your first day in college essay

Essay On My First Day At College in 150, 350 and 500 Words

A student’s life begins anew when he graduates from school and advances to college. His memory of his first day at college will always remain etched in his heart. The purpose of writing practice in English is to ask students to compose an essay about their first day at college. The following is part of their first day in college essay. In order to help students write their own essays about their first days at college, I’ve provided a sample essay and a sample paragraph about mine.

Table of Contents

 A 150-word essay about my first day at college

 My first day at college was an emotional experience for me, so writing about it was difficult for me. The day I started that new chapter of my life was a turning point in my life. I enrolled in Haji Muhammad Mohsin College after passing the SSC examination. On the first day, I arrived before 9 AM. My first action was to write the procedure on the notice board. It was a three-class day for me. It was English class first. In the classroom, I sat down.

 A large number of students were present. A lively conversation was taking place between them. There was a lot of interaction between the students. Though I had never met any of them before, I quickly made friends with a few of them. In the classroom, the professor arrived on time. The rolls were called very quickly at first. During his speech, he used English as his language.

 He discussed the responsibilities of a college student. My teachers’ lectures were enjoyable, and I enjoyed each class. In the afternoon, I visited several areas of the college after class. Compared to the college library, the college library was much larger. Thousands of books were on display, which amazed me. A memorable day in my life was my first day in college.

 Essay on My First Day at College in 350+ Words

 It was an important day in my life when I attended college for the first time. I will never forget that day. When I was in school. My elder brothers and sisters provided me with a glimpse of college life. Having just started college, I looked forward to it with much anticipation. It seemed to me that college life would offer me a freer life, where there would be fewer restrictions and fewer teachers to worry about. It was finally the day that had been longed for.

 A government college was opened in my city. As soon as I stepped onto the college grounds, I was filled with hope and aspirations. Seeing the diversified perspective offered by the college was a pleasant surprise. I had never seen anything like it at our school or around it. Many unknown faces appeared in front of me.

 As a freshman in college, I experienced some very strange things. My surprise was sparked by seeing students playing indoor and outdoor games as well as listening to radio broadcasts during class time. It is not prohibited to wear a uniform. Students’ movements are free, as I observed. It is up to them to decide what they want to do.

 The newly admitted students were all in good spirits when I arrived. It was a pleasure to make friends with them all. It was a pleasure to move around the college. As I entered the college library, I was delighted to find books on every topic I wanted to learn about. On my first day at the college, I was keen to learn more about the laboratory and conduct experiments. The notice board displayed the timetable for my class. Attending classes was something I did. There is a difference between the method of teaching at the college and at the school.

 A specialized teacher teaches each subject. Classes do not ask questions. Failure to learn a lesson does not result in a reprimand from the professor. This is simply a matter of reminding students they have responsibilities. The school has a homely atmosphere, so students lack access to snacks. Therefore, they feel the comfortable rhythm of life has changed and I returned home feeling a mixture of duty and liberty.

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 My First Day at College Essay In 500+ Words

 a brief introduction:.

A memorable event in my life was my first day at college. When I was a boy, I dreamed of studying in a college. A college was attended by my eldest brother. During our conversation, he told me stories about his college. My mind immediately traveled to another world when I read those stories. As a student, I found college to be a totally different experience from my school. My dream of attending college came true because of that. My college experience seemed to me to be an opportunity to get rid of the rigid school rules that I had gone to school under. The SSC examination was finally passed and I was able to enroll in a college. Some colleges gave me admission forms. Haji Mohammad Mohsin College selected me for admission after I took the admission tests at those colleges. The event marked the beginning of a new chapter in my life.

  Preparation:

My college life had been on my mind for quite some time. It was finally here. As soon as I arose from my bed, I prepared breakfast. On my way to college, I arrived there well before 9 a.m. In the morning, the routine was written on the noticeboard. It was a busy day for me with three classes. There was a difference in classrooms between my classes and I was surprised by it.

  Classroom experience:

It was English that I studied in my first class. It was time for me to take my seat in the classroom. Many students attended. A lively conversation was taking place between them. There was a lot of student interaction going on. I became friends with some of them in no time, despite not knowing any of them before. In the classroom, the professor arrived on time. He called the roll quickly. After that, he began to speak. 

English was his first language. College students have responsibilities and duties, he said. He held my attention raptly. It was a very informative lecture and I enjoyed it a lot. The next class was Bengali’s first paper. The class was held in a different classroom. Bengali short stories were the topic of the teacher’s lecture in that class. 

My previous school’s educational standards are different from the colleges I am attending. After attending the classes, I understood the difference. Additionally, the college had a better method of teaching. Students were treated politely by the professor as if they were friends.

Libraries, common rooms, and canteens at the college:

After attending the classes, I visited the different parts of the college. There was a large library at the college. Thousands of books were there, and I was astonished. It was a popular place to study. A large crowd of students was chatting in the students’ common. There were also indoor games being played by some of the students. Next, I stopped by the college canteen. Some of my friends and I had tea and snacks there. Everyone on campus was having a good time and enjoying themselves.

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Essay on My First Day at College

Students are often asked to write an essay on My First Day at College in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on My First Day at College

Anticipation and excitement.

My first day at college was filled with a mix of anticipation and excitement. I was eager to meet my new classmates, learn from experienced professors, and explore the vast campus.

Class Introduction

The day began with a class introduction. I was nervous but soon found myself chatting with fellow students, sharing our dreams and aspirations.

First Lecture

The first lecture was intriguing. It was different from school, more interactive and engaging. I could feel the academic rigor and was thrilled.

Exploring the Campus

Post-classes, I explored the campus, discovering libraries, cafeterias, and the beautiful green spaces. It was an enriching and memorable day.

250 Words Essay on My First Day at College

The anticipation of a new beginning, embracing the unknown.

Walking through the grand entrance, I was immediately struck by the sheer size of the campus. The hustle and bustle of students rushing to classes, the diversity of faces, and the grandeur of the architecture made my high school seem like a distant memory. I felt like a small fish in a vast ocean, ready to explore the unknown.

Breaking the Ice

As I entered my first class, the room filled with unfamiliar faces, I felt a twinge of anxiety. However, the ice-breaking session, designed to introduce us to each other, eased my nerves. We shared our backgrounds, interests, and aspirations. It was a comforting reminder that we were all in the same boat, navigating the waters of this new life together.

Lessons Beyond the Classroom

The rest of the day was a flurry of lectures, introductions, and tours. But the most profound lesson I learned was not academic. It was the realization that college was not just about acquiring knowledge, but also about learning to adapt, making connections, and growing as an individual.

My first day at college was a whirlwind of emotions and experiences. It marked the beginning of a new chapter in my life, a chapter filled with opportunities, challenges, and the promise of growth. As I walked back to my dorm that evening, I knew I was ready to embrace this new journey with open arms.

500 Words Essay on My First Day at College

Anticipation and apprehension.

The transition from high school to college is a significant milestone in a student’s life. My first day at college was an amalgamation of emotions ranging from anticipation to apprehension. I was stepping into an environment that promised intellectual growth, new friendships, and a journey towards self-discovery.

The New Academic Culture

My first class was an introduction to philosophy. The professor, a renowned scholar in his field, challenged us to question our beliefs and assumptions. The class was interactive, and students were encouraged to voice their opinions. This was a departure from the rote learning methods I was accustomed to in high school. The emphasis was on critical thinking and problem-solving skills, which are essential in the real world.

Building New Relationships

Another significant aspect of my first day was the opportunity to forge new relationships. I met my roommate, a friendly person from a different city. We found common ground in our shared love for music and literature. The day was also filled with introductions to future classmates, professors, and administrative staff. Each interaction was a step towards building a network that would support me throughout my college journey.

Extracurricular Activities

Embracing independence.

Perhaps the most profound aspect of my first day at college was the sense of independence. For the first time, I was responsible for my schedule, managing my time between classes, extracurricular activities, and personal time. This newfound freedom was both exciting and daunting. It signified the beginning of my journey towards becoming a self-reliant individual.

My first day at college was a whirlwind of new experiences, filled with anticipation, excitement, and a bit of nervousness. It marked the beginning of a transformative journey, a journey that would shape my intellectual growth, personal development, and prepare me for the challenges of the future. As I reflect on that day, I realize that it was not just about the start of my college education, but also about the start of a new chapter in my life, one that would be filled with opportunities, challenges, and lifelong learning.

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An Essay on My First Day at College

• Introduction
• Arrival and Orientation
• Initial Impressions
• Navigating Challenges
• Memorable Encounters

The first day at college is a milestone in every student’s life. It marks the beginning of a new journey filled with excitement, challenges, and countless opportunities. I vividly remember my own first day, where a mix of nerves and anticipation filled the air. The air seemed charged with potential, as if the very atmosphere held the promise of knowledge and growth. With my backpack slung over one shoulder and a heart brimming with dreams, I stepped onto the campus, ready to embark on this transformative adventure.

As I approached the college gates, a sense of awe washed over me. The sprawling campus seemed like a bustling city in itself, teeming with students from various walks of life. The orientation session provided a warm welcome, with faculty members extending their support and guidance. They shared valuable insights about the college, its traditions, and the resources available to students.

The classrooms, with their neat rows of desks, looked like stages awaiting the actors. The library, a treasure trove of knowledge, beckoned with its shelves of books. The campus grounds offered a serene escape, inviting students to pause and reflect. Each corner held a promise of discovery, and I felt a surge of eagerness to explore them all.

