Nothing about college life is truly stereotypical. It will never go the way you think it will. There are certainly stereotypical tropes that you can get lost in at the beginning, but you will soon find that post-secondary is your personal journey and you’ll stray from any preconceived caricatures of post-secondary life. Let’s address some typical college stereotypes that have both elements of truth and hyperbole to them:

Cramming

Oh, you will cram. You will cram a lot. There will always be people on campus who come off as being prepared and well read, but you never know what happens outside the class. While university is packed with classes, assignments, and social opportunities, many students feel that they have a lot of free time. They think that there is plenty of time to read those chapters in class—‘I can get caught up,’ they think. ‘I’ll just read an extra chapter next time’. Time mismanagement is one of the biggest problems in university and everyone runs into it. While you may spend most of university cramming, you will get better at time management due to lessons learned; you learn from experience.

College students eat unhealthy food

It’s true that college students are on the run and this often leads to poor eating habits. However, universities and colleges are very progressive in their healthy eating and lifestyle initiatives; healthier food options are becoming more prevalent on campus. When given a quick healthy eating option, many students will take it. Universities are also working with their budgets to make healthier foods more affordable—hence the growing presence of sushi and salad bars on campus. Fast food is no longer strictly unhealthy food. You can now get a balanced snack and/or meal lickity split.

Too much caffeine

Something about the routine, comfort and promised buzz of caffeine makes jumping from class to class and cramming more mentally achievable/bearable. But students do begin to find that too much caffeine starts to have the opposite affect on them; they instead begin to crash. Energy supplements like green tea and kombucha are becoming more and more popular on campus. While caffeine will never be more popular with you then in university, you won’t be dependent on it forever. But to cut down on costs in the meantime, buying a French press instead of hitting up Starbucks multiple times a day is advisable.

Party too much, drink too much

College is where you make new friends fast, and the sudden freedom from home/family life can lead to some prevalent party lifestyles. However, it does get old fast. While many students party hard and drink to excess in their first year, they soon realize that the lifestyle is not compatible with studying. Hangovers only get worse as the years go on, and as the years go on those term papers and exams get more and more important. You may find that those five beers a night in first year turn to five a week in second. While, in the first place, you need to be of drinking age ( 19 in Canada) to acquire these habits.  Unfortunately, some students start drinking before they are allowed to by law and it becomes a real problem that interferes with progress in school.