Aaron Johnson, Associate Arts & Entertainment Editor

Freshman year at Morehouse is a unique experience that most cannot relate to or completely understand. It’s easy to feel lost, confused, disappointed, or annoyed during your first semester. Hopefully these emotions and experiences build character and you can see the positive change by the time you return home for Christmas break. Hardships are inevitable, but these tips from your older Morehouse brothers will help you avoid as many major mistakes as possible.

Ask for help and clarify everything – Morehouse is really busy during the first weeks of fall semester with financial aid, students renting books, and people moving in. Plans change fast, so make sure your class is still where Banner says it is before walking across campus to get there.

Keep your receipts! – In other words, keep a paper trail. It’s extremely important you keep every transaction, receipt and written conversation saved somewhere that you can pull up at any time. I’ve had to pay for multiple books that I know I returned just because I didn’t save the receipt. Save yourself the time, money and trouble.

Network Horizontally – Build genuine relationships and care about what your friends are doing. A lot of your classmates will go on to do great things in life, and it would be a shame to look back years from now and see your old hall mates that you lost touch with become executives and entrepreneurs. Cultivate those relationships now while you still can.

Don’t believe the Hype – Morehouse is definitely a great place, but don’t get too caught up believing everything you hear while on the campus. You still have to work as hard as everyone else for opportunities. The name of the school does not change who you are or what you can do. There are still talented black students everywhere, there just happen to be a lot here. Don’t let Morehouse Mystique get to your head.

Don’t follow the crowd – Specifically, don’t join an organization because everyone else decided to join. Don’t commit to a major because people say it’s the best or it will get you the most money after school. Instead, find where you fit in on campus and find people who support you. Your experience will be much better because of it.

Lastly, you don’t have to make up your mind about what you want to do immediately. Build the necessary transferable skills such as networking and communication while you figure out exactly what you want to do.