This month I will officially be a junior in college. It feels like I just moved into my freshman dorm room in Snyder Hall, but in reality, that was two years ago. When I first entered MSU, it was one of the most difficult adjustment periods of my life. As an introvert, I think that only made the transition more difficult, but that beginning college comes with unexpected challenges for everyone who experiences it. It’s not all challenging—college has brought me some of my best memories, greatest experiences, and closest friends. But even now, I’m still learning to navigate it and the new challenges that arise every semester. This is what I’ve learned in my first two years:
Moving into my dorm freshman year
You probably won’t meet your best friends right away
I hoped that I would instantly find people I would connect with right away, but that didn’t happen. I honestly didn’t make my first friend until a couple weeks into the school year. This timeline will look different for everyone—and you may make friends sooner than I did—but it’s extremely unlikely that you will meet your best friend the first night of college. To help with this, I would suggest leaving your dorm room door open and try sitting with new people in the cafeteria, which are two things I wish I would have done more often.
Student groups make all the difference
MSU is a huge school, and it can often feel like nobody knows who you are and nobody cares how you’re doing. RCAH is one of the few colleges that is an exception to this because of its small class sizes (RCAH is the best), but it’s still easy to feel lonely if you don’t find a group where you fit in. For me, it wasn’t until joining student groups that I met people I connected with and truly began to feel happy at MSU. I got involved with the Wharton Center Student Marketing Organization, MRULE discussions, and RCAH Ambassadors.
Walking in the homecoming parade with the Wharton Center Student Marketing Organization
Go to your professor’s office hours
You probably hear people tell you this a lot, but I’m serious. Going to office hours allows your professors to get to know you and allows for additional learning if you need help in the class. In addition, you never know what your professors may do to help you if they see you consistently attending their office hours. This past year I took biology, and I was struggling. I attended my professor’s office hours repeatedly over the semester and showed him that I was working hard and wanted to be successful in the class. When it was time for grades to be submitted, I calculated that I was only three points short of getting a 4.0 in the class. When I checked my grades, I was shocked to see I had a 4.0 and realized my professor had given me the extra points because of the effort he had seen me put in during his office hours.
Say yes more often
This is something I’ve been working on and still need to work on. Whether it’s saying yes to trying out a new student group, attending a campus event, or getting dinner with your friends, try to say yes more often than not. While it’s obviously important to have a healthy balance of academics and fun, college is filled with many once-in-a-lifetime experiences. There are lots of memories waiting to be made, but those can only happen when you say yes.
Expect for change to happen
As someone who’s type A and loves to have their entire life planned out, this was one of the hardest pills for me to swallow. I’ve found that unexpected changes are constantly occurring, whether it be adjusting to living in a dorm to plans with friends changing to scrapping the career you’ve planned for your entire life for a different one (these ALL happened to me). When it comes to college, I would suggest that you “expect the unexpected,” so that you don’t get stressed out by the changes. Most of the time, these changes turn out to be good, so just be open to them happening.
The RA staff of Snyder Hall — one of the groups that most helped me find my place at MSU
Although I wish I would have known these things when I first entered college, I’ve realized there’s a lot you’ll just have to learn through experience. So far, college has been one of the craziest, happiest, and most fulfilling periods of my life. I’m hopeful that each year will just continue to get better and better. If you’re an incoming freshman, I wish you the best of luck; and maybe I’ll be your RA this year!
This is my last blog post since I begin RA training this week and from here, it’s an extremely busy two weeks leading up to the start of the school year. Thank you for reading my blog and for following along with my passion for theatre and adventures this summer.
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