" The results of the Junior/Senior Survey suggest that, during freshman year students often worry about whether or not professors and other students at [school name] accept them. However, the survey results also suggest that most students eventually become comfortable at [school name] and find a family of people at [school name] with whom they are close and feel they belong. In an effort to further understand how the transition to college takes place, we would like to ask you to describe why you think this would be so—that is, why students might feel initially unsure about their acceptance but ultimately overcome these fears. Please be sure to illustrate your essay with examples from your own experiences in classes, seminars, lectures, study groups, and labs." This was a study conducted by Stanford University. We were asked by Dr. Mangini to give our own response to this prompt. This is my answer: Have you ever heard someone say "The more you say something, the more people will believe it."? My dad is infamous for saying this quote. When we are young we begin to hear people in our lives, our influences, say that college stinks, it is hard, it's the worst schooling you'll ever face. So, the more we hear it, the more we believe it. Eventually, as we grow up, we have friends who go off to college, and they tell us it's actually not as bad as they thought it would be, but the bad we've heard still outweighs the good. So we go to college with the bad we've heard. Not only that, but in an attempt to 'protect' ourselves, we close our minds in the process. We're in a place with people we don't know, concepts we don't understand, and new experiences altogether. We are afraid of how we will be accepted, how we will rank among our classmates and our peers, and even just how we will feel going through this new stage of our life. There are numerous reasons why freshmen might be afraid of how they will be accepted. They might feel that people will judge them for being younger or older than the rest of their classmates, they could be afraid that their professors will be too loose or too lax, they might even be worried that they are walking into a setting too over or under-dressed. Plenty of things can stop someone from embracing their first year at college. In my mind, the biggest fear is that they won't connect with another student. Two examples of my own are the first two classes I had. I knew that two of my high school friends would be at the college, one in my psychology class, and another in my statistics class. This left English as the class I was worried about. I went to college completely open minded about my psychology class, the teacher walked in, and not even five minutes through I decided I loved her. Next came English and I was a bit worried, but there was a shock, a disturbance so to say, the teacher walked in, and cracked a joke. This quick, unexpected, remark forced my mind open for just enough time to make me hopeful about the class. Since then, English has become my favorite class, and I find myself wanting to be there when I'm not. I have even managed to make some friends in that class. Freshmen have a lot of reasons to be scared, but once they get through the stress of their first week, it isn't so bad. Not all people allow themselves to open their minds, but by the time they are finished with their freshman year, they have the summer to think about it, and they finally realize it wasn't actually all that bad. Once they come back, they have opened their minds, they know what's going on, they know a few people, they don't feel judged, they decide to enjoy their time. They begin putting together their social circle, they find people with their major, people they might work with one day. They realize that college is okay, and not the end of the world they heard about when they were younger. I know there are plenty of reasons freshmen might feel out of place at college, but this is what I believe. Go ahead and list some of your ideas or fears about college in the comments. No explanation needed, but feel free to write one if you'd like.
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Rebekah W
Here I will blog about the word, and the world we live in. Archives
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