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The first day brought its own set of challenges. Finding my way around the campus was like solving a puzzle, but with every wrong turn, I stumbled upon a new corner of this academic wonderland. Time management suddenly became paramount, as lectures, assignments, and extracurricular activities jostled for attention. Adapting to the pace of college life required patience and a willingness to learn.

Amidst the whirlwind of activity, I had the chance to meet a diverse array of fellow students. Each person brought their own unique story, adding vibrant hues to the tapestry of our college community. From classmates to roommates, every encounter was an opportunity to learn, grow, and form lasting connections.

One memorable encounter was with a senior who offered a helping hand, sharing tips and advice on navigating the college terrain. Their kindness and warmth reassured me that I was not alone in this new adventure.

Looking back, that first day at college was like starting a grand adventure. It taught me a lot about being strong when things get tough and making friends in new places. I learned that there’s so much more to learn and discover in this big world. As the sun set on that special day, I felt like a brave explorer, excited to see what comes next. That first day wasn’t just the beginning of college; it was the start of a whole journey of learning and growing that will last a lifetime.

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• College Education: Arguments For and Against Words: 1675
• Women’s Colleges in the USA Words: 658
• First-Generation College Students’ Resilience Words: 948

My First Day at College

Of all the enemies of people, the worst is a human itself. This is the way people think when they refuse to communicate with others, though they do not air it and maybe even don’t think of it directly in this precise form. But it is still there. And the less we try to consider and defy this feeling, the more strength the psychological communication difficulties gain, those in our minds. Some of us, however, are rather comfortable being locked up inside themselves. But when the life itself pushes you towards the situation that does not fit your psychological area of comfort, it is a right moment to reconsider your attitude, despite all the fears you may have.

Long before my first college day I had heard a story that shifted greatly my opinion of how the things in colleges are. It was about a guy who was, like me, adapting to college rules and regulations. It was about two weeks after the first of September when he had an unpleasant talk with his dean about antisemitism. He was accused of racism towards other students and not long after that he was expelled. In fact, he only had a badge on his bag that looked like a swastika, which people interpreted due to their private visions. No actual offense was caused to anyone directly. The guy was trying to defend himself from the false accusations, but futile. His only fault was a little self-expression that he allowed to himself, being good at ancient peoples’ symbolic traditions. The statement, which I derived from the store, was: watch out for everything and everyone; one step aside, and it is the end. In the matter of fact, I had been very gullible.

When it was my time to enter the college, I was utterly nervous. I was not very outgoing as a person, having my own reasons for that, and the story I had heard made me even more shut. On that day, my firm determination was not to give any sign of weakness. I was strained and reserved: everyone seemed to be a potential threat, which will carry my every word to higher echelons. So I hardly said a word to anybody, group mates included, although they seemed to be cheerful towards me. The first day was the day of acquaintances with professors, so students didn’t have to say much. In classrooms, I was taking places as close to the exit as possible. Unwittingly I was trying not to be noticed. I don’t know what I feared the most: expulsion or just a confrontation. In any case, I didn’t feel comfortable with anyone. I did not know yet whether I am going to be like that during all my college years.

It was not until the end of classes when the situation changed. When I was leaving the college, in the front yard I saw her. She caught my attention right away – the girl with multiple piercings and unnatural hair color. First I thought that she was just a passer-by, who occasionally stopped to read a book in a calm atmosphere. Curiosity gave me courage. I came up to her and started a talk. Being startled, I spoke right to the point without any pretext. In hindsight, I might have been a little rude with that. She appeared to be on her third year, and she had always been like that. And she did not look like anything I had thought of an average student. This fact embarrassed me, though she supposed to be the one to be embarrassed with what I asked her. During that conversation, I learned much about the college that I entered, about the attitude of staff and what professors pay attention to. It was that moment when the story that I had heard started to vanish from my head. The most peculiar fact that I remembered was the smile on her face while she was talking to me.

The conversation gave me a great deal to consider. Looking at that day with a new sight, I was able to see that all the reasons for caution were only in my head. Being taken up by overestimated dangers, I forgot to be rational. It was the lesson I learned that day. I can’t say that I changed entirely the next day. It takes time to rebuild one’s attitude, and I am no exception. Still, I’m proud of being able to overstep my fears.

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My First Day at College Essay | 2nd Year, 1st Year | 1000 Words

My First Day at College

College is dreamland of every student’s educational career. It is a beautiful period of learning, enjoyment, freedom and friendship. Sweet memories of college life are simply amazing. They have an everlasting impact on human memory.

Related Quotes:

1. What a beautiful chapter of a student’s life, College life is!

2. Colleges are places where pebbles are polished and diamonds are dimmed.

3. Life in a college is more than a serious effort to get education. Moreover college is a place of making friends and chalking programs to go out to the pictures, cinemas and picnics.

College life has its own charm and beauty. Each and every moment spent there is always worth-living, worth-enjoying and also worth-remembering. Out of all the days, we can never forget the first day of college life.

4. A New place and a New Life with a New lifestyle.

First day of college is really very special and memorable for every student.  The first of anything impresses us most. That is why we hardly ever forget our first love, our first success, our first friend. Likewise, we cannot forget our first day at college, the day that symbolizes the transition period from one life, so to say, into another. It comes to my mind again and again with those alien but lively feelings, those impressions, and sights and sounds.

At last the result of matriculation examination was declared and I came out with flying colors. After I passed my school examination with good grades, many excited and heated discussions took place on the choice of subjects and college. I decided to take admission in Government College which was the biggest college of my city. I had heard a lot of stories about college life from my elder sibling and relatives. According to them college is not as strict as school. I was full of excitement, inner joy and high hopes for a promising future. I thought college life would be full of pleasures and of course it was. College life is not as strict as the school life.

On the very first day, I got up early in the morning as I was much excited for the college life. I offered Dawn Prayer and took a hearty bath and got ready for the college. I could even do breakfast because of excitement. As soon as I stepped into the college, I felt like I have entered a new world. It was indeed a completely new world for me. The college had a wonderful building, lovely playgrounds and devoted Professors. The grand traditions, good mannerism, and liberal atmosphere made a great difference to my life. My first-day entry in college always fascinates me. My first day was an unforgettable experience of my educational life.

5. My impressions of the first day at college are still fresh in my memory. It seems impossible to erase those Sweet memories.

On first September, I got up early in the morning, took bath and said my prayers. Meanwhile, my mother prepared breakfast for me. I hurriedly took my breakfast and went to college by bus. As soon as I stepped into the college, I felt like I have entered a new world. It was indeed a completely new world for me. The college had a wonderful building, lovely playgrounds and devoted Professors. The grand traditions, good mannerism, and liberal atmosphere made a great difference to my life. My first-day entry in college always fascinates me. When I reached the gate of the college, some senior students of the college were standing there. Some of them where in a jolly mood and wanted to befool the new-comers. They had worked out their own plans to make the new-comers indulge in strange actions. However, we decided to act together to avoid their practical jokes. Some of the senior were approaching us with an air of superiority. They were large in number so they made us subdue immediately. They asked us to do strange things like singing ridiculous songs and doing monkey pranks. The sense of self- respect did not allow me to act according to their wishes. Still they forced me to obey their orders. I felt a little humiliated but took it sportingly.

Meanwhile, a senior Professor of the college came to our rescue. He asked the boys to assemble in the hall were the Principal would address them. We want to the hall. The Principal addressed the students and advised them not to take part in politics at college. They should pay full attention to their studies and try their best to achieve their goal. Afterwards, a Professor guided us about our time-table and class rooms.

Our first period was of English. We want to the classroom and set on the benches. A Professor entered the room, the boys stood up greet him. He took our roll-call and entered the names of the students in his attitude register. He did not teach us but advised us about our future life. He stressed what we should not misuse the liberty here rather we should keep full use of the opportunity to achieve our end. Afterwards, we moved another room where our teacher in Arabic came. He delivered his lecture on the importance of Arabic language and advised us to come to the class with our books. Then there was no other period on that day. So, we want to the library and read some newspapers. We discussed the lecture of our teacher and decided to work very hard from the beginning to get through the examinations getting very good marks. Then we left the library, shook hands with one another and departed. I took a bus and reached my home. I found a considerable between the school life and that of college. I concluded that liberty or freedom must not be misused at all.

At the end of the first day, I returned home. When I was returning home, all the memories of my first day at College came to my mind. It was like a film. It had fun and fear. I remembered all the happenings and reached home with a smile. I had entered the college to gain knowledge and wisdom and to become a good citizen. Thanks, Almighty Allah I got what I wished. I wrote my memories in a special notebook.

In the end, I can say that college life is a beautiful blend of joys and memories. Right from my first day, every day spent in College was full of colorful events. Surely, College life is an ideal part of student life.

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• How to Write a College Essay Fast | Tips & Examples

How to Write a College Essay Fast | Tips & Examples

Published on November 5, 2021 by Kirsten Courault . Revised on December 8, 2023.

Table of contents

Organize: set yourself deadlines with breaks, brainstorm: your values and related stories, outline: choose a montage or narrative essay structure, write: be specific, personal, and unique, revise: content, clarity, and grammar, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about college application essays.

Whether you have hours, days, or weeks, set deadlines for yourself with built-in breaks. In general, you should divide your time accordingly:

• 10% brainstorming
• 10% outlining
• 40% writing
• 30% revising
• 10% taking breaks between stages

If you have a few hours …

If you have a few days …

If you have a week …

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

To brainstorm your topic fast, start by doing the following exercises.

