Megan's+Articles

As students transition from high school to college, they face changes bigger than just the location of their school. Living without parents, curfews, and your own bathroom can be intimidating for many students who have relied on such staples throughout their whole lives. Not only are the lifestyles and living arrangements different, however. Students are faced with the responsibility to handle their schoolwork and balance the immense amount of free time that they did not have in high school. Without parental guidance and reminders to study, students need to motivate themselves in order to succeed in the classroom.
 * Where Will Your Time Go? **

Most public high schools in America run on a seven hour schedule, five days a week. But when school gets released around three o’clock, it is time for sports practices to begin, choirs to rehearse, and debate teams to compete. Then these students may arrive home, sit down to a chicken parmesan meal cooked by mom, and head upstairs to shower off from the long day. By this point, it is probably seven o’clock, and there is just enough time to knock out a few hours of homework before the latest episode of Jersey Shore airs at ten. During commercial breaks, students might update their Facebook statuses with funny lines from the show, and check their wall posts from friends. By the show’s end at eleven, students who have been up since 6:30 are oftentimes ready to hit the hay.

This typical high school day has a routine, and the events are scheduled with specific time slots. Students do not choose when the school day ends, or when their sports teams practice, yet they are expected to be in attendance each day. In college, this disciplined agenda is not given to students unless they ask for it. Having more flexibility over scheduling and choosing classes, students have more control over what time their days begin and end. They also have complete control over how each waking hour is spent between “good morning” and “good night.” Students choose when and what they eat, if they’d rather work out or lay out, and whether this weekend’s frat party is more or less important than a calculus exam. All of these decisions are concerns of some incoming freshmen, but many are most fearful of the intimidating college workload.

“I’m really nervous that college classes are going to be too hard and I am going to end up spending all my time studying,” said Ali Valcarcel, a member of the University of Connecticut’s 2015 class. As a successful Hopewell Valley student, Ali knows that she can handle the workload of high school. She fears the increased amount of work she will receive as the fall semester progresses, however, and she worries about it fulfilling all of her time.

Alex Simonian, a senior graduate who is college-bound for James Madison University, expressed similar concerns. “I’m nervous to learn on my own in college. In high school, our teachers provide us with a lot of materials to assist the lesson plans, but college work is much more independent.”

Alex admits that she has anxiously listened to some of her older friends complain about how much of college learning is individual. And who can blame her? It’s reasonable that this sudden surge of independence would frighten seniors who have been guided by teachers over the course of their primary education. Another senior, Owen Toland, is antsy about his time management skills next year at the University of Colorado Boulder. “I’m going to have a lot more free time in college, so it’s going to be hard to motivate myself to do work on a regular schedule.”

All of these students will face their fears as the fall semester approaches and they depart from their homes in Hopewell Township. They are off to Connecticut, Virginia, and Colorado, but regardless of location, they can feel comfort in knowing they are not the only students dealing with these transitions.

**College 101: The Truth Told by a Real College Student **

Do all sororities and fraternities make binge drinking a necessary right of passage? Are the cruel and gruesome hazing stories true? Is college one never-ending party, or will I actually have to do work? Where is the best place to study if my roommate is being noisy or has friends over? Will I ever find time to shower without waiting for all of the stalls to empty out?

There are millions of questions for incoming college students to ponder, and no better way to get the honest answers than to ask a current student who just completed her freshman year. Her mind is full of experiences and advice about her new life, yet she was a high school student recently enough to remember the fears, anxieties, and habits that high school graduates have as they prepare for the next stage of their lives.

Melissa Mangano, a Villanova University student, has one year down and three to go in her undergraduate studies. Her biggest piece of advice has to do with setting priorities and scheduling your time, and she admits that she learned this lesson the hard way during her first semester.

“Treat everyday like it’s a work day and take full advantage of the time in between classes to do work rather than enjoy down time. It’s a lot easier in high school because your classes go straight through the day, and then when you go home at night, you have time to do nothing except work. But in college, you always have something else you could be doing, and the last thing you want to do is spend your day laying around with friends and then realize late at night that you haven’t finished a paper due for your 8:30 class the next morning.”

