Through the experiences with my classes, faculty members, and friends, I grew significantly over the course of just my first year of college. There were a lot of surprises as well. Specifically in my public speaking class first semester. I took that class for the same reason as most other students in that class because it was a requirement to graduate. However, that class was quickly one of my favorites I took in my first year mainly because of the people in that class. It was a smaller class, less than 20 people, so I was able to get to know my classmates well through listening to their speeches and collaborating with them on group assignments.
I also gained relationships with faculty as well. Specifically, I started to grow a relationship with a professor through research. I reached out to him by simply emailing him and since then, I have been able to learn about his research and I was able to gain knowledge about my major and potential future in computer engineering. While it was intimidating to make the initial leap to reach out, I am extremely grateful for every opportunity I’ve gained through this experience, and my advice to incoming students is to just throw themselves out there and reach out to faculty about anything because after all, most if not all professors want to help their students succeed.
One of the most crucial connections that I’ve made throughout college however were the friends that I made. Being able to hang out with friends to decompress, go to them for help in life or in school, and more has been extremely valuable to my success at college. Going into college, being able to find friends that I could truly make a connection with was one of my biggest anxieties; however, that fear quickly faded once I got to know my floormates and now my closest friends live right down the hall from me. However, it was not easy to make these connections. Again, it was intimidating to reach out to other people on my floor, but eventually I got over that fear because I soon realized that every other person my age felt the same exact way. I think next year’s freshmen should keep that idea in mind because once I knew that everyone also was in the same boat and I wasn’t alone, making friends became a lot simpler.
Finally, I think I was least prepared for stress I would be under. During high school, I did take hard classes, but everything still felt manageable, however at times during college, things became a lot more difficult. There were times where I just wanted to give up, however I had to force myself to take a step back, organize my work, and manage my time well. The best advice I could give to future students is to understand their workload and plan accordingly. Even if you put an assignment off until the last minute, be realistic about how long that assignment will take, make the time for it, and motivate yourself to get it done. Clearly, each of those pieces of advice is a lot easier said than done, however that process is what got me through the busiest days of college. Overall, however, my first year was positive. After all, I haven’t dropped out yet.