Here's a quick heads-up!

Dear freshman,

I am writing this letter as a first year CSULA freshman, but that might have changed by the time you get a chance to read this. The whole purpose of this letter is for me to give you some friendly advice to help you out in your first college days, so, here goes.

            First off, being a college freshman is completely different from being a high school freshman. In college, or at least here at CSULA, there is little to no judgment based off of what class or “grade” you are. You’re going to have class with freshman like you, but also with sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Also, just because someone is a freshman doesn’t mean that they’re 18 like you might be. Freshman can be almost any age, from 12 to 21 to 50, and the same goes for any other class. Us college students come of all ages; I myself had class with a 20-year old freshman, met another 20-year old freshman, and on the other side of the spectrum worked with a 15-year old junior, so don’t be too surprised.

            Try to be sociable. It might not be easy at first, and you might be alone when you start college, but it is key to network and make friends. I made friends a little bit easier than most because I’m in the Honors College, which sets me up with a small cohort of Honors students, but within the rest of my classes I tried to talk with the people I sat around not only for help with class work but to try and make a new friend or two. In doing so, those people that I talked to ended up convincing me to join some clubs and helped me maintain a social life while being an engineering major.

            People might look down on CSULA, but to be honest, it’s not that bad. I didn’t want to come here at first; this school was at the bottom of my applications list, just above my community college “if all else fails” category. CSULA was my almost last place backup school, but I’m here today enjoying myself and making the most of my college experience. It’s been great so far, and for the time that I have left, I know that it’s still going to be so much better.

So take pride in being a CSULA student, in being a golden eagle. You might like this school more than you initially anticipated, like me.

            Take things at your own pace, but take initiative or else you won’t have the best college experience!

Yours truly,

Anonymous CSULA Student