I see the first-year version of myself all the time — so eager, so idealistic, and wearing a terrible polka-dotted shirt. Many people don’t immediately realize this, but the ID picture you take the very first day you arrive on campus sticks with you until you graduate (unless you lose your ID, or pay to have the picture retaken). Thus, every time you’re making copies in the library, grabbing some food at the Pub, or trying to get into your dorm, you have the pleasure of seeing what becomes a much younger version of yourself on a daily basis.
It gets a little difficult, I won’t lie.
I think that if you asked any upperclassmen on campus, they would describe their first-year as an “experience,” whether good, bad, or simply mediocre — but nevertheless, an experience. Learning how to deal with a roommate (or two!) in a small amount of space, heading down to Bates for dinner on the meal plan, and figuring out the conference system — it’s a lot to take in all at once. I’ll share with you five things I wish I’d known going into my freshman year, in the hope that it helps to make your first-year “experience” a little easier.
1. Sarah Lawrence is not a normal college.
“This is obvious!” you scoff. “I’ve read the brochures. I’ve done the campus tour. It’s the reason why I wanted to come here in the first place; I didn’t want to go to a normal college.”
To this I would say, simply, that we should talk after you’ve survived your first conference week.
SLC is a great place. There are many professors and staff members here who are dedicated to helping you grow as a student and as a human being. They will help you, but ultimately you are responsible for a lot of the learning and the growing. You can make your academic program as rigorous as you want or feel comfortable, depending on the conference work you choose and the classes you select.
I think that while I would never trade the individualized education you receive here for anything else, within that individualization there lies a problem: there is a chance that you’ll feel isolated your first year. I went through this myself, and know a lot of other people who had the same experience. I met my best friend because we were in the same literature seminar and I discovered she felt as lonely as I did.
Even if you are shy, you have to make yourself open and available to meeting new people if you want to have a healthy social life here. This means something different to everyone; I’m not big on parties, so I’m really involved in community life. Join a club. Join a sports team. Arrange a dinner with the other people in your FYS. I was cripplingly introverted as a first-year. I started working on The Sadie Lou Project, and things drastically improved for me — I met new people and felt I knew more about Sarah Lawrence (and we love newcomers, so you should definitely come to our meetings). Getting involved in something you’re passionate about is key; odds are you’ll meet lots of other people who share your interests.
2. The ratio of “home time” to “school time” is different for everyone — especially your first year.
You will probably spend more time at home as a first-year than you will during any other year of college. Even if you don’t live close enough to go back just for the weekend, there are plenty of oppotunities — October Study Days, Thanksgiving, Winter Break, and Spring Break — for you to catch up with family and old friends.
This might be the first time you’ve had to spend most of a year away from home, and on top of that, living in a double (or a triple!) can feel a little confining at times. While you’re here, try to make the best of it; I was fairly close with my roommate freshman year, but I had a lot of friends who simply cohabitated with theirs. Learn to love your upperclassmen friends — for their common rooms, their singles, and their cars (as well as, of course, their beaming personalities) — as a coping strategy for times when you feel like you’ll need your own space.
I would not advise what I chose to do most of my freshman year — I essentially commuted, traveling home on Thursday night and coming back Monday in the morning. I live about an hour away from campus and it was great to spend that time with my family, but I regretted the fact that I hadn’t established solid relationships with people here going into my sophomore year. Again, freshman year is an “experience,” an experience that lays the foundation for additional years spent with all the people with whom you’ll form close friendships.
(However, as a sidenote before we move on: this transition might be difficult for your loved ones at home — so even if you choose not to go home that often, don’t forget to call them!)
3. People here really will help you (I mean it!) But first, YOU have to ask questions.
Signing up for interviews during Orientation Week — the whole registration process — is one of the most bizarre experiences of your freshman year. You get a map and a list of professors’ offices, and are told, essentially, to go for it.
What I’m leaving out, of course, is that you’ve only been on campus for a few days and haven’t the slightest idea where any of these offices actually are within the buildings on the map. Honestly, I think the best part of that whole process is that it forces you to interact immediately with the other people on campus.
You are not alone here, by any means. Ask questions. Ask too many questions. Just don’t ask too few, which is what I did, for fear I’d look stupid. One of the best things you can do to help yourself in the coming weeks is to learn about how SLC works and what lies in Bronxville and beyond: what will be expected of you in class and conference, how to get involved in sports and activities, how Senate works, where the best places to eat are located, how to take public transportation. A lot of that information is located here or on mySLC. If you don’t find the answer you need on Sadie Lou, send me an e-mail and I’ll try to help you out, or try to steer you in the direction of someone who can.
4. It is unreasonable to expect to be happy one hundred perecent of the time.
There are a lot of perks to moving out of the house where the people who raised you imposed rules regarding what you could or could not do. College is spectacular in that regard: you can get up when you want, decide whether or not you’re going to class, come home whenever you want at night, and so forth.
However, there are responsibilities which accompany this freedom, and sometimes the responsibilities are lame. You will probably also make mistakes, and have no one to blame them on but yourself and your choices. It’s unpleasant.
Nevertheless, it’s all a part of life. There’s not much I can say in terms of this because everyone’s experience is different, but trust me, it gets better. You will have many, many opportunities to learn from the bad days. You will also have lots of good days, too. This is all apparently part of becoming a functional adult (believe me, it terrifies me, too…)
5. It is okay to change your “life plan” — drastically.
I came to Sarah Lawrence with two different dreams: the first, that I wanted to be a novelist (with no alternative ideas as to how I was going to make a living) and the second, that if that plan backfired, I would go all the way through graduate school and earn a Ph.D. in English Literature.
By the beginning of the second semster of my freshman year, I was panicking a little. I had been reading about so many things I’d never heard about before, and all at once it seemed there were so many options to choose! I thought that I had it all wrong, that I should be a doctor — no, a teacher — no, a lawyer — no, a policy-maker. By the end of that semster, I had no idea what I wanted specifically, but understood that I wanted to spend my life helping other people. I was heavily involved with The Sadie Lou Project throughout my sophomore year, and realized how much I enjoyed helping students pursue their own dreams. Now, I think I want to work in student affairs, or in program development/fundraising for student-artists (while attempting to publish on the side, of course). I had no idea that either profession existed coming into college.
One of the key facets of an SLC education is that it allows you to become who you really are: you are following your own passions, without guise. Over the next four years, you will be transformed in ways you cannot anticipate — and that, to me, is the best part (so far)!
So, in closing — welcome! I hope you have an incredible four years here. If you have any questions, please don’t be shy: send me an e-mail! I am so thrilled that you will soon arrive, and can’t wait to meet you.
Warmly,
Joanna Harmonosky
Executive Director of The Sadie Lou Project
jharmonosky@gm.slc.edu