A few words, from someone who was there once
The weather is cooling down, the trees are changing their hues, and the crunch of the leaves with every step reminds us that we are on the brink of autumn. For some, this means pumpkin spiced lattes, apple scented candles, and warm blankets.
For others, it means doom. It is the unfortunate sign that it is back to school season.
For some of us, the only thing to look forward to on campus would be the free mini donuts. Okay, maybe it’s just me. Free makes everything taste better, folks!
The hustle and bustle of campus takes me back to my first semester of university, all the way back in 2018 (God, I’m getting old). I was a naïve freshman. I was so excited for the future.
I thought I could defeat the burnout. The freshman fifteen was not going to get me. I was on top of my game. I was so certain of what I wanted to study. I had planned my major since I was in high school. I was unstoppable. I was entering the new semester indestructible, much like Thanos.
As I made my way to my first class, Psychology 100, which was also my major, I was looking forward to living my dream of being a university student. This class was in the education auditorium, jam packed with students. Eventually, class would start. An hour and 15 minutes later, the class was over.
As I walked out of the auditorium, I knew one thing for certain; this was not the path for me. This was not my major. This was not going to be what I would spend four years of my life studying. I was no longer interested in studying psychology. It took an hour and 15 minutes to debunk all my future plans I’d made up to that point in time.
Dear freshman, university will change you. Academia will change your entire perception of learning. Your interests will shift. You could spend your entire life being certain that you want to study English, or art, or justice studies, and the second you start university, you might find that you are no longer interested in your chosen major. This is completely normal.
It is absurd that we expect 18-year-olds to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives. There is so much pressure on young people to have it figured out, to know what they want to become, what they want to study, and to be well-prepared.
Dear freshman, nobody has it figured out. Nobody knows what they are doing. Your fellow students are in the same boat. Even your professors are in the same boat. And that is okay.
Academia is not linear, there is no destination. It is a journey. You owe it to yourself to embark on this journey with an open mind. Things will change. Your surroundings will change. Your classes will change. Your professors will change. You will change. This comes with many growing pains. You are thrown into a new world and are expected to immediately know how to navigate this new world.
Dear freshman, please be kind to yourself. It is okay to feel confused. It is okay to feel scared. It is okay to even feel unhappy. However, please remember that there are resources on campus and there are counselors and advisors who are here to assist you on this journey. At the end of the day, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
University will humble you. You might find yourself starting school with a large friend group, and a year, or two, or three, or four later, you might find yourself with a handful of friends. It happens. It is almost a part of the initiation into university.
Stay open to meeting different people. There are people with various lived experiences, from all over the place, on campus. Get to know them. Try to go out of your way to say hello to the people in your class so you will have people to study with or at least borrow notes from later on.
With the influx of students, university has a funny way of still being a lonely experience for many students. Dear freshman, please know that you are not the only one on this journey. There are so many of us who are currently in your shoes, or have been in your shoes before and have overcome it.
Call me Sabrina Carpenter because I am begging you, dear freshman, to please, please, please, apply for student grants. If you are eligible as a student, you will be able to receive grants from the local as well as the federal government. I find that many eligible students do not know that they have the chance for grants because these services are often not as advertised as they should be. This is money you do not have to pay back, people. Please consider applying. You can do so through the Government of Saskatchewan.
Also, please do not drop a class because the instructor is difficult. Many of us are so quick to drop a class we need at the slightest inconvenience. Unfortunately, some classes you just cannot dodge, especially if there is just the one instructor teaching them. Eventually you will be forced to take that class because you need it to graduate.
Save yourself the stress and just get it out of the way. A difficult instructor is not the end of the world. They exist amongst us. They’re like a paper cut. They hurt really bad. They’re not fun to have. But eventually, the pain will stop and you will forget about it. Think of a difficult professor as an opportunity to build your character. If you can get through a class with a difficult professor, you can get through anything in life.
Dear freshman, you might feel like a caterpillar at this stage. But one day, you will bloom into a beautiful butterfly. Take your time. You will settle into things. You will settle into yourself. It might take you some time, but that is okay. C’est la vie. Such is life.
