18 Important Things You'll Wish You'd Known In College

    Super smart advice from people who've been there. Inspired by this Quora thread.

    A Quora user asked: What are some important things you wish you'd known in college? And then a ton of people offered up some seriously smart advice.

    Here are some of the lessons they had to share (and a few of my own, based on my personal experiences). Any you'd add? Leave them in comments.

    1. Other people are just as anxious and uncomfortable as you are.

    Honestly, no one knows what they're doing and everyone feels out of place and uncomfortable at least some of the time. You aren't the only one.

    In case it helps, you might wanna read 19 Tips To Impress Literally Everyone You Meet, for some good small-talk pointers.

    2. Get involved in activities.

    3. The more effort you put into making friends who you genuinely like, the better and stronger your friendships will be.

    4. Don't be scared to be weird.

    5. Your major doesn't really matter.

    6. Learn how to write a strong cover letter.

    It's not something you're born knowing, and it's not something you learn in college unless you intentionally figure out HOW to learn it. Here are some tips that can help, and here are some other things you should remember. Also, the incredible Ask A Manager blog posted this great before-and-after cover letter example to show you the difference between a standard cover letter and an exceptional one — which helps show why this is so damn important.

    7. Take classes that you're actually excited about, if at all possible.

    This is really your best opportunity to take classes in things that just interest you, for the sake of being interested and learning new things. Take advantage of it! You never know what you might discover.

    8. Try everything!

    9. Volunteer in your community.

    10. Take a computer science class.

    You never know — you might even enjoy it and go on to learn an incredibly useful (and marketable) skill.

    11. Don't be afraid to open up more and be vulnerable with people.

    12. Get regular exercise.

    13. Realize that not everyone is getting blackout drunk every weekend, and you're not actually missing out on anything when you skip a party or several.

    14. If you're having a hard time, there are resources you can turn to.

    15. Manage your expectations about your first job after college.

    16. Before settling on a career path, talk to people in that field to find out what it's actually like.

    17. You never have to have sex if you don't want to or aren't interested or aren't sure you're ready.

    18. Go to class. Do the reading.