{"id":548,"date":"2015-06-03T22:20:44","date_gmt":"2015-06-03T22:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.stthom.edu\/dome\/?p=548"},"modified":"2017-10-09T12:27:22","modified_gmt":"2017-10-09T17:27:22","slug":"what-i-didnt-learn-my-freshman-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.stthom.edu\/celtadmissionsblog\/uncategorized\/what-i-didnt-learn-my-freshman-year\/","title":{"rendered":"What I didn\u2019t learn my freshman year"},"content":{"rendered":"

By PL Yanez, junior bioinformatics major<\/em><\/p>\n

\"PL<\/a>I made many mistakes in my freshman year. Here are some things I learned that I definitely wish I had known when I started college.<\/p>\n

Get Involved<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the biggest mistakes I made in freshman year was not participating in any clubs. I can\u2019t blame anyone else, I was just lazy. It took me a while to realize that St. Thomas is a small school, so it is relatively easy for a student to get involved with a club or school organization. I also found out that it is easy to get a job at school, that is, if you apply yourself. As evidence of all of these points, I now work in the library, at the front desk of the residence hall and in one of the labs as a teacher\u2019s assistant. I am also an RA<\/a>, an SGA senator<\/a> and a member of a biology honor society. Trust me, it is easy to get involved in St. Thomas.<\/p>\n

Embrace diversity<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wish I had embraced the cultural diversity on campus during my freshman year. I went to a small, white, Catholic high school, so I had this prejudice of being friends with a person who is not white. Because of this mindset, I refused to join the Filipino club, even though I am Filipino myself. Sooner or later, I realized that one of the best aspects of St. Thomas is its student diversity. Freshmen: embrace the beauty of the UST diversity. Be open to everyone. You never know where you can feel at home until you open yourself to everyone around you. Be friendly to everyone.<\/p>\n

Be active<\/strong><\/p>\n

I also completely disregarded sports during the first semester of my freshman year. I highly advise freshmen to keep playing the sports you played in high school, or at least keep exercising, and if you can, participate in intramurals<\/a> and get involved with a sports club<\/a>. I still can\u2019t believe how much I secluded myself from so many activities and people that I enjoy today. If I\u2019m not working, you can find me on the basketball court balling with my bros.<\/p>\n

Studying is important<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh and don\u2019t forget to study. I thought I could get all A\u2019s easily like I did in high school, without studying. I was very, very wrong. If you are a wait-til-the-last-minute student, you are going to fail unless you are a genius (which I would be willing to bet you are not).<\/p>\n

I could have used this insight in my freshman year and been much happier and more involved much quicker. I wish someone told me about it all before my first day of college. Here I am now, telling you what I wish I knew then. Take my advice: Participate in all the events, be a bro, embrace diversity and exercise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By PL Yanez, junior bioinformatics major I made many mistakes in my freshman year. Here are some things I learned that I definitely wish I had known when I started college. Get Involved One of the biggest mistakes I made in freshman year was not participating in any clubs. I can\u2019t blame anyone else, I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[39,85],"class_list":["post-548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-campus-life","tag-diversity"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat I didn\u2019t learn my freshman year - Celt Admissions Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.stthom.edu\/celtadmissionsblog\/uncategorized\/what-i-didnt-learn-my-freshman-year\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What I didn\u2019t learn my freshman year - Celt Admissions Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By PL Yanez, junior bioinformatics major I made many mistakes in my freshman year. 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