Your Freshman Year in College

[neosoul]

my freshman year was the most memorable for me because I had a bad perm and all my hair FELL out... *sigh*

but I had MASSIVE country, not culture shock. Coming str8 from Africa I was like Hakeem in New York, from Coming to America... i hated the people, the language... black people were scarce and the few that were there were awesome, especially the old heads, they made me feel at home, and then they graduated the next semester and then I was all alone but I had fun!! the classes, the people... I didn't have many friends until I joined the NAACP and then I was home free...

[Natty Nupe]

Originally Posted by neosoul

my freshman year was the most memorable for me because I had a bad perm and all my hair FELL out... *sigh*

but I had MASSIVE country, not culture shock. Coming str8 from Africa I was like Hakeem in New York, from Coming to America... i hated the people, the language... black people were scarce and the few that were there were awesome, especially the old heads, they made me feel at home, and then they graduated the next semester and then I was all alone but I had fun!! the classes, the people... I didn't have many friends until I joined the NAACP and then I was home free...

lol. i had a massive country shock as well, thank god i had other Trinis with me to help me out. the food was ok, but greasy, chicken seemed to be a staple of nearly every meal (i went to an hbcu). i had a short-lived relationship with an african american girl, i learned not everything one sees on television about america is true. the international students used to throw some wild parties off campus, after a while we built a reputation and ppl would ask us when the next one was.

i saw snow for the first time and learned that even some of the kids from south carolina hadnt seen it before. i saw a poor example of class management, this one math professor would let the students run wild in the class, making noise. one day he got fed up and said, "hey, stop that shyt!"

my roommate was from savannah and i had a couple classes with him. i put him onto obscure bob marley tracks (not the legend cd) he put me on to pastor troy, master p, mystikal, silkk the shicker...catchy stuff. sadly, he didnt graduate, he let his grades drop and lost his scholarship (he was a member of the marching 101) lord knows where he is now.

[Mz_Doc]

Along these lines, did any of you have trouble grade-wise freshman year, for whatever reason and if so, what did you do or what do you suggest a student do to bounce back from that?

My freshman year, it was just a completely different world from high school and I wasn't prepared...no excuses, just a fact and now am just trying to get my GPA back up. Studying more is one of the obvious, but I guess I mean mentally too because I'm just so pissed at myself for letting it happen because I was such a good student in high school... Thanks for your advice in advance!

[DSTeny]

My freshman year was great! I met lots of people, and though there weren't that many blacks on my campus, it seemed like it was because we were really close nit. My freshman year, I could stay out all night and still make dean's list. I dare not try that now...lol. I think for me the best part was being on my own for the first time. My school is about an hour from my home, which was close enough that I could get back if need be, and far enough that my mom didnt want to drive up there to check on me. It was great. As wonderful1908 said, no bills, no worries, just going to class and making good grades. The things you take for granted...LOL

[firecracker08]

My freshman year was filled with HOMESICKNESS! I went to Boston College and Boston, which I thought was like DC in terms of being a major city, I found to be very different. I called home every other day and begged to come back. Thank God my dad refused to let me come home til Thanksgiving. I had a triple room, with two roommates in a double sized room. One roommate had some stress management issues that made me want to slap the taste out her mouth (thankfully I didn't) I moved out and kept it moving. Fortunately, the homesickness led to great grades my first year, after that, I lived alone for two years and finally had roomates again as a senior(and reremembered why I never wanted roommates again!)

I'll never forget the day my mother dropped me off at my off-campus house, the weekend before starting college. I remember looking out the window as she was driving off, and I instantly became home sick. But, my room mates took me out that next night (the Sunday before my first day of class), and by the time my 8:00am class rolled around the following day, I had a severe hangover, and was lacking sleep. That was the first time I realized how fun it was to be on my own, and not having to worry about any rules. Anyway, I went to the University of Akron, and I met a lot of people, became involved in a lot of organizations on campus, and partied a lot (probably too much). My grades did suffer a little, but I was able to improve them.

