By now, you’ve finished your ACTs, the college application essays have been submitted and you are dead set on coming to Champaign-Urbana to spend the next four or so years. And, let me tell you, they will be some of the best years of your life.

Every year, the Daily Illini puts together the New Student Guide. It is just that, a guide to everything UIUC for the incoming freshman. Inside, you will find everything you need to know about Illini sports, what kinds of things there are to do in C-U, some tips on how to be a college student and some updates on the state of the campus.

In addition to this guide, The Daily Illini online will also have supplemental information that you can check out by logging on to www.dailyillini.com. If this stuff doesn’t do it for you and you find yourself or your parents still asking some more questions, check out www.guidetocampus.com.

Guidetocampus.com is a small project that recent alumnus Rick Barritt took upon himself to put together in order to answer any looming questions that parents and students preparing for life in the C-U may have. It is truly a great resource.

Now that you have all this great information at your disposal, you should be well prepared to move into the residence halls and get your college career under way.

But, before I leave you to sift through all of the great content within this guide, I’d like to offer you some tips before arriving on campus.

Be open to meeting new people. You will find that college presents the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life. Seize that opportunity and don’t be afraid to let some of your high school friends go. This is all about you, and you need to be able to explore. Keep the door open to your room. Keeping your door propped opens you up to hundreds of opportunities to make new friends. In conjunction with this, go to floor meetings and get to know the people you share a floor with; it will benefit you in the very near future.

When you head to campus to move into your new home, come as early as possible or very late. The middle of the day gets crazy and you don’t want to have to take three hours to move into your room.

Play hard, but study harder. There is a lot of fun stuff to do on campus and a great night life. However, if you don’t hit the books, you won’t be able to take advantage of this stuff for very long. Academics should always be your number one priority. Believe me when I say that college homework is not as easy to blow off as high school homework.

Again, welcome to the University and don’t forget to thank your parents for helping you get this far.