Choose the stories that have the most compelling value or narrative. Make sure these stories are:

• Meaningful to you
• Specific (not a broad summary of your life)
• Unique to you (another student couldn’t replicate it)

If you have a single story that showcases how you overcame a challenge or chronicles your personal growth over time, you should use a narrative structure . This type of essay tells a story, usually in chronological order. If you have very limited time, this structure is easier.

If there’s a common theme among several of your stories, you could use a montage structure , which strings together several stories (for example, to showcase different aspects of your identity). If you have more than a few hours to work on your essay, you may want to try out this structure.

To make your essay stand out , write your story in a way that no other student can replicate. As you write, keep these tips in mind:

• Zoom in on specific moments rather than summarizing a long period of time.
• Be vulnerable and share your honest feelings and thoughts.
• Use your authentic voice and an appropriate tone .
• Keep the focus on you, not another person.
• Describe sensory details to create vivid scenes.

Make sure to build in enough time to revise your essay . Ideally, you should aim for three rounds of revision to check for content, clarity, and grammar.

If you don’t have time to fix everything, focus on making sure your writing is clear and grammatically correct. You can do this with the help of a grammar checker and paraphrasing tool . If you want to check your entire document at once, you can use an essay checker .

In your first reading, focus on content:

• Does it answer the prompt?
• Does it focus on me, not someone else?
• Does it have a clear and well-structured narrative?
• Do my stories “show, not tell”?

In your second reading, focus on clarity and flow:

• Is my essay easy to read?
• Are my word choice and tone conversational but respectful?
• Do I have a good mixture of complex and simple sentence structures?

In your third reading, focus on grammar and punctuation:

• Is my writing grammatically correct?
• If I bend language rules, is it clear that it’s intentional and not a mistake?

If you have time, get help from an essay coach or editor; they’ll have specialized knowledge of college admissions essays and be able to give objective expert feedback. Scribbr essay editors can help you revise your essay in 12 hours or less.

Meeting the word count

If your college essay goes over the word count limit , cut any sentences with tangents or irrelevant details. Delete unnecessary words that clutter your essay. Scribbr’s essay editors can also help reduce your word count by up to 25%.

If you’re struggling to reach the word count for your college essay, add vivid personal stories or share your feelings and insight to give your essay more depth and authenticity.

If you want to know more about academic writing , effective communication , or parts of speech , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Academic writing

• Writing process
• Transition words
• Passive voice
• Paraphrasing

 Communication

• How to end an email
• Ms, mrs, miss
• How to start an email
• I hope this email finds you well
• Hope you are doing well

 Parts of speech

• Personal pronouns
• Conjunctions

If you’ve got to write your college essay fast , don’t panic. First, set yourself deadlines: you should spend about 10% of your remaining time on brainstorming, 10% on outlining, 40% writing, 30% revising, and 10% taking breaks in between stages.

Second, brainstorm stories and values based on your essay prompt.

Third, outline your essay based on the montage or narrative essay structure .

Fourth, write specific, personal, and unique stories that would be hard for other students to replicate.

Fifth, revise your essay and make sure it’s clearly written.

Last, if possible, get feedback from an essay coach . Scribbr essay editors can help you revise your essay in 12 hours or less.

If your college essay goes over the word count limit , cut any sentences with tangents or irrelevant details. Delete unnecessary words that clutter your essay.

When revising your college essay , first check for big-picture issues regarding your message and content. Then, check for flow, tone, style , and clarity. Finally, focus on eliminating grammar and punctuation errors .

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Courault, K. (2023, December 08). How to Write a College Essay Fast | Tips & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved August 12, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/college-essay/write-essay-fast/

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My First Day at College Essay & Paragraph

By advancing to college after finishing school, a student begins a new chapter in his life. Especially the incident of going to college on the first day remains bright in his memory forever. That is why students of different classes of college are often asked to write an essay or a paragraph about their first day in college as part of writing practice in English. Here is an essay on my first day at college and a paragraph on my first day at college to help students write their own.

My First Day at College Essay, 500 Words

By: Haque | For class 11-12/HSC | 19-05-’22

Introduction: My first day at college is a memorable event in my life. In my boyhood, I always dreamt of studying in a college. My eldest brother studied in a college. He told me stories about his college. Those stories seemed to me like stories of another world. A college seemed to me completely different from my school. That is why I always pined for getting admitted into a college. Life in college seemed to me another word for freedom where I would get rid of the stringent rules of the school. At last, I passed my SSC examination and had a chance to study in a college. I collected admission form from some colleges. I appeared on the admission tests in those colleges and was selected for admission to Haji Mohammad Mohsin College. It started a new chapter in my life.

Preparation: I was longing for starting my college life. At last, the day came. On that, I got up from bed early in the morning and took breakfast. I started for the college early and reached there before 9 a. m. At first, I went to the noticeboard and wrote down the routine. I had three classes that day. I was surprised to know that my classes were in different classrooms.

Experience in the Classroom: My first class was English. I went to the classroom and took my seat. There were a lot of students. They were chatting in a lively manner. Many of the students were getting acquainted with each other. Though I did not know any of them before, I made some friends in no time at all. The professor entered the classroom on time. At first, he called over the rolls very quickly. Then he started his lecture. He spoke in English. He talked to us about the duties and responsibilities of a college student. I listened to him with rapt attention. I liked him and his lecture very much. The next class was Bengali first paper. We changed our classroom for attending the class. In that class, the teacher lectured on Bengali short stories. After attending the classes I could understand the difference between the educational standards of my previous school and the present college. The method of teaching was also much better in the college. The professor treated his students like friends and spoke politely.

College Library, Common Room, and Canteen: After attending the classes, I went to visit different areas of the college. The college library was very big. I was amazed to see thousands of books there. A lot of students were studying there. In the students’ common, there were a lot of students chatting. Some of the students were also playing indoor games there. Then I went to the college canteen. There I had tea and snacks with some of my friends. On the campus, the students were enjoying themselves and having fun everywhere.

Conclusion: It was a very special day full of joy and new feelings. It is one of the most memorable days of my life.

My First Day at College Paragraph, 200 Words

Writing a paragraph about my first day at college is an emotional thing for me. That day was the beginning of a new chapter in my life. After passing the SSC examination, I was admitted to Haji Muhammad Mohsin College. I arrived at the college before 9 AM on the first day. At first, I looked at the notice board and wrote down the routine. I had three classes that day. The first class was English. I went and sat in the classroom. There were many students. They were chatting lively. Many of the students were getting to know each other. Although I had never known any of them before, I soon made some friends. The professor entered the classroom on time. At first, he called the rolls very fast. He was speaking in English. He talked to us about the duties of a college student. I liked each class and I enjoyed my teachers’ lectures. At the end of the class, I went to visit different areas of the college. The college library was much larger. I was amazed to see thousands of books there. In fact, my first day in college was one of the happiest and most memorable days of my life.

About the Author

A teacher, writer and blogger, started allparagraph noting students search online for paragraphs on various topics, short and simple essays , edifying stories and other materials of study . In composing these lessons we have tried to use as simple language as possible, keeping young students in mind. If you find any text inappropriate, please let us know so we can make it more useful through necessary corrections and modifications. Thank you!

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How to Start a College Essay Perfectly

College Essays

If you've been sitting in front of a blank screen, unsure of exactly how to start a personal statement for college, then believe me—I feel your pain. A great college essay introduction is key to making your essay stand out, so there's a lot of pressure to get it right.

Luckily, being able to craft the perfect beginning for your admissions essay is just like many other writing skills— something you can get better at with practice and by learning from examples.

In this article, I'll walk you through exactly how to start a college essay. We'll cover what makes a great personal statement introduction and how the first part of your essay should be structured. We'll also look at several great examples of essay beginnings and explain why they work, how they work, and what you can learn from them.

What Is the College Essay Introduction For?

Before we talk about how to start a college essay, let's discuss the role of the introduction. Just as your college essay is your chance to introduce yourself to the admissions office of your target college, your essay's beginning is your chance to introduce your writing.

Wait, Back Up—Why Do Colleges Want Personal Statements?

In general, college essays make it easier to get to know the parts of you not in your transcript —these include your personality, outlook on life, passions, and experiences.

You're not writing for yourself but for a very specific kind of reader. Picture it: your audience is an admissions officer who has read thousands and thousands of essays. This person is disposed to be friendly and curious, but if she hasn't already seen it all she's probably seen a good portion of it.

Your essay's job is to entertain and impress this person, and to make you memorable so you don't merely blend into the sea of other personal statements. Like all attempts at charm, you must be slightly bold and out of the ordinary—but you must also stay away from crossing the line into offensiveness or bad taste.

What Role Does the Introduction Play in a College Essay?

The personal statement introduction is basically the wriggly worm that baits the hook to catch your reader. It's vital to grab attention from the get-go—the more awake and eager your audience is, the more likely it is that what you say will really land.

How do you go about crafting an introduction that successfully hooks your reader? Let's talk about how to structure the beginning of your college essay.

How to Structure a Personal Statement Introduction

To see how the introduction fits into an essay, let's look at the big structural picture first and then zoom in.

College Essay Structure Overview

Even though they're called essays, personal statements are really more like a mix of a short story and a philosophy or psychology class that's all about you.

Usually, how this translates is that you start with a really good (and very short) story about something arresting, unusual, or important that happened to you. This is not to say that the story has to be about something important or unusual in the grand scheme of things—it just has to be a moment that stands out to you as defining in some way, or an explanation of why you are the way you are . You then pivot to an explanation of why this story is an accurate illustration of one of your core qualities, values, or beliefs.

