- Hey YouTube world, it's me Evelyn.
Some of y'all have been watching me,
here on the internets, since I was in college.
I didn't go to Oxford, I got this shirt at Goodwill.
And now that I sit before you as a whole 28 year old woman,
I can reach back into my mind's eye and give you,
my college-bound internet cousins, a bit of advice.
Do as we say, not as we do.
Mistake number one, hey, that you should avoid,
can I, I can't, I'm too American for it,
spending that loan refund check.
You get a student loan, you feel me, it drops,
pew, it pays your tuition, pew it pays for your dorm,
pew, pays for your books, and then they have,
then they do some a little sinister, you got a extra 5,000.
Baby girl, that is not just extra 5,000 dollars
sitting around for you to go
to Punta Cana with, that is not extra money.
Thankfully, my dad went through the higher education system
and he knew enough about the loans and money and all that
to be able to tell me, "Evelyn,
calculate your living expenses, send the rest back."
Did you know you can do that?
You can reject extra loan money.
Financial aid in general, and student loans specifically,
are not something to play with.
Once that loan refund check hit,
I urge you, if you don't need that money to live.
Send it back, because it might just be $3,000 now,
but with interest in ten years,
you a whole 28 year old woman,
it could be a problem, don't make that mistake.
Next mistake, not dropping classes.
Now every university is different,
so Imma need for you to take this advice
but also maintain a strong relationship with your advisor,
to make sure that you are on track to graduate on time.
Alright? That's my little disclaimer.
I'm not saying after half the semester's over,
I'm saying you can usually get a good feel
of the classes in the first week or two,
and in your particular university there might be
a certain number of days that you have,
that you can drop the class without financial penalty,
okay, but a big mistake you make in college
is thinking you're stuck doing something.
College is all about making choices that are best for you.
And the way that you learn, and
And your money, you don't wanna gettin' that loan payment,
you're the one that's gonna have to pay that back.
So why not try to ensure, as best as you can,
because there are just some classes that
you gonna have to take, and yes
the professor does not care, because he's 78,
but then there are some classes where you can be like,
"You know what? This is not giving me what I need.
She's doing a bit much, drop."
An example, I had signed up for a class,
I think it was some feminism, Chicana,
Latina, black y brown, fists in the air,
and I wanted to take the class because I thought finally,
you know, Tumblr was new back when I was in college,
so we didn't really have that sort of education, so
college seemed to be the place where you could finally go to
read these sorts of books and to learn about these people.
And I go to this class, and the
professor is just knuck if you buck.
I'm not ready, like I was not ready, like I knew,
like I knew, but, I was exhausted on a molecular level.
Like I could feel my DNA sigh.
I knew that that class was not
gonna be good for me at that time.
And since it was like a literature class, it was an
elective, it was something that I could make up
in other ways, down the line in my college career,
I dropped it. That day.
I left the class, first day of class, left, dropped.
A big mistake that I urge you to avoid making
if you can help it, and hopefully this video
will give you some, gumption, you feel me?
Not making people do their job.
Or a nice way of putting it, is not allowing people
to service you in the ways that
they're getting paid to help you out.
College is very scary, especially
if you are a first generation college student,
and you don't have somebody to help you fill out forms,
to understand what the FAFSA means.
FAFSA? FASFA? FAFSA.
It is somebody's job to help you. Somewhere.
It is someone's job to make sure you are not confused,
or lost, it is their job to educate you.
It is somebody's job to help you understand
what classes you need to take to graduate.
If you're struggling to understand
how to write a paper, there should be
a program, a class, a center, a writing center,
at your university, so do not be ashamed, afraid,
to roll up on somebody respectfully.
Don't be ashamed to ask for help because
you are paying for this bro, like I don't know
another way of telling you how urgent it is
to be in control of your education.
As your internet cousin, I wanna
let you know that I'm rooting for you.
(laughs)
This one might get me in trouble.
I love some good biblical comedy, you know what I'm saying?
I love to take the bible out of context,
pastors do it all the time, so Ecclesiastes such and such,
it say something about it's a time for everything.
