If I could give one piece of advice as I leave Ferris, it would be to get off your butt.
What I mean by that is while the occasional quiet night at home is nice, but do not make a habit out of it. So log out of World of Warcraft, put down the pipe, get off of Facebook and stop watching Netflix.
I don’t even care what you go and do, just make sure you are doing something and not wasting away your college years cooped up in a dorm or an apartment. Join a RSO, volunteer somewhere, play a sport at the REC or call around and find a party somewhere. Just don’t keep saying how you will go do something next weekend because before you know it, you will wonder where your college life went. Trust me, it flies by.
Before I came to Ferris I attended Western Michigan for three years. With the exception of going to some parties (it is called Wastern after all), I was not involved with anything at all that was going on at campus. I figured it was just something that I would have absolutely no interest in and would ultimately just be a waste of my time when I could be at home watching season 10 of South Park. In hindsight I don’t think my priorities were quite where they should have been.
After transferring to Ferris I got a job at the Torch, and I joined the debate team along with some other RSOs. These ended up being some of my greatest times that I have experienced at college. I met a ton of awesome people, gained a lot of experience in a lot of different areas, and not to mention some great lines on my resume.
I understand that staying home is the easy option and at the time may seem to be what we want to do the most. How do you really know that is what you want to do though if you never give anything else a shot to compete? As the saying goes, we only grow as individuals once we step out of our comfort zone. Plus, if you join something and it ends up being completely miserable, well stop doing it. No one is going to force you to stay.
Don’t be afraid to do something just because you do not know anyone else there. Get out and meet new people and experience new adventures. People are constantly telling us that these are the best years of our life. What they don’t tell us is that we actually have to go live our lives in order for that to be true. So go do something that you can look back at 20 years from now and reminisce about.
Personally, I know I would rather be telling the story; instead of listening to one.