The story typically comes in the first half of the essay, and the insightful explanation comes second —but, of course, all rules were made to be broken, and some great essays flip this more traditional order.

College Essay Introduction Components

Now, let's zero in on the first part of the college essay. What are the ingredients of a great personal statement introduction? I'll list them here and then dissect them one by one in the next section:

• A killer first sentence: This hook grabs your readers' attention and whets their appetite for your story.
• A vivid, detailed story that illustrates your eventual insight: To make up for how short your story will be, you must insert effective sensory information to immerse the reader.
• An insightful pivot toward the greater point you're making in your essay: This vital piece of the essay connects the short story part to the part where you explain what the experience has taught you about yourself, how you've matured, and how it has ultimately shaped you as a person.

How to Write a College Essay Introduction

Here's a weird secret that's true for most written work: just because it'll end up at the beginning doesn't mean you have to write it first. For example, in this case, you can't know what your killer first sentence will be until you've figured out the following details:

• The story you want to tell
• The point you want that story to make
• The trait/maturity level/background about you that your essay will reveal

So my suggestion is to work in reverse order! Writing your essay will be much easier if you can figure out the entirety of it first and then go back and work out exactly how it should start.

This means that before you can craft your ideal first sentence, the way the short story experience of your life will play out on the page, and the perfect pivoting moment that transitions from your story to your insight, you must work out a general idea about which life event you will share and what you expect that life event to demonstrate to the reader about you and the kind of person you are.

If you're having trouble coming up with a topic, check out our guide on brainstorming college essay ideas . It might also be helpful to read our guides to specific application essays, such as picking your best Common App prompt and writing a perfect University of California personal statement .

In the next sections of this article, I'll talk about how to work backwards on the introduction, moving from bigger to smaller elements: starting with the first section of the essay in general and then honing your pivot sentence and your first sentence.

How to Write the First Section of Your College Essay

In a 500-word essay, this section will take up about the first half of the essay and will mostly consist of a brief story that illuminates a key experience, an important character trait, a moment of transition or transformation, or a step toward maturity.

Once you've figured out your topic and zeroed in on the experience you want to highlight in the beginning of your essay, here are 2 great approaches to making it into a story:

• Talking it out, storyteller style (while recording yourself): Imagine that you're sitting with a group of people at a campfire, or that you're stuck on a long flight sitting next to someone you want to befriend. Now tell that story. What does someone who doesn't know you need to know in order for the story to make sense? What details do you need to provide to put them in the story with you? What background information do they need in order to understand the stakes or importance of the story?
• Record yourself telling your story to friends and then chatting about it: What do they need clarified? What questions do they have? Which parts of your story didn't make sense or follow logically for them? Do they want to know more, or less? Is part of your story interesting to them but not interesting to you? Is a piece of your story secretly boring, even though you think it's interesting?

Later, as you listen to the recorded story to try to get a sense of how to write it, you can also get a sense of the tone with which you want to tell your story. Are you being funny as you talk? Sad? Trying to shock, surprise, or astound your audience? The way you most naturally tell your story is the way you should write it.

After you've done this storyteller exercise, write down the salient points of what you learned. What is the story your essay will tell? What is the point about your life, point of view, or personality it will make? What tone will you tell it with? Sketch out a detailed outline so that you can start filling in the pieces as we work through how to write the introductory sections.

How to Write the First Sentence of Your College Essay

In general, your essay's first sentence should be either a mini-cliffhanger that sets up a situation the reader would like to see resolved, or really lush scene-setting that situates your audience in a place and time they can readily visualize. The former builds expectations and evokes curiosity, and the latter stimulates the imagination and creates a connection with the author. In both cases, you hit your goal of greater reader engagement.

Now, I'm going to show you how these principles work for all types of first sentences, whether in college essays or in famous works of fiction.

First Sentence Idea 1: Line of Quoted Direct Speech

"Mum, I'm gay." ( Ahmad Ashraf '17 for Connecticut College )

The experience of coming out is raw and emotional, and the issue of LGBTQ rights is an important facet of modern life. This three-word sentence immediately sums up an enormous background of the personal and political.

"You can handle it, Matt," said Mr. Wolf, my fourth-grade band teacher, as he lifted the heavy tuba and put it into my arms. ( Matt Coppo '07 for Hamilton College )

This sentence conjures up a funny image—we can immediately picture the larger adult standing next to a little kid holding a giant tuba. It also does a little play on words: "handle it" can refer to both the literal tuba Matt is being asked to hold and the figurative stress of playing the instrument.

First Sentence Idea 2: Punchy Short Sentence With One Grabby Detail

I live alone—I always have since elementary school. ( Kevin Zevallos '16 for Connecticut College )

This opener definitely makes us want to know more. Why was he alone? Where were the protective grown-ups who surround most kids? How on earth could a little kid of 8-10 years old survive on his own?

I have old hands. ( First line from a student in Stanford's class of 2012 )

There's nothing but questions here. What are "old" hands? Are they old-looking? Arthritic? How has having these hands affected the author?

There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. (Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre )

There's immediately a feeling of disappointment and the stifled desire for action here. Who wanted to go for a walk? And why was this person being prevented from going?

First Sentence Idea 3: Lyrical, Adjective-Rich Description of a Setting

We met for lunch at El Burrito Mexicano, a tiny Mexican lunch counter under the Red Line "El" tracks. ( Ted Mullin '06 for Carleton College )

Look at how much specificity this sentence packs in less than 20 words. Each noun and adjective is chosen for its ability to convey yet another detail. "Tiny" instead of "small" gives readers a sense of being uncomfortably close to other people and sitting at tables that don't quite have enough room for the plates. "Counter" instead of "restaurant" lets us immediately picture this work surface, the server standing behind it, and the general atmosphere. "Under the tracks" is a location deeply associated with being run down, borderline seedy, and maybe even dangerous.

Maybe it's because I live in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, where Brett Favre draws more of a crowd on Sunday than any religious service, cheese is a staple food, it's sub-zero during global warming, current "fashions" come three years after they've hit it big with the rest of the world, and where all children by the age of ten can use a 12-gauge like it's their job. ( Riley Smith '12 for Hamilton College )

This sentence manages to hit every stereotype about Wisconsin held by outsiders—football, cheese, polar winters, backwardness, and guns—and this piling on gives us a good sense of place while also creating enough hyperbole to be funny. At the same time, the sentence raises the tantalizing question: maybe what is because of Wisconsin?

High, high above the North Pole, on the first day of 1969, two professors of English Literature approached each other at a combined velocity of 1200 miles per hour. (David Lodge, Changing Places )

This sentence is structured in the highly specific style of a math problem, which makes it funny. However, at the heart of this sentence lies a mystery that grabs the reader's interest: why on earth would these two people be doing this?

First Sentence Idea 4: Counterintuitive Statement

To avoid falling into generalities with this one, make sure you're really creating an argument or debate with your counterintuitive sentence. If no one would argue with what you've said, then you aren't making an argument. ("The world is a wonderful place" and "Life is worth living" don't make the cut.)

If string theory is really true, then the entire world is made up of strings, and I cannot tie a single one. ( Joanna '18 for Johns Hopkins University )

There's a great switch here from the sub-microscopic strings that make up string theory to the actual physical strings you can tie in real life. This sentence hints that the rest of the essay will continue playing with linked, albeit not typically connected, concepts.

All children, except one, grow up. (J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan )

In just six words, this sentence upends everything we think we know about what happens to human beings.

First Sentence Idea 5: The End—Making the Rest of the Essay a Flashback

I've recently come to the realization that community service just isn't for me. ( Kyla '19 for Johns Hopkins University )

This seems pretty bold—aren't we supposed to be super into community service? Is this person about to declare herself to be totally selfish and uncaring about the less fortunate? We want to know the story that would lead someone to this kind of conclusion.

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. (Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude )

So many amazing details here. Why is the Colonel being executed? What does "discovering" ice entail? How does he go from ice-discoverer to military commander of some sort to someone condemned to capital punishment?

First Sentence Idea 6: Direct Question to the Reader

To work well, your question should be especially specific, come out of left field, or pose a surprising hypothetical.

How does an agnostic Jew living in the Diaspora connect to Israel? ( Essay #3 from Carleton College's sample essays )

This is a thorny opening, raising questions about the difference between being an ethnic Jew and practicing the religion of Judaism, and the obligations of Jews who live outside of Israel to those who live in Israel and vice versa. There's a lot of meat to this question, setting up a philosophically interesting, politically important, and personally meaningful essay.

While traveling through the daily path of life, have you ever stumbled upon a hidden pocket of the universe? ( First line from a student in Stanford's class of 2012 )

There's a dreamy and sci-fi element to this first sentence, as it tries to find the sublime ("the universe") inside the prosaic ("daily path of life").

First Sentence Idea 7: Lesson You Learned From the Story You're Telling

One way to think about how to do this kind of opening sentence well is to model it on the morals that ended each Aesop's fable . The lesson you learned should be slightly surprising (not necessarily intuitive) and something that someone else might disagree with.

Perhaps it wasn't wise to chew and swallow a handful of sand the day I was given my first sandbox, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. ( Meagan Spooner '07 for Hamilton College )

The best part of this hilarious sentence is that even in retrospect, eating a handful of sand is only possibly an unwise idea—a qualifier achieved through that great "perhaps." So does that mean it was wise in at least some way to eat the sand? The reader wants to know more.

