Your First Year: College Students Share Advice
Video Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
SPEAKER 1: The hardest thing
about my freshman year
was most definitely keeping
track of my time.
SPEAKER 2: Everyone's telling you this is the time of your life. You're supposed be doing this. You're supposed to be doing that.
SPEAKER 3: I just was so stressed out and so overwhelmed that I just physically couldn't eat.
SPEAKER 4: I'd just completely forgotten how to make friends.
SPEAKER 5: I was depressed. I was homesick.
SPEAKER 6: And it's just this horrible feeling, like what have I done?
SPEAKER 4: I've definitely had friends who experienced depression while in college.
SPEAKER 7: It seems from the outside that everybody's doing well.
SPEAKER 4: It's difficult for you to admit that you need help doing something that you haven't ever needed help doing before.
SPEAKER 5: My advice to students would be, always remember that you're able to get help. All you have to do is ask for it.
SPEAKER 2: I think when it comes to drinking, you have to be very honest with yourself. My freshman fall, I got into this bad habit where I'd stay up late, whether I was drinking or not. A lot of times, I was drinking. I slept through my 10:00 AM almost every day.
SPEAKER 5: There were moments where, yeah, I got sick, and I overdid it.
SPEAKER 2: You're allowed to experiment. That's what your time here is for. At the same time, it's easy to get carried away.
SPEAKER 1: The best thing to do, I believe, is to find a friend who you know has your back and you can trust them, and then to learn your limits.
SPEAKER 8: My eating habits definitely changed coming to college. I just kind of got in this routine where, you know, I'm stressed. I'm just going to eat. I'm tired. I'm going to eat something to give me some energy.
SPEAKER 7: Freshman 15 was definitely real for me. It was actually freshman 20.
SPEAKER 3: So I definitely ate a lot less. My second semester of freshman year, I was taking my introductory engineering class. I had gone 24 hours without eating anything. I failed the final, and I ended up with a B in the class. So my biggest advice to incoming freshmen is, you not eating and trying to be productive by saving the time, or by being too stressed out, is literally doing the opposite of what you want it to do.
SPEAKER 2: When it comes to sex, you run into people who feel completely different ways about it. Some people wait forever. Some people only have sex with someone they're dating. Some people just go have sex with whoever. And it's hard to deal with. You do have to say, this is the person I'm going to be, in regards to that.
SPEAKER 8: There's such a huge pressure on this rush to get involved with someone.
SPEAKER 1: You don't want to feel like you're, oh, the only one without a boyfriend, or the only one without a girlfriend.
SPEAKER 8: There's no time limit on love. And there's no time limit on when you have to have sex with someone.
SPEAKER 2: The best piece of advice I got was just don't put too much pressure on yourself.
SPEAKER 7: It's your body. You should be able to do what you want with it, and don't let anybody force you.
SPEAKER 6: Don't deal with the games, because it's only going to drive you crazy.
SPEAKER 5: There were definitely overwhelming moments in my freshman year. At times, I did feel as if I wasn't really understanding my work the way that my other friends were.
SPEAKER 3: I was like, OK, I need to volunteer here. I need to be in this club. I need to do this. And I need to get good grades. And like, I guess trying to build that up really quickly was very overwhelming.
SPEAKER 2: It doesn't seem like everyone is dealing with it, but looking back, everyone is dealing with stress and anxiety. You know, it's-- how can you not?
SPEAKER 4: I think there's absolutely a lot of pressure on students to do everything perfectly, to do everything without seemingly having any effort.
SPEAKER 3: My biggest advice to an incoming freshman is don't feel like your obligations are your life. And don't compromise your mental health for anything.
SPEAKER 8: Asking for assistance, whether it be from your classmates or from your professors or whoever you feel comfortable with, it's mandatory. And you're going to have to do it.
SPEAKER 1: Once you find the people that you like, people that you can hang out with all the time, you realize, you know, these guys are always going to have my back.
SPEAKER 4: That's what's so great about freshman year, is everyone wants to build a new community.
SPEAKER 1: Expect to have a lot of work. But also expect to enjoy yourself.
SPEAKER 6: Be open to honestly exploring new things that you don't want to do, and being brave about that.
SPEAKER 8: You need to know that you're never alone. Whether it be a personal problem or academic, you're not alone.
SPEAKER 2: You have to walk into college like it's a boxing match. You're going to get hit. Like, you're going to-- you have to be able to take a punch. But you'll always get through it. You'll always figure it out. That's what it's for. That's how you learn.
