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Baylor | Wellness > Mental Health

Expect too much, Produce too Little

Nicole Anne Chan Student Contributor, Baylor University
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Baylor chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

Now that the 2026 school year has officially started, many first-year college and university students are running around campus trying to find an organization that fits them. From the medical students finding clubs for volunteer opportunities and shadowing events, to the liberal arts kids rushing to studio classes and practicing for the next big concert, or even just people trying to make friends and find a community they fit into. On top of making friends and finding your place on campus, you’re also expected to keep up with all your classes and maintain perfect grades if you expect to see graduation in four years. 

So classes start, and work begins to pile up, but don’t forget, there was that club interest meeting later in the evening. Oh, and that welcome week event starts in just one hour. So you go out, have fun, come back, and you’re at work again, staying up till 12 AM completing assignments. Then you go to sleep and the day repeats again and again and again. 

There’s this desire to be perfect all the time that I feel a lot of freshmen, myself included, have when we enter a new place for the first time. A want to get ahead and be academic, but also be outgoing and be the person with a big range of friends on campus. As such, I feel as though we end up rushing a lot of the time. 

And then all of a sudden, you’re not a freshman anymore, and now it’s your sophomore year. Then, you repeat everything all over again, from the cramped schedules to club planning, and even to the increase in credit hours. And then it’s your junior year, an even more intense year as you start internships or prepare for graduate school and do everything you can to make sure your resume is perfect.

If you’re reading this as an incoming or current freshmen/sophomore, let my story be a warning for you. 

Slow down and enjoy these four years you have at a new university or college away from home, family, and friends. Take the time to find yourself.

You don’t realize it now, but you have so much more time in the world than you realize. You don’t have to be involved or active in everything on campus. You don’t need to be in thousands of clubs. You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to be you.

Nicole Anne Chan

Baylor '30

Hello! Nicole is a writer at Her Campus Baylor!!! She works closely with the Editor-In-Chief on the Editorial Committee. Together, they publish articles centered on wellness, lifestyle, and culture.

Outside of Her Campus, Nicole is a part of many other clubs and associations such as Minorities in Medicine, Student Physical and Occupational Therapy Association, and she is currently part of the Golden Wave Band as a piccolo marcher! This would mark her fifth year marching and first year ever on the piccolo, having previously played the flute for over six years! Additionally, she was part of a club called TEDx, where she wrote and gave a speech about deaf culture and ASL, performing said speech in Deep Ellum! She is currently a freshman at Baylor University in Waco, majoring in Kinesiology on the Pre-Occupational Therapy route. After her four years at Baylor, she will continue her education at a graduate school for Occupational Therapy with said school currently being undecided.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-anne-chan-056103431/

On the side, Nicole loves to crochet or start a multitude of fun arts and craft projects that always end up never finished. She’s also obsessed with horror movies; watching them all night and going to sleep without batting an eye. And when she’s not crafting or binge watching, she loves to learn more about ASL and explore the depths of deaf culture, a topic she is insanely passionate about.