In a past article, I have said that first semester sucks — royally to be exact. I gave a few examples as to why, but I never went in depth.
For me, this was the most helpful piece of advice that I had been given as an incoming freshman. It is important to know the hardships of a situation before you walk into it, and especially a situation as monumental as one’s transition into college. Here are some things to look out for in the first few months of college. Unfortunately, many of these do not have a solution, but a waiting game must be played in order to come to terms with them. Though fret not, for the sun always rears itself even after the crappiest of semesters, and everyone finds their place somewhere eventually, and after much trial and error.
1. You will get homesick, I promise.
Even if you have a bad relationship with family, there will always be something from life at home that will always pull you emotionally back, be it a friend, a special spot you visit all by yourself, or a pet. Even if it’s just the thought of not being a child anymore and having that innocence tied to that place, home will always have something tied to those heart strings that will make you miss it once away.
2. Meaningful relationships take time to develop. Do not get discouraged.
The first few months of college are filled with many superficial relationships. People cling onto whoever they can to sit with at dhall with or go out with on Friday nights to lodges. By second semester, so many of those relationships fall out. Sooner or later you meet your ride or dies, the ones you can truly open up to about the hard stuff. You will feel lonely, for who wouldn’t having all of these people who you don’t actually feel comfortable around and you put up a filter around? Like I said, these don’t last forever, the real ones are coming to you as soon as they possibly can.
3. Forget the time management you learned in high school.
So you were an athlete right? The president of 12 clubs huh? None of that can prepare you for college. One has all of this free time in college, but it’s not really free time. You have A LOT more homework, as well as long term assignments that somehow never seem to be that long term, for the due dates creep up so fast. Being involved on campus is also key, so you have practices, meetings, rehearsals, and the what-have-ya’s for multiple organizations. Factor in eating, staying active, and actually sleeping, there seems to be no time left in the day. Time management is key for all of these areas — academics, extracurriculars and personal health.
4. You are not the best of the best anymore.
I’m sorry to put it so bluntly, but I wish someone would have laid it out for me that way. You will not always get that position you ran for, or the spot you tried out for. You’re not going to get straight A’s and be the star pupil anymore. But all of that is so okay. There are people who still manage to have it all even after high school, but not everyone. Doing your absolute best is all you can do, and if that opportunity didn’t work out, it only opened the door for another one to come along that could be even better.
Yeah, life can be some kind of awful first semester freshman year, but these hard times help you grow so much as a person, and they help you truly find out who you are, who you want to be, and what it takes for you to get there. While it may suck in the moment, you will be immensely thankful you struggled through those fall months, for years later the lessons that you learned will be priceless.