Adjustment

College is hard.

But you know what?  It’s supposed to be hard.  Part of going to college — especially if you’re going away to college — is being ripped out of your comfort zone of friends and family and familiar surroundings and learning how to adapt, how to react, how to think outside the proverbial box.  Because that’s life.  Kindergarten was hard too, even though you probably didn’t realize it much at the time and don’t remember much now.

But you know what else?  It gets better.  The more you work at it, the more you reach out to friends and advisors and teachers and mentors, the better it gets.  One of the things colleges and universities do really well is personal growth.  There are enormous resources available to you: academic advising centers, career centers, residence life staff, student activities offices, recreation centers, disability support service centers, counseling services, health services, faculty members, teaching assistants… all of us have been there, in your shoes, with a lot of the same questions and concerns.

So reach out.  Knock on a door or two.  Make an appointment to sit down with someone and tell us what’s up.  Ask someone to go to lunch; a roommate, a suitemate, someone in one of your classes.  Make up an excuse if you have to (“Can we go grab dinner at the dining hall so I can pick your brain about our homework that’s due next week?”) and see where it leads.  Go to the workout center, hop on the treadmill next to someone, and strike up a conversation.  Go to a meeting of a club that interests you and see what they do, ask how you can help, ask how you can do more.

Don’t know where to start?  We’re here to help; our doors are open.  We got into this business to help students.  Come see us!

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