As your internet cousin, I will say that you should
take that same approach to college,
and even if you're not in college,
this just helps you be a well-rounded individual,
there's a time for everything.
The biggest mistake you can make is going all in,
on one thing, and ignoring the other activities,
and organizations, and people and experiences
that will enrich your life as a whole.
Essentially, everything in moderation.
If you're a parent of a child in college,
you might wanna close your ears, okay?
There's a time for partying, there is a time,
there is a time, for socializing.
Okay you can unplug your ears now.
Studying, yes, study all the time, without ceasing.
And finally, do not make this mistake,
and think that your education stops or ends in the classroom
'cause you gonna be feeling real foolish,
okay, you're gonna feel like that
raggedy fox in the chair meme, you know the one?
When you realize that a college diploma alone
doesn't really get you anywhere automatically.
Yes children, it is the great lie of our day and age.
Think about it this way, in college,
you are paying for access, access to people, okay?
Those people being your professors and what not,
that you would not have otherwise ever had access to.
I paid money and my father, thank you, we paid money.
I learned storytelling from Pulitzer prize winning writers.
So if paying for college and being in college
gives you access, please don't make the mistake
of not doing anything with that access.
Educate yourself beyond the classroom.
Granted, if you're poor and in college,
you don't always have the time
to do these other luxurious things.
You don't have the financial ability
to work for free at an internship.
I recognize all of that. When it comes to schoolwork alone,
I'm just talking about schoolwork,
that's the least busy you will ever be in your whole life.
15 hours a week in a classroom.
In each class you got but two tests. The whole semester.
You go to class twice a week, what are you going
to do with the rest of that time?
Take this time to read, take this time to be an apprentice,
follow someone around, build something.
Those dudes that throw parties together,
they are learning to be entrepreneurs.
People who start their first black student union
in their university, people who, in college,
they started a magazine, like a photography collective,
of people who just like, take photos,
they start fashion blogs, they started music groups,
they started businesses, braid hair, girl,
and have an Instagram and go with it, something.
Do something, 'cause it shows resourcefulness,
it shows leadership, it shows being able to work
and collaborate with others, because your diploma
on its own, hey, in this day and age, can I do it?
So hopefully in these few minutes I have saved you years
of heartache, and now, a word from our sponsor.
Shout out to Audible for sponsoring this video.
They have a massive selection of audiobooks and podcasts,
and other types of programming that you can listen to
during those last few sweet moments of summer.
You could also use it to educate yourself
beyond the classroom, like I suggested,
and learn more about yourself and the world around you.
I strongly, strongly recommend the book,
"The Defining Decade", by Meg Jay.
Listen, if you are in your 20's, or you're on the precipice
or you know somebody in their 20's or about to be
in their 20's, you need to listen to this book.
And I suggest this book whether or not you're in college,
because it doesn't matter, 'cause we all have lives
that need to be lived, and time that can't be wasted, amen.
Meg Jay is a clinical psychologist and in this book
she makes the case, and I believe it firmly,
that your 20's is not some big waiting room,
where you kinda just like sit there and wait
for your 30's and adulthood to begin.
You're not dead fam. Making decisions
that will help your 30's and your 40's and your 50', amen,
be a bit smoother, okay, be a bit more comfortable.
To start your free 30-day trial membership,
visit audible.com/evelyn, or text EVELYN to 500-500.
With that, you get a free audiobook
and you can press play on my recommendation,
my strong recommendation, "The Defining Decade"
by Meg Jay, or you can choose whatever book you want,
and the book is yours to keep
even if you don't maintain your Audible account,
because they're not trifling.
So visit audible.com/evelyn or text EVELYN to 500-500.
In the comments below, two things.
Leave a comment telling me a couple things you wish you knew
when you were in college, and hopefully
it will help someone out. Alternatively,
if you are watching this and you need help, please,
leave a comment asking a question,
the more specific the better, I'm trying to get us
to ask better questions, and we will dive into the comments
to help you out, we will be the internet
aunty, uncle, cousin, that you need.
You got this, okay? Good luck.
And I will see you on the internet somewhere. Bye!