{"id":25,"date":"2006-12-17T13:38:56","date_gmt":"2006-12-17T21:38:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/a-letter-of-advice-to-college-freshmen-or-anyone-who-needs-to-find-their-passion\/"},"modified":"2013-09-23T14:52:12","modified_gmt":"2013-09-23T22:52:12","slug":"a-letter-of-advice-to-college-freshmen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/a-letter-of-advice-to-college-freshmen\/","title":{"rendered":"A Letter of Advice to College Freshmen"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

<\/p>\n

Dear College Freshmen,<\/p>\n

Congratulations on being accepted to the university of your choice and making it through your first semester! I’m sure it feels great being out on your own, and that you’ve already made tons of great friends and had many exciting experiences. I’m writing because I want to tell you a few things I wish I’d known when I was in your position as a freshmen; four short years ago. These are things I learned, regrettably late, that make me wish I could redo college. Hopefully, you can learn from my mistakes.<\/p>\n

Find what you really love<\/h3>\n

It might not seem like it, but the choices you make now affect the rest of your life. We’ll all be working for a long time; having a job you love is essential to happiness. Think about it, people spend more time at work than anywhere else. Do you want to spend your life bored and indifferent, counting the minutes until the end of the day? Right now is the best time to find your passion. You have the free time and resources at your disposal.<\/p>\n

Waiting too long to find mine was a huge mistake. I chose an easy employable major. I thought I’d be happy doing anything that paid well. Trust me, this doesn’t work. Unless you fit into a predefined category, you have to investigate many different options to find the right fit. Start looking now and you’ll be much better off. I set myself back a couple years by wasting this opportunity. Now I’m busting my ass to catch up.<\/p>\n

Follow your whims. Talk with students and professors who share your interests. You’ll meet a thousand dead ends, but finding the right path is priceless. Don’t expect it to find you and don’t think that it doesn’t matter<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Don’t Sweat the social circles<\/h3>\n

It might seem like getting into the right frat\/sorority and hanging out with the “cool people” is a huge deal, but realize that none of this will matter at all in four short years. The people that are concerned with social circles are insecure. They feel a need to validate themselves with an outside authority. Have the confidence to validate yourself and people will love you for it<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

At the end of college those circles evaporate and what remains are the lasting friendships you’ve made. Don’t chase coolness at the expense of real relationships. I wasted a couple years being frustrated by my social position when I should have had confidence in myself.<\/p>\n

Neither studyin<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m writing this because I want to tell you a few things I wish I’d known when I was a college freshman. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12163,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[7],"tags":[221,472,471,470,283,66],"yoast_head":"\nA Letter of Advice to College Freshmen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I'm writing because I want to tell you a few things I wish I'd known when I was a college freshmen.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/a-letter-of-advice-to-college-freshmen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Letter of Advice to College Freshmen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I'm writing because I want to tell you a few things I wish I'd known when I was a college freshmen.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/a-letter-of-advice-to-college-freshmen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-12-17T21:38:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-09-23T22:52:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/ptb-fb-profpic2-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Erin Falconer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/a-letter-of-advice-to-college-freshmen\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/a-letter-of-advice-to-college-freshmen\/\",\"name\":\"A Letter of Advice to College Freshmen\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2006-12-17T21:38:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-09-23T22:52:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2da8ae162c097bdb749ab098472b4cc5\"},\"description\":\"I'm writing because I want to tell you a few things I wish I'd known when I was a college freshmen.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/a-letter-of-advice-to-college-freshmen\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/a-letter-of-advice-to-college-freshmen\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/a-letter-of-advice-to-college-freshmen\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Letter of Advice to College Freshmen\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2da8ae162c097bdb749ab098472b4cc5\",\"name\":\"Erin Falconer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1173c63284b173ff225e5f87a1af5028?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1173c63284b173ff225e5f87a1af5028?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Erin Falconer\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/author\/erin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Letter of Advice to College Freshmen","description":"I'm writing because I want to tell you a few things I wish I'd known when I was a college freshmen.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/a-letter-of-advice-to-college-freshmen\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Letter of Advice to College Freshmen","og_description":"I'm writing because I want to tell you a few things I wish I'd known when I was a college freshmen.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/a-letter-of-advice-to-college-freshmen\/","og_site_name":"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pickthebrain","article_published_time":"2006-12-17T21:38:56+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-09-23T22:52:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":300,"url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/ptb-fb-profpic2-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary","twitter_creator":"@pickthebrain","twitter_site":"@pickthebrain","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Erin Falconer","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/","name":"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/a-letter-of-advice-to-college-freshmen\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/a-letter-of-advice-to-college-freshmen\/","name":"A Letter of Advice to College Freshmen","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2006-12-17T21:38:56+00:00","dateModified":"2013-09-23T22:52:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2da8ae162c097bdb749ab098472b4cc5"},"description":"I'm writing because I want to tell you a few things I wish I'd known when I was a college freshmen.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/a-letter-of-advice-to-college-freshmen\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/a-letter-of-advice-to-college-freshmen\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/a-letter-of-advice-to-college-freshmen\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Letter of Advice to College Freshmen"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2da8ae162c097bdb749ab098472b4cc5","name":"Erin Falconer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1173c63284b173ff225e5f87a1af5028?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1173c63284b173ff225e5f87a1af5028?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Erin Falconer"},"url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/author\/erin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}