The first semester of freshman year can make or break a student’s college experience: will they or won’t they return?
While some students find the change to be a bit too much too soon, others find joy in their new experiences.
Ferris allied health freshman Loretta Gutierrez tried to keep an open mind when it came to her first experience at college, knowing since her freshman year of high school of her desire to go into nursing.
“When coming to Ferris, I didn’t really have any expectations because I had picked my college mainly off the fact that one of my best friends was going here, so I wouldn’t be alone in this experience,” Gutierrez said. “I think it helped that I didn’t have expectations because it made me willing to be more comfortable and less worried about every aspect of the college. It also helped because I previously knew that Ferris had a pretty good program for nursing.”
Full of new experiences, the beginning of freshman year is the time students build friendships, discover their interests and determine their own academic success.
“The beginning of the year involved a lot of adaptation to the social surrounding,” Ferris computer networks and systems freshman Jeff Rase said. “However, about halfway in, my focus shifted almost entirely towards academics. Overall, I’d say the first semester was about adapting to campus life.”
Following in his father’s footsteps to attend Ferris, Rase found his college experience to be different from that of his experience in high school, finding college to be more demanding and rigorous.
“It’s comforting to know that all the classes that I am personally paying for are actually going to benefit me in the ‘real world’ someday,” Rase said.
Due to college being a demanding experience for many students, new challenges and struggles push students to find ways to learn to adjust to their new lifestyles.
Ferris general studies freshman Jake Falkner previously found his school to have somewhat prepared him for his college experience by incorporating college methods in their classes but Falkner still found difficulty in his time management his first few weeks here.
“I feel I struggled with managing time. Because the first week, when I had my six hour gaps, I didn’t know what to do in those times. Now, I use that time to study and stuff. Another thing was studying habits, because I procrastinated sometimes to the last minute,” Falkner said.
With the first semester wrapped up, freshmen such as Rase, Falkner and Gutierrez are preparing themselves for the second semester, enjoying the reunion they will make with their new friends.
“I did enjoy my first semester because of the friends I have made, they all helped to make it a very memorable place for me,” Gutierrez said.