A Guide of Which I Wished I Had My First Year at UNH

The first semester of your freshman year is exceptionally rough and we can all admit that. You are trying to socialize, make friends, possibly get a job, do well in school, budget your money for maybe the first time, and balance your new life. I definitely struggled within my first two semesters, so here is a guide for all of the current freshmen, incoming freshmen and future freshmen. 

First things first, you will get through it and make it out on top even if it feels like you are at literal rock bottom. There will be times when you will feel like nothing could get worse, but freshman year will end and you will adjust. I hope these pieces of advice make your freshman year even just a little bit better. With love, Britaney.

One of the first pieces of advice I would have is to meet everybody, find friends in every class, your dorm hall, and just introduce yourself to everybody. Saying hi, smiling, and even just complimenting somebody is an excellent way to start this process. Try to stay on campus instead of going home because it will be harder to make friends when you are not on campus during the weekends. Most people will make plans and do fun things on the weekends, like going to Portsmouth. You do not want to miss out on experiences or memories. Staying on campus and hanging out with your friends is the best way to solidify relationships (coming from somebody who got left out and ended up losing out on memories from going home every weekend). Making friends and being kind will go a long way when you want to study for an exam with a friend, do homework with someone, or have somebody to go to the dining hall with. All of these pieces of advice for making friendships will also help you find the different types of people you want to be friends with. Friends can be trial and error, especially freshman year. 

The second piece of advice I have would be NEVER, and I mean never, isolate yourself! Isolation leads to loneliness and sadness which can lead to a lack of motivation. Go hang out with your friends every opportunity you get because socialization does make it better even if it feels like a chore. Your friends are your support system, you all need each other. Everybody is having a hard time, you are not alone so make sure to lean on each other and bring each other up! 

My third piece of advice would be to NEVER skip class because the rumors are true. Once you start, you cannot stop. Going to class seems tedious but it is important, useful and helpful for exams and just learning the material. I promise you, it is way easier to be able to take notes in a set time; it forces you to look at the material and is better for retention. Attending class also gets you into a good routine and is essential for feeling productive in college. Professors also know who is making an effort or not, and going to class can be a deciding factor on whether they will round your grade up or not at the end of the semester. Also, talk to your professors and make yourself stand out! They will bend rules for you if they like you. Treat them like how you would treat anybody and have a normal conversation with them after class. Take advantage of office hours as well! You are in control and I always find it fascinating to truly get to know my professors and what they are like outside of lectures. Do not forget they are people too, they want to talk to you and get to know you! The bottom line is don’t skip unless you absolutely have to! 

My fourth piece of advice would be to stay on top of your assignments and classes. In college, there is a lot of work with homework and studying for exams. It is best if you space it out and do not let yourself get behind because it is much harder to catch up than you would think it would be. Make sure to turn in assignments on time. You do not want to lose unnecessary points because those homework points can be grade boosters and save your overall grade. The tedious “busy work” can really help you when it comes to exams and the end of the semester. Do not wait until the last minute to do these assignments either because it can be very overwhelming trying to make deadlines in a stressful mindset. Procrastinating makes it easier for assignments to get racked up which will only increase your stress. Try to do assignments by the day before they are due to prevent this! 

My fifth piece of advice would be to go easy on yourself. Sometimes your first semester does not go the way you exactly want it to and that is okay. Experiences we have may not always go the way we imagine or dream of, and that is okay! That is completely normal and a common experience among college freshmen. You are not alone and things will get better even if they are rough at first. Even if you feel like you are truly at rock bottom, there’s only one place from there, which is up! College can be stressful, overwhelming, chaotic, eventful, and mentally draining, and you deserve a break! Take mental health days when you need them and try to find things that help you relieve that stress, whether that is writing down your feelings, working out, painting, making a Psychological and Counseling Services appointment (free counseling services), or mindful breathing exercises. Honestly, you may not always be happy with your roommate, the food here, how expensive everything is, how your weekends are going, who your friends are, how your classes are going, or how you did on a test. These are all common experiences even for people who aren’t freshmen. You may be struggling in more than one way and that is common with an overabundance of college students! I promise you that you will find your people, you will find things in the atrocious dining halls that you like and are your go-to foods. You and your roommate will make up if there are fights (if it is really bad you can switch rooms). You will get your classes and grades in a row and you will learn how to study best for you. One bad grade will never end your college career or even remotely affect it, don’t overwhelm yourself if you don’t need to. If you are not happy with your semester, you can always change it! You can go out, stay in, watch movies, listen to music, get all your homework done, or use the free gym here to relieve some stress. Adjustment to campus life will happen, just hang in there, and eventually you will start to love it just like I did!