All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. (Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina )

This immediately sets readers to mentally flip through every unhappy family they've ever known to double-check the narrator's assertion. Did he draw the right conclusion here? How did he come to this realization? The implication that he will tell us all about some dysfunctional drama also has a rubbernecking draw.

How to Write a Pivot Sentence in Your College Essay

This is the place in your essay where you go from small to big—from the life experience you describe in detail to the bigger point this experience illustrates about your world and yourself.

Typically, the pivot sentence will come at the end of your introductory section, about halfway through the essay. I say sentence, but this section could be more than one sentence (though ideally no longer than two or three).

So how do you make the turn? Usually you indicate in your pivot sentence itself that you are moving from one part of the essay to another. This is called signposting, and it's a great way to keep readers updated on where they are in the flow of the essay and your argument.

Here are three ways to do this, with real-life examples from college essays published by colleges.

Pivot Idea 1: Expand the Time Frame

In this pivot, you gesture out from the specific experience you describe to the overarching realization you had during it. Think of helper phrases such as "that was the moment I realized" and "never again would I."

Suddenly, two things simultaneously clicked. One was the lock on the door. (I actually succeeded in springing it.) The other was the realization that I'd been in this type of situation before. In fact, I'd been born into this type of situation. ( Stephen '19 for Johns Hopkins University )

This is a pretty great pivot, neatly connecting the story Stephen's been telling (about having to break into a car on a volunteering trip) and his general reliance on his own resourcefulness and ability to roll with whatever life throws at him. It's a double bonus that he accomplishes the pivot with a play on the word "click," which here means both the literal clicking of the car door latch and the figurative clicking his brain does. Note also how the pivot crystallizes the moment of epiphany through the word "suddenly," which implies instant insight.

But in that moment I realized that the self-deprecating jokes were there for a reason. When attempting to climb the mountain of comedic success, I didn't just fall and then continue on my journey, but I fell so many times that I befriended the ground and realized that the middle of the metaphorical mountain made for a better campsite. Not because I had let my failures get the best of me, but because I had learned to make the best of my failures. (Rachel Schwartzbaum '19 for Connecticut College)

This pivot similarly focuses on a "that moment" of illuminated clarity. In this case, it broadens Rachel's experience of stage fright before her standup comedy sets to the way she has more generally not allowed failures to stop her progress—and has instead been able to use them as learning experiences. Not only does she describe her humor as "self-deprecating," but she also demonstrates what she means with that great "befriended the ground" line.

It was on this first educational assignment that I realized how much could be accomplished through an animal education program—more, in some cases, than the aggregate efforts of all of the rehabilitators. I found that I had been naive in my assumption that most people knew as much about wildlife as I did, and that they shared my respect for animals. ( J.P. Maloney '07 for Hamilton College )

This is another classically constructed pivot, as J.P. segues from his negative expectations about using a rehabilitated wild owl as an educational animal to his understanding of how much this kind of education could contribute to forming future environmentalists and nature lovers. The widening of scope happens at once as we go from a highly specific "first educational assignment" to the more general realization that "much" could be accomplished through these kinds of programs.

Pivot Idea 2: Link the Described Experience With Others

In this pivot, you draw a parallel between the life event that you've been describing in your very short story and other events that were similar in some significant way. Helpful phrases include "now I see how x is really just one of the many x 's I have faced," "in a way, x is a good example of the x -like situations I see daily," and "and from then on every time I ..."

This state of discovery is something I strive for on a daily basis. My goal is to make all the ideas in my mind fit together like the gears of a Swiss watch. Whether it's learning a new concept in linear algebra, talking to someone about a programming problem, or simply zoning out while I read, there is always some part of my day that pushes me towards this place of cohesion: an idea that binds together some set of the unsolved mysteries in my mind. ( Aubrey Anderson '19 for Tufts University )

After cataloging and detailing the many interesting thoughts that flow through her brain in a specific hour, Aubrey uses the pivot to explain that this is what every waking hour is like for her "on a daily basis." She loves learning different things and finds a variety of fields fascinating. And her pivot lets us know that her example is a demonstration of how her mind works generally.

This was the first time I've been to New Mexico since he died. Our return brought so much back for me. I remembered all the times we'd visited when I was younger, certain events highlighted by the things we did: Dad haggling with the jewelry sellers, his minute examination of pots at a trading post, the affection he had for chilies. I was scared that my love for the place would be tainted by his death, diminished without him there as my guide. That fear was part of what kept my mother and me away for so long. Once there, though, I was relieved to realize that Albuquerque still brings me closer to my father. ( Essay #1 from Carleton College's sample essays )

In this pivot, one very painful experience of visiting a place filled with sorrowful memories is used as a way to think about "all the other times" the author had been to New Mexico. The previously described trip after the father's death pivots into a sense of the continuity of memory. Even though he is no longer there to "guide," the author's love for the place itself remains.

Pivot Idea 3: Extract and Underline a Trait or Value

In this type of pivot, you use the experience you've described to demonstrate its importance in developing or zooming in on one key attribute. Here are some ways to think about making this transition: "I could not have done it without characteristic y , which has helped me through many other difficult moments," or "this is how I came to appreciate the importance of value z, both in myself and in those around me."

My true reward of having Stanley is that he opened the door to the world of botany. I would never have invested so much time learning about the molecular structure or chemical balance of plants if not for taking care of him. ( Michaela '19 for Johns Hopkins University )

In this tongue-in-cheek essay in which Michaela writes about Stanley, a beloved cactus, as if "he" has human qualities and is her child, the pivot explains what makes this plant so meaningful to its owner. Without having to "take care of him," Michaela "would never have invested so much time learning" about plant biology. She has a deep affinity for the natural sciences and attributes her interest at least partly to her cactus.

By leaving me free to make mistakes and chase wild dreams, my father was always able to help ground me back in reality. Personal responsibilities, priorities and commitments are all values that are etched into my mind, just as they are within my father's. ( Olivia Rabbitt '16 for Connecticut College )

In Olivia's essay about her father's role in her life, the pivot discusses his importance by explaining his deep impact on her values. Olivia has spent the story part of her essay describing her father's background and their relationship. Now, she is free to show how without his influence, she would not be so strongly committed to "personal responsibilities, priorities and commitments."

College Essay Introduction Examples

We've collected many examples of college essays published by colleges and offered a breakdown of how several of them are put together . Now, let's check out a couple of examples of actual college essay beginnings to show you how and why they work.

Sample Intro 1

A blue seventh place athletic ribbon hangs from my mantel. Every day, as I walk into my living room, the award mockingly congratulates me as I smile. Ironically, the blue seventh place ribbon resembles the first place ribbon in color; so, if I just cover up the tip of the seven, I may convince myself that I championed the fourth heat. But, I never dare to wipe away the memory of my seventh place swim; I need that daily reminder of my imperfection. I need that seventh place.

Two years ago, I joined the no-cut swim team. That winter, my coach unexpectedly assigned me to swim the 500 freestyle. After stressing for hours about swimming 20 laps in a competition, I mounted the blocks, took my mark, and swam. Around lap 14, I looked around at the other lanes and did not see anyone. "I must be winning!" I thought to myself. However, as I finally completed my race and lifted my arms up in victory to the eager applause of the fans, I looked up at the score board. I had finished my race in last place. In fact, I left the pool two minutes after the second-to-last competitor, who now stood with her friends, wearing all her clothes.

(From "The Unathletic Department" by Meghan '17 for Johns Hopkins University )

Why Intro Sample 1 Works

Here are some of the main reasons that this essay's introduction is super effective.

#1: It's Got a Great First Sentence

The sentence is short but still does some scene setting with the descriptive "blue" and the location "from my mantel." It introduces a funny element with "seventh place"—why would that bad of a showing even get a ribbon? It dangles information just out of reach, making the reader want to know more: what was this an award for? Why does this definitively non-winning ribbon hang in such a prominent place of pride?

#2: It Has Lots of Detail

In the intro, we get physical actions: "cover up the tip," "mounted the blocks," "looked around at the other lanes," "lifted my arms up," and "stood with her friends, wearing all her clothes." We also get words conveying emotion: "mockingly congratulates me as I smile," "unexpectedly assigned," and "stressing for hours." Finally, we get descriptive specificity in the precise word choice: "from my mantel" and "my living room" instead of simply "in my house," and "lap 14" instead of "toward the end of the race."

#3: It Explains the Stakes

Even though everyone can imagine the lap pool, not everyone knows exactly what the "500 freestyle" race is. Meghan elegantly explains the difficulty by describing herself freaking out over "swimming 20 laps in a competition," which helps us to picture the swimmer going back and forth many times.

#4: It Has Great Storytelling

We basically get a sports commentary play-by-play here. Even though we already know the conclusion—Meghan came in 7th—she still builds suspense by narrating the race from her point of view as she was swimming it. She's nervous for a while, and then she starts the race.

Close to the end, she starts to think everything is going well ("I looked around at the other lanes and did not see anyone. 'I must be winning!' I thought to myself."). Everything builds to an expected moment of great triumph ("I finally completed my race and lifted my arms up in victory to the eager applause of the fans") but ends in total defeat ("I had finished my race in last place").

Not only that, but the mildly clichéd sports hype is hilariously undercut by reality ("I left the pool two minutes after the second-to-last competitor, who now stood with her friends, wearing all her clothes").

#5: It Uses a Pivot Sentence

This essay uses the time expansion method of pivoting: "But, I never dare to wipe away the memory of my seventh place swim; I need that daily reminder of my imperfection. I need that seventh place." Coming last in the race was something that happened once, but the award is now an everyday experience of humility.

