With freshman year in the past and sophomore year looming right around the corner, I can’t help but feel a bit jittery. As a freshman I looked up to the sophomores, believing that their increased experience directly translated into more knowledge and all of the answer’s to college’s greatest questions. Little did I know that this is not necessarily the case.
As I prepare to enter my sophomore year, I’ve realized that the few months separating me from freshman year are not enough to make me a guru of collegiate wisdom. It has finally become clear to me that the sophomores I believed to be all-knowing were likely scrambling to find the solutions to their own problems. Of course, this doesn’t do much to allay my fears, but it does make me feel less alone.
It’s nerve-wracking to think that my second year of college could be like Freshman Year 2.0. There’s so much I’m unsure about: How does it feel to move into a dorm room without all of the guidance from orientation? Or to take a full course load of challenging classes with those introductory levels to smooth things out? Will I be expected to be able to handle all obstacles I encounter on my own? And what happens if I accidentally give a new freshman the wrong information or advice?
So many of my questions can only be answered through personal experience, yet this is precisely what makes them so scary to think about. A lot is laid out for you as a freshman, but that is not the case with each year that follows. This greater sense of independence is liberating, unsettling, and ultimately exciting. With endless possibilities come high expectations, and it can all become quite overwhelming if you let it.
It’s strange to think that there will soon be new freshman filling the shoes I stood in mere months ago. Perhaps the gap between class years isn’t as wide as we’re initially led to believe. My hope is that at least a few of my questions will be answered as the beginning of this upcoming semester unfolds, and that some of these worries aren’t so concerning after all. Classes and clubs and campus will be here before we know it, easing everything into place with time.
In the end, I suppose Freshman Year 2.0 wouldn’t be so bad in the grand scheme of things… I had a blast, after all!
