Moms Advise Freshmen on How to Survive College

Freshmen shouldn’t go to college without knowing how to work a washing machine. They also should take a popcorn popper.

Washer smarts and the gadget to make munchies can help new college students defuse “freshman shock,” said Janet Gardner, a Chappaqua, N.Y., mother who saw two kids off to college a few years back.

She and Evelyn Kaye, a Leonia, N.J., mother with freshman shock experience, give the advice about washers and popcorn poppers in a new book, “College Bound: The Student’s Handbook for Getting Ready, Moving In, and Succeeding on Campus” (College Board, $9.95).

“When I asked my son what he wished he had known that would have made his transition smoother, he said that ‘college life revolved around laundry,’ ” Gardner said in an interview.

Knowing how to work the automatic washer came up again and again when others were asked the question. Laundry is a big thing--especially for a jock.

So what about the recommendation to take a popcorn popper to college?

“Freshman life is rife with unnerving moments,” Gardner said. “Popping popcorn is a nice ice-breaker.”

Going to college for the first time is very different from going away to summer camp or spending a week with relatives at the seashore, according to Gardner.

“This is the beginning of grown-up life,” she said. “And it is a high anxiety time. As one high school senior put it, ‘I can’t separate the excitement from the apprehension. I’m glad to be going, but I’m worried underneath.”’

Gardner and Kaye say they based the guide on insider information from college kids and parents, plus expertise they gained as moms of college-age kids.

Frequently, they reported, older college kids said they wished they had known at the start of the freshman year not to cleave to instant friends on campus.

“With that in mind, we advise freshmen to avoid doing that,” Gardner said. “Sometimes it turns out that you become wonderful friends but most often not.”

Other veteran college students told Gardner and Kaye they wished they hadn’t tried to keep a friendship going with an old high school boyfriend or girlfriend when each went to a different college.

“It becomes very expensive more times than not,” they reported, indicating that drifting apart is bound to happen more times than not, too.