We all have different expectations about going to college and to be honest, most of them are completely off the mark. Once you get there you realise that things are little different than you thought, in a good and bad way. It’s a bit more laid back than you thought, which is a double edged sword because there is less pressure, but all the responsibility is on you. Here are the top things that people say before their first year in college.

1. “It will be such a doss”
It’s true that you will have a lot more freedom in college, but at the end of the day you still have to the do the work. No one is going to put pressure on you and it’s all on you whether you bother or not, otherwise you will be looking a lot of repeats.

2. “I’ll go to all of my lectures”
You have this grand agenda that you won’t miss a lecture and you’ll be sorted for your exams. This lasts for about two weeks and then you soon realise that sleep becomes more important to you than your lectures. By now you have realised that most lecturers post slides online, which gives you one more excuse not to go in.

3. “I’m going to join loads of societies”
During Freshers week you sign up for all the different societies because you get lots of free stuff. Then you tell yourself you will go to all the events that they organise… highly unlikely. Life gets in the way and you only really go based on whether or not they have free food and booze.

4. “I will be going out every night”
The people that go out every night will be the ones who either will be doing repeats or will eventually just drop out. You actually need to go into college sometimes. Showing up twenty minutes late and hungover for every lecture isn’t a good routine to get into.

5. "I work so I will have loads of money for partying”
If you’re living on campus, you will soon be wondering where all your money has gone. It is quite a costly expense to live on campus and with the little money you have left you will be scrounging for the cheapest beer you can find.

6. “I will go to the gym every day”
While it might sound like a great idea in practice, you go once and then you don’t see the gym for the rest of the year. It wouldn’t make much of a difference anyway because of how bad your diet is.

7. "Gourmet meals from here on in”
So you have learned a few meals that you can cook when you get to college. It’s a different scenario altogether though when you actually get there and you realise you don’t really have the time or the money to be making cuisine quality meals. The closest thing you get to a gourmet meal is Dominos Pizza.

8. "I’m going to get my assignments done early, so I’ll have more free time”
The harsh truth is that an assignment deadline just means how long more you have to procrastinate. You start off handing them in on time and it gradually turns into you giving it in two weeks later  and then finally asking  for an extension a month after it’s due.

9. "I’ll wear all my new clothes I got for college”
At the start you try to put a bit of effort into how you dress, you never know, you might catch someone’s eye in class. Over time you just throw on whatever clothes are on the floor and if you could you would wear your pyjamas to class.

10. "It’s going to be great having a new roommate”
No matter how much you love your roommate, over time the stuff they do will get on your nerves. It’s the little things like letting the sink pile up and leaving you to take out the rubbish all the time. Be prepared to secretly hate your roommate by Christmas.

11. "I will have to buy new books for all my classes”
You will soon realise that buying new books is a waste of money and when you lectures say you “need” to buy the book, it means you can get by without it. If you need to get any books you should just rent  them from the library and save your money.

12. "I will finally find someone who gets me”
If you’re going to college and looking for love you’re in the wrong place . Sure, you might hook up,  which will definitely happen a lot in college, but it’s not really the place for long term relationships. You might even have the same interests as them, but you will soon realise that there is more much to a relationship then having things in common.

13. "I’ll start studying a month before exams”
Ha well isn’t that interesting, you’ll be lucky if you get in some study a week before your exams. With assignments still left to do and lots and lots of procrastination, studying for exams becomes less and less likely the longer time passes by. Then, when you finally do decide to study the night before, you actually don’t understand anything.

via our content partner CT