College is a culture shock for everybody. It’s the first time living away from home for most people and your life will be drastically different to what it was when you were in high school. Most students set off for college expecting things to be different but they underestimate quite how unprepared they’re going to be. These are the biggest surprises that college students get in their first year.
Freedom
All college students know that they’re going to get freedom when they leave home. It’s one of the things that they look forward to most. Being able to do what they want without their parents looming over them is a liberating feeling, but most of them aren’t expecting the other side of that freedom. When you’re in school, you’ve got teachers to guide you through your work and set hours to do it in. All of that goes away when you get to college. You’re completely free to choose how and when you do your work. For some people, that’s a good thing, but some students don’t know where to start. That freedom suddenly becomes a bad thing and they struggle to stay motivated.
They also aren’t prepared for feeling homesick. In that summer before heading off to college, they can’t wait to get away from their parents. But a few weeks in, they’ll start missing all of the luxuries that they used to take for granted.
Stress
Everybody experiences a bit of stress at school, but when you get to college, it’s magnified tenfold. Trying to keep on top of your workload while you’re learning how to live alone in a strange city can be daunting and that stress can quickly build up. A staggering 60% of college students reported that stress interfered with their ability to do their work properly and around 30% reported feelings of depression brought on by stress. Those are worrying statistics and most students didn’t expect it to be that hard. Before you even get started, you need to look into how students can reduce stress so that you’re prepared when you get there. Setting aside time to relax, and making sure that you’re eating well are both simple ways that you can avoid letting things getting on top of you.
Money Doesn’t Go That Far
When your parents are buying all of the groceries and paying the bills, you don’t always realize how much they’re spending. Before you get to college, you probably thought that $1000 seemed like a massive amount of money, but college students soon realize that, once they need to start paying for all of that adult stuff, it’ll soon run out. Lots of students get into financial difficulty because they start overspending when they first arrive and find it difficult to get themselves back on a good path. Before you head to college, it’s a good idea to do a bit of research into the general cost of things to avoid getting caught out and getting yourself into financial difficulties.
Preparing for these revelations beforehand will help you to survive the trials and tribulations of college.
I hope you enjoyed the post! What’s one thing that surprised you when you started college? Let me know in the comments!
Thanks so much for reading, as always <3
Xoxo, Rae
Leave a Reply