It’s alright to make some mistakes, as long as you learn from them. College is a time to adapt to your world and adapt your worldview to best serve you. However, there are mistakes that can be irreparable if you don’t watch your step. With that in mind, here is a list of 50 mistakes that are common among college students.
- Spend dollars to save pennies
- Rack-up huge credit card debts
- Fail to network
- Fail to get involved in campus organizations (also, see #3)
- Don’t parlay short-term failure into long-term success
- Drop a project at the first roadblock
- Spend more time socializing than studying
- Turn down learning experiences to party, or worse, to do repetitive school work—you’re in college to learn, even if you don’t make a good grade
- Let one mistake ruin an entire experience
- Trust people you shouldn’t
- Judge a book by it’s cover
- Shun someone over nothing
- Don’t start a savings account
- Treat financial aid as income or inheritance
- Don’t accept internships
- Believe that good enough, is good enough
- Get all A’s in all classes—this smacks to some potential employers as a dangerous perfectionist who might fall apart at the first sign of failure (see #s 6 and 9)
- Make too many enemies
- Don’t make any enemies—this means you’re probably not doing anything significant
- Buy stocks or gamble on credit
- Take a non-relevant paying job over a relevant non-paying internship
- Fail to see college as an investment
- Pass on opportunities to gain exposure and resume-building experience
- Fail to write and build a resume
- Fail to learn how to write well and persuasively
- Don’t step outside the box of their racial, ethnic, or social class
- Fail to differentiate their views from that of their parents or guardians
- Disagree with someone based upon superficial reasons
- Agree with someone based on superficial reasons
- Confuse alcohol with therapy
- Fail to take advantage of all the tools available for your academic, cognitive, personal, and professional development
- Don’t talk to someone of a different background than themselves
- Become too fanatical about a cause or idea—you’re in college to explore new possibilities
- Let stress break you
- Become a perfectionist
- Become a slacker
- Do only what is expected of you an no more
- Fail to cultivate an interest or passion
- Choose a degree or career based totally on the money you believe you can make in that career
- Don’t enjoy your college experience
- Believe themselves above improvement in any respect
- Buy gold—it’s an awful investment… If gold were so valuable, why would gold sellers so willingly part with their precious, precious gold for your worthless money?
- Do anything based on fear—it doesn’t pay off in the long run
- Fail to start building a career while still in college
- Avail themselves of opportunities to travel while educating themselves—Cancun doesn’t count!
- Don’t give someone the benefit of the doubt
- Move in with someone without giving the relationship (whether friendship or a romantic entanglement) significant time to develop
- Fail to see potential in themselves and others
- Don’t take care of their physical and psychological health
- Go at it all alone—this website and many, many others are hear to help you make the most of your college career.