Since the school year is right around the corner I wanted to talk about the transition from high school to college. This is barely athlete specific, because in my experience, the change in academics and living on my own was the hardest part. I feel like adults always talk about college to incoming freshman like it’s the best time ever, which it can be, but no one ever talks about how incredibly hard it is. Maybe it's implied, I mean college classes are going to be hard, but I think it’s impossible to comprehend the amount of change that happens. So, I wanted to share my incredibly rough transition to college and how I came out the other side.
Because of the cross country season, I came to Purdue a week early for pre-season. This was honestly great because I had a chance to orient myself on campus, get settled in and meet my roommates and teammates before school started. I remember during this week, the upperclassmen kept checking in on us, "How are you doing away from home?", "How's your dorm?" "Are you settling in alright over there?", and I kept thinking "yea obviously, I don't miss home, this is just like summer camp" I don't want to sound naïve; I knew it was going to get harder when classes started but, it's just school, I've been doing it for 8 years, it will be fine.
Once classes started, it was overwhelming, professors just assumed you were able to figure everything out on your own, the syllabus in confusing, you can't find your classes, and worst of all, everyone looks like they totally understand what's going on. It was the first day, we hadn't even started learning content yet, but I was thrown so much information in the form of a syllabus. I've heard of these before, even gotten a few, but these were longer and the fact that no one was going to tell me when things were due scared me. I was so overwhelmed with information. After classes were over for the first two days, I was able to finally marinate in the information and understand my tasks for the semester. But then comes Wednesday, and we start learning content and doing homework. I couldn't understand my calc professor's accent, I couldn't register for my homework, I missed the first physics homework because I didn't know it existed, and every class said I had to read multiple chapters of the textbook to stay up to date. I felt like I was drowning in work, and it was only review (in theory). Now maybe at this point it's important to note that I cried twice in my entire high school career, but this first week, I literally couldn't stop crying, I was so overwhelmed and missed my old life at home that was easy and carefree.
By Wednesday I wanted to switch majors. All summer I had been talking about how hard engineering was going to be, but I guess I didn't realize how hard it could be and I didn't think I could do it. Everyone around me looked so much smarter, some even talked about engineering experience they've already had, or coding classes they've already taken, cars they've built, I felt behind and like I didn't belong. I wanted out because clearly, I've made a mistake. Luckily when I called my parents and told them this, they didn't let me quit, and good thing because eventually I figured it out and now, I do not regret my major at all.
Okay so now that I've probably thoroughly scared any incoming freshmen reading this, here's what I did about it because I promise, the transition doesn't have to be so rough and if it is, it didn't take me long to adjust by doing these things in the early weeks of the semester.
First things first, talk to your roommates, friends, teammates, parents, you’re not alone so it doesn't help to hide and feel bad for yourself. Another thing which I wish I did a better job of was to talk the people in your classes. The first semester of freshman year is the only time you get this easy opportunity to make friends, so take advantage of it. Every freshman is desperate for friends and without failure the people next to you are going to make small talk before class. Use that opportunity, get their information and use it as a resource for homework and just as someone to talk about your classes with. I really wish I did more of this because there weren't any women on the team in my major so I felt alone, but if I talked to the people in my classes, it would have been so much easier.
Another thing that is important, and kind of goes back to that comparison post I made a few weeks ago:
But don't compare what you’re feeling to those around you. Everyone may appear smarter, and in my experience, they might be. There's a lot of annoyingly smart people in college but trust me they are just as scared and confused as you. I mean I wasn't going to class crying or panicking, everyone probably thought I knew what was going on too. I guarantee if you talk to the person next to you, they will tell them something that has gone wrong for them that first week. You are not alone; everyone feels this way. And you’re probably not as stupid as you may feel around your classmates (I learned this after my first exam, which I failed but still did better than like 40% of the class). After a week or 2 of doing homework, I didn't understand and listened to confusing lectures, I had this crippling fear that I was going to fail out of college, because I didn't know what was going on. There's no way I'll pass any exam I take. I also finally learned the GPA scale, I had no idea a B average was a 3.0, for whatever reason I thought it would be a 3.5. So that scared me sufficiently and I thought there was no way I would pass any of my classes. Fast forward a few weeks and I took my first college exam. It was calc 1, a class I had already taken, so should be a piece of cake, right? Wrong, Purdue math is known for being ridiculous so long story short, I got a 46%. I had never failed an exam before, and this is the class that I actually understood. I told this to coach as I was crying in one of our meetings and he started to list all the people on the team who had failed multiple exams, it’s really common in college. One of my professors last year said, "we make really humble engineers because we tear down your ego" and that couldn't be more accurate, and the sooner you start taking exam scores with a grain of salt, the better.
The last thing that is really important is time management. This is even more important as an athlete because you have more responsibilities and less time. With that being said, it also helps to lighten your course load the first semester if your schedule permits. This isn't possible for everyone but if you have time, it might make the transition a little smoother. I took 12 credits and with how poorly my transition went, I could not imagine doing more (granted I'm not planning on graduating in 5 years anyway so I'm in no rush to cram all my classes, which isn't the case for most people). With that being said, college seems awesome because you aren't sitting in school all day, you have more time and freedom, so in theory getting homework done and studying should be easy. It is if you do it right. If you go about your days with no plan and just do whatever work comes up, you’re going to get overwhelmed and confused. The good news is that college is really consistent.
You have the same classes and the same homework due on the same days. A little routine is all you need. First, when I told coach I was stressed, we sat down and made an excel spreadsheet schedule. We blocked out classes and practice. As well as ample time for meals and time to talk with friends, because trying to do homework all day every day isn't possible. Then we fit in homework blocks and ensured reasonable bedtimes, again doing homework 24/7 isn't sustainable so you need to set these boundaries. After I did this with coach, I wrote out all my homework and made a plan, so I never did too much in one day. If several things are due at the same time, work on a few assignments ahead of time. I found distributing work evenly across the week is really helpful. It doesn't feel like as much work if you do a little bit every day. Until I got the schedule down, I found it helpful to make a checklist every day, when I finished everything on that list, I was done for the day. There may be a million things you COULD do but there's tomorrow for that, go enjoy your college life.
So, I hope if I scared you with any of that, I was also able to provide some helpful bits that you can use in this transition. Again, the goal of this piece was not to scare you and worry you for the upcoming semester, but more to validate the feelings you may have, show you that you're not alone and give you some tips on how to navigate these challenges. After a few months, I was able to fully adjust and no longer wished for my old life back. By second semester I was able to manage my time in a way that I could relax when traveling by doing minimal homework, watch TV shows with my roommates, and have fun on the weekends. It's possible, I promise.
Good Luck this year your gonna kill it!
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Ahhhhh, freshman year. I distinctly remember telling my friend at lunch on my first day that I was going to drop out. I couldn’t be more glad that I did not!
I definitely would have dropped out if I didn’t have someone telling me I couldn’t