Freshmen in college are faced with many challenges, especially at the beginning of the year. Becoming emotionally stable is difficult for many students, according to Michael Kelley, director of the Center for Health and Counseling.
“Cut yourself some slack and be patient,” Kelley said. “It takes awhile.”
Making friends
Kelley said that freshmen often feel out of place and lonely, but that this feeling is normal. Even though everybody may seem happy, he said, everybody is facing the same issues. Higgins said the single largest social issue freshmen face is making friends.
“Many freshmen come from a high school environment where they know a lot of people, and a lot of people know them. They have histories with these people that have formed through many years of shared experience. When they get [to Creighton] they don’t necessarily have that,” Higgins said.
When a student is thrown into an environment where it is possible that no one knows him or her, it is scary, Higgins said, especially for shy people. Both Higgins and Kelley said that the real hurdle for the student is to put his or herself out there and meet people.
“My challenge to students is to face it and put themselves in the position to meet new people,” Higgins said. Parties are one way, but not the only way. Leave your door open or go to the neutral zone of your floor. Go out of your comfort zone.”
Higgins admits, however, that in some ways, going to eat by oneself is much scarier than going to general chemistry. She said just remember to try to make connections. Her suggestion was to try to be interested in the other student. Get another student to talk about him or herself rather than talk about you the whole time.
Homesickness
Kelley said it is completely normal to miss your friends from home. After all, the new people students are meeting here aren’t true friends yet, he said.
“The friendships you are making here aren’t as meaningful as your friends at home – they can’t be; you haven’t known them as long,” Kelley said. “But you have to remember the importance of these friendships will grow. Give it awhile – it is normal.”
As the first weeks wind down and freshmen start having more free time, they might find themselves a little more homesick, said Kelley. Students who left a significant other behind might be
especially vulnerable.
“When you’re busy you don’t notice it as much,” he said.
Staying busy was one of Kelley’s tips to fighting homesickness. Remembering that it takes time to build friendships like the ones many freshmen left behind is another. Kelley said that in some ways, even though it is tempting, students should avoid texting or Facebooking their friends from home constantly. He said it is important to make connections with students at Creighton. Higgins agreed, although she was interviewed separately.
“If you can find one person to connect with, it will help tremendously,” said Higgins.
Managing time
“The biggest difference between high school and college that I see is that now students have gobs of free time,” Kelley said. “New freshmen don’t know how to structure it.”
According to Kelley, the hardest balance to figure out it is the one between work and play. He said the first round of tests is often a wake-up call to many students.
“It’s a huge learning curve, and it needs to happen fast,” he said.
There are so many distractions to pull students away from studying, that “if you want to piddle time away you could find someone to do it with, no matter what time of day.”
Procrastination is one of the hallmark challenges of collegiate life. Higgins compared procrastination to a virus and said the only way to combat it is to devote several daylight hours to getting academic work done. She said if one waits until after dinner, after you work out and after intramurals, soon it’s 10 p.m., and he or she will not want to do schoolwork at that hour.
Time mangement is often a painful lesson, Higgins said, but it doesn’t need to be. Students just need to remember that even if they could get by in high school without much effort, if they do so here, they will get left in the dust.
Staying healthy
Mary Higgins, vice president for Student Retention, said that one of the toughest things for students to stay on top of is their health.
“Without moms looking over their shoulders, students feel like they don’t need to eat those vegetables,” she said.
Higgins also said it is important for students to get out and exercise. Students who were active in high school are used to having that routine and if they fall out of it, the effects are not desirable, she said.
Sleep is another important part of a student’s health, Higgins said.
“If a student is staying up until 3 or 4 a.m. every day, at some point their body will reject the behavior and get sick.”
Also under this category is alcohol. Higgins said the most important thing for students to remember is to be safe.
“On every campus most students are exposed to alcohol because it is the drug of choice and lots of students have fake IDs,” she said. “I just hope they get the maturity sooner rather than later to know not to get fall-down drunk and endanger themselves.”
Higgins said when she sent her children off to college she tried to sum up all of her motherly lectures in the simplest way possible.
“Class 2 review” was her solution.
“Class: Go every time. Missing class is a formula for disaster, even if you have the sniffles. 2: Although I would love it for students to choose not to drink, if they do, limit it to two beers. Review: If a student reviews his or her notes within 24 hours they will be academically successful,” Higgins explained.
And although all of these issues are tough to get through, Higgins said Creighton has many resources available to help students. Every college has all of these issues, but Creighton is more equipped to help students, Higgins said.
Higgins had one last piece of advice: “If students eat broccoli and put themselves out there, they will be fine.”