The transition from life at home to living on your own at college can be a scary move for new students. Whether it’s dealing with annoying roommates or just keeping your dorm in order since mom and dad aren’t around to clean up, all the responsibilities fall on your shoulders. As the back-to-school season kicks into high gear, we asked three celebrities for their best advice for freshmen.
Celebrities share their best advice for freshmen
Andrew Zimmern
Don’t waste the opportunity. It’s the greatest one you’ll ever have. I wasted a lot of my opportunity in college and it’s one of the few regrets in my life. The corollary to that is if you don’t feel that you’re ready for it, don’t be afraid to take a year off and just work or do something, because not everybody is ready to go to college at 18. Some people have a freshman year and they struggle and think to themselves “I’m not smart. I’m not this. I’m not that,” and in fact it’s not true at all! They just need to take a year off because they’re not ready for the college experience at that time. The third thing that I alway tell people is focus, focus, focus on leadership skills, innovation skills and interpersonal skills, because when you get out into the real world, nobody cares whether you were a 2.5 average or a 4.0 average. They worry about whether you can get the job done.
Honestly, listen to the clichés. Listen to the clichés because they’re true. When you grow up and you’re like, “Oh, the early bird gets the worm,” all these dumb clichés that your parents told you and you just think they’re clichés, actually put them into practice and just do it. Also, excuses are so lame. There’s just so many colleges who are like, “I would but my… and I would but I…” Dude. You’re an adult now. Excuses were OK when you were a kid and living at home, but there’s no use for excuses. And Nike man, just do it.
This isn’t just for going into college, this is what I tell everybody who comes up and they say, “How do I get to be on stage like you?” or “How do I become a musician?” or “How do I become successful?” Just look at the people around you that are successful and doing what you want to do, and do more than they’re doing. If they’re getting up at 8 o’clock in the morning, get up at 6 o’clock in the morning. If they’re showing up to work 15 minutes early, show up to work 30 minutes early and ask your boss if he needs any help around the shop.
These are the ways you’ll progress. It doesn’t take much. There’s no secrets. “How do I get in shape?” Wake up early, go to the gym, watch what you put in your body. There’s no “if you just do this and in three weeks you’ll have abs,” or “if you just do this, you’ll have your degree.” No. There’s no shortcuts. There’s no fast track. It’s just looking around, seeing what the people you want to be like are doing and do more. Get up earlier. You’re having trouble? Instead of going out on Thursday night, wake up Friday morning and go to your teacher and tell him, “Hey, these are the areas I’m having issues, these are the areas I’m struggling [with].” Most kids are like, “I would do that, but I went out Thursday night and I slept in on Friday morning because I didn’t have class until 10, so why would I wake up?” And then they look at all of their friends and they go, “Wait, why does he have the good job? Why did he get hired at that company?” Just look at what they’re doing and do more than them.
Drink up on your coffee! There’s a lot of long nights ahead of you. But really just staying focused. It’s funny, I say that, but I don’t really drink coffee. I spend my time meditating and trying to re-energize through that way. But it’s no sleep when it comes to school.
