Dear Incoming First-Year College Student,
I am going to get straight to the point. My biggest piece of advice is to build meaningful relationships with your professors. I know it can be intimidating at first, but it is crucial that you make the effort to develop these connections. Go to office hours, initiate conversations with your professors before or after class, participate during discussions, and ask questions when you need clarification. All of these small gestures, whether you realize it or not, can make a great impact on the impressions you make on your professors, especially because they value students who are interested and enthusiastic about learning.
Take it from me — throughout my college career, I served as a teaching assistant for three separate courses and built mutually-beneficial relationships with several professors in my school’s psychology department. In hindsight, developing and maintaining these connections with faculty has been one of the most rewarding things I have done during my college career. These working relationships have opened up multiple professional opportunities for me, including internships in the psychology field and graduate school recommendation letters.
Overall, I urge you to get to know your professors on a more personal level and establish your presence within your major’s department. You will learn so much from faculty members, and these life lessons will continue to facilitate growth and development throughout the rest of your life, not just within your four years of undergrad.
That brings me to my next point: take advantage of your major’s department! Depending on your major, the associated on-campus department will most likely offer opportunities for research, paid and unpaid internships, teaching assistantships, volunteer work, and other unique opportunities and resources. With all of these available possibilities designed to help you succeed, it is important that you take advantage of them and get involved in some way or another.
I know that you will most likely hear the phrase “get involved” a lot over the next few months (especially at college orientation), but that is for a good reason. As seniors, we have had our fair share of experiences with mistakes and successes to know what works and what does not work. By far, getting involved within your major’s department and on campus is detrimental in order to have a fulfilling, successful college experience.
Additionally, there will most likely be an on-campus club that is associated with your major which also offers an array of different on- and off-campus opportunities for those who do not know how to get involved. Other clubs outside of your major’s department also provide similar resources. For instance, I have been a member of the Scranton chapter of Her Campus since my first semester at my school in 2019.
Over the progression of the past four years, I have worked hard to advance my position, make more connections, and gain more responsibilities in various roles within the club. I finally made my way up to the role of Campus Correspondent of the chapter, and I have been serving in this position for the past
year. My heavy involvement within this club has taught me countless invaluable life lessons. The most important lesson I have learned from my work in Her Campus, however, is how to effectively lead a large group of people all working to achieve a common goal. This skill is critical for future success in leadership roles in the real world. As I am about to enter a new chapter in my life, I am eternally grateful for learning this skill among many other useful skills throughout my time in college, as they will prove to be extremely useful in my future career plans and other long-term goals.
With all that being said, I hope you can truly consider my advice. College flies by much faster than high school does, and before you know it, you will also be a senior addressing similar letters to incoming freshmen students. Overall, the past four years have been incredible and have been instrumental in my growth and development as a person. I almost cannot recognize myself when I look back at who I was in August 2019 compared to now, May 2023.
I met some of the most amazing, unforgettable people in my life during college and I do not have any regrets about my decision to commit to this school four years ago. As with anyone, I have had my fair share of ups and downs, failures and successes, as well as pains and joys. Even with the stress that comes with academic responsibilities, you will still have a lot of fun if you make the most out of your college experience — as cliché as that sounds.
Many of my other graduating peers will agree that college really is what you make of it, so make the most out of it and enjoy these surprisingly-brief four years! I want to end with a quote from Taylor Swift that I believe is a great representation of the college experience, graduating, and growing up: “The scary news is, you’re on your own now. But the cool news is, you’re on your own now!” Good luck to all the incoming first-year college students!
P.S., I am one week away from graduation, so this will be my last Her Campus article ever. Being in this amazing club and building a community on campus has been an honor and I am eternally grateful for every person I have worked with. Her Campus, you will always have my heart! Being a member and a leader in this chapter will forever be some of my fondest memories of college. Thank you for everything, it was all truly unforgettable. To the future CCs of the Scranton HC Chapter, I will always be cheering you on and rooting for you! Do amazing things and make your predecessors proud! We believe in you just like you believed in us and it takes your strength and determination to keep this chapter running smoothly and successfully. I am proud to say that I am a Her Campus girly for life!!!!
~~~ And with that, I’m signing off ~~~
Sincerely,
Jessica Grigorian
Her Campus Scranton
Campus Correspondent