gogreek

Froshes are easy to spot so it's a lost cause but here are some tips.

Don't:
-have have your profile pic on facebook showing your high school or a high school related event
-wear the lanyard
-wear high school letterman jacket
-wear matching school gear at once like sweatshirt, sweatpants, and hat.
-use a map
-wear high school clothes (unless you're at the gym)
-travel in a huge group (during my frosh year we had to go to a pep rally to get to know the cheers and songs to sing at our football games so it was about 8 thousand kids flooding the streets to go to this pep rally and all the upperclassmen were ****ed, laughing at us, etc..) but rolling deep with a bunch of buddies to dinning hall or something is acceptable
-wear high school brands like aeropostale, american eagle, and hollister
-bring a laptop to class
-smoke in the dorms find a more safer place like a buddies apartment (I know too many people who thought they could get away with it)
-look lost
-puke in the middle of the dance floor at a party (don't puke at all if you can help it)

Do:
-read the class syllabus so you don't ask stupid questions during class.
-dress up when going out to a party
-take care of yourself (daily personal hygiene, wash your clothes, etc..)
-learn how to use a washing machine/dryer from your parents before you leave
-learn how to iron clothes

Hawkwings

Don't carry all your books around in your backpack. Don't use a binder. Don't wear the lanyard. It bears repeating so I'll say it again: don't wear the lanyard. Sheesh, it's like a "LOOK AT ME I'M NEW HERE!" sign. Don't wear clothes with your high school's name on it, or anything that says "Senior". Because obviously you aren't.

Walking around in a big group doesn't always mean freshmen. However, if some of the people in that group are obviously freshmen, then my assumption is that all of them are.

holden888

Do all your embarrassing freshman things a few days before classes start. The college is usually empty with no one.

Johnson181

Profile pictures aren't an issue. I wear high school sweatshirts all the time (I'm a junior. They're warm. When it's winter I'm wearing whatever to stay warm. No one cares). There's absolutely nothing wrong with bringing a laptop to class. It can be helpful (especially in engineering).

My only don't: DO NOT WEAR A LANYARD.
Seriously.

rymd

I've never heard of the lanyard thing... weird.
Don't think it's a freshman thing, but don't do this anyways

and I'll repeat: don't drink over your limits at parties

AUGirl

I'm gathering that it's a no to wear the lanyard.

I've seen that in about a million places.

FallenAngel9

Why wouldn't you bring a laptop to class? On my visit to Rice, everyone in the history class I visited had a laptop, and about half the psych class had their laptops. Only a few in each were freshmen.

hi_im_leila

Don't crash frat parties.

Stratusfaction

Well you're always going to look like a freshman you dingbat. Simply because your a new face on campus. Especially if you go to a small LAC. Everyone knows everyone already so by simply being a new face, you're "looking" like a freshman.

Some of you people have no common sense. My goodness.

Dorito

I never associated brining a laptop to class as a freshman only thing.

Vihzel

I always carry my laptop around with me and use it for certain classes. It's not a freshman or bad thing.

toxic93

Wow, the lanyard seems to be the popular no.

And, I see nothing wrong with bringing a laptop to school, I thought all classes did that at some point.

excelblue

Some people learn it quicker than others, but the laptop is really an ineffective tool during class.

As a freshman, I used my laptop to take notes. These days, I either:

1.) Attend class and give my full attention; if there are any notes, they are scrabbled onto a simple notebook.
2.) Not attend class if I'm really really not in the mood to be paying full attention; they're webcast anyways, and there's no reason to demotivate the others who are there to learn by using Facebook and not paying full attention.

fa-la-la-lena

at my school - freshman are...
1) Wearing lanyards
2) Walking around with a map
3) Walking around in packs of 20+
4) Not able to pronounce popular street names correctly (at our school, M.A.C. ave is pronounced with each individual letter, not pronounced Mac...common freshman mistake)
5) Being super afraid of the cops or getting in trouble with the RAs. The more nonchalant you are about it (but still careful), the less likely you will be to get in trouble.
6) Having a fb picture with HS sports/prom/social events
7) Constantly wearing high school gear
8) Wandering around the streets aimlessly in search for a party/crashing random house parties

ginab591

Don't wear a lanyard.
Know how to swipe (or the equivalent) into buildings on your own. At the dorm my friends live in the spot to swipe is down the handicapped ramp because there would be no room at the landing if the door still had to swing out for a wheelchair. My friend and I (along with others) watched a large group of freshman search the doorway for the spot for a good five minutes before she swiped in and shouted "Hello freshman!" The freshman then attempted to pull open the automatic door, which is twice the weight of the one next to it. They then could not work the elevator.
Know what things are called. CC is a decent resource for this. Many buildings are called by nicknames on our campus, and while asking for directions is understandable for the very first days of classes, it isn't understandable to not know what the building is called. You will also get blank looks because the person doesn't know what you're saying. This usually isn't something you can get. For example a shop on campus is called something like North Campus Snack Shop formally, but is referred to by everyone--including workers--as the in-con (short for inconvenience store). The Quad is an area of upperclassmen dorms, and the Mall is the gigantic grass area with classroom buildings near it. Classroom buildings are similar. Art-Soc is the Art and sociology building, seems logical, but if you've never seen it written like most people, the connection is near impossible to make. (Pronounced Art-Sosh (like in The Outsiders)) I can go on, but if you're not attending UMD there is no reason to.

The main thing that makes you a freshman is the attitude. If it every comes up in conversation that you're a freshman and someone cuts you off to say "You're a freshman?" with a stress on the you're and fresh--you don't have the attitude. In my creative writing class, all people sophomore and above could go around pointing out the freshman. They kind of shared a high-schooly way of talking (mostly their conversations before class) and giggled when our teacher--a twenty something MFA student, cursed or talked about sex. But there was something else I can't put my finger on.