Freshman Time Capsule

Joshua Morrison

I signed up for weather and climate for my winter semester, and I ended up enjoying the class. I think the fact that it was in the winter semester when I only had one class to worry about helped. I signed up for this as part of my decision to double major in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences as well as Computer Science. I made this decision because Computer Science requires you to take upper level courses in a different major, and I have always cared about climate change so I thought this would be a good supplement. Another class I also enjoyed was the astronomy class I took in the first semester, which will probably be my only elective. My advice to incoming students is to take classes that they enjoy, and to not be afraid to experiment, especially in the freshman year. Additionally, while it is important to take challenging classes, not all classes should be challenging, as taking one easier class gives motivation towards continuing to care about college and helps with self-esteem. Not everything has to be towards a major/gen-ed requirement.

In my classes, I had trouble pursuing relationships with faculty because I have social anxiety stemming from autism. My major obstacle towards these relationships was myself. Even with ADS accommodations, I mostly just sent in my accommodations at the beginning of the semester and signed up for tests. I had similar trouble pursuing relationships with other students, though my roommate and I do get along. This has probably been the biggest help from a fellow student towards coping, as it shows that I am not alone in having to adapt to a new environment. I never really felt imposter syndrome because I knew other people were struggling, too. The other case of this would be the group chats I joined through GroupMe, where we all were in the same boat when it came to difficult projects or exams. I think that even if you have social anxiety, you should make the most of the days when you feel like talking to each other, and try to take advantage of online platforms when doing so allows further communication. Also, having a dedicated time with faculty to meet definitely helps as well.

I was least prepared for the much lower reinforcement of what to do, especially as I am still recovering from over a year of virtual school. This meant my levels of self-discipline were lower than they would have been had the COVID-19 pandemic not happened. Self-discipline is extremely important in college, and while my self-discipline had already recovered somewhat and I was able to make do, this is still something to be prepared for. This can be done simply through trying to do things on your own that you don’t want to do but know you need to do before going to college, so that you aren’t as unprepared when this happens in college. COVID-19 is still pretty recent, and all incoming freshman had to deal with COVID-19 shutdowns, even if they were in middle school rather than high school, and the resulting decline in self-discipline would have also impacted everyone. I know that just this year of college has improved my self-discipline even more, so starting practicing this ahead of time can be very useful.