The 10 YouTube Videos Every Freshman Should Watch

As an incoming freshman, a billion different questions run through your head. What should I pack? How should I pack? How do I balance studies with fun? How do I make new friends? Luckily, the Internet exists to make you feel less alone in your worries and anticipation. Check out the most entertaining freshman year vlogs YouTube has to offer.

10. How & What I Packed for College

Try not to pack like this. Amy Lee’s clothes packing method (tying trash bags around hangers of clothing) prevents the hassle of putting clothes on hangers when you get to school, but it also takes up space. Try rolling clothes for extra space. Also, organizing your dorm stuff will make it easier to unpack; the image of Amy’s lamp in a garbage bag with a tube of toothpaste is rather unsettling. 

9. Not Another College Vlog

The best piece of advice Zach gives? Use double-sided tape because Scotch tape mysteriously never sticks to dorm walls. Zach’s dorm tour also gives an inside look at what a college suite looks like well after the obligatory organization of move-in day. He also highlights the perks of going to college in a city: there’s always something going on.

8. College Move-In Day! – What Should You Expect?

Resident assistants (RAs) give tips and guidance better than anyone. He or she usually lives on your floor and stays available for you throughout the year, providing a place for questions, venting sessions and hall programs. (As much as hall programs get a bad rep, some of them will most definitely bring you closer to your hallmates. Doesn’t hurt to check it out!) RAs constantly give the advice to not stress out, whether with schoolwork or social life issues. Jeffrey takes that classic advice and applies it to moving in; stress never helps the move-in process.

7. First Day of College

I’ve never heard anyone describe the first day of college as anything but weird. Sabrina feels the same; her stream of consciousness vlog about her first day of college provides her honest reactions. Nearly every freshman feels homesick and overwhelmed on the first day of class, in addition to thinking how the first big lecture feels like a movie scene.

6. What Your First Days At College Will Be Like

Paul’s short guide to freshman year pinpoints the two ends of the spectrum and two equally important rites: the moment you find yourself sitting alone in your room for the first time after your parents finally leave, and the moment the partying begins.

5. College Freshmen Mistakes

During my freshman year, I constantly wondered why people deemed college “the best four years.” College is difficult! David and Andrew know what’s up: they advise not thinking of college as your best four years in hopes that life constantly improves. Another favorite tip from David and Andrew: don’t spend all your time on social media. Fixating on a screen causes you to focus on everyone else’s good times and not your own. It’s not just a college tip, it’s a life tip.

4. Being Gay in College

Although this video centers on the LGBT community, David gives crucial advice regardless of sexuality. Namely, try new things; don’t decide on any one niche or extracurricular before you arrive. You may just find your passion (or love interest) where you least expect it.

Check out The 10 Most LGBT Friendly Universities.

3. College Advice From an Expert

I hope that John Green’s tip about not peeing or vomiting on anyone or their belongings doesn’t come as a surprise. The author of popular novels such as The Fault in Our Stars gives other meaningful advice; I took particular liking to his tip to embrace the freedom of the “in-betweenness” that college provides. When you think about it, the sweetness of no longer being a kid while still putting off adulthood just a little longer must be appreciated.

2. How to Survive College

Connor acknowledges the pessimistic premise of this video from the beginning: pointing out all the things that suck about college. It’s surprisingly refreshing to hear the honest truth rather than the great things about college featured everywhere else. I definitely can relate to his discussion on the importance of balance because I seemed to forget in the flurry of dorm shopping and club hunting the most important aspect of college: getting an education.

1. Freshman Survival

I wish I had discovered this video before my freshman year. If I had seen David’s hilarious yet effectively straightforward tips, namely his tough love about gaining the freshman fifteen, I likely would have ended up fifteen pounds lighter at the end of the year.