20 Mistakes Everyone Makes in College

Ah, college. A time to turn up and turn in term papers, have thousands of dollars “given” to you and still have your bank account consistently in the red, and get countless hours of sleep without ever truly feeling rested. These are truly the best years of your life.

While you may strive for perfection while earning your degree, you are bound to mess up. For many, college is the first time that they are responsible for themselves. The road to maturity can be bumpy for some. Okay, most. No one wants to go home sobbing to Mom and Dad about how it’s all just too much to bear. On the flip side, no one wants Mom and Dad to sob about how college has made you a whole new person—and not for the better.

Some mishaps can be avoided with a little common sense, but others can only be used as lessons. The growing pains of adulthood are many, but being able to laugh about them in a cap and gown makes them worthwhile. Be comforted in knowing you’re not fucking up all by your lonesome, here are 20 Mistakes Everyone Makes in College.

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When you receive your loan check, keep this in mind—in no way, shape, or form is it your money. The banks fool you by putting your name on the check. You think you're major now. Three meals a day, the hottest sneakers, and drinks on you at the club should not be expensed to your financial aid account.

A few months after you get your diploma, the lending company, whether it's a private bank or the federal government, wants that cash back. You knew what this was from the beginning. Now is not the time to make excuses. Instead of ballin' out of control with borrowed dough, after you've paid necessary educational fees, put all remaining money into a savings account. When the loan offices hit you with the "fuck you, pay me," you'll be able to repay them and they'll won't reak havoc on your credit score.

When you return to your parents' house for winter break, you want to make sure they recognize you. The "Freshman 15" is real and so is alcohol poisoning. Many folks enter college and have no idea what to do with all of their newfound freedom. Mom isn't cooking your meals anymore, so the options are eating nothing but processed fast food, or hardly eating at all. And while there's nothing wrong with partying now that your curfew is a thing of the past, there is something wrong with binge drinking every night. In short, it's not a good look.

Don't ignore your health just because you're finally on your own. Walk the 15 minutes to class instead of taking the shuttle everywhere, drink responsibly, and eat well, so that your folks will actually think your capable of living in a dorm next year, rather than fearing you'll self-destruct.

Because all of the notes and PowerPoint slides are available online, you won't see the point in actually sitting through a lecture. Unless you registered for an online only course, there is a classroom you need to be in at a certain time on at least a weekly basis. It isn't unlikely that you will pass by reading the notes, however, it is highly unlikely that your professor will send a text alert to your phone when you have a pop quiz.

Walk away from your gaming console and get your ass to class.

Sure, there's no such thing as a free lunch, but you'd be surprised at how much free money is available to students who look for it. If you can spend hours blogging and updating your many social networks, you can spare 60 minutes to spit out a 500 word essay. Sometimes that's all it takes to get a $500 check in the mail.

Many companies and foundations have scholarships and grant programs that students don't bother to seek out. With all of the complaining you do about being broke, you would think you'd jump at the chance for some free guap. Research these opportunities and get the funds you need. Remember, gifted money is better than borrowed money.

You know good and well that you'll spend many nights hopped up on energy drinks and cramming for exams. Did this not occur to you when you registered for an 8 a.m. class on a Monday? Is that really what you want your life to be about? Your professor is annoyed she has to be there at that time, your TA is not about that early bird life, and your classmates are either snoring through the lecture or having shaking fits due to caffeine withdrawls.

Unless you got a great night's rest the night before (which we doubt) you won't be alert enough to concentrate during class. Free yourself from that high school schedule and sleep in. Give yourself time to recover from late night "anatomy" study sessions. Everyone is in a better mood after 10 a.m. anyway.

If you sit in the front of the class, your professor will definitely catch you sleeping, but how about instead of using that time to nap, use your visibility as an excuse to arrive alive, awake, alert, and enthusiastic. Seat yourself in a place where your professor can see you, participate in class discussion, and linger around (don't be creepy) after class.

If you're applying to graduate school or any type of post-baccalaureate programs, you'll need the John Hancocks of some of your professors. If they have no idea who you are, they can't vouch for you. And, real talk, you can't get far without a cosign these days.

You know what the library is full of? A lot of free stuff. Free computer time, free resources, free presentation rooms, peace and quiet; there are a multitude of things available in the library at no cost to you. Technically, your student fees fund all of that, so in reality, if you're not visiting the library, you're throwing your money away. Do you really have cash like that?

Though it's a prime location for studying, it is also good for naps. Have a one hour break in between classes and don't know what to do? Catch some z's in the astronomy section; no one is ever up there.

You're sitting in the "quiet study" section of the library chewing on the same piece of gum you popped in your mouth 3 hours ago. Suddenly, the four other people in the room turn and give you the side-eye because of the disturbing, yet familiar sound that came from your direction. Your stomach might tolerate the lack of nourishment, but they won't tolerate its loud protests.