The rest of the essay explores what it means for Meghan to constantly see this reminder of failure and to transform it into a sense of acceptance of her imperfections. Notice also that in this essay, the pivot comes before the main story, helping us "hear" the narrative in the way she wants us to.

Sample Intro 2

"Biogeochemical. It's a word, I promise!" There are shrieks and shouts in protest and support. Unacceptable insults are thrown, degrees and qualifications are questioned, I think even a piece of my grandmother's famously flakey parantha whizzes past my ear. Everyone is too lazy to take out a dictionary (or even their phones) to look it up, so we just hash it out. And then, I am crowned the victor, a true success in the Merchant household. But it is fleeting, as the small, glossy, plastic tiles, perfectly connected to form my winning word, are snatched out from under me and thrown in a pile with all the disgraced, "unwinning" tiles as we mix for our next game of Bananagrams. It's a similar donnybrook, this time ending with my father arguing that it is okay to use "Rambo" as a word (it totally is not).

Words and communicating have always been of tremendous importance in my life: from silly games like Bananagrams and our road-trip favorite "word game," to stunted communication between opposing grandparents, each speaking a different Indian language; from trying to understand the cheesemonger behind the counter with a deep southern drawl (I just want some Camembert!), to shaping a script to make people laugh.

Words are moving and changing; they have influence and substance.

From an Essay by Shaan Merchant ‘19 for Tufts University

Why Intro Sample 2 Works

Let's take a look at what qualities make this essay's introduction particularly memorable.

With the first sentence, we are immediately thrust into the middle of the action —into an exciting part of an argument about whether "biogeochemical" is really a word. We're also immediately challenged. Is this a word? Have I ever heard it before? Does a scientific neologism count as a word?

#2: It Shows Rather Than Tells

Since the whole essay is going to be about words, it makes sense for Shaan to demonstrate his comfort with all different kinds of language:

• Complex, elevated vocabulary, such as "biogeochemical" and "donnybrook"
• Foreign words, such as "parantha" and "Camembert"
• Colorful descriptive words, such as "shrieks and shouts," "famously flakey, "whizzes past," and "hash it out"
• "Fake" words, such as "unwinning" and "Rambo"

What's great is that Shaan is able to seamlessly mix the different tones and registers these words imply, going from cerebral to funny and back again.

#3: It Uses a Pivot Sentence

This essay uses the value-extraction style of pivot: "Words and communicating have always been of tremendous importance in my life." After we see an experience linking Shaan's clear love of his family with an interest in word games, he clarifies that this is exactly what the essay will be about—using a very straightforward pivoting sentence.

#4: It Piles On Examples to Avoid Vagueness

The danger of this kind of pivot sentence is slipping into vague, uninformative statements, such as "I love words." To avoid making a generalization the tells us nothing, the essay builds a list of examples of times when Shaan saw the way that words connect people: games ("Bananagrams and our road-trip favorite ‘word game,'"), his mixed-language family ("grandparents, each speaking a different Indian language"), encounters with strangers ("from trying to understand the cheesemonger"), and finally the more active experience of performing ("shaping a script to make people laugh").

But the essay stops short of giving so many examples that the reader drowns. I'd say three to five examples is a good range—as long as they're all different kinds of the same thing.

The Bottom Line: How to Start a College Essay

The college essay introduction should hook your reader and make her want to know more and read more.

Good personal statement introductions will contain the following features:

• A killer first line
• A detailed description of an experience from your life
• A pivot to the bigger picture, in which you explain why and how this experience has shaped you, your point of view, and/or your values.

You don't have to write the introduction first, and you certainly don't have to write your first sentence first . Instead, start by developing your story by telling it out loud to a friend. You can then work on your first sentence and your pivot.

The first sentence should either be short, punchy, and carry some ambiguity or questions, or be a detailed and beautiful description setting an easily pictured scene. The pivot, on the other hand, should answer the question, "How does the story you've told connect to a larger truth or insight about you?"

What's Next?

Wondering what to make of the Common Application essay prompts? We have the complete list of this year's Common App prompts with explanations of what each is asking as well as a guide to picking the Common App prompt that's perfect for you .

Thinking of applying to the University of California system? Check out our detailed guide on how to approach their essay prompts and craft your ideal UC essay .

If you're in the middle of the essay-writing process, you'll want to see our suggestions on what essay pitfalls to avoid .

Working on the rest of your college application? Read what admissions officers wish applicants knew before applying .

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Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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Best College Essay Examples

The first day of college.

948 words | 4 page(s)

The first day of college is always a stressful time, especially for a freshman. A new student is living on their own, perhaps for the first time, and there is so much to learn. This happened to me, too, when I first went away to school. I was scared, worried, stressed and confused. But at the same time, it was also amazing because my life is changed from high school life to the college life. It is such a transition and there are so many differences between the two lives.

On my first day, I woke up at 7:00 a.m., then I got my car key, went to my car, started the engine and was thinking about where could I park. I figured that when I arrived to the college, I will ask any student to help me. I drove my car to college and was trying to find an available space for my car, but the parking was almost full. So I asked one of the students there if he knew of any place to park, and he told me about the other side of parking lot. So, I went to the other side and finally found an available space for my car, so I parked my car and turned off the engine. Then, I got out of the car, looked up, and became very confused because there is a lot of buildings, and I immediately felt lost.

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I saw some students were eating, so I went to those students, introduced myself and asked them where can I find someone to help me add and drop classes. They were nice enough to show me the building and told me there are many different people in there who could help me. Then I went to the building, and found a worker to help me to add classes. He was very nice because he gave me important information about my major. He taught me every single thing about what I was going to study, and what classes I could register for that would apply to my major. After that, he taught me how I could register by using the college website, which is both easy and convenient.

Right away, I recognized that registering for classes is one difference between high school and the college. In high school, I do not have to register. But in college, I have to register since there are a limited number of seats in each class, and once those seats are filled, the class is closed. And if a class is closed, I will either have to take the class at a different time, or in another semester, which can give me problems when planning for my major. So I was worrying about the seats. Also, I was worrying how I should begin in which classes and could I get 12 credits, or more than 12 credits. If the seats were full, I might not be able to take enough classes to fill the 12 credits.

After I registered my classes, I was figuring out where are my classes were located, because the college has a lot of buildings, and I didn’t know in which building I had to go to. Also I was very stressed and tried to organize my daily schedule. In addition, I was surprised there are some classes have around 150 students, which is much different than high school. It felt a little overwhelming to be in a class that large, at first. And I was scared about how could I understand the teacher and how to do well enough to earn an “A”. So I asked my teacher what could I do to get an “A” in your class, and he said to me his roles and added that if I did not understand something, I could go to the “Student Success Center” room to help me with all my classes in addition to his class. So, I went to the “ Student Success Center “ to help me with my classes.

Fortunately I feel that I am kind and generous, so that’s helped me meet a lot of students of different ages. For example, in the first day of the college, I contacted a lot of students to ask them for help. And, the students were all very nice and helpful, so they gave me their phone number and E-mail and they said to me that if I faced any problems, that I can contact them and asked them for help. This makes me feel good that there are people out there who are so willing to be helpful for a new student.

Unfortunately when I went to my car during my break, I saw a parking ticket in the front window of my car. I called one of the students who had said to me that I could ask him for help, so I asked him where could I take a ticket for a general parking because I got a fine. He said to me do not worry because this is a warning because it is your first time, then he told me where is the place to take the ticket for the general parking.

In conclusion, the college life gave me a lot of different experiences. For example, when I was in high school, I did not understand the exact meaning of responsibility. But after I entered the college life, I have already know I have to have more responsible in order to be successful. Also, I should ask many different people for help to learn from them, and apply their experiences to my own. All in all, I feel that going to this college will be a wonderful fit.

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10 Things You’ll Need For Your First Day of College

Congratulations on starting your college career! You are about to embark on an exciting new life and enter a new phase of independence. With new changes comes new responsibilities. There are a few changes you’ll need to consider as you step away from high school and onto a college campus or transition from online to campus learning .

Your first day of college will be much different than anything you experienced in high school. You’ll probably find you spend more time reading, studying, writing papers, and cramming for tests than you do in the actual classroom. And some of your classes may have 10x the number of students you’re used to. 

There will be changes outside of your studies, too. You’ll finally test out your independence by taking on more responsibilities at home with grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, and doing your own laundry. And don’t forget the new friends that you’re bound to make!

Needless to say, significant changes lie ahead. The more you prepare for your first day of college, the quicker you will adjust, and the more successful you’ll be. Set yourself up for success with these 10 tips for your journey ahead.

Top 10 Things That Make Your First Day of College Successful

Your first day of college can be so overwhelming that it may seem like a big blur in hindsight. Make sure you have the following things for college in advance to prevent that first-day overwhelm.

1. College Planner

The best way to be prepared for your first day of college is to invest in a good college planner. Get something fun, pretty, motivating, or whatever makes you want to use it. Use it to organize your schedule ahead of time and stay on top of your busy to-do list. You may individualize your college planner however you like, even down to the hour. Just don’t forget to add the following: 

• Doctor appointments
• Social time
• Study hours

Buy this college planner for your class schedule.

3. Backpack

You’ll need a backpack to carry and store your class books and supplies. Choose one per your style and preference. Just make sure it is both functional and durable enough to last you for a few years.

