A Note to First-Year College Students...
On August 18th, 2014, I was scheduled to step into a whole new world, college. The time had come for me to start my journey at Longwood University, a small liberal arts university in Farmville, Virginia. As soon as my friends and family found out that I was heading to college, everybody instantly became an expert in higher education. I was advised how to make friends, what classes to take, what professors to avoid, where the best place to eat on campus was, and of course, what organizations to get involved in on campus.
Before leaving for college, I had not done a whole lot of research into what to do when I arrived at Longwood. I sort of just said, "Ok, it's time to go now." As you may have guessed, when I got to Longwood I was lost. Everybody already seemed to know what they wanted to get involved in and what they wanted to do for the rest of their lives. My hall mates knew what fraternity or sorority they wanted to rush, what club sport they wanted to play, and what organizations would set them up for success. Me, I had no idea. All I knew was that my first class was Motor Development on Monday at 8 a.m. on the third floor of the Health and Fitness Center.
About a week and a half into my time at Longwood University, there was an event held called the Involvement Fair. This event was meant to give first-year students an opportunity to mingle with current members of various clubs and organizations around campus. Of course, I failed to attend this event because I mixed up the dates on my planner. College was off to a rough start. After two weeks into the semester, I already felt as though I was too far behind to catch up. So, I gave up. For the first three months of college, during the week I sat in my room studying chapters in my Modern Western Civilization textbook. There had to be more to college than this, right?
Out of nowhere, opportunities to get involved came from all corners of life. I was approached by brothers of a fraternity, members of Ambassadors (the campus tour guides), club sports teams, etc. I was so ecstatic that I did not know what to do. So, I said yes, and yes, and yes, and yes. Can you foresee the issue at hand? My first few months of college I did not know how to get involved, so when opportunities arose, I failed to say "no" to anything. At first, getting extremely involved was a blessing! I met so many different groups of people on campus, and I never came across a day in which I was bored. However, I quickly became so involved in clubs and organizations that I continuously failed to follow through on commitments. At one point during the second semester of my first academic year at Longwood, I was an Ambassador, a brother of Theta Chi Fraternity, President of Alpha Lambda Delta, a Conduct Board Justice, Secretary of Physical and Health Education Teacher Education, and a member of the Honors Student Association. I went from the freshman that did not know how to get involved to the freshman that did not know how to get out of being involved.
College would not be college if mistakes were never made. It is a four, maybe five, maybe a six-year period in which an individual transitions from teenager to adult. One of my biggest mistakes during my time at Longwood University was getting over-involved. Time management is one of the most crucial keys to success in college. If you are unable to balance academics, involvement, and health, college will be a struggle.
My most significant piece of advice for first-year college students is to limit yourself to being involved in no more than three organizations. Being heavily involved in two to three organizations will allow you to manage your time and give you the opportunity to get extremely close with a couple of different groups of people that are interested in similar matters.
If you attend Longwood University, please visit https://longwoodorgs.campuslabs.com/engage/ to learn more about the 176 clubs and organizations offered on campus...but don't join all of them.