On Monday, I groggily got out of bed to attend the American Advertising Federation coffee hour — where students who are part of AAF can come to ask questions and network with the AAF board and other students. Even though it was raining, and I had a leg cramp, I knew this hour was important for me in my plan to get ahead in making connections for the future.

During the hour, the thing I heard most from advertising juniors and seniors was that they wished they had started making efforts to advance their careers earlier — that they had focused freshman year on coming to events like the AAF coffee hour instead of laying in bed Netflix binging.

If there’s one thing I’ve absorbed during my freshman year, it’s that starting early — becoming active in events or taking classes revolving around your major — is extremely useful.

Whether it is advertising, business, engineering or any other field, pushing yourself to learn about your major freshman year will allow you to gain the most from the college experience. Even if you come in undeclared, by actively participating in RSOs that interest you and pushing your attentiveness in various classes, you can narrow down your interests and learn what various majors have to offer.

In this day and age, obtaining a job is not simple in any field — besides stellar performance in school, companies want to see experiences you have had in their particular areas. According to Forbes and The Undercover Recruiter, two major characteristics employers want to see are teamwork and leadership abilities.  

And while a group project for school may encompass teamwork abilities, it is not something you can add to a resume. On the other hand, you may list teamwork positions from extracurricular activities or leadership positions you have held. And by starting these activities early, you can demonstrate that you’ve been a team player or leader from freshman year onwards, which will add weight to your resume and set you apart from someone who may have started sophomore year.

As a freshman in advertising, I applied to the National Student Advertising Competition team and made it in. While at the competition this weekend, I spoke to employers such as Leo Burnett and was able to make contacts. The Leo Burnett employer was impressed that I was a freshman taking part in the competition and told me to contact her in the future.

More than just extracurriculars, paying attention in classes related to your field can also help you become successful. In high school, I, like most of my peers, would merely study for our economics class to get good grades to impress colleges, but in college, most people, including myself — an advertising major — should aim to find more value in a macroeconomics course.

Instead of just learning information for tests and forgetting it afterward, we should learn so that in the future when employers ask us to discuss the importance of the company’s economic strengths and weaknesses, we can.

Moreover, the majority of college students change their minds about their major once during their college career,  

By getting involved and really knowing your major from freshman year onward, you can leave room for changes or additions. If you are attentively involved beginning freshman year, you can realize your distaste for your major and switch it — saving you time and money.

Despite the challenge of mainly taking introductory courses freshmen year, you can also learn more by establishing relationships with professors or attending clubs revolving around your chosen major. 

By being involved in advertising organizations freshman year, I’ve been able to help narrow down what kind of advertising classes I want to take in the future.

Another perk to starting early is that I’ve established myself within the advertising world at the University. Thus, hopefully as time goes on, I will obtain a higher position on an advertising committee — which is always a bonus to add on resumes.

Though many of us freshmen may feel weighed down by a new environment and new experiences, getting involved earlier will benefit us in the future. And even though our freshman year is almost over, this is important to keep in mind as we pick classes for summer and sophomore year, as well as throughout the rest of our college career.

Simran is a freshman in Media. She can be reached at [email protected].