Why the First Weeks of College are Important
Many freshmen become hermits and hide away in their doom rooms for the majority of the week, spending countless hours playing video games. But to have a successful collegiate career, those first weeks are important. Why?
Those first weeks are when relationships are made. It is imperative to challenge yourself and go beyond your comfort zone every day. Even if you think something might be a little weird or overwhelming at first, take the challenge and go beyond your comfort zone. If you continually push yourself and get involved in clubs and groups during your first few weeks of college, then you will be successful.
Getting involved does two things for you. It helps ease the stress of college, and is a great way to meet people. Join campus organizations, such as Greek life, foreign language clubs, and student government. These clubs will take your mind off of some of the stress of college life, being on your own for the first time, lots of homework, and the heavy class schedule.
Getting involved in a variety of organizations is a wonderful opportunity to connect with friends and study buddies. By joining an organization that sparks your interests, you are guaranteed to find someone else who you share a lot of same interests with. This could lead to a great friendship for the next few years and hopefully beyond.
The more friends you have, the more people you will have to help you through the tough times. Unfortunately, you probably are going to get homesick. Your friends will be there to help you. If you didn’t push your comfort zone to its limit, you may never have met your best friend at the sculpture club meeting. Friends are what make college so great. These connections will also potentially pay dividends down the road.
Imagine you are a senior, and it’s time to start thinking of life beyond college. Scary, I know, but with the vast amount of connections you have hopefully created over the years by stepping outside your comfort zone, you will be able to tap into that and get a job. Remember that guy you worked with at the student paper? Well, he has a job at the firm you want to work at. Reconnect with him and start networking. Reaching out to people you know will ultimately lead to a job. It will take time and some patience’s but networking is the number one way to land a job.
It’s the first week of college and you’re thinking one more hour of Xbox can’t hurt. Think again. Get out of your dorm room and push that comfort zone to the limit because you never know what it might lead to.
