Help, I’m a Sophomore?
Congratulations, you are no longer the biggest shit-show at the party!
That torch has been passed to the incoming class of freshmen who still don’t believe that whole “don’t drink the punch” line. Ignorance is bliss… until it’s not. Then it’s violently barfing into a tub with that girl from your sociology class while wishing you could will sobriety into your pounding head.
Now that you’re a sophomore, a lot of things are going to change. Your “BFF’s” from down the hall last year are probably never going to talk to you ever again. Don’t take it personally; they probably suck. This is a good year to settle into some type of social rhythm and arrive at a partial conclusion of what you’re going to do for the rest of your (college) life.
If you’ve been warned that everything changes between your freshman and sophomore year, then congrats! You have someone looking out for you. You probably… no definitely… didn’t listen to them, and that’s okay. Just wait until everything is different. For example, imagine yourself a veritable member of “Wolf Pack: Freshman Dorm Edition.” Prepare to be a one-man wolf pack when the second Friday of the semester rolls around, and you’ve been replaced with the new suitemates or guys from a rival fraternity.
No, this warning is not coming from a place of bitterness. I was fortunate enough to keep around precisely the friends I wanted to and expand my social circle in directions I had never considered during my time as a freshman. However, this wasn’t without significant pruning on my part and multiple “BUT WHY DON’T THEY LIKE ME ANYMORE” wine & whine nights with my roommate. This sucks, but this is growing up. You need to do a lot of that in order to function in the real world. Although the real world doesn’t technically start until after graduation, sophomore year is one step closer to that. Time to start preparing.
You can begin the “growing up” process by editing your social group. This is important. You’ll be doing more of this come junior year, but now is the time to start practicing how to do it tactfully. Cutting the people out of your life that don’t need to be there is only going to make things easier (and a whole lot more fun) as the year progresses. Yes, people are going to get their feelings hurt. This tends to end in tears or violent outbursts. Be prepared for all of the above. Eventually, you’ll run into them at a party, catch up over a couple beers, and move on with life.
The great thing about being a sophomore is that you still have a little license to screw up (read: have wild nights of irresponsibility that end in questioning your moral fiber and your ability to move the next morning.) YAY COLLEGE. Don’t worry, you actually get to do this all throughout your time as an undergraduate, but people tend to hate you less if you choose to get it out of your system before junior year. Not to say that the first two years of college are the only two in which you should have fun, but the looming cloud of real-world responsibility calls for significantly more sobriety than you’d like to admit.
Look at it this way: use this as an opportunity to get your life in order just in time for shit to hit the fan when you turn 21.
Category: Other
