What to expect Freshman year
The first year of college doesn’t have to be difficult. Follow these tips to thrive as a newbie.
Your first year of college can be very stressful to say the least. Transitioning from high school to college is a huge leap. No matter what high school you attended, you will most likely face difficulties like making new friends, or balancing all your schoolwork and completing it at a good pace, or even something as simple as finding your classes. It’s not odd to feel lonely or left out your first semester because everyone does!
So, how can you prepare for somewhere you’ve never been to or something that you have never experienced? Here is what I have learned. I first went to college in 2015 straight out of high school. I went to a university in Connecticut to be a student athlete at 17.
Firstly, work on prioritizing what you need to do. Focusing on important tasks in order will help you juggle multiple thoughts, ideas and subject matters. Here are some examples: Make sure you get all the books you need for classes, that you read the syllabus and understand when your assignments are due. In college, you’re the only one responsible for getting your work done.
Secondly, always try to take care of yourself physically. A lot of students make the mistake of not eating healthily and end up gaining a lot of weight. It is so common that it is called the “Freshman 15,” after the first semester of college.
Lastly, which I feel like is absolutely most important, try to keep calm; that means taking a deep breath when you’re given a lot of assignments at the same or when you can’t find a building or class and might be late. Keeping calm is the most important advice I can give to first semester college students. You are going to be stressed out, but don’t allow yourself to get overwhelmed or you won’t be able to perform to the best of your ability.
This is something english major Collin Carpenter knows all too well. “My first semester of school was hard. I don’t think it was actually difficult workwise, but I was more than shocked. I was shocked with the freedom. It was way more freedom compared to high school. I had more time on my hands. This is something that I thought brought both its positives and also negatives.”
