When you went through college orientation, they probably told you do do everything you can on campus. Then when you talked with your advisor, they told you to focus on grades. Well, what's it supposed to be? Are you supposed to be social or scholarly? Both, obviously. Society tells you to balance them perfectly and to also get a job on the side. The one thing you don't know yet is that misery and stress will invite itself into your life the day you let your job schedule you 30+ hours on top of your 15 credit hours and the social clubs you’re involved in. Attention new freshmen who are vibrant, excited, adventurous and jumping in to academics and community in your first week: you can’t do it all.
It may not be what you want to hear, but that’s as simple as I can put it. You might think you can do it now since you did it successfully in high school, but college brings a new level of stress to your life. Now, you have to live on your own and manage your life by yourself. Sure, you might have been incredibly independent in high school, but that’s a stage of your life you’ve moved passed, and everything is changing. While you might have had a job, played a sport, been in a club or 2, and come out with a 3.5 or higher GPA, don’t expect yourself to juggle the same things anymore. Assignments get bigger, professors are harder to impress and are allowed to fail you, your advisors won’t babysit you, you will most likely get stuck with 8 AM classes, and you will realize how tough it will be to catch up if you miss a class.
For students who breezed through high school and spent all their time on social activities, you will get a wake up call when you get your first F" back in the class you “didn’t have to study for.” For the students who poured their lives into books and ignored human contact, you will call up your mom in tears because you lost a letter grade due to lack of participation.
College is meant to push you beyond your limits academically (and socially). Professors expect you to balance your life, speak in class and perform well. On top of that, they assume you will want to have a social life, but that won’t stop them from assigning you pages of accounting homework on the weekend.
With all that being said, I don’t mean to scare you. When upperclassmen say that college was the best 4 years of their lives, I have no doubt in my mind that it was for them, because I know it will be for me. But as Babe Ruth once said, “Don’t let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.” Enjoy college. Join the Greek Life family. Join SGA. Study your butt off in the library. Fall asleep on your best friend's floor a few times. Life doesn’t wait for you, so live in the moment and be okay with what you can and can’t do.
