Going away to college can be a very daunting idea. Moving away from your family, friends, and hometown to somewhere that you’ve only seen a couple times and where you’ll know just a few people at the most is certainly an intimidating event. Fortunately, colleges anticipate the stress and discomfort that many freshman feel and try to help them out by holding freshman orientations. However, because these events are one of the first organized gatherings of students, they can cause some stress themselves. This blog entry is an attempt to paint a picture of what your freshman orientation will be like so that it doesn’t become another thing that you stress about (because it’s definitely not worth it).

Most freshman orientations will start with an ice breaker or some other social activity so that students have a chance to get to know the others in their orientation groups and start forming social relationships. While this may be a little cheesy, it’s a good chance to talk to a few people that you don’t know and get more comfortable with the students that you may be living with in the near future.

Another staple of freshman orientations is the campus tour. This one is pretty obvious; your orientation leader will take around campus and give you useful information about various places and resources. This is where you will learn things like where the backdoor to the library is, when the cafeteria is open, and how to get to the nearest coffee shop.

At some point, you’ll probably reconvene with a large portion of the incoming freshman class to hear a speaker. This will usually take place in a large auditorium and be hosted by a high-ranking member of the college’s administration, such as the dean of academics. You’ll probably hear about things like the school’s mission statement (which sounds terribly boring, but can actually be interesting), academic requirements, and available campus resources.

A few colleges allow freshman to register for classes on their own during the summer preceding their first term. The others, however, will conduct registration sessions during freshman orientations. This can be very helpful, as some schools use confusing electronic systems for registration; the registration sessions allow you to ask questions of more experienced students, explore the registration system, and learn useful things about classes in general, like freshman year requirements, freshman-only classes, and how to get prerequisites waved.

Freshman orientations can be slightly overwhelming, and it’s completely normal to forget many of the things that you’ll hear during your session. You will be presented with a great deal of useful information (most of which will probably be contained in handouts or some sort of student handbook), however, so it’s definitely worth showing up and paying attention. While some of the things that you do may seem pretty contrived, you will learn a great deal of practical information throughout the session, and the more you invest in the session, the more you will get out of it.

Blogs are getting more and more popular every day. With a quick Google search, you’ll find hundreds of blogs from students, faculty, celebrities, athletes, and any number of other people who have (or don’t have) useful information to share. Below is a list of five blogs that I think many college students could benefit from reading on a regular basis.

Lifehacker is one of my favorite blogs and a huge repository of useful information. A lot of it is technology-focused, but if you dig around, you’ll be able to find things like and Lifehacker’s top ten tools for landing a better job. You’ll find a wealth of information here, most of which will help make your technological life easier, more fun, or more effective. You can easily get lost on this site for an hour or two just reading about interesting things.

Kineda is a lifestyle blog that contains a wide variety of information about fashion, movies, technology, gossip, and anything else that the blogger might find interesting (whether you find it interesting is, of course, completely up to you). If you’re looking for a resource to help you live with style, be it through your clothes or your tech, this is the place. While a lot of the things that are featured on this site are crazy expensive, you’ll find a lot of cool things that might be within your reach (and if not, they’re pretty fun to look at).

Gizmodo pegs itself as a gadgetry blog, and sits solidly in that arena. You’ll find things like iPhone apps, robots, DIY, game reviews, and space news here. Basically, this is a geek’s blog. And it’s great at what it does. By combining entertaining writing with fascinating technology, Gizmodo has managed to make reading about technology interesting to just about everyone.

College v2 (College version 2.0) is a blog aimed specifically at college students with the intent of sharing “tricks, tips, and knowledge to put them ahead of the pack.” What this translates to for you is a blog that provides things like tips from recent college grads, cookbooks for college students, and what to do when you run low on cash. You’ll find all kinds of information on here that’s actually useful (in contrast to the above sites, which are hit-or-miss for usefulness). It also has a long list of college blogs in the right sidebar that you can check out.

The title of the Broke-Ass Student blog says it all: it’s a blog written by a broke-ass student about how to save money and make it with a very small income flow. Jennifer provides a great perspective on living with and getting out of debt without having a great deal of financial resources. Most college students will find this blog both useful and inspirational, as it shares a look into the life of another student who is struggling with her financial situation. Whether it’s for financial or financial-philosophical advice, this blog is worth paying attention to.

For a complete list of my friend’s blogs, click here.

When you’re planning your last year or two of high school, it can be very easy to take the classes that are required and little else of academic value. Why, when you’re about to graduate, would you take a very difficult class? Why not just take an extra study hall and a bowling class? While this temptation can be strong, it will be of great benefit to resist it and think about your academic future. One of the best ways to do this is through AP classes.

Advanced Placement classes are college-level courses that can be taken through your high school with other students from your school. It differs in this way from programs like (Post-Secondary Enrollment Option), in which high school students travel to local colleges to take classes with college students. This is one of the advantages of Advanced Placement classes: because the class is taught by a high school teacher for high school students, it will be better-adapted to the way in which high school students learn, which can be very different from how college students learn. You’ll be learning the same college-level information, but it will be presented by a teacher that specializes in teaching at the high school level.

