Adjusting to college as a freshman can be one of the most intimidating experiences, especially in a year following COVID isolation and uncertainty. On top of a new and unfamiliar place, the pressures to join clubs, make friends, and perform well in classes can be beyond overwhelming. The increased academic rigor, organization responsibilities, and even a bit of poor time management may have caused a lot of us some lost sleep… or a lot of lost sleep. Additionally, along with the increased freedom comes increased responsibility. Being on your own for the first time can be a big change. Some of your fellow BHPeers have described their experience adjusting to college life so far:

Interviewee: Evan 

What would you say has been the hardest part in adjusting to college? So, once you move to college, you know, there is a lot more responsibility. You have to be more on top of your assignments, on top of deadlines. And so I think the hardest part of adjusting has been that transformation of becoming more responsible as a student and keeping up with the everyday activities of college.

What has been your favorite experience at UT so far? Definitely the football games. I’ve been watching football for the last few years, and just being in the student section, seeing it from a student’s perspective now, it makes the experience a whole lot more immersive, especially going with friends and enjoying the football game with your buddies makes it a really enjoyable experience. 

Is BHP what you expected it to be? At first, since its a business program, I thought it was gonna be a lot more cut-throat, but after meeting a lot of the peer mentors and a lot of my peers, I learned that everyone is a lot more collaborative. Everyone’s willing to help and the community is a lot more friendly than I previously anticipated. 

Interviewee: Caroline

What has been the hardest part in adjusting? Probably the social life. I just feel like there’s a big pressure to be social all the time, and there's just so much to do. It’s hard to manage your time, like school work and social.

What has been your favorite class so far? My favorite class has been BA 324H with Dr. Pryor, even though it's really hard and it's like hard to get a good grade in there. I feel like the information is really useful and interesting for going further in the business world.

Follow up question: How many hours of sleep do you get? Roughly, it depends on the week. Sometimes I get 6 (Aidan and Tanvi if you’re listening). I get 6 hours of sleep every night.(Aidan and Tanvi if you aren’t listening) I probably get 4 hours of sleep every night, but all of my work gets done so its fine. (Context: Our peer mentors, Aidan and Tanvi said they would bring us brownies if we get 6 hours of sleep every night).

Interviewee: Lisa 

How has your time management and sleep schedule been since you’ve been here? Pretty bad. I’m just bad in general with time management and I feel like its definitely not the same as getting by with my time management skills as it has been in high school compared to college. I definitely need to step it up. I’m still adjusting, kind of figuring out my schedule, and what works for me and when. And then my sleep schedule has kind of been bad, but yeah. Compared to everybody I feel like sleep has all been pretty bad.

What has been your biggest challenge academically so far? Definitely my time management like I said. I feel like in high school, I could get by with just procrastinating assignments and having bad time management skills but college is very different because its much more time consuming and you need to spend the extra time studying or extra time doing your assignments before its really late.

As you can see, your classmates are facing many similar difficulties throughout the adjustment process. Realizing that you are not alone in this adjustment can be a very comforting thought, one that alleviates some imposter syndrome. At the same time, getting to experience all of the exciting opportunities college has to offer is unparalleled. Especially getting to experience it alongside your BHP community is something to look forward to for the next four years. 

Written by: Kennedy Kibler