Here is a helpful tip: keep an extra $20-$40 stashed in your backpack at all times. You never know when you will need a few dollars for food, drinks, parking, or some other necessity. It will give you peace of mind to focus on the most important thing - your studies!

Buy this college laptop backpack .

It may be a good idea to have your eyesight checked during the summer before you start college. Many students may not realize that their eyesight has declined, partially because high school class sizes are much smaller than college lecture halls. It can take several days or weeks to get an appointment with your optometrist, be fitted for glasses, and have them made. So don’t wait and get an appointment early.

If you can’t see what your professor has written on the board, then you will be starting your first day of college off on the wrong foot. 

And if you are lucky enough to have 20/20 vision, some blue light glasses are never a bad idea with how much time you’ll be spending on your computer.

5. A map of the campus

Getting around a new campus can seem daunting, especially on your first day! Consider walking around the campus before school starts with your class locations, so you know the routes and how much time you’ll need to get from class to class. The last thing you want to do is show up late on your first day of college because you were lost or thought you had enough time between classes for that latte from the student center. 

6. Course Textbooks

Many professors will expect you to have your books with you in class for reference. But since you don’t already know who will require it, bring your textbooks with you on the first day. It will also allow you to skim through the material and better understand what the course will cover. 

Textbooks can also be expensive, so check your used bookstores near campus or search online catalogs to see if you can find a better deal on books than buying new at the campus bookstore.

Even if you are not using your laptop to take notes during class, it may still be helpful to have access to your computer if you need it. You may want to look up information during class, or it may come in handy to knock out some homework or take a quick time out if you have a break in your day.

Here are also some of the best computer programs for college students that you may want to consider downloading:

• Prey - Anti-theft and device tracking software to keep your laptop safe
• Grammarly - Online writing assistant for all those essays and writing assignments
• Table au - A visual analytics platform
• OneNote - A note-taking app so you never forget a thing
• Jango.com - Free unlimited music listening, because who doesn’t like music?
• Anki Flashcards - An online flashcard app, because...tests.
• myHomework - An online test and school work tracker to organize your coursewor

Buy this  Apple Macbook Pro laptop .

8. Water and snacks

You will have a hard time paying attention to your professor if your stomach is growling.  In addition, dehydration can make concentration more difficult and make you feel more tired than you actually are. Consider purchasing a reusable water bottle, such as a Hydroflask, and keeping protein bars or trail mix in your backpack at all times, so you have something close by when hunger strikes.

Get yourself a reusable water bottle like this Hydroflask .

9. A sweater or sweatshirt

You would be amazed at how cold a lecture hall can be, even in the middle of summer. The last thing you want is to be so cold that you have a hard time focusing because you want to leave and warm up. Make sure you have something with you in your backpack that you can throw on if the classroom gets unbearably chilly. And what better of an excuse to rep some school pride!

10. Positivity

One study shows that having a positive outlook increases your chances of performing better in your coursework! You are embarking on a whole world of new exciting experiences. Sure, it’s scary. But it’s also one of the most exciting adventures you will take in your entire life! A positive attitude on your first day of college will help you:

• Make a good impression on teachers
• Make new friends and expand your social circle
• Network with students about campus events/study groups
• Brighten your day and the day of those around you

What Else Should I Do On My First Day Of College?

Your first day of college is the time to make a great first impression on professors, students, and roommates.

Consider introducing yourself to professors sometime during the first week so they know who you are. Plan something fun with your classmates or roommates to help break the ice and get to know one another better. After all, they are probably just as nervous and excited as you to make new friends. Best of luck to you on your first day of college!

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Want to write a college essay that sets you apart? Three tips to give you a head start

1. Keep it real. It’s normal to want to make a good impression on the school of your choice, but it’s also important to show who you really are. So just be yourself! Compelling stories might not be perfectly linear or have a happy ending, and that’s OK. It’s best to be authentic instead of telling schools what you think they want to hear.

2. Be reflective . Think about how you’ve changed during high school. How have you grown and improved? What makes you feel ready for college, and how do you hope to contribute to the campus community and society at large?

3. Look to the future. Consider your reasons for attending college. What do you hope to gain from your education? What about college excites you the most, and what would you like to do after you graduate? Answering these questions will not only give colleges insight into the kind of student you’ll be, but it will also give you the personal insight you’ll need to choose the school that’s right for you.

Have questions about college prep? We're here to help.

Written by CU Boulder Office of Admissions

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How To Tackle The Weirdest Supplemental Essay Prompts For This Application Cycle

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Writing the college essay

How do you write a letter to a friend that shows you’re a good candidate for the University of Pennsylvania? What reading list will help the Columbia University admissions committee understand your interdisciplinary interests? How can you convey your desire to attend Yale by inventing a course description for a topic you’re interested in studying?

These are the challenges students must overcome when writing their supplemental essays . Supplemental essays are a critical component of college applications—like the personal statement, they provide students with the opportunity to showcase their authentic voice and perspective beyond the quantitative elements of their applications. However, unlike the personal essay, supplemental essays allow colleges to read students’ responses to targeted prompts and evaluate their candidacy for their specific institution. For this reason, supplemental essay prompts are often abstract, requiring students to get creative, read between the lines, and ditch the traditional essay-writing format when crafting their responses.

While many schools simply want to know “why do you want to attend our school?” others break the mold, inviting students to think outside of the box and answer prompts that are original, head-scratching, or downright weird. This year, the following five colleges pushed students to get creative—if you’re struggling to rise to the challenge, here are some tips for tackling their unique prompts:

University of Chicago

Prompt: We’re all familiar with green-eyed envy or feeling blue, but what about being “caught purple-handed”? Or “tickled orange”? Give an old color-infused expression a new hue and tell us what it represents. – Inspired by Ramsey Bottorff, Class of 2026

What Makes it Unique: No discussion of unique supplemental essay prompts would be complete without mentioning the University of Chicago, a school notorious for its puzzling and original prompts (perhaps the most well-known of these has been the recurring prompt “Find x”). This prompt challenges you to invent a new color-based expression, encouraging both linguistic creativity and a deep dive into the emotional or cultural connotations of color. It’s a prompt that allows you to play with language, think abstractly, and show off your ability to forge connections between concepts that aren’t typically linked—all qualities that likewise demonstrate your preparedness for UChicago’s unique academic environment.

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How to Answer it: While it may be easy to get distracted by the open-ended nature of the prompt, remember that both the substance and structure of your response should give some insight into your personality, perspective, and characteristics. With this in mind, begin by considering the emotions, experiences, or ideas that most resonate with you. Then, use your imagination to consider how a specific color could represent that feeling or concept. Remember that the prompt is ultimately an opportunity to showcase your creativity and original way of looking at the world, so your explanation does not need to be unnecessarily deep or complex—if you have a playful personality, convey your playfulness in your response; if you are known for your sarcasm, consider how you can weave in your biting wit; if you are an amateur poet, consider how you might take inspiration from poetry as you write, or offer a response in the form of a poem.

The goal is to take a familiar concept and turn it into something new and meaningful through a creative lens. Use this essay to showcase your ability to think inventively and to draw surprising connections between language and life.

Harvard University

Prompt: Top 3 things your roommates might like to know about you.

What Makes it Unique: This prompt is unique in both form and substance—first, you only have 150 words to write about all 3 things. Consider using a form other than a traditional essay or short answer response, such as a bullet list or short letter. Additionally, note that the things your roommate might like to learn about you do not necessarily overlap with the things you would traditionally share with an admissions committee. The aim of the prompt is to get to know your quirks and foibles—who are you as a person and a friend? What distinguishes you outside of academics and accolades?

How to Answer it: First and foremost, feel free to get creative with your response to this prompt. While you are producing a supplemental essay and thus a professional piece of writing, the prompt invites you to share more personal qualities, and you should aim to demonstrate your unique characteristics in your own voice. Consider things such as: How would your friends describe you? What funny stories do your parents and siblings share that encapsulate your personality? Or, consider what someone might want to know about living with you: do you snore? Do you have a collection of vintage posters? Are you particularly fastidious? While these may seem like trivial things to mention, the true creativity is in how you connect these qualities to deeper truths about yourself—perhaps your sleepwalking is consistent with your reputation for being the first to raise your hand in class or speak up about a cause you’re passionate about. Perhaps your living conditions are a metaphor for how your brain works—though it looks like a mess to everyone else, you have a place for everything and know exactly where to find it. Whatever qualities you choose, embrace the opportunity to think outside of the box and showcase something that admissions officers won’t learn about anywhere else on your application.

University of Pennsylvania

Prompt: Write a short thank-you note to someone you have not yet thanked and would like to acknowledge.

What Makes it Unique: Breaking from the traditional essay format, this supplement invites you to write directly to a third party in the form of a 150-200 word long letter. The challenge in answering this distinct prompt is to remember that your letter should say as much about you, your unique qualities and what you value as it does about the recipient—all while not seeming overly boastful or contrived.

How to Answer it: As you select a recipient, consider the relationships that have been most formative in your high school experience—writing to someone who has played a large part in your story will allow the admissions committee some insight into your development and the meaningful relationships that guided you on your journey. Once you’ve identified the person, craft a thank-you note that is specific and heartfelt—unlike other essays, this prompt invites you to be sentimental and emotional, as long as doing so would authentically convey your feelings of gratitude. Describe the impact they’ve had on you, what you’ve learned from them, and how their influence has shaped your path. For example, if you’re thanking a teacher, don’t just say they helped you become a better student—explain how their encouragement gave you the confidence to pursue your passions. Keep the tone sincere and personal, avoid clichés and focus on the unique role this person has played in your life.

