As a freshman in my spring semester, I’d like to talk about a few of the culture shocks I experienced in my first and second semesters at college.
1. Everyone is your friend, or at least acts like it
This is a good and bad thing. It is nice because when you are walking around campus, people will always say hi or smile even if they have only met you in passing. Most people try to be nice, or fake nice, to everyone just because you never know who knows who. It is sometimes a bad thing because at a college of 4,000 everyone knows, or knows of, everyone. In other words, it’s impossible not to see someone you know. Sometimes I just want to walk to Dunkin first thing in the morning and not see anyone because I’m in my PJs and no makeup, but I will run into multiple people that I know or recognize.
2. Assume others are as smart as you, if not smarter
You may be one of the smartest students in your high school, but that doesn’t mean much once you et to college. Almost everyone else around you had the same, if not better, statistics than you. Once classes start you will also realize that other students also have the same hard-working ethics as you, making you just the average student. Additionally, don’t be surprised when other students come in with 20+ credits, personally I only took APs and I’ve only heard of people passing 5 APs which is only 15 credits, but many others took college courses in high school and gained many credits from that. I came in with a few APs and thought I was bringing in a good amount of credits, but then I found out people brought in over 20 credits just from college courses.
3. You will get tired of your room
First, when moving in, your room is such a comfortable and new place, but after a month or two it will start to get old. At the beginning there is a good amount of downtime that you will have and spend in your room, but after a little bit that will get boring because there are not many other places where you want to hang out. Additionally, it is hard to do work in your room because that is where you do everything else. I have discovered that it is best to find study spots around campus, so that during the day you can go to classes and get work done, then at the end of the day you can go back to your room and feel comfortable and ready for bed since you haven’t been in your room all day.
3. The lack of adjustment period
One might think that you can ease into college, but realistically, no you cannot. Honestly, you are just thrown into college. Thrown into the mix of social and academic aspects of college life. Yes, orientation helps, but it is not like your everyday life, so once orientation is over you are expected to adjust to not only the academics of college, not the social life.
4. COLLEGE IS EXPENSIVE
I know this might seem obvious, but college is very expensive and get ready to drop all your savings. Not only is tuition expensive, but you must pay for books, food, social activities, and Uber. Books are much more expensive than one might think, some textbooks are over $150 each. Additionally, the food on campus may not be very good, like it is here, and you will be paying for Grubhub or UberEats once or twice a week. Lastly, if you cannot have a car on campus as a freshman you cannot go many places off campus by walking, so you uber. I have spent more money on uber than anything else, we uber almost everywhere.