SPEAKER 2: Everyone's telling you this is the time of your life. You're supposed be doing this. You're supposed to be doing that.
SPEAKER 3: I just was so stressed out and so overwhelmed that I just physically couldn't eat.
SPEAKER 4: I'd just completely forgotten how to make friends.
SPEAKER 5: I was depressed. I was homesick.
SPEAKER 6: And it's just this horrible feeling, like what have I done?
SPEAKER 4: I've definitely had friends who experienced depression while in college.
SPEAKER 7: It seems from the outside that everybody's doing well.
SPEAKER 4: It's difficult for you to admit that you need help doing something that you haven't ever needed help doing before.
SPEAKER 5: My advice to students would be, always remember that you're able to get help. All you have to do is ask for it.
SPEAKER 2: I think when it comes to drinking, you have to be very honest with yourself. My freshman fall, I got into this bad habit where I'd stay up late, whether I was drinking or not. A lot of times, I was drinking. I slept through my 10:00 AM almost every day.
SPEAKER 5: There were moments where, yeah, I got sick, and I overdid it.
SPEAKER 2: You're allowed to experiment. That's what your time here is for. At the same time, it's easy to get carried away.
SPEAKER 1: The best thing to do, I believe, is to find a friend who you know has your back and you can trust them, and then to learn your limits.
SPEAKER 8: My eating habits definitely changed coming to college. I just kind of got in this routine where, you know, I'm stressed. I'm just going to eat. I'm tired. I'm going to eat something to give me some energy.
SPEAKER 7: Freshman 15 was definitely real for me. It was actually freshman 20.
SPEAKER 3: So I definitely ate a lot less. My second semester of freshman year, I was taking my introductory engineering class. I had gone 24 hours without eating anything. I failed the final, and I ended up with a B in the class. So my biggest advice to incoming freshmen is, you not eating and trying to be productive by saving the time, or by being too stressed out, is literally doing the opposite of what you want it to do.
SPEAKER 2: When it comes to sex, you run into people who feel completely different ways about it. Some people wait forever. Some people only have sex with someone they're dating. Some people just go have sex with whoever. And it's hard to deal with. You do have to say, this is the person I'm going to be, in regards to that.
SPEAKER 8: There's such a huge pressure on this rush to get involved with someone.
SPEAKER 1: You don't want to feel like you're, oh, the only one without a boyfriend, or the only one without a girlfriend.
SPEAKER 8: There's no time limit on love. And there's no time limit on when you have to have sex with someone.
SPEAKER 2: The best piece of advice I got was just don't put too much pressure on yourself.
SPEAKER 7: It's your body. You should be able to do what you want with it, and don't let anybody force you.
SPEAKER 6: Don't deal with the games, because it's only going to drive you crazy.
SPEAKER 5: There were definitely overwhelming moments in my freshman year. At times, I did feel as if I wasn't really understanding my work the way that my other friends were.
SPEAKER 3: I was like, OK, I need to volunteer here. I need to be in this club. I need to do this. And I need to get good grades. And like, I guess trying to build that up really quickly was very overwhelming.
SPEAKER 2: It doesn't seem like everyone is dealing with it, but looking back, everyone is dealing with stress and anxiety. You know, it's-- how can you not?
SPEAKER 4: I think there's absolutely a lot of pressure on students to do everything perfectly, to do everything without seemingly having any effort.
SPEAKER 3: My biggest advice to an incoming freshman is don't feel like your obligations are your life. And don't compromise your mental health for anything.
SPEAKER 8: Asking for assistance, whether it be from your classmates or from your professors or whoever you feel comfortable with, it's mandatory. And you're going to have to do it.
SPEAKER 1: Once you find the people that you like, people that you can hang out with all the time, you realize, you know, these guys are always going to have my back.
SPEAKER 4: That's what's so great about freshman year, is everyone wants to build a new community.
SPEAKER 1: Expect to have a lot of work. But also expect to enjoy yourself.
SPEAKER 6: Be open to honestly exploring new things that you don't want to do, and being brave about that.
SPEAKER 8: You need to know that you're never alone. Whether it be a personal problem or academic, you're not alone.
SPEAKER 2: You have to walk into college like it's a boxing match. You're going to get hit. Like, you're going to-- you have to be able to take a punch. But you'll always get through it. You'll always figure it out. That's what it's for. That's how you learn.