Graduation Speech : Transitioning Into College

Transitioning into College

Jennifer, a second-year college student from at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, explains the troubles she had as an incoming freshman. As she describes these reasons, a few stood out, these were the most important. There are academic, mental, and social transitions incoming college students need to think about.

According to the Huffington Post, “the freshman myth results in disenchantment when new college students’ academic expectations are not met.”(Harke, Freshman Myth). The freshman myth is the outcome of students not being guided into what classes they need to sign up for and not having the professors hold their hand when they are failing or having a hard time understanding a topic. First-year students must realize that college counselors have many more students to worry about and can only help so much when it comes to scheduling classes and preventing students from being first-hand proof of the freshman myth.

One of the first steps of transitioning into college is creating a class schedule that fits what the student needs academically, while keeping in mind of time management. This may be a tricky concept for some students if they do not know what classes are required for their desired degree. Thankfully, one does not fully focus on those classes until the third year of college, depending on which university they go to and how many college credits they had as an incoming

Farr 2 freshman. What does this mean? This means that freshmen have it easier than juniors and seniors. All the freshmen have to worry about academically are the required courses that all students take in their first couple years, no matter what their degree is.

When setting up their schedule students will begin to realize t...

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...nstead of being with that crowd of people, remember to join clubs that interest you and you can find the people you are meant to be with. Another tip is to try to distance oneself from high school friends, as hard as it may be one must leave them behind and find others that attend the same school. This doesn’t mean to stop talking to them but remember that there are other people on campus that don’t have anyone to hang out with that could be even better than the people in high school. The social aspect of college is a lot more important that one would think.

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When transitioning into college remember the ways to get through academic, mental, and social struggles. When one does these things they will be more likely to succeed. Jennifer had to overtake these struggles, hopefully incoming freshman will be prepared and know how to react to different situations.