Leaving home and entering into the first year of college can be an intimating experience, as most students aren’t used to independence that comes with living on campus. The way you spend your first days living on campus can set the expectation for how the rest of the year will go, from the eating habits you develop to the people you meet on move-in day. A few of this year’s freshman class open up about their first few days on campus.
“It’s been a great experience so far. I’ve been really surprised at how open everybody was around here, I thought I was going to have to go around and try to meet new people but everybody’s been nicer than I expected and I haven’t had a problem making friends at all.”
Nick Hanson
Freshman, computer engineering systems
“I thought it would take more than a week to meet cool people, but I met some of the coolest people here on my first day […] Being here is pretty much what I was hoping college would be like, it’s been a very mellow place.”
Gilberto Javier
Freshman, automotive engineering
“I do enjoy it here. There’s a lot more activities going on, there’s been something going on almost every night. I’ve met a lot of people here, I feel like I’ve gotten to know almost everybody. Most of the people are cool, some aren’t, like it is anywhere.”
Richard Kelly
Freshman, pre-dentistry
“I feel free now that I’m here, it’s better than being home, I like that I don’t have a lot of supervision. I thought college was going to be like high school all over again, but it’s not. I’ve been partying a lot, there’s nobody to tell me what to do, it’s awesome.”
Alyssa Judge
Freshman, criminal justice
“There’s a lot more walking than I thought there would be. The homework and the classes aren’t as hard as I thought. There’s way more downtime than I thought there would be, I have more time to myself, more time to make friends. I like that’s a small college, the community’s tighter.”
Charles Brown
Freshman, automotive engineering
“I feel like I haven’t made a lot of friends yet. I’m outgoing, but really nobody else has been […] I thought college was going to be about partying all night and meeting great people but that hasn’t happened yet. It’s been different from what I thought, in bad and good ways. I like the food here.”
SaVaughn Pembrook
Freshman, criminal justice