One of the most important benefits of taking an AP class is familiarizing yourself with the level of that college classes require. It’s highly likely that this class will be much harder than the rest of the classes that you have taken. You’ll be presented with a great deal of information at a faster pace than you’re used to. You’ll be asked to re-present this content on tests and through papers fairly often, and they will be graded more harshly than you’re used to. You’ll probably find yourself taking significantly more notes than you have in the past. All of these things serve to prepare you to succeed in the college academic environment. It will be difficult, but it will give you a head start on learning to function in college classes.

The most important advantage of Advanced Placement classes is that they can provide you with free college credits. Because the average price of a single credit in the United States is so high, earning free credits can be of significant financial benefit. One class could be worth three or four credits, which will save you both time and money once you get to college. Getting these credits, however, is not easy. To receive college credit, you’ll have to pass the AP exam for the class that you took. This is a very large, college-level test that will cover all of the material covered in the class. If you manage to score well on the test, you’ll receive college credit that you can transfer to any university that you enroll in. It’s a very difficult test, but if you take and pass it, you’ll be at an academic and financial advantage before you even get to college.

For more information on Advanced Placement classes, visit the AP Web site.

College students are a group of perpetually broke people. Paying for tuition, housing, food, gas, books, and a social life takes a pretty high toll on the average student’s finances. Because of this, many students find themselves in credit card debt; the average college student owes over $2,500! Once you’ve put yourself in debt, it can be a difficult and overwhelming process fighting your way back out. It is possible, though, and can be achieved with a careful strategy for battling your credit card debt.

Before anything else, you need to assess your debt. You’ll need to figure out exactly how much debt you’re in, how much interest you’re paying on that debt, and how much you’ll owe in the near future if you don’t start paying it off. Once you’ve established an accurate picture of your debt, you’re ready to start getting rid of it.

Planning is a very important part of paying off your debt, and establishing a plan is a key component of being prepared to start battling credit card debt. College students, because of their fixed, low income, may find it difficult at first to start paying off their credit card debts. And it is difficult; you’ll definitely need to make some sacrifices. But once you realize how quickly your $2,500 of debt can turn into $5,000, or even $10,000, you’ll understand how important it is to start taking action immediately.

Once you’ve completed your assessment and established a plan, it’s time to start your attack. In order to get rid of your debt, you’ll need to aggressively pay off your creditors. High-interest credit cards should be paid first, as they can end up costing you thousands of dollars more than you actually spent. Don’t just pay the minimum payment – this won’t cover much more than the interest that you’re being charged, and will result in a longer repayment process, costing you more money. Set aside a specific amount of money from every paycheck that will go directly to paying off your credit card debt.

Once you’ve begun to make a sizable dent in your credit card debt, it’s important to start saving money. This will help prevent you from falling back into debt should an extenuating circumstance arise, such as a medical emergency or a broken-down car. If you have a cushion to spend from, you won’t have to use your credit card as much, which will go a long way in reducing your debt.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, you’ll need to cut your spending. No matter how many other measures you take, this is probably the one that will be the deal breaker. If you don’t spend money on going to concerts and ordering pizza all the time, you won’t have to use your credit card to pay for things like gas and groceries. Get your spending under control and you’ll get your debt under control.

No matter how intelligent you are, there will come a time when you just don’t have the answer. Maybe it will be in your calc class. Maybe in English. It could be any subject; the only thing that’s sure is that it will happen. And when it does, what are you going to do? You could just make something up or skip the question that’s giving you trouble. Or you could take advantage of the many sources of free academic help and simultaneously get the answer you need and set yourself up for success in the rest of the class.

A highly underrated source of free academic help is the on-campus academic support center. These resources will have different names on different campuses (on my campus, we had the Writing Center and the Math Resource Center, or MaRC), but I can guarantee that almost every campus will have them. Academically talented students receive work-study jobs in these centers and their sole function is to help you learn. This is probably the best way to go, as it’s close, it’s manned by students who will understand what you’re going through and what you’re trying to learn, and you’ll support other students in their work-study jobs. What else could you ask for?

While some colleges have comprehensive on-campus support centers, some—especially smaller ones—are more likely to only provide resources for general courses, like English, math, and basic science. If you’re in a class that’s more specific, like an engineering or political science course, you may have to look elsewhere for free academic help. In these cases, the student study group becomes invaluable. Many students have organized study groups for this exact reason: to bring together students who can help each other succeed in tough classes. Sometimes these groups are supported by professors, and sometimes they are completely student-organized and –run. These are often very informal and can be as simple as question-and-answer sessions. Students will ask questions of the other students, who will help them understand the concepts behind the issue in question; then the next question will be raised. This is a great way to meet people within your degree program and your classes. It’s also a good way to spend a greater amount of time on a subject than you would in an academic support center, which makes it an invaluable study tool.

Many professors make themselves available for one-on-one time with students. If a professor has their office hours listed on a syllabus, it’s pretty likely that they would be more than willing to field some questions and spend time with you individually to help you out with their class. Because professors really do care that you’re learning in their classes, they are usually more than happy to assist struggling students (or students with a question or two).

There are many places where you can receive free academic help; the above three sources simply give you a place to start. There are on-campus, off-campus, online and offline places to get answers to your questions. The most important thing to remember is that no question is too large or too small to seek assistance with. Once you’ve come to terms with this idea, you’ll have no problem finding help with any academic issues that you may come upon.