Leaving for college? Here’s some advice from the book “How to Survive Your Freshman Year” (Hundreds of Heads Books, www.hundredsofheads.com, $13.95), straight from people who’ve done it:

“I had a really good time after I committed myself. I think it’s all a matter of making the decision that you want to be there and you want to be doing what you’re doing. People spent a lot of time choosing the college they want to go to. It makes a big difference if you’re excited about where you end up.”

—Anne, George Washington University, senior

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“I am really attached to my family and was horrified to leave them. My mom cried, and my dad had tears in his eyes and he never cries, and my little brother, who’s 10, was affected by my parents. But I coped with it better than I thought. I thought I was going to be bawling, but I was a lot less homesick. I thought I would’ve been the most homesick person on this campus, but it wasn’t that bad. You just have to make it quick.”

—C.H., University of Virginia, freshman

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“Before college, I never was away from my family a lot and didn’t sleep out of the house a lot. So, it was very weird to be away from my family. To cope with that, I joined a group and called home a lot. Eventually, I felt better.”

—Anonymous, University of Rhode Island, sophomore

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“I went through a lot of changes my freshman year. I came from a very small town in Connecticut. Everybody was white, everybody was middle class to upper middle class. You come to Maryland and all of a sudden you’re in a very diverse community that looks like the rest of the world. So you have to be open-minded.”

—Michael A. Fekula, University of Maryland, 1985

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“Getting dropped off was like nothing else. My parents were crying, so I felt pretty awkward. I wasn’t crying, but I was moved, for lack of a better word.”

—R.J., University of Delaware, sophomore

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© 2006, Hundreds of Heads Books, Inc.