How to succeed in your first year

Ask seasoned students and school administrators and you'll hear:

Stay balanced. Focus on academics — AND get ready to have the time of your life. Stand up for your opinions — AND keep an open mind to new ideas and experiences.

Contradictions? Not really.

"Balance, that's the biggest, most important thing," says Al Jamison, veteran administrator at Washington State University.

"This is the first time in most of your lives that you will be making every decision, every day, 24/7," he tells freshmen. "You'll decide when to get up, when to do laundry, when to eat, when and if to go to class.

"You have to learn to balance the pleasures of freedom with the responsibilities."

More strategies for freshman success:

Ask for help when you need it. For many new students, that comes when they get back that first test or paper covered with red ink — and realize college expectations are way tougher than those of high school.

Lots of support is available: In smaller private schools, professors typically can devote more one-on-one time per student, but in nearly all schools, resources such as campus-writing centers and peer tutors are available, especially for freshmen.

Get to know your academic adviser. Advisers can guide your course choices and help you navigate the unfamiliar bureaucracies, suggests Grant Kollet, head of first-year-student programs for the University of Washington in Seattle.

Take a "learning skills" workshop. Such sessions typically cover library/research skills, study tips, intensive writing and other topics. (Many colleges list them under orientation programs on their Web sites.)

A good first-year transition class will pay dividends your whole college career, says Bea Kiyohara, vice president for student development at Seattle Central Community College.

Embrace extracurricular campus life. Studies show those who do so early on tend to adjust to the new life faster and are more satisfied with college. Just don't make friends with the wrong (read: party) types.

Go to class! All the extracurricular activities, transition classes and good intentions out there don't trump one reality, Jamison notes: "The most common characteristic of successful students is this: They go to class."

— Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett