Dear First Years,
It may not feel like it now, but the next four years will fly by.
Yes, I know that’s such a cliché, but it’s absolutely true. The days are long, but the years are short.
Sometimes when you’re pushing through exam season or trudging to class in the snow, you’ll wish you were just done, but it won’t take long before something pops up to remind you just how incredible this university is and how much you’ll miss it when you get to my big age of 21.
Reflecting on my time at Penn State is surreal. It’s hard to believe how many lives I have lived over these four years.
I’ve been involved in eight organizations, been president of one for two years, worked five part-time jobs (six if you count my one week at the dining hall before I realized it didn’t work in my schedule at all), danced 46 hours and was awake 56 hours total for THON 2025, lived in one dorm and two apartments, adopted a cat, learned to cook, started enjoying working out (a little bit), read over 100 books, caught a multitude of illnesses (including but not limited to pneumonia, mono and black mold poisoning), changed my major three times, worked 50 hours a week unpaid and drove two hours a day while student teaching for a semester, met my best friends in the world (my future bridesmaids and aunts to my future children, I love you so much) and most importantly, I found myself.
The goal of college is to get an education, but the personal growth you’ll experience over the next few years is just as important, if not more so. It’s the little adversities that shape us just as much as the big ones.
It’s hard to wake up every day, make your bed, brush your teeth, get dressed and get to class on time. It’s hard to balance extracurriculars, friendships, assignments, jobs and studying while figuring out how to take care of yourself as an adult.
Even if you already have all the basic skills like cooking, cleaning, handwashing dishes, keeping an organized apartment and time management, you will still learn so much over the next four years about self-care.
You’ll learn what your social battery looks like. How much time do you need to be with others vs. how much time do you need to be alone?
You’ll learn how and where you study best, what you like to cook for yourself and how you like to organize your space. You’ll learn what characteristics you value most in friends and romantic relationships and what your goals are.
I’m not saying you’ll graduate college and know exactly what you want to do with the rest of your life — most college grads don’t — but you will know yourself a lot better than when you first stepped foot in your freshman year dorm. You’ll be better equipped to deal with challenges when they arise because you’ve already learned how to pick yourself up when you fall.
All of this growth happens in moments of hardship. It all comes down to learning what you need in those tough moments to bounce back and find the beauty in life.
This is easier said than done. Hopefully, you won’t mind some advice from a college graduate on how to get through those tough times and make the most of your college experience, so you’ll have no regrets when your graduation day comes.
Take care of your health
I had to learn how important this was the hard way. During my sophomore year of college, I worked at a daycare where a lot of illnesses went around with so many children in the same small space.
This alone wasn’t the problem. Adding in lack of sleep and nutrition (and the black mold secretly growing under my bed from my nasty apartment building, but that’s a different story) set me up for some major issues.
Sophomore year was when I started to find my people on campus, and I was so excited to find a group of friends that I enjoyed spending time with so much. However, I kept making the mistake of staying over at their houses until 3 a.m. when I had work at 6 a.m. the next day.
Late nights with friends are an amazing, important part of the college experience, but when they happen all the time, they start to take a toll on your daily functioning. My apartment was perfectly positioned between the fire department and near-constant construction work, so noise-canceling headphones and ASMR became my best friends on nights when I actually tried to get a good night’s sleep in my own bed.
In addition to not getting enough sleep, I started most mornings with a protein bar or a bagel, then left for work at 6 a.m. and didn’t get back from class and extracurriculars until 8 p.m. or later (it was a rough year). I’d eat where I could, but I didn’t prioritize it enough, and I struggled to find time to get to grocery stores living downtown.
My dinner was often late-night Ramen noodles or microwaved mac and cheese.
I was sick constantly. That year, I got two stomach bugs, norovirus, multiple colds and flus, mono and more. It was awful.
The last two years, I’ve barely gotten sick, and I can confidently say that my nutrition and sleep schedule have made a huge difference. I prioritize balanced meals, getting plenty of protein, fruits, vegetables and carbs.
I drink lots of water (and electrolytes since I have some issues with low blood pressure) and I grocery shop strategically now that I have a car. I also prioritize getting at least six hours of sleep, which is much more than I can say for sophomore-year Emma.
I’m not perfect, and I did still get Covid and pneumonia this year, but I do feel so much healthier and happier overall because I take care of myself better.
I highly encourage you to take advantage of all the balanced foods you can get in the dining hall, and when you do move out and into your own space, continue to prioritize hydration and nutrition. It’s so important for your cognitive functioning, which is the only way you can succeed academically.
get involved
You are going to hear this so many times, especially in your first few months of school, but it’s so true. At a big school like Penn State, the absolute best way for you to make friends, find your people and find your purpose is by getting involved.
I really found my home when I auditioned for the Singing Lions in the spring semester of my freshman year. I met my best friends in this group and ended up becoming the president for two years and representing our organization by dancing in THON 2025. I can confidently say my Penn State experience would have been missing so much of the joy and memories it was filled with if I hadn’t found my little family on campus. It’s out there for you, too.
The involvement fair is a great way to find out about organizations on campus, but you can also use OrgCentral to search for various groups or do what I did and start social media stalking. Most groups have Instagram accounts that can start to show you what the group is all about, and if you’re really hard-core there’s nothing stopping you from looking at the Instagrams of its members to see how involved they are/what they do.
People will tell you to get involved so often that you’ll never want to hear the phrase again, but they really do want the best for you. It is the singular best way to ground yourself at this university.
trust your gut
Trust. Yourself.
This is so, so important. In college, you’re finding yourself and learning so much not just academically, but about other people.
If your major doesn’t spark passion in you and you’re not excited about your classes, trust that feeling. Talk to your advisor, look into other programs, and think about where you might be happier. College is the time to explore.
If you’re getting a bad feeling about a friendship or romantic relationship and it’s draining you more than it’s filling your cup, trust that feeling. College is too short to spend it suffering through toxic relationships.
If you don’t feel safe and protected at a party or you don’t like the way one of your friends is pressuring you, please trust yourself and remove yourself from that situation. Use one of the university-funded Lyfts or call a friend/family member and walk home. If you’re uncomfortable, you’re uncomfortable. Full stop. If a friend doesn’t understand that, then they may not be a good friend for you.
Just trust your gut and let it lead you where you need to be.
focus on gratitude
Things will go wrong in college. You’ll get a terrible grade on a test you studied hard for, you’ll get sick and miss an important class then struggle to catch up, you’ll drift apart and lose friends from your hometown, you’ll most likely experience a break-up, you’ll discover how expensive MedExpress visits can be. It can be really hard navigating the adult world on your own.
What’s always helped me is focusing on what is going right in my life over everything going wrong. I got a bad grade on one assignment? Okay, I have an amazing group of friends surrounding me and lifting me up. I got sick at the worst time possible? Sure, but my boyfriend made me soup and the weather was beautiful.
Even if everything seems to go wrong and it’s the worst day of your life, you can sit in that while still finding something to remind you that college is worth it. I had a terrible day, but I had that great day last week. My coffee this morning tasted great before I spilled it on my laptop. Today was so busy and I’m exhausted, but I get to lay down in bed and give my body the rest it needs now. Even in the worst moments, there is something to be grateful for.
stay on top of schoolwork
This looks different for everyone, but procrastination is not your friend in college. Some people do their best work under pressure, but if you put an assignment off to the last minute, it really limits not only what you can do with the assignment but also what you can do with that time.
By staying ahead of your schoolwork and finishing assignments in advance, you free yourself from the limitations of saying “no, I can’t, I have an assignment tonight.” You put yourself in a position where when a friend asks “Hey, do you want to come over tonight?” or “I could really use someone to talk to, can we go get coffee?” you have more of an opportunity to be there.
I highly suggest just giving yourself some leeway. Don’t get me wrong, you won’t always be in a spot to get ahead of academics and you may just need to go day-by-day. But, when you have the opportunity to finish your work in advance, take advantage of it.
My secret is that once I get on a roll, I like to knock it all out at once. Typically, when I finish one assignment, I am in academic mode where I can put my headphones on, lock in, and successfully complete several tasks in a row. Find what works for you and trust it.
just show up
This applies to so many aspects of college.
It can be so hard to drag yourself out of study mode or even just rest mode to go to class, extracurriculars, social events and more, but I promise that is where the memories are made. Some tough love from a senior: the best memories can be made when you didn’t feel like going in the first place.
This is all about balance. There will always be days when you just need a night in for yourself, and you absolutely should prioritize your mental health. However, if you avoid too many classes, meetings and social events, FOMO will creep in.
One of my best friends has a saying that I think is so true: “the world is run by people who show up.” If you miss too much, you’ll start to feel like you’re on the outside looking in. I’ve seen it happen firsthand to multiple people I’ve known throughout my college career.
I promise that the people around you want to spend time with you, and if they don’t, then they aren’t your people. Your people are still out there waiting for you to find them.
I’ve found that every time I didn’t really feel like going to a rehearsal or a friend’s birthday party or a class, the hardest part was getting myself out the door. Once I got there, I almost ALWAYS had fun and was so glad I went.
Even when it’s hard, just show up. I promise, being a person who shows up matters in academics, in leadership, in relationships and in your future profession. It’s not just about getting the work done, it’s about showing that you care.
remember that your journey is unique
You will get so much advice over the next four years, but it’s also important to remember that you’re your own person. Take everything you hear with a grain of salt, or think about how you’d like to apply it to your own life.
Everybody is different, everyone needs different things and that’s okay. Just trust that you will make it through these next four years and you will come out the other side stronger, happier and grateful for the experiences you had at this university.
You’ve got this.
Love,
Emma