Not everyone is great at managing changes in their lives;
some people, like myself, struggle to transition into new environments. College was a huge change! Challenging and bewildering all at the same
time, I thought I was ready and would conquer college like a boss, but I
realized very fast that college was completely different from my
expectations. I will admit that it took
me the entire first semester to really get a handle on college life and
academics. There are multiple things,
that if given the opportunity, I would have gone back and done differently.
The First Day
I started off day one at college a nervous wreck, very
unsure, and very overwhelmed, luckily I can now look back on that day and laugh
at how silly I was acting. There were so
many things I wish I would not have worried about such as: switching classes
all on the first day, getting my text books that very first day, thinking I
needed to do all the homework instantly, and stressing out about bad
professors. I will attest to anyone that
you do not need to go into day one thinking that everything needs to be
accomplished in the here and now, this is not high school. Most professors may give out work that’s due
by the end of the week, but it is very common that they will accept it past the
‘due’ date. This is because people are
switching out of classes all the way into the following week. With that said you should not worry about
switching into different classes late into the first week; it is no big deal
just introduce yourself to the professor and tell them your circumstances. Another word of advice, take what people say
about a professor with a grain of salt because what might not work for someone
may work for yourself. Go into that first day with confidence and if you find
you are overwhelmed, take it easy that night and do something that makes you
happy and relaxed, like Netflix or going for a run.
The
First Month
That first month is when you start learning the ropes on
your own. Your family is not in your day
to day life, and you find yourself becoming your sole responsibility. You become responsible for a variety of
different things, for me it was simply living on my own and adjusting to
college academics. I was able to handle taking care of myself, I would workout
often, eat healthy, do my laundry. I
found out that the best way to make friends was to never force it but let the
unexpected happen. It was different
being away from my family but day by day I learned that I could handle myself
away from home. What ended up being the
hardest transition that first month was the academic side of college, which I
thought would have been my strong suit.
To put it simply college academics is completely different from high
school. I did not keep a schedule of
what I accomplished every day, therefore I did not know how many hours I was
really putting into my classes. I
learned after my first exam how important it was for an engineering student to
keep a daily schedule of what they are going to do. I printed out my schedule from elion
(lionpath) and filled it out every Sunday with upcoming meetings, homework,
exams, workouts, and meal times. By
sticking to this schedule every week I was able to handle my classes and my
social life with so much less anxiety.
It is prudent that you start good habits from the beginning to ensure
you do not dig yourself into a hole that will hurt you academically.
The First Semester
Before I knew it my first semester was over! All the anxiety about my grades, handling
finals, surviving my first semester were completely gone. I had such a sense of accomplishment and pride. I survived my first semester without dropping
any classes, with new friends at my side, and a little more knowledge about
college life. Transitioning into
something new can be really hard at first but you have to let time play out so
you are able to adjust to your new environment.
As one of my favorite quotes go, ‘You are not truly living until you
live outside your comfort zone’. So let
college be a metaphor to the transition in your life and in so doing you will
find that you can truly live outside your comfort zone and still succeed.
Sarah Maslakowski is a sophomore majoring in Chemical Engineering and is a Rover for WEPO'16!
No comments:
Post a Comment