Imagine yourself four years from now. You’re an FAU senior on the verge of graduating. Did you experience everything you wanted?

This question, of course, can’t be answered for many years. It should be kept in the back of your mind as you take your first steps into your college career as an FAU freshman. Making sure you get all that you can out of your college experience can be a hard thing to do, so to help you through your college journey we asked some FAU students to look back on their time here and share what they wish they knew as freshmen.

Erika Moylan
Junior
Geology

“I wish I knew you get old faster than you think. All those passed opportunities thinking I would have time to do them later. Time flies and before you know it, it’s almost time to graduate, the window of opportunity closes and the friends you met leave school. It becomes harder to see them, so take advantage of everything college has to offer, including people.”

Jas Benitez
Junior
Computer Science

“I wish I knew that waking up for an 8 a.m. class is not easy just because you just got out of high school and were used to waking up at 6 a.m.”

Taylor Page
Senior
Communications

“I would’ve gotten involved more. I didn’t realize how much I missed out on when it came to college until now almost graduating. I missed out on a lot I feel and I didn’t get to make the memories or friends I could’ve if I made an effort.”

Kit Romero
Graduate
Graphic Design

“I wish I knew to double check my freshman adviser’s work. I already decided on my major but they told me to take all my general education classes first to get them out of the way. What they didn’t tell me or didn’t know was that I needed to take classes for my major my freshman year otherwise I would be in school a year longer. Which, I was.”

Ariella Baston
Senior
Education

“I wish I’d known about the importance of properly scheduling my semesters. Also, I guess the importance of not taking the college experience for granted. You should definitely look into the study abroad programs and looking at what certifications and accomplishments your degree requires and get that stuff out of the way sooner.”

Yvelis Estrada
Sophomore
Criminal Justice

“I wish I would have known or had some sort of idea of the dedication and time required to succeed in your classes. For example, the amount of time one should put into studying. I think if I would have taken more of that study time out for myself, I would have done much better in my classes.”

Kiki Baxter
Senior
Psychology and Journalism

“Stalking the parking lots is an acquired skill.  It’s learned with time.  My first day of school freshman year, I got to campus two hours before my class started.  I ended up spending those two hours trying to find a spot and, long story short, ended up dropping out of school for a year before I started up again.  My advice: Don’t do that! Learn to stalk! Classes usually get out 20 minutes after the hour or 10 minutes before the hour, so get to the garages 5-10 minutes after that.”

Milor Perdomo
Sophomore
Criminal Justice

“I wish I would’ve known that talking to a professor when you’re having a difficult time could come a long way, professors can be really understanding even though most students are pretty scared to talk to them.”

William Heath
Graduate
Art and English

“I wish I would have paid more attention to websites like RateMyProfessor.com and other university rescources because they are usually very accurate. I also wish I would have been more active in clubs.”

 
 
 
Cindy Alas
Senior
Interdisciplinary Studies

“I wish I had taken more general classes rather than delving straight into my core classes because it would’ve been easier to change my major and give me time to really decide what it is I wanted.

Cristina Solorzano
Senior
English

“Wait until after the first week of class to buy books. Check Amazon and Chegg for the books you do need before you go to the bookstore. Also, don’t forget community service hours at FAU = a free textbook.”

Michelle Friswell
Senior
Studio Art

“Everyone procrastinates, but just make sure you know the real due dates so you don’t fail.”