What to Expect During Your First Week of College

No matter how many times you've watched Animal House, Old School or any other college movie, you're not totally prepared to start the school year if you think it's going to be one non-stop party. You'll be living on your own and will have surprisingly easy access to alcohol and other substances even if you're underage (or they're illegal), can eat whatever you want, sleep on a random schedule, and choose whether or not to go to class, but if you regularly indulge in all of the above, you'll probably be kicked out on your fat, wheezing self after the first semester.

Getting ready for college means having more realistic, balanced expectations for college life, and that starts with educating yourself about what will happen during your first week at college. Whether you attend a large university or a small liberal arts school, your first few days will be taken up with registration and orientation activities, though no school's welcome week is the same. The first day obviously involves moving in, meeting your roommate and saying goodbye to your teary but proud parents, and later on you should expect to have some sort of dorm meeting to explain basic policies, rules, study breaks and how other things around the dorm work, like laundry.

For the next few days, you should expect to have a pretty busy schedule, but you may have already been able to check it on your school's new student website before arriving on campus. You may be assigned to a mentor or orientation group to make the process go more smoothly, meet students right away and be able to ask questions of an older student or other guide who can help you. Registering for classes, buying books, taking placement exams and attending mixers are all a part of freshmen orientation week, but it's up to you to figure out which events you need to go to, which you should go to (in order to meet new friends and mingle with professors), and which aren't worth your time.

This week of college is a great opportunity to reinvent yourself from the start and give everyone a solid first impression of yourself, socially and academically. Everyone's nervous, exhausted and anxious to get on a real schedule, but push yourself to attend parties and events sponsored by departments or extracurricular groups you might be interested in joining, like the drama improv group, volunteer network, or student government association. Official and unofficial parties will be thrown at night, especially if your campus has a lively Greek population, but make sure you don't go overboard, at least not until you've met friends you can trust and have taken all your placement exams.