What emotions enter your mind when you think of college? Fear over leaving your home? Nervousness about taking hard classes? Excitement about meeting new friends? For most people, the thought of college brings both positive and negative emotions. Take some time to read about how you can cope with the negative emotions that come to everyone who’s getting ready to go to college.
Many students travel far away from home to a school where they know nobody. They’re sad and afraid to leave behind their friends, parents, uncles, aunts, second cousins, and Fred the goldfish. Unfortunately, college students often do suffer from homesickness in their first semester. But if you’re in this situation, you can realize that many of the fellow freshmen attending college with you are struggling with the same feelings as you. Don’t sit around and mope. Instead, get out, talk with people, and keep busy. Make friends with other new students and identify with their situations. Eventually you’ll build friendships, some of which may last a lifetime.
Also, incoming students dread living in a dorm. They don’t know if they’ll end up with a compulsive roommate who screams every time you leave out a piece of paper or a messy roommate who hasn’t discovered the purpose of a laundry bag. Dorm life certainly wouldn’t be ideal for the rest of your life, but you can make the most of it while in school. You’ll always have other people to hang out with, and if you’re bored, you can easily stop by a friend’s room to talk or play games. And it’s convenient to have your room, laundry, food, classes, and everything else within walking distance.
Next, high schoolers often feel nervous about how hard college classes will be. Everyone tells them how much more difficult their work will be, only to discourage them from attending college. People hype up dreaded classes like freshman English and tell horror stories of teachers like the 70-year old man who shouts throughout his lectures and never gives A’s. It would be deceptive to say that classes in most college and university programs are not harder than high school. However, you simply need to learn to discipline your time and study and do homework every day, a little at a time. If you develop a schedule and a system for keeping organized, you’ll be able to keep on top of all your class work much more easily.
Finally, many high schoolers feel unsure about what they should major in. They feel like they’ll forever ruin their lives if they major in criminal justice and later decide they’d rather study biology. Rest assured that most college students change their majors at least once during their years of study. Of course, many careers do require a specific degree with specialized training, but many other jobs merely require a bachelor’s degree and a willingness to learn and work. Many graduates end up working in careers entirely unrelated to their college majors.
Sure, you’ll probably feel some or all of these emotions before you enter college. But don’t worry—millions of other students feel the same way, and millions of others have coped with these emotions and successfully survived four or more years of college. You can survive, too.
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In an event where two students share a college dorm, who gets the spot with a good view?