It’s a big blue ocean out there. Only the fastest swimmers will survive.
If incoming freshman aren’t careful, the sharks of college life can overtake them. Kohl Callister wants to be one of the survivors, but there are a few things he’s had to learn so far:
1. Don’t move to a new town only 48 hours before school starts.
Callister moved to Orem on Aug. 23, the Monday before school’s Wednesday start. He didn’t have enough time to get to know campus, which led to the inevitable freshman-getting-lost incident.
He stumbled into one room, which seemed to be the right one, and asked the teacher, “Is this Math…?”
He didn’t have time to ask the entire question though, because the frustrated professor immediately started yelling that he was in the wrong room.
“I just ran away,” Callister said.
2. Don’t expect buying books to be a pleasant experience.
“It sucked. So many people there, and all the used books were gone. I even went to Beat the Bookstore, but they didn’t have my books either. I had to buy all brand new books,” Callister said. Seeing the $350 bill was a reality check.
3. Orem isn’t huge, but it also isn’t a small town like Oak City, Utah.
“I come from a town of 600 people, where things move slow,” Callister said. “I haven’t seen the same person [on campus] two days in a row. My first day in my math class, I sat on the floor. I didn’t have a bed [at the apartment] either. So I didn’t have a seat in class or a bed. It made me mad.”
4. Try to live with people you know. You don’t want to play Russian roulette with roommates.
Luckily for Callister, he lives with two students from his home town. They can help him out when it comes to getting used to apartment life.
Callister is involved at the LDS Institute, which will give him the familiarity of his religion, while providing new friends. He also works on campus at the CTC testing center, providing more friends and some, though very little, precious green paper.
He seems to have a good start, but he’d better swim fast. The sharks are always waiting.
This is good advice, though I think that having roommates you didn’t know before is a good way to meet new people. It can be risky, but also rewarding.