When asked about the college papers she wrote her freshman year, Melissa groaned and said, “Try not to procrastinate because college papers are assigned a lot earlier than they’re due, and they usually require a lot more research than a typical high school paper. When you save them for the last minute, you’re in for a stressful couple of nights.”

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 200%;">Regarding class schedule, Melissa believes the plan she devised for her freshman year benefitted her tremendously. “If you can schedule your own classes, try to schedule them earlier rather than later. It’s a lot easier to start your day early and get your classes over with, and then have time to do your homework without cutting out time to play at night. If you schedule later classes, you will likely end up sleeping in and ending your classes when everyone else is finished studying and ready to have fun.”

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 200%;">Melissa also noted several key investments that incoming students often forget on their initial move-in dates. “Keep snacks in your room at all times because you will get home late and be hungry! Ordering food gets very expensive, so it is best to stock up on your favorite snacks. Also, bring rain boots and a rain jacket! I can’t stress how important it is to have clothes for rainy football games or just walking to class. Lastly, bring an extra set of sheets for your bed because washing your sheets every week creates an annoying amount of laundry.”

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 200%;">Since college classes are structured very differently than high school classes, Melissa advises a different studying routine than what most twelfth graders are used to. “Study a bit every week, even if you don’t have a test coming up. You don’t have tests as frequently, but the material is still cumulative and it is less overwhelming if you familiarize yourself with the information early on. Set aside a little bit of time each week for this ‘extra review’, and make it a part of your regular routine.”

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 200%;">The questions and concerns could continue forever, but these are just the basic guidelines as told by a knowledgeable college student. “And most importantly,” Melissa adds, “Get involved! Doing so will make your transition easy and you’ll be surrounded by like-minded people who you can have a good time with!”

** Greek Life: Helpful or Fatal? **  “Get involved” is the phrase that we’ve all heard countless times, often regarded as vital advice to new college students. Some people get involved by joining sports teams, a cappella groups, and environmental clubs, but many students choose an alternative method—Greek life. The fatal stories and hazing rumors make Greek life seem like one ongoing party, but is everything about fraternities and sororities dangerous?

The most obvious and, for many people, most enticing benefit of Greek life is the instant sense of belonging that it provides. Your social life is boosted as you become a member of a fraternity or sorority, and you get to know your sisters or brothers through hosted events. Community service projects, fundraisers, and house parties are easy opportunities to bond with upperclassmen and students of the same age.

Sounds great to have constant activities and options, right? It certainly can be a good thing for students, unless the constant exposure to social events causes their schoolwork to plummet. While some fraternities and sororities have reputations for binge drinking and “partying hard”, others are quieter and less time-consuming. Sometimes these different types can be identified during the “rush” process, where the wilder and more party-centered houses often require pledgers to undergo tougher initiations and consume more alcohol.

Once rush week is over, however, new members are officially welcomed into the tight-knit community. Some schools have houses for Greek life, where sorority and fraternity members live with their sisters or brothers. This allows Greek life participants to have a social network to fall back on during their college years and beyond in the workplace. However, some people argue that sororities and fraternities are so exclusive that students who join them miss out on opportunities to meet diverse students.

Regardless of the personality diversity within the fraternity or sorority, the entire Greek system champions volunteer work and community service. From fundraising to cleaning trash to tutoring, all fraternities and sororities sacrifice time to do good for other students or the community. Greek participants therefore have the chance to connect with people outside of their sorority or fraternity rather than solely occupying their time with one another.

All in all, it is important to keep in mind that the Greek system varies form school to school. It is unfair to label all sororities and fraternities as dangerous or exclusive since each has different purposes and goals. Sure, the Kappa Kappa Gammas may be considered the “pretty, blond” girls at one university, but they may be the most volunteer-and-study-oriented sorority at another. It is also unjust to define the stereotype of the “sorority girl” or “fraternity bro” since members of one fraternity may be completely unlike the members of an opposing fraternity on campus.

In essence, it is up to the individual to decide whether or not Greek life is suiting for their priorities and interests. There is not a generic formula to determine whether or not a person should “get involved” through the Greek system, or avoid this scene altogether. Many factors must be taken into account such as the school, the goals of the sorority or fraternity, and the workload of the student.