The Reality of Freshman Year: The Good and the bad
Starting your freshman year of college can be very exciting, but it can also be scary and nerve-racking. Entering a new era can bring a lot of different feelings. If you’re someone like me who went to college less than an hour away and came into college with some built-in friends, your life might be easy. However, if you’re someone who’s far
away from home, living on campus away from friends and family, and having to start over, life can be pretty difficult.
A lot of people watch TV shows or movies about going to college and expect it to be exactly like that. Students coming into college don’t know what to expect, so when they see things on TV screens, they see themselves. My cousin, also a freshman at Bowie State, watched Grown-ish and hoped freshman year would be similar. She saw herself in Zoey. Since getting here, she’s realized that making friends and keeping up with classes would be a lot harder than the show portrayed. She realized that Bowie’s campus was a lot less fun and that she would have to make her own life interesting and fun.
In TV shows like Grown-ish, A Different World, and other college-related shows, we often see characters struggle with mental health dilemmas, relationships, friendships, work, school, and maintaining a social life. As a freshman myself, I will say it can be tough sometimes, but you can manage if you make the right schedule and have the right amount of discipline. TV shows sometimes present a false sense of reality for college students. They show most of the good sides of college. They show the fun, but they don’t show how much work college students really have to do.
Ever notice how, in most college shows, the students are barely ever working or doing assignments? They don’t show how many hours really go into studying. Writers show some clips, but they’re rarely like the actual reality of being a college student. I asked 10 college freshmen from three different majors how many hours a week they spent working and studying outside of class. They all said anywhere from 15 to 20 hours. That’s a lot of work. But the people on the big screen will never show you this.
Being here at Bowie State University has made me realize that college isn’t just about studying; there’s time to do fun things, too. It has definitely given me a level of discipline I’d never thought I’d have. I’ve learned how to balance a personal life with work and exams. Being a freshman in college has taught me that, one, not everything you think relates to you will be you; two, it’s okay to take a break; three, it’s perfectly normal to balance school and your personal life; four, don’t procrastinate, because it won’t work out in real life as it does on TV; and finally, it’s okay not to rush and to take my time.