Due Date: May 11, 2021
In many ways, my freshman experience was uniquely and vastly different from the expected and my intended freshman year due to the current pandemic. So a lot of my advice of the advice I would have I either didn't get to experience or it probably wouldn't apply next year when the campus is more open, however there is some advice I have gained from this first year. I think the biggest piece of advice I have for freshman (outside of the obvious time management and try new things) is to treat yourself with grace. In a way I expected myself to do so much more, and be able to handle much more than I actually could considering I was still adjusting to my freshman year.
College is an adjustment, and it's not one you necessarily get on the first try. There will be people who adapt to college much faster than you, there will be people who do it much slower, there will be people that seem to be able to handle everything right out of the gate but might be secretly struggling. Regardless of where you might fall, learning to treat yourself with kindness and grace as you adjust to a (life altering) event is needed, and realizing when you might have overestimated your abilities, and need to step back/reevaluate is essential.
There is almost not enough preparing for university, and the best way to prepare is to just experience the change. I know for me that I was least prepared for just how much of a change it was going to be, especially with the isolation of the pandemic. I personally had to realize that I had too much on my plate my second semester and relying on my friends I had made before the pandemic was honestly a blessing. Friendship and making/having friends is honestly a good thing to have especially during freshman year. You don't have to have a large circle of friends, but having people to relate to and socialize with provides a needed break when trying to adjust to the crazy that can be first year college.
Teacher's aren't as scary to talk to as you would think. Emailing a professor, talking to teachers, honestly just reaching out, is not as scary as you would think, and though I wasn't able to build close relationships with all of my teachers (online classes make the distance between teacher and student somehow even worse) I was able to become familiar with my teachers and communicate when I needed to. Some people are easier to communicate with than others, but the first step is reaching out and talking to people. College is a lot, and it can seem overwhelming but it isn't as bad as you might fear.