment and panic.
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