Here's what students say about getting settled in college:
When I was in high school … my mother would drag me out of bed to make sure I wasn’t late for class. My teachers would pull me aside if I was late or struggling, my coach would push me to excel as a leader and my friends were right there to help.
College is nothing like that. You live in a dorm. You hardly know anyone. The only thing getting you to class is you. You can sleep in all you want, you can skip class all you want, and most professors will simply fail you, with hardly a word. It was very easy to let that new freedom overtake me at times.
— Adam Sparkes, 24, Grad, Eastern Michigan University
The transition from high school to college was an extremely rough transition, possibly the roughest until this point in my life. During high school, I never had to do very much to get decent grades, so I had a lot of free time. This was not the case in college I was required to constantly study – something I didn’t realize until a year into college.
— Christopher Semanson, 21
College isn’t just academics; it tests you emotionally, and you’ve got to handle the ups and the downs. Nobody said college is easy, and if anyone did, that person in my opinion is lying. I’m a 4.0 student and I’ll tell you flat out: College is demanding and you definitely need to roll with the punches.
Unless you are doing things to keep your mind off the demands of college, you’re definitely going to get homesick. I did and was throughout my time in the dorm.
— Shawn Gappy, 19, Wayne State University
The homesickness hit almost right after my mom and brother had dropped me off at school. I think the first two weeks were the worst, because I wasn’t very busy so I had a lot of time to miss my family and miss home. I wondered if I had really made the right choice to attend the University of Michigan instead of going to a smaller college first like everyone else at home.
I was kind of miserable and I didn’t really reach out and try to make a lot of friends at first. I also still had that feeling that I wasn’t prepared for the classes and the amount of work I faced in the upcoming semester. I would email and call home every day.
Once I got busier three or four weeks into the semester, I started calling home only once or twice a week. I wasn’t nearly as homesick after first semester ended and all the pressure of taking my first finals was over.
— Mary Lent, 19, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
I would say probably the No. 1 thing that people have to adjust to is having strangers around and dealing with all of those uncomfortable situations. Then, just in living, you have to learn to adapt to the food, you have to learn to work out a schedule with your roommates as far as who gets the shower at what time.
On my floor, the washers and dryers were in limited numbers, so it’s like, you have to try to coordinate with 40 other people.
— Amy Boris, 20, Rochester College
Managing my free time is always a challenge. I don’t get much of it since I am a full-time student, I work full-time, and I just became a new mom six months ago. Any free time I get, there is always something that comes up or needs to be done.
The thing that has worked the most for me is writing everything down, and I mean everything! I usually do it the week in advance so that my husband and I can coordinate our schedules. This also helps with my school schedule. This way, if I have things to do for school, my husband can clear his evening to watch our baby.
— Nicole Lauer, 25, Madonna University
There are a lot of people who are willing to reach out to you if you need help dealing with personal issues or school work alone.
— Justine Williams, 20, Macomb Community College