College is a hard time in your life; make sure you don’t do it alone.

Finding your place in college is something that requires a lot of trial and error. Too often the fear of failure seems to cause people to either give up too quickly or not try at all.

Remember though, it is hard to become great on your own.

North Dakota State freshmen remember: this is your one chance to live out freshmen year. Make the choices that will impact you positively in four years. Try hard at school, meet new people, open your mind — these are all things you can control.

Consider joining an organization on campus, it will make your transition easier.

Trust us, don’t fear rejection, only fear not meeting the right people or missing out on meeting the right people.

Like freshman year, it is important to stay well connected throughout your college career.

College can easily feel like the loneliest time of your life. Remember though, for most people, this is a huge transition.

What makes it easier is people. What make days meaningful are friends. Find a passion through your friends. Make sure though they have the same goals as you. Make sure they aren’t toxic.

It is easy to make friends; it is harder to have good ones. Find friends that are willing to sacrifice their needs for you — friends who are selfless. More importantly, be selfish enough to find friends you want to reciprocate that to. You deserve friends that treat you the way you treat them.

Understand that most people aren’t perfect. College is a huge changing time for most people. People are learning who they are right now. It is OK if your friends aren’t perfect, but make sure they want similar things you want.

If your friends don’t care about school, it is going to be hard for you to care about school. If your friends don’t study, you are going to find it hard to study. If you want to succeed in college make sure your friends have that in common. If you are passionate about school a good friend will ask you about your schoolwork. A good friend will motivate you to do your best on an exam.

College may seem like a lot of chew at first. Truly it is. You are your own boss now. You make your own future. Stay involved, stay passionate, stay upbeat. Find the friends that will help you achieve these goals, and love them for who they are.