The Problems Students Face While Starting A College Life

After four years of high school, and the many years of education beforehand, college is the desired endgame for most young adults. It is an opportunity to broaden their horizons and enjoy a wide array of new experiences. For most, it is also the first time living away from home. The idea of leaving the nest for a life free from parental supervision is undeniably attractive. Teenagers want to live their own lives on their own terms, and they express as much up until the moment they move into their first college dorm.

Despite this, many college freshmen encounter a surprise upon reaching their intended goal. They find themselves missing the way things once were.

There’s No Place Like Home

Homesickness in college students is quite common. According to Liz Sutton, senior associate director of first-year academic initiatives at Wharton, "Even among those students who think they're not going to feel homesick, it still comes up fairly often and fairly quickly. ” Recent statistics reveal that 1 in 10 students miss home so much that it affects their academic performance. Some students even decide to leave college after only one year so that they can resume their former way of life. To avoid this extreme step and not miss out on a higher education, first-time college students can take several steps to adjust to and flourish in their new surroundings.

In Good Company

Several students struggling with their first semester might believe that no one else understands what they are going through. This feeling is emphasized as they bear witness to other students apparently adjusting to life on campus. However, a great many college students yearn for the familiar, especially those who lived in the same town with the same friends for their entire lives. To deal with this, one could just retreat to familiar surroundings, or a student can also try to forge a new life in a new setting. Leaving one's dorm room for reasons other than class is a good place to start. Instead of wishing for and missing the old, a student is better served by establishing a new routine.

According to Mark Beal, an adjunct professor at Rutgers University, "Once students proactively get out of the dorm room and go to meetings and register for events and attend guest lectures and take advantage of all that their campus has to offer, they become immersed and realize that there's some pretty interesting stuff in front of them. They just need to get out. You gotta take that first step and get out of the dorm room. "

Seeking Friends for a New World

Connecting with new people can be scary for some at first, especially if a person thinks that they are out of the ordinary in some way. Sutton states that "Students are used to being around a lot of people who know them very well: parents, siblings high school teachers. And while it's exciting to not really know anybody and get that fresh slate, it can be really stressful and sad to think 'no one here really knows who I am. ’”

This feeling does not need to last forever. Stepping outside of the box often shows students that many others miss their homes as well. Talking about this with other people allows college freshmen to find the comfort and support that will ultimately allow them to accept their major life change. Even once any college freshman forms new friendships, there are other steps to take to keep them centered in their new surroundings. Luis Manzo, an executive director of student wellness and assessment at St. John's University in New York City, states that “First-year students should be reminded that managing their time will help control stress. A daily planner is a great way for students to organize their schedule. ”

Staying organized will help students focus on their new friends and interests while also concentrating on their studies. Even with these efforts, some students might encounter a new kind of sadness, the feeling that as they embark on a new chapter of their lives, the ones that came before are lost forever.

Remembering the Past

This need not be the case. According to Beal, "Just because you went to college doesn't mean your family disappeared on you. You still have those connections. You can still go back to them for support. You can still physically go back home. Enjoy this new life grow in this new life and evolve and then report back home. I don't know if there needs to be a daily report back to mom every day. But I think a weekly balanced approach of evolving and growing while still maintaining balanced communication with family members is great. "

College is a wonderful opportunity for young people to evolve in rewarding ways. Taking advantage of all aspects of campus life and meeting new people make this change possible. Even as students should focus on the present and how it can impact their future, there is no reason why students cannot also draw sustenance from the past. Ensuring that all points in time work in harmony are the best way to achieve the ideal college result.