Informative Articles for Students – TextbookRentals.com

Your safety and security are important priorities for your college. Even so, you need to take responsibility for your personal safety as well. Unfortunately, not all students are as honest as you. Things do go missing at college. Assaults on college students are also becoming more common. That’s not to say that college campuses are dangerous places. They are not. It would be wise, though, to keep in mind these 12 college safety precautions when you are at college.

1. College Safety Starts With Keep Your Dorm Apartment Door Locked

Always lock your dorm apartment door when you go out. Even if you are only going out for a minute or two. Lock the door when you are sleeping too. It’s a simple precaution to take, but it will prevent theft and keep you safe.

2. Get to Know the Campus

Explore the campus during daylight hours and get to know where everything is. Find the fastest and the best-lit route home so that you can use the safest route when it gets dark. Most campuses have emergency phones or call buttons. Find out where they are on your route home as well.

3. Never Leave Valuable Items Unattended

Never leave valuable items like your laptop, phone or tablet unattended. Not even for a few seconds. If you are in a public space and you need to use the bathroom, pack up your belongings and take them with you. It’s a nuisance, but it’s better than having something stolen.

4. Carry a Self-Defense Tool

Buy a self-defense product to carry with you when you go out. Personal alarms and safety whistles will attract attention in an emergency. Pepper sprays are good self-defense weapons, but they are not allowed on all campuses. Check with your college what you can carry on campus before you buy a self-defense product.

5. Load Emergency Contacts into Your phone

Add the local police department and campus security numbers to your phone. Make sure you have your home emergency contact numbers in your phone too. Never be afraid to call for help if you need it. That’s what the police and the campus security staff are there for.

6. Use the Buddy System at Night

Always use the buddy system when you go out at night. Whether you are going out for the evening, going for a run, or going to the library, don’t go out alone when it’s dark. Wherever you are going at night, you will always be safer going with a friend. If you go with a friend to a party, always come home with them.

7. Buy a Flashlight

Buy a good quality flashlight to take to college. It will come in useful in an emergency if the lights go out in your dorm. You can also carry your flashlight with you when you go out at night. The best types of flashlights are tactical flashlights. They are small, tough, and very bright.

8. Tell Your Friends Your Plans

Tell your friends where you are going and what time you expect to be back. If someone knows what your plans are, they can alert the authorities if they think you may need help. Keep your family informed of your whereabouts as well. You don’t need to report in daily, but they will worry if they don’t hear from you when they were expecting to.

9. Stay Alert for College Safety

When you are walking around campus, stay alert and be aware of your surroundings. This is especially important at night. Don’t plug in and zone out! If you are staring at your phone, you will have no idea of what you might be walking into. If you listen to music while walking at night, you won’t hear someone approaching you.

10. Be Careful What You Post on Social Media

Don’t post anything on your social media accounts that you wouldn’t show your mom, and don’t post any personal details. Be especially careful about posting your whereabouts on social media. Posting a picture of you having a great time at a late-night party is not a smart move. Nor is telling the world that you are home alone in your dorm.

11. Don’t Drink Too Much Alcohol

When you go to parties, don’t drink so much alcohol that you lose control. Alcohol affects your judgment. That could land you into a lot of trouble. Know your limits and stick to them. Even though they shouldn’t, some people will take advantage of you if you get drunk.

12. Always Put Your Safety First

Always make your safety a priority. Avoid dark, deserted places and keep your eyes open for trouble. Most bad situations are avoidable if you see them coming. If something doesn’t feel right, trust your instincts and get yourself out of harm’s way.

College Safety Conclusion

When you are in college, surrounded by your friends, it’s easy to let your guard down. Unfortunately, not all the people you meet in college will be as honest and trustworthy as you would hope. Taking these simple steps to protect yourself and your belongings will take no time at all. It will, though, give you peace of mind and let you get on with enjoying the college experience.

Suggested books to help you with college safety:

College Safety 101: Miss Independent’s Guide to Empowerment, Confidence, and Staying Safe

The Her Campus Guide to College Life: How to Manage Relationships, Stay Safe and Healthy, Handle Stress, and Have the Best Years of Your Life

Protect Yourself at College: Smart Choices-Safe Results

What do they want?

What do they want? While personal essays are predictable in their content, different applications will ask you to hone in on various things. They might give you a prompt or ask you about a particular event in your life (e.g., Write about a time when you felt lost, afraid, etc.). Identify your purpose. It will be easier to stay focused on the task and avoid getting off topic. That is a basic rule for writing in general. Know what they expect of you, and deliver.

Make your personal essay surprising

Now, this is not to say that you shouldn’t be surprising. In fact, you should always try to find something strange and unexpected. Think about who your audience is. You are writing for college admission officers who will read thousands of predictable, self-absorbed, monotonous essays. If you can be surprising, do it. Shake things up. Try to wipe the glossy sheen from their eyes and perk them up at their desk. Make them wonder who this kid is. There are several techniques you can use to spice things up. Humor is a wonderful method because they will remember that they laughed. You could choose a bizarre subject like food or beauty products. Find something quirky. Take risks. You want to stand out.

No doom and gloom attitude

That said, you will also be tempted to write about a tragedy. As will every other student that’s competing for a spot at this school. Fight the urge. If an unhappy event is integral to your identity, write about it. Be careful though. You do not want to come off as having a doom-and-gloom attitude. These essays are intended to help admission officers see the human behind the test scores — someone relatable. They aren’t looking to pity you. They are looking for someone worthy of putting time and effort into teaching, someone who can surmount obstacles and fulfill their potential. A person who cannot move on in life is not resilient enough for intense academic rigor. Do not become that person to them.

Be earnest, kind, and humble

You will also be tempted to posture. You will feel that this is your opportunity to impress someone. A pretentious vocabulary, complicated sentences, and fancy gimmicks are sure to show up in your paper if you give into this temptation. You will get so wrapped up trying to prove that you know what the word hegemony means that you will forget to sound like yourself. Keep it simple. You don’t need to sell yourself. Avoid long and complicated phrasing. Avoid adverbs. You only have about 500 words anyway. You should use them efficiently; this is an introduction. Be earnest, kind, and humble. These are qualities people like when they first meet someone. The same holds true for your admission team.

Personal essay storytelling

You’ll most likely have to tell a story, which is a good thing. Stories are compelling and humanizing. People want to read through the end of a story. They relate to characters. You can pull someone to the edge of their seat with a solid hook, climax, and resolution. It is an ideal structure for a personal essay. Know what makes a good story. Do not try to cover more ground than you can handle. Write only about one event, one object, one person. The broader you decide to go, the less control and focus you’ll have. Particularly for these shorter essays, it is better to narrow your field of vision and zoom in. Makes sure something happens in this tale. Do not just describe yourself. It will be boring. Do not tell them that you are brave. Show them how brave you are when you give that speech or wrestle that bear. Show them who you are.

These tips lead to the most important point: relax. It’s true that there is a lot of pressure to succeed and write the best essay the world has ever seen. It is OK that you can’t do all of that right now. That’s the point. It shows that you have room to grow. The more tightly wound you are, the more you’ll get stuck in your head, and the harder it will be to reflect calmly and write something good. No one is expecting Mark Twain, Maya Angelou, or William Shakespeare. All they expect is you. Give them you.

12 Important College Safety Tips for College Students