Junk Drawer
For all those little papers scattered across your desk
Junk DrawerFor all those little papers scattered across your desk
I spent part of my Junior and most of my Senior year working with Lee Bierer, columnist and independent college counselor at CAS. After my first semester, she interviewed me about my experiences in college and published the results.
Update 2024 August 18th: the original articles have disappeared and were apparently not archived by the wayback machine. I found Part 1 on College Admissions Strategies, and Part 2 as well. The Raleigh News & Observer article was captured by Wayback.
To avoid future link rot, I’m hosting the article contents here, too. They were written by Lee Bierer.
I thought it would be helpful to hear directly from a first-year (freshman) student about their first semester survival secrets. Ben Knoble, a 2016 Ardrey Kell High School graduate, was back home in Charlotte for the holidays after spending his first semester at UNC Chapel Hill.
Here are his responses to questions I thought would be helpful for college-bound families:
What has made your first semester successful?
Finding my niches and sticking with them helped me build several groups of close friends with similar interests, and it is precisely those friend groups that will help and support you when things go awry.
How important has your housing and roommate situation been in determining your overall happiness?
My roommate and I are both very relaxed people, which has made living together very easy. We don’t worry much about anything, and keep the room a quiet space to relax when needed. For me, where I live is less important than who I live with, and I have been very fortunate to live with a group of like-minded, passionate students. We all have different interests and personalities, but we work hard and play hard together.
How was your transition academically? Was it easier or harder than you thought?
Even though I was a high-performing student in high school, I decided to take an easy first semester, sticking to classes I knew I would enjoy and ones where I knew I would succeed. Not worrying as much about academics gave me the freedom to build a friend group and explore other activities that interested me. I also made sure to plan for breaks during the day. All of this made the academic transition very smooth. Now that I’m comfortable, I feel ready to tackle a more challenging semester.
Do you have any tips for high school seniors as they evaluate where to go to college next year?
Pick a place you’ll walk around smiling. That extra bit of happiness counts more than academics or social life. If you don’t enjoy looking at the campus for a day or two, you won’t enjoy it for four years. Remember that college is very much what you make of it: pick a place where you can make what you want.
UNC wasn’t necessarily your first choice school, how did you handle making it work?
Personally, I just kept faith that I was going to end up where I was supposed to, and I truly think I did. It might not be where I had initially wanted to go, but it’s where I needed to. Don’t mourn the things you’re missing at the other school; look for ways to enjoy the incredible opportunity you’ve been given.
Have you enjoyed your classes first semester?
Yes. The professors have incredible personalities, the content is amazing, and a little bit of success can open up a lot of interesting opportunities for further semesters.
What do you think is the biggest misconception many high school seniors have about college life?
That grades remain largely the same. Say goodbye to a standardized system; each professor and class has a unique grading system, style, and scale, and while it all gets translated to the same thing in the end, it can change how you view your performance. Additionally, while a B- may not have been enough for some high-schoolers, it can be quite a good grade for a college student struggling through a difficult class.
This is the first in a two part-series. Next week I’ll share Ben’s thoughts on adapting to the social life on campus, time management tips and lessons learned about freshman survival.
Ben Knoble, a 2016 graduate of Ardrey Kell High School in Charlotte and a first-year student at UNC Chapel Hill shared his wisdom about what was a very successful first semester; both academically and socially.
Last week Ben’s responses focused more on the academic transition from high school to college and this week I tried to understand the intricacies of adjusting to college socially.
What’s the best tip you can give a student who is a little anxious about creating a social life on campus?
Get started early, if you’re really worried. You’ll find that there are students across the intro/extrovert spectrum, and more than likely there will be plenty of social events in the early days of that first semester. Challenge yourself to go out and try them, or to connect with your hallmates and plan a movie night. There will be, somewhere, a group that you enjoy.
What would you say to students who are concerned about being around too much partying?
You can avoid it if you want to. It’s really that simple—you’ll either know where all the parties are or (like me) you won’t have a clue what’s going on during the weekend because you haven’t been looking for it.
How easy/difficult has it been to find “your people?”
Finding my people was as simple as connecting with my floor and my classmates. They’re all passionate and driven, but most important their [sic] supportive and willing to listen to each other’s passions.
Have you joined any clubs/activities? If so, which ones and why?
Yes. I joined a Presbyterian campus ministry group because when I visited their church the students were welcoming and friendly and, frankly, “my people.” I also participate in EASE, which is a group centered on UNC’s foreign exchange program. We welcome international students as they arrive, act as their guides and point of contact for social activity, and generally just get to know everyone and make sure they have a good semester. I did it kind of on a whim, but it’s turned out to be an amazing source of intellectual conversation and friendship.
Is managing your money challenging for many freshmen?
For some, I’ve seen it be challenging, while for others it’s been simple. One piece of advice I have is that, if you’re worried about your money-management skills, start practicing your junior or senior year. Start getting used to being responsible for yourself, and by the time you get to college it’ll be second nature.
How important are time management skills for freshmen?
On a scale of 1 to extremely, beyond extremely. Keeping your workload light that first semester can help you develop those skills if you don’t have them, and there are plenty of on-campus resources to help develop them. Planning your breaks in between classes to get work done is helpful as well, but not a necessity. The most important part is simply to stay on top of the work—don’t put it off if you can get it done early.
You stayed pretty close to home; in retrospect, was that a good decision? Why?/Why not?
Being this close to home has its advantages: when I need to be home for events, it’s far more doable than if I was in, say, California. However, I am just far enough away that I don’t feel like my parents are breathing down my neck. It’s a combination of nearby safety-nets if needed and a good deal of freedom when they’re not.
What are your biggest “lessons learned” that you’d like to share?
Don’t let your laundry pile up! If you wait too long, it can be really difficult to get it all done, and you’ll run out of clothes in the meantime. And while we’re on the subject, try to do your laundry at odd times. It’s really frustrating to want to do laundry and all of the machines are full.
Original Post
In the following two articles, I focus mostly on the academic and social challenges of my first semester at UNC Chapel Hill (Go Heels!). Probably the most important advice, though, is this:
Pick a place you’ll walk around smiling. That extra bit of happiness counts more than academics or social life. If you don’t enjoy looking at the campus for a day or two, you won’t enjoy it for four years.
You can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here. Later, the Raleigh News & Observer picked up the first article here.