OUR VOICES: A Look at the First Year of College

By Jennifer Igbonoba

College. It’s an exciting but challenging journey. Throughout my first year, I discovered valuable lessons to help me navigate the freshman experience. While every university is unique, these insights are geared toward students in similar situations.

Firstly, if you didn’t have good time management in high school, it will only get worse in college. Unlike high school, college places the responsibility on the individual. Your parents can’t call your professor to complain about a grade.

Balancing a full-time course load, extracurricular activities, and a social life, while maintaining your health requires a great amount of self-discipline. Get an agenda app or use a paper calendar if that better helps you to organize yourself.

Secondly, utilize all the resources on campus. Colleges offer a wealth of resources, that are usually free, to help students succeed academically and personally, but sometimes, especially at a large private university, it’s not uncommon to know about all the resources on campus. Whether it’s tutoring centers, free cable services, or free food, be sure to explore all the resources your campus has to offer.

Speaking of free services, be sure to assess your financial situation. Attending college makes a major financial impact on your bank account, so if you’re taking out student loans to attend school, it is important to keep that in mind, to determine how much money you should budget for the school year.

But the most vital lesson I’ve learned is to put yourself first.

It’s easy to get FoMo when the four years go by so fast, but college is like a pressure cooker. It starts with one missed assignment and then one thing leads to another and your head is exploding from all the stress.

That goes to say, it’s okay to decline to hang out with friends and pick up fewer shifts in order to manage stress.

In conclusion, time management, utilizing and embracing opportunities, understanding personal finance, and how to manage stress are all important lessons I’ve learned in college.

Does that mean I’ve perfected everything? No. But, it means I have a glimpse of what it takes to be successful.

Jennifer Igbonoba is a sophomore at George Washington University where she is studying economics and journalism. She was a 2021 Fellow in the Scripps Howard Program at the University of North Texas and this is her second internship with I Messenger Media.