Most high school students are familiar with college before they even set foot on campus; it has been their goal, their motivation to do well in school, and a reason to power through Advanced Placement classes, SATs and other standardized tests.
It is the light at the end of the tunnel that students have spent years reaching out towards, each their own Gatsby, dreaming of fresh starts and new experiences. You begin to imagine what life will be like in the college you have selected, and compare it to the high school you are in now.
For some, the idea of college is an idealized haven where you can have fun, make friends, and take the classes that interest you. For others, it is a pool of anxiety with too many swimmers, all trying to reach the other side without drowning. In reality, one’s college experience will most likely fall in between these two extremes, but we’ve all spent so much time imagining what college will be like in our heads, that by the time we finally get there, we end up thinking, Okay, I’m here ... now what?
When I first arrived at the SUNY New Paltz campus, I waited in line with other freshman to receive my dorm room key. I was surrounded by a fortress of suitcases and bins, and as my parents began to lug them upstairs, small insecurities like over packing, for example, spiraled in my mind.
I wondered if I had brought too much stuff. Fearing the embarrassment of being the only one to over pack, I looked around the room frantically, chastising myself for just having to bring that extra pair of shoes and packing a few too many novels. There were so many things I didn’t know, like what I wanted as a major, or if I would be able to make friends. I wasn’t sure if I would end up getting really homesick, and I feared being overloaded with work only the first week in.