University of Notre Dame

Prompt: What compliment are you most proud of receiving, and why does it mean so much to you?

What Makes it Unique: This prompt is unique in that it invites students to share something about themselves by reflecting on someone else’s words in 50-100 words.

How to Answer it: The key to answering this prompt is to avoid focusing too much on the complement itself and instead focus on your response to receiving it and why it was so important to you. Note that this prompt is not an opportunity to brag about your achievements, but instead to showcase what truly matters to you. Select a compliment that truly speaks to who you are and what you value. It could be related to your character, work ethic, kindness, creativity, or any other quality that you hold in high regard. The compliment doesn’t have to be grand or come from someone with authority—it could be something small but significant that left a lasting impression on you, or it could have particular meaning for you because it came from someone you didn’t expect it to come from. Be brief in setting the stage and explaining the context of the compliment—what is most important is your reflection on its significance and how it shaped your understanding of yourself.

Stanford University

Prompt: List five things that are important to you.

What Makes it Unique: This prompt’s simplicity is what makes it so challenging. Stanford asks for a list, not an essay, which means you have very limited space (50 words) to convey something meaningful about yourself. Additionally, the prompt does not specify what these “things” must be—they could be a physical item, an idea, a concept, or even a pastime. Whatever you choose, these five items should add depth to your identity, values, and priorities.

How to Answer it: Start by brainstorming what matters most to you—these could be values, activities, people, places, or even abstract concepts. The key is to choose items or concepts that, when considered together, provide a comprehensive snapshot of who you are. For example, you might select something tangible and specific such as “an antique telescope gifted by my grandfather” alongside something conceptual such as “the willingness to admit when you’re wrong.” The beauty of this prompt is that it doesn’t require complex sentences or elaborate explanations—just a clear and honest reflection of what you hold dear. Be thoughtful in your selections, and use this prompt to showcase your creativity and core values.

While the supplemental essays should convey something meaningful about you, your values, and your unique qualifications for the university to which you are applying, the best essays are those that are playful, original, and unexpected. By starting early and taking the time to draft and revise their ideas, students can showcase their authentic personalities and distinguish themselves from other applicants through their supplemental essays.

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Your First Day of College: A Survival Guide

Aug 12, 2024 | Casper College News

Well, it is almost time for your first day of college classes. Don’t be surprised if you are a bundle of emotions, especially as that big day gets closer. And your first day will probably be the worst of all. But remember, nearly every other person in each of your classes is going through their own first-day emotions too. Below, we offer a few tips to help you tame those emotions and actually enjoy that first day and first week of college.

Check out campus before the first day

Make sure that you know what buildings your classes are in and where those buildings are located. That way, you can know what parking lots are close to the building or buildings you need to be at. And, if you happen to have two classes back to back, you’ll know if you’re within walking distance to your next class, or if you’ll need to drive to that next location class to be on time. Most colleges have a campus map on their website. You can find Casper College’s here , and it is set up so you can easily print it off and take it with you.

Arrive early

There’s just something about the first day of school. It may bring back memories of preparing your first-day outfit, the smell of fresh school supplies, the heft of a brand-new notebook, the meticulous packing of your backpack. Everything feels crisp and ready, and full of possibility.

That feeling doesn’t go away when you step on campus for your first day of college. The first day of school at Colorado State University is just as exciting for our Rams, too. The end-of-summer air is warm, the campus community is bustling, and underneath all of it? You’ll find that CSU energy: That you-barely-know-it’s-there Colorado State energy, lending a spark to every step, to every new experience, to every “wow, I can’t believe I’m finally here” moment.

It’s the first day of school. Here are some things you can expect and look forward to.

#1. The vibes

There’s always a little bit of magic on the first day of school. It’s a fresh start full of new opportunities, possibilities, and chances to expand your education, your friendships, and your overall student experience. You’re meeting professors that will carry you through the semester (and sometimes your entire college career), figuring out which classes you’ll love and which will be challenging. Crack open your notebook or a new note-taking doc on your laptop, soak up the excitement on the plaza, and take a deep breath of that fresh first-day goodness.

#2. The support

Want to know what’s better than the feeling of a crisp new school year? Knowing that everyone — staff, faculty, other students — is collectively experiencing the same thing as you are. You’re all working toward the same goals, and Colorado State has the support on hand when and where you need it. Campus clubs and organizations are popping off, tutoring and study groups are getting established, professors are waiting for you to dip into office hours. All the good vibes of the first-day energy go hand in hand with the renewed support you’ll experience and have access to across campus.

#3. The in-betweens

What are the “in-betweens,” you ask? These often-overlooked moments take place as you move between classes, between your residence hall and the dining centers, between the parking lot and your stop at the coffee shop before lab. These are the chances you’ll get to breathe, enjoy the stunning campus scenery, and, oftentimes, run into friends, professors, classmates, roommates, and, sometimes, CAM the Ram himself. The in-betweens are the little organic moments that shouldn’t be underappreciated. Think about what your in-betweens might look like, how they’ll become a part of your routine, and how you can make them part of your best experience at CSU.

#4. The end of the day

The end of your first day on campus will be so different from the beginning of your first day that you might feel like a week has passed. As you settle in for some well-deserved R & R, think about this: You DID that! You conquered a major first step in a brand-new year in a brand-new routine. Don’t deny yourself the pat on the back. You met new people, you navigated a host of buildings, and you established yourself in your classes. You might have already discovered some down time and decided how you might like to spend that time before your next campus commitment: Kicking back with a latte in the coffee shop? Lunch on the Oval? Studying in the Cube? Chilling in the Ramskeller?

While your early first-day vibes were energized and exciting and full of opportunity, your end-of-day vibes will likely be filled with an air of accomplishment, a few sighs of relief, and an undeniable feeling that you are exactly where you’re meant to be.

And that’s the good stuff. That’s the Colorado State energy we love.

Want some tips on thriving as you navigate your early college days?

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Prairie Smallwood

Prairie Smallwood is a writer and content creator for the Office of Admissions at Colorado State University. She is passionate about education and exploration, and knows that going to college can be both an adventure and an overwhelming experience. She aims to create content that helps students through that journey — the wonderful, the scary, and everything in between.

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Mom sleeps over in daughter’s dorm room on her first night in college: Sweet or selfish?

College move-in day is an emotional roller coaster ride for incoming freshman — and their parents.

North Carolina mom Lori Miggins knows the feeling well. She recently dropped off her daughter Taylor, 18, at Appalachian State University. Only Lori didn’t get in her car and drive away after the last box was unpacked. Instead, she spent the night in Taylor’s dorm room. 

“I wanted her to sleep over,” Taylor tells TODAY.com . “We’re just so close and I didn’t want to be alone.”

Taylor, who came to campus early for cheerleading practice, notes that her roommate wasn’t due to arrive until the following week. 

"Having my mom there helped my anxiety so much," she says.

“She’s my firstborn, so the last few months have been really hard, you know, picturing life without Taylor in the house,” Lori, an online health and wellness coach, tells TODAY. “There’s a fear of the unknown.”

According to Lori, 48, spending that additional time together made saying goodbye less painful. Though both were in tears, she left knowing that Taylor was going to be OK. 

“I was able to get her acclimated,” Lori says. "We hung out with all of her friends, we met the RA, we ate in the dining hall together."

It was the right decision for Lori and Taylor. The internet, however, had thoughts. After Lori shared footage on Instagram of their dorm room slumber party, she was flooded with comments.

“Absolutely not. First, this just gives me the ick. Second, I love my daughters and missed them like crazy when I dropped them off at college, but their first night at college is to meet new friends and start living independently. You gave them roots, now give them wings,” one person wrote.

Other reactions included:

• “This is the best. I wish my Momma could have!”
• “No don’t do this. You did your job it’s time for the little chick to find her wings.” 
• “I think this is actually beautiful. It’s one night. It’s a core memory. They’re blessed to have this together.”
• “That’s setting them up for failure.”
• “This is gross and weird. Have some boundaries. Say goodbye to your kid and go cry in the car like everyone else. Let them live their lives. That’s what you brought them up to do.”
• “Reminds me of ‘Gilmore Girls’ where Rory had Lorelei spend the night with her on her first night of college.”
• “I’ve worked in every level of college and university admissions and advising. I can tell you that this is a terrible idea.”

Laurie Kramer , a professor of applied psychology at Northeastern University, says that conversations about move-in day should begin during a child’s senior year high of school. 

“It’s a long-term transition, and families need to be talking about the kinds of changes that this next chapter is going to bring,” Kramer tells TODAY. “That way, when you make the physical move, it’s more of a celebration. It’s what you’ve been planning for. And remember this is a shift in your relationship — not the end of your relationship."

Lori says that Taylor is settling into life at college and knows her way around.  

“She’s so happy and I’m so happy for her,” Lori shares. 

Of course, it takes some freshman a little longer to adjust to a new and challenging situation.

“Not all kids get there and thrive immediately,” Kramer explains. “Finding friends and figuring out where things are on campus — that takes time. Don’t panic. Your job is to help support their ability to cope.”

“You cannot be calling their RA or professors to find out how things are going,” she continues. “You’re at the stage of life where you’re preparing them for adulthood.” 

Rachel Paula Abrahamson is a lifestyle reporter who writes for the parenting, health and shop verticals. Her bylines have appeared in The New York Times, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, and elsewhere. Rachel lives in the Boston area with her husband and their two daughters. Follow her on Instagram .

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