Looking back at my freshman year and undergrad experience as a whole, I have to say that those were some of the best years of my life. I could never do a lot of the things I did back then, because I'm living in the "real world" now (bills, job, more bills, etc...). The value of my freshman year and undergrad experience... priceless.

[Rachel0497]

interested_cinna,
I attended Goucher College-nice place, had a few good times and a few good friends, but not the best school for black students...

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Sassy, Classy, but never Trashy-The Ladies of Z Phi B!

[Babiegyrl]

The first semester of My Freshman year was terrible. I did not recieve the correct information on what chemistry class I was in, and therefore I did not have a good grade in chemistry. My roommate was, she had issues, that carryied over in how she treated people, and I got the worst of it, which caused me to be stressed out. And since I'm such a kindhearted person, and I tried to get along and be friends with her, but that just made me even more miserable. Second semester, was pretty good. I made friends and they keep my spirit up and help me, so it turned out to be good in the end.

I like MaMa Buddha also attended Bethune-Cookman college (at least my freshman year)
I was very disappointed when I arrived on campus. I wanted to turn around and go back home. The only thing that kept me there was the fact that I felt bad becuase my dad had taken off of work to drive me to Daytona Beach from Detroit and he wasn't even using sick days so he didn't get paid for missing work. I felt that I owed it to him to give it half a chance. I just had to adjust to a different environment then I was used to. I attended a boarding school from the 8th-12th grade..and expected things to be the same.. boy was I wrong.. the food was terrible.. I didn't even have a room when I got on campus and I had to move in with the R.A. on my floor until a room opened. Everytime it rained our floor would flood. When I went outside to walkt to class I would literally kill something in the area of 50 frogs because they just covered the sidewalk and you had no choice but to step on them. My advisor wouldn't help me pick my classes..I still remember his DR. CLAYTON I couldn't stand that man...The resources weren't worth two cents...I could go on and on and on.. HOWEVER, no matter how bad things were the one thing that I will always admire the professors that I had during my freshman year. They mad sure that I was on track and as a result I got a 3.3 my first semester at school and I'm sad to report that wasn't even my best effort..just imagine what I would have received had I put my all into it. I loved the spirit of the school...My circle of friends that I was with EVERYDAY consisted of 10 people 5 male 5 female.. we ate together. studied together..exercised together.. snuck off the yard together... walked all the way down that looong street to the movies together.. The girl on my floor were so close they called us the "First Floor Mafia"
We all got busted sneaking out the last week of school and we cried together in Dean Page's office because she told us that if she was going to put his write up on our records and we could never join Delta (we all wanted to join) My times at B-CC were the best in my ife and the friends are the best friends that I have ever had. I am still in touch with my friends from B-CC. Even after I trasfered to Michigan State they still stayed in touch with me and I with them. I felt like I had a family when I was at Bethune Cookman and for that reason I will always love that school. So overall my freshmen year sucked because the school was lacking in a lot of areas but it made up for it with the love...

[This message has been edited by REALITYBLACK (edited November 06, 2000).]

[dstbrat]

my freshman year was great, socially. i got a boyfriend, went to all of the parties, in short, i kicked it. my grades reflected it too. i got 1 a, 1 b, 2 c's and a d. my parents were not pleased. they threatened to send me to community college if my grades weren't vastly improved by the spring semester. so, i learned to balance all of my activities. the biggest transition was governing myself. i had to make myself go to class, study, etc. no one really knew if i skipped class, so, i had to understand that if i was going to be successful, i had to go to class and study so that i wouldn't die :0)!

[dst3800]

My Freshman year was Da Bomb! I learned how to be a good student yet enjoy college life. I learned not to party during the weekday because I had early classes the next day(7am) I learned to hate my room-mate (but ended up loving her cause she's my LS!) All jokes aside, I basically started to grow up and learn how to depend on myself to get things done. Wihtout learning the things from Freshman year, where would we be?

