If you're a college student, you should always keep in mind these safety tips! Even though college should be a safe learning environment for all students, scary things happen every day. To protect yourself and make the most of your college experience, consider these safety tips for college students.
One of the best safety tips for college students is one you've heard for your whole life. Teachers told you this all throughout your mandatory education for a reason— the buddy system works! Predators look for easy targets, and the more friends you are with, the less vulnerable you become. This is tip that shouldn't be too hard to follow, since hanging out with friends is fun anyways! Just make sure you're with a buddy more often than you're not.
Everyone has their limits, and the sooner you learn yours the better! There are several things you should learn limits for, including both healthy habits, like exercise, and unhealthy habits, like drinking. Anything in excess isn't good for your body, so learn your limits early on in college to protect yourself from potential health risks.
Whenever you go out, make sure at least one of your friends agrees to being your designated driver. Driving drunk causes too many deaths each year, but you can protect yourself and other drivers by entrusting a sober friend with your keys.
Also when you go out partying or clubbing with friends, remember to never set down your drink. If you happen to set it down out of sight, order a new one and don’t drink the other. This is an important precaution to take in order to defend against drugs other people might slip into your drink. Ideally, this isn’t something you would have to fear, but in reality you need to protect yourself from all invisible threats as best as you can; one simple way to do that is by never setting down your drink out of your sight.
Money becomes infinitely more precious in college, when suddenly bills and debt actually mean something to you. So, to secure your finances and maintain your usual lifestyle, keep your purse on you at all times. Leaving your purse lying around anywhere, on campus or off campus, is a dangerous choice that can leave you devastated.
If you’re a physics major, then you know that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. If you’re a literature major, you know that every hero has a fatal flaw. Both of these theories describe young adults almost perfectly! You have a fatal flaw, maybe it’s gullibility, or maybe it’s greed, or carelessness, or a number of other potential flaws. No matter what your fatal flaw is, at some point it will lead to a regrettable action. This action is regrettable because it will have an equal and opposite reaction, or a consequence that’s just as big as the mistake you made. All in all, it’s important to know yourself; before you act, consider if your decision will have awful consequences, and if it is associated with your fatal flaw.
For some, it’s easy to trust everyone you meet right away. For other people, it’s almost impossible to trust anyone. You should try to find a happy medium to stay safe in college. Be skeptical of others, not overly judgmental nor too trusting, just a little bit skeptical.
Your experience at a university should be a fun time in your life, but before you dive right into college parties and Greek life, remember the importance of safety. What safety tips do you have for college students?