Tough Truths About College (And How to Handle Them)

Written by Lauren Smyth

From startling text messages (“Today I learned that a beluga whale can be a Russian spy”) to getting knocked out by a wooden sword to writing an opinion for the Wall Street Journal (all true stories), college is a series of surprising experiences. Some will come out of the blue, but you can prepare for others.

Here are five tough truths about college, along with some advice about how to handle apparent disaster when it comes.

You might not develop a friend group right away. The people you meet on the first day of class might be strangers to you by the end of the semester. On the other hand, someone you swore you’d never talk to because they were wearing a T-shirt for a band you hate might become your best friend. By the time sophomore year rolls around, nobody is the same person they were on the first day of college, and the changes are guaranteed to continue.

The day will eventually come when you want to go out on a weekday afternoon and you discover that all your friends are busy. Or you may experience a hard time and find yourself doubting whether you know your friends well enough to make them confidantes. Would they do the same for you? Will that make things awkward? These are all normal questions, and you’ll have to face them eventually no matter how outgoing and social you are. That’s OK. It’s part of the learning process.

Deep friendships take time. They require shared experiences, mutual vulnerability, and clear communication, none of which forms overnight. So, if you find yourself alone in your room one sophomore year evening, don’t panic. Your friends will be there for you in the morning, even if they’re all busy right now concocting a last-minute English assignment.

Hillsdale College will never isolate you. You’ll always be surrounded by friends and people who care for you, even if it takes a little while to find them.

Prepare to mourn your high school 4.0. On a lighter but no less frightening note, college is hard. Even the core classes at Hillsdale College can strike the unsuspecting with low grades like they’ve never experienced before. But that’s not necessarily a problem. After all, if you knew everything at an A-level before you took the class, why would you be in college?

In a perfect world, your grade would be directly proportional to how much effort you put in and how much knowledge you got out. But there will always be factors you can’t control. Even if you’re an amazing student with the work ethic of a superhero, the odds are high that you’ll eventually hit a class you don’t understand or an assignment you can’t figure out.

Life happens. Take the lesson, learn from it, and let it go.

With true independence comes cosmic responsibility. Taxes. Medical insurance. Grocery bills. Credit scores. Rental contracts. Long arguments on the phone with customer service because the package you splurged on never got delivered. Calling your mom to ask if anyone in the family has a history of pulmonary fibrosis because you’ve developed a cough and Google thinks you’re going to die. These are just a few of the tasks you’ll have to handle now that you’ve moved out.

Life continues alongside academics. That essay deadline might not wait until after you’ve filled out job application paperwork, but the paperwork has to be done nonetheless. No one is going to nag you until you get it done. You either finish by the deadline, or you don’t. No one can make you do it, and no one can stop you.

Independence is both intoxicating and difficult. College is the place where you demonstrate how you’re going to use it. This is the time to form good habits, get finances under control, develop a tentative plan for the future, and—above all else—learn to cook, since you’ll be eating for the rest of your life. It’s the place to make your religious beliefs your own, to test your opinions about the world, and to set yourself up for success in future life.

What you do in college is totally up to you—and it’s an opportunity to reap tremendous rewards.

Don’t pull all-nighters. Especially not before tests. If you’re not ready for an exam the night before with at least six hours left over for sleep, you’re not going to become any more ready by denying your brain the break it desperately needs.

Remember that high-quality work requires high-quality rest. Don’t put assignments and studying off until the last minute, and then you’ll never—or at least rarely—have to know the fear that comes with being both unprepared and exhausted. The key to avoiding all-nighters is to plan assignments at the beginning of the week and to include a few hours of “spare time” that can pick up the slack in case you end up with more work than you expected.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. Accidents happen, the unforeseen is always possible, and college has a way of throwing wrenches in the best-laid plans. If you do find yourself forced to pull an all-nighter, do it carefully. Power naps, caffeine offset by water, and breaks that include movement and exercise can get you through the longest of late-night assignments.

The “freshman flu” is real, and you’ll get sick eventually. Hillsdale College is equipped with hefty air filters that make it a lot less likely you’ll catch something, but all it takes is one friend sneezing on you. Then, boom!—you’ve got a cold. That can happen even if you work out, sleep, and eat healthily every day. College, where everyone lives in close proximity and some are better than others about covering their sneezes, is a crash course in power lifting for the immune system.

It’s important to know the difference between an illness you can push through and one that requires you to stop, drop, and go back to bed. Taking care of your body when you’re sick isn’t time wasted, even if you have to put off a few items on your to-do list. Email your professors in advance if you need to skip class or extend assignments and then try to let your mind rest, too, by forgetting about the lists and the essays and the assignments for just a few hours.

Don’t hesitate to visit the Health and Wellness Center even if you just have a tickle at the back of your throat. The nurses and doctors there can help stop a sinus infection from becoming pneumonia. (Don’t ask me how I know.) They can give you allergy medicine, tea, and condolences. And they can take care of more serious issues or refer you to someone who will. When in doubt, stop by.

Remember the Hillsdale motto: “Strength rejoices in the challenge.” Not every moment of college is rainbows and sparkles, but some of the toughest moments will also be the ones that teach you the most.

To quote Winston Churchill: “Never give in–never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.”

Lauren Smyth, ’25, is an economics major and journalism minor. Outside of starting arguments in philosophy class, she enjoys curling up on a bench outdoors (sun, rain, or snow) to write novels or articles for her blog, www.laurensmythbooks.com.

Published in June 2023