My freshmen year was okay. I commuted because the school was only 20 minutes away. In a way, I wished I had used the housing scholarship I was awarded. I feel that there were many activities, organizations, and people I missed out on by not staying on campus. Even though I though I didn't party during the week, my grades were not the best that they could've/should've been. I really didn't have the guidance I needed, so I ended up wasting two years on my first major. There are definitely some things that I would do over freshman year, if I had the chance.

[mahoganyday]

My freshman year was definitely a learning experience. I moved from the Midwest to a Southern HBCU, and I was DEFINITELY not ready for the Black College Experience! I was very social and made lots of friendships that still stand, but by the end of the year, I lost part of my scholarship due to poor grades. Basically, I learned that college is all about juggling classes and social activities to have a well rounded college career.

[ykimber]

When I was in high school my mother tired to keep me in the house to study and get good grades (which I did) I was able to go out on the weekends however my curfew was early for a teen. I also was not allowed to go to teen clubs etc.

I loved my freshman year fo college. I made so many friends! I got a chance to go to parties and experience life away from home. The only regreat I have about my freshman year was the fact that I kinda partied to hard. I know if I would have gone to school while living with my mother I woul dhave graduated form collge in like 3 years and would have been Magna Cum Laude or something!

[9dstpm]

1993. Freshman year at the Convent, otherwise known as Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas located in the aptly named White County. Oh how I hated HU. I only went there because my parents told me that if I didn't go there (I wanted to go to Alabama St. where my then-boyfriend Torrick was already attending or MS State with my best buddy Ernest) they would not pay for it and of course I didn't know a doggone thing about loans and stuff and how I could have declared myself independent and got more financial aid.

Anyway, HU (or Searcy) did not have a large black population. I think out of about 10,000 students only less than 150 were black. In the town, blacks made up about 15% of the population. And of course we were not united. There was so much drama all the time among us. In town and on campus.

I felt abadoned during my freshman year. When the recruiters were trying to get me to come there, they would call me and write me letters and send me cards for graduation and my birthday. One even came to my school, so you know I felt like a big dog!! Once I got on campus, it was like, "Well, we've got you now so you are on your own!" I wish I had realized then that the recruiters are paid to get you to come to their school, nothing more, nothing less. I didn't receive any guidance from my "advisor" about my classes or didn't have any information about tutoring or anything like that. With HU being a Christian school, there were no Greek orgs. or any other social orgs., just academic and church-based groups so it was like going to church all day everyday. Even on weekends. They took attendance at Sunday worship services!! HU kinda had this cultish atmosphere. If you were female and you were about your studies or just having fun and not trying to get a husband or become a Sunday school teacher, then you were looked at as an outcast. Kind of like The Stepford Wives, only it was The Stepford Students. The administration was cold and the faculty was basically unreachable. I was so miserable. Don't get me started on my roommate. I'm not knocking anybody for wanting to be closer to the Lord but this chick was running for Jesus' Best Friend!! She was so heavenly minded she was no earthly good. Everything was a sin to her!! Watching The Simpsons, talking on the phone past 9:00pm, watching 90210, listening to music other than gospel, reading books other than The Bible, wearing your hair a certain way, going out on dates with more than one guy (she felt that a Christian shouldn't date unless she was thinking of marriage. Hey, I was 18 and the LAST thing I wanted was a husband!) just everything I did was condemning me to an eternity in Hell. I think my parents would have loved her. She dropped out as soon as her boyfriend proposed to her right before Christmas break. I got kicked out before Spring Break. (Grades, not expressing an insane desire to learn all the verses to Jesus Loves the Little Children, things like that.)

I wished I never went there to tell the truth. I wished I had kind of stood up to my parents and went to school someplace else but in their infinite wisdom I think they thought HU was best for me. I mean had I gone to ASU with Torrick, I would have never finished my degree. I'd have a bunch of his kids but no degree. I think me and Ernest would have done nothing but party all night and sleep all day had I gone to MSU with him. I did get my degree 9 years later from Saginaw Valley State. Sorry this was so long but I had to rant about the Convent.