Okay, so the food on campus wouldn't score high on a Zagat review, but it's edible and you should've gotten the meal plan your mother nagged you about. During the times when you have no cash and you have -$0.25 in your bank account, that campus meal plan would be clutch. Use that extra loan money for a very important educational expense: hunger.

Good luck with that "copy and paste from Wikipedia" strategy when handing in your term paper. Don't naïvely assume that your professor didn't contribute to it or that you're the first person to try and pull that stunt. Your professors are experts in their field and can identify plagiarized works very quickly. At the very least, you'll have to take an "L" for that assignment and receive a "0".

Yeah, research and writing take an insane amount of time, but stealing intellectual property is for the birds. Just because you put the entire paragraph in quotes doesn't mean you're not an idea thief. You're going to procrastinate (because that's what people do in college) but make sure the final product is solely yours.

You don't stop to read those pastel-colored paper signs plastered onto every campus bulletin board, but you should. Though you already have your higher learning entourage assembled, joining a campus organization provides you with an extensive network of peers who can assist you throughout your degree earning years and beyond. Whether you join a fraternity, community service based group, or a cultural organization, the random assortment of peers you'll be exposed to could potentially be how you get the hook-up on a business or job opportunity.

Just make sure you're joining a school-sanctioned group and not a gang. You're refund check can't be used to bail you out.

Spending solo time with your accounting professor might be the last thing you want to do with the few free hours you have. He gave you a 69 on your midterm. Who does that? The guy knew what you meant.

Well, maybe he didn't. Professors set aside office hours because a, they have to, and b, it gives you an opportunity to seek help, contest grades, and whine. You sit through an hour of his lectures multiple times a week; he can listen to your gripes for fifteen minutes.

Who's interested in 90 minutes of hearing your professor talk about how important it is to purchase the book he wrote and self-published for the class he teaches? You're not; that's time you could spend photocopying the entire thing from your friend who took the class last semester.

Even though it seems like you never really learn anything on the first day, don't make the mistake of skipping day one. The professor might be slick and dish out an assignment that day, and if you're there, you can bank a cut day for later on in the term when you really need it.

While there's no need to be on a hunt for your future groomsmen, there are a handful of people you need to have as allies in college. A lot of students fail to adopt the buddy system and that's why they stay losing.

On the very first day of class, you need to seek out at least one fellow classmate in each class and make nice with them quickly. Strike up a brief conversation and compliment their laptop stickers or something. Once you've got their information saved in your phone, feel free to miss class once in awhile because they can sign your name on the roll and email the notes to you. Look for the ones taking notes on electronic devices; there is a slow turnaround time for handwritten notes.

Just because your university permits you to take 24 credits or more a semester doesn't mean you have to take them up on that offer. You're taking all of your upper level core classes in one semester, plus two labs, and an independent study—would you like a cookie?

Maybe you're taking a bunch of classes because after 15 credits, the rest are free. While we applaud your frugal thinking, don't be a hero of academia. By overloading yourself with a ridiculous amount of coursework, you're bound to be overwhelmed and chances are, you'll under-perform. If you're taking all of those classes because you have too much time on your hands, get a hobby, bro. No, seriously.

The only thing worse than switching you major numerous times beyond your sophomore year is enduring the torture of a degree program you aren't into. Maybe you majored in biology because your parents told you it was the practical thing to do. Now you're practically dying every time you're given a scalpel for a sheep brain dissection.

Remember that college is not only about educational advancement, but it's a financial investment in your future. Don't waste your money or time learning about topics that beget your apathy. No one wants a surgeon who hates his job.

With so much going on during your time at college, no one will blame you if your primary focus was Diddy bopping across the stage at commencement and snatching your diploma.

If you don't have a job lined up or you're not going to graduate school, what exactly do you plan on doing with your free time? If taking a gap year to go and find yourself is enticing, start planning for it before your student discount privileges are revoked. If you spend your days after graduation trying to figure out what to do with yourself, a gap year will turn into a gap decade.

Drake told us he quit school because "campus life is crazy," so because your keen on finishing, you did everything you possibly could to avoid the wild side of baccalaureate pursuits.

While no one can be mad at you for keeping your head in your books, take advantage of this time to meet a diverse group of people, engage in post-secondary merriment, and make some of these inevitable mistakes. College should not be viewed as cruel and unusual punishment or as just a necessary means to an end. By societal standards, you're still young (and dumb) and you need these few years to live, let loose, and take many missteps before you enter the "real world," where missteps are not as easily overlooked.

You should have two main goals when entering college: leaving with a degree and amazing stories to tell.