Hey, guys!
It’s Lucie.
Today we’re talking about college
and some of the things that
I wish I knew before applying
to and going off to college.
For a lot of people,
it’s the first time they’re away from home
and living on their own and
they’re figuring things out by themselves.
And while that can be very scary,
it can also be extremely rewarding and fun.
And you need to make the most of
your college experience.
Quick disclaimer:
while I absolutely loved college and
would not have traded my college
experience for anything in the world,
I do understand that college is not for everybody.
So if this vlog is not for you,
that’s totally cool.
So I asked my Instagram to send me questions
about things I wish I knew before college
and I got a ton of them right in front of me.
Let's do this.
@rebecca_lumia asks:
Did you do anything to prep for college/admissions?
Why yes I did.
I took the ACT.
I took it a number of times.
I continually got the exact same score
and thankfully I was happy with that score.
So when I went in to take the very last time,
I had absolutely no stress because I already
knew that I got the score that I was happy with.
And it was actually that very last time
that I got the highest score, I’ve ever gotten.
@omgsabeenactually asked:
Where did you go to college?
Good question.
Let me tell you.
Huh.
Well I was trying to find a shirt that told you what
school I went to but apparently I
don’t carry any memorabilia.
I went to Johns Hopkins University
in Baltimore, Maryland and I loved every minute of it.
And I have to say,
Hopkins was not my first choice school.
When I visited the campus,
I was not confident that it was right for me.
And then it was only after I got my college decisions
and I realized that Hopkins was the school I got into that
was ranked the highest of all the schools
that I went back to the campus, visited one more time,
and had a great time.
@coco29v asked:
How did you choose which colleges to apply to?
And how many should you apply to?
The best way to know what college is
best for you is to actually get to the campus and
see how it makes you feel.
A lot of people experienced a visceral gut feeling
when they get onto a campus that either
tells them, “This is a good place for me,”
or, “I got to run away.”
If you can’t physically go visit the college campus,
the next best thing you can do is
watch a ton of videos about it.
I applied to seven.
I have friends that only applied to only one and
I also have friends that applied to fifteen
or twenty schools.
And there’s not a right answer.
@abychurch asked:
Did you stay friends with your freshman year
roommate?
Good question.
Because do you know who my
freshman year roommate was?
Allie!
My sister.
So I actually chose to live with my twin sister
freshman year at college, which is controversial.
I think a lot of times when
people go to college with a twin,
they want to live apart.
In fact, a lot of people that have a twin decide
to go to separate colleges so that
they can have their own lives and their own space.
We actually chose to live together freshman year
for a couple of reasons.
#1 We share everything
and it seems kind of silly to have to go all the way
across campus just to get my blowdryer.
And #2 which is kind of the reason why we decided
to go to school together,
we find that when
we are together and when we live together,
that we actually branch out more.
Whereas, when we’re separate and we don’t live together
or we’re not in the same state,
all we’re doing is trying to get together.
@justjojoswim asked:
Did you decorate your dorm?
I did decorate my dorm
and actually if you want to see a video
of my college dorm,
I put one on YouTube about six years ago from
Johns Hopkins University’s YouTube channel.
I had a pink Christmas tree.
I think it was pretty cute.
Let me know what you think.
@lillyagulia asked: What did you study?
I went into Johns Hopkins
as a Pre-med Neuroscience major
and I was pretty certain that I was
going to be a doctor.
But my summer after freshman year,
I had a whole mental shift and that was when I realized:
you know what?
I have two sides of me.
There’s the side of me that loved the medical aspect of
things and wanted to study neuroscience.
And then there was the performer Lucie
who loved being in plays with her a capella group
and wanted to be in the entertainment industry.
And then once I switched
from neuroscience to creative writing,
I had to kind of navigate
my own career path from there.
So that’s why I started making videos
for the University’s Admissions Office
and I will get more into this in a future vlog.
@_mariamusso asked: Were you in a sorority?
And if so which one and why did you choose it?
I was in Phi Mu,
which is one of Hopkins’s four, or potentially five now,
sororities.
Rush at every school is completely different
and at some schools, it probably does closely
resemble what it looks like in the movies.
But at Hopkins, it is nothing like that.
There’s no hazing, no crazy horror stories.
It was honestly just a great way to meet a
huge group of older women who ended up helping
me figure out what classes to take
and what career path to go down.
@gardy_shaw asked:
How many organizations and extracurriculars
did you get involved in?
My first extracurricular activity was being a blogger
for the Johns Hopkins Admissions Office.
Next I joined the comedy a cappella group on campus
called the Mental Notes, get it?
Like a mental note, but musical.
It was funny at the time.
Then I joined my sorority.
And then last but not least,
I started creating video content
for the university’s admissions site.
@OMGsabeenactually asked:
What was one thing you really needed
for your freshman room?
I needed a fan.
At least at Hopkins, my freshman dorm did
not have A/C and it was really hot in Baltimore
during move-in and during move-out,
so get yourself a fan.
@thevagabondpeach asked:
Did you study abroad during college?
And would you recommend that?
Yes I did.
I studied in London for one semester
and I would highly recommend having an experience
abroad if you can.
I chose a program that brought me to London
and didn’t really focus on classes,
but it focused on internship programs.
And I got to intern at a British television show
during my time there.
And I had so much fun and learned so much.
And I would go back in a heartbeat.
@elise_naviidad asked:
How did you get over being homesick?
I was really not homesick for most of college,
to be honest.
I had gone to summer camp for eight summers
prior to going to college, so I was used to
being away from home.
But I do have the say,
my first day of college,
I was in the dining hall,
my parents had just dropped me off and left.
And I remember standing in the dining hall,
under the fluorescent lighting,
which I think is where most existential crises happen,
under fluorescent lighting.
And I was in the line serving myself salad
from the salad bar and I was looking at the
wet lettuce.
And I was thinking,
“How sad is it that I’m here
when I could be at home with my parents and my dogs
having a delicious home cooked meal
with people I love?
And instead, I’m serving myself chickpeas.”
I felt my eyes well up for a moment.
And then I turned around
and saw a table of girls and my sister was there.
And I realized everyone that was sitting at that table was
going through the exact same thing.
Final takeaways:
what I really, really wish I knew before going to college
is just everything is gonna be okay.
Throughout my senior year of college
when I was really stressed out about finding a job,
I actually stressed myself out so much to the point
where I was essentially an insomniac
for an entire year.
And I know that it was stress-related because
the moment I got a job at the end of senior year,
I was able to sleep normally.
The other thing I wish I knew is that
it’s not all that important to graduate with a job.
A ton of people don’t have a job by the time they
graduate or they need to get an internship before
they get a full time job.
And that is totally okay.
A lot of people say that your college years
are the best four years of your life,
but don’t put that much pressure on yourself.
I think college is just another phase of
your life that should be about growth, adventure,
and fun.
So just get out there and meet new people,
try new things, and enjoy every minute.
I hope I answered your questions and
if I didn’t, just comment below and ask me them
and I’ll try to answer them now.
And if you’re reading the comments section
and if you can answer someone else’s question,
just jump right in there.
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Thanks for watching.
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Bye!