On the morning of move-in day, bewildered first-years filtered in and out of buildings and carts of boxes screeched against the sidewalk. As a first-year myself in fall 2023, I got lost in a basement trying to find the laundry room, broke a sweat tugging Target twin XL sheets over my lofted bed’s mattress and inevitably bickered with my parents over Command strips. 

I also met the four girls I would be sharing a suite with, whom I had only spoken to online prior. We fumbled through awkward introductions and offered to help with small tasks, sizing each other up and wondering how this year together would go. 

It was the first page of a painfully new chapter. Before college, I had never lived outside of Texas. My decision to go to school in Boston, surrounded by unfamiliar brownstones and harsh winters, was daunting. Now, in my second year at Northeastern, although I have settled into Boston, the question of how to “do college right” continues to follow me.

On move-in day, I had with me a list of resolutions for the next four years: I would determine the ideal career path; I would be independent and outgoing; I would write for a magazine; I would make life-long friendships; I would complete two co-ops; I would study abroad and, in all my free time, I would learn pottery. 

Unfortunately, there is only so much time to devote to doing all of this, which forces me to prioritize some goals over others. Assignments pile up on your desk in September and don’t stop until winter break. Like Rome, tight-knit relationships can’t be built in a day. I still haven’t found the time to attend a pottery class. 

College is a starting line that jumps back 10 feet each time you get close. 

At a school like Northeastern, which boasts a nationally recognized co-op program, extreme pressure is placed on students to achieve leadership positions and strengthen their resumes. On top of managing a course load and maintaining a high GPA, the anxiety surrounding career development accelerates faster at Northeastern than at many other schools due to co-op expectations and a competitive academic environment. 

My parents outlined academic steps neatly for me: Your first year should be about exploration. They advised that in my second year — now — I should streamline my activities and invest more in only a few. My last few years at this school should be about mastering a particular space or craft and adopting a leadership role that will tactically help prepare me for a certain career — so long as that career is lucrative and does not involve poetry. 

However, as much as college is associated with career development, it is also a place where young individuals develop socially. Outside of the house I grew up in, I found self-realization around every corner in new experiences, which, for the most part, were seemingly mundane: Trying an onigiri from H-Mart for the first time, learning new card games from my roommates or playing pool in the Stetson East lobby. Perhaps that is where the truly fruitful part of social development begins — in the small things a person or a place can introduce to you.

Boston has offered me the same opportunities for growth. I had known my community in Texas as somewhat disjointed, connected sometimes by eight-lane highways and a large expanse of space surrounding us on all sides. While my hometown has given me so much, enjoying the vibrancy of Boston, brimming upwards and outwards, has afforded me new pleasures. Lounging on Centennial Common on sunny afternoons, picking through bins of secondhand clothes at the Fenway Flea and pretending to understand the rules of baseball at a Red Sox game are just a few of these treasured memories. 

There are endless right ways to “do” college at Northeastern. There are a million things to do every weekend, a student body of almost 20,000, over 600 clubs and organizations and various study abroad opportunities. In every corner of the university, there are ways to get involved and facilitate community, to invest in your academic future while also exploring your own limits and leaning into self-growth.

The only way to do college wrong is to stand still. 

With my time at Northeastern almost halfway completed, I’ve found that every slight risk I take has paid off and every bit of effort I give to something is paid back tenfold by the experiences I gain. There is certainly no “How-To” guide when it comes to college, but the collision of endless choices to invest in one’s own fulfillment may be the answer.

Grace Phillips is a second-year English major. She can be reached at [email protected].