Tips for Adjusting to University Life

For many first-year students, coming to USC Aiken may be their first experience living away from home. The student's usual sources of support are no longer available to help in adjusting to the new environment. Here are tips for students about living arrangements and social life on campus. Students may also benefit by using resources available at The Counseling Center.

• The first few weeks on campus can be a lonely period. There may be concerns about forming friendships. When new students look around, it may seem that everyone else is self-confident and socially successful. The reality is, everyone is having similar concerns.
• If they allow sufficient time, students usually find peers in the university to provide structure and a valuable support system in the new environment. The important thing for the student to remember in meeting new people is to be oneself. For ideas about where you can meet new people, visit the Student Life and Activities page.
• Meaningful, new relationships should not be expected to develop overnight. It took a great deal of time to develop intimacy in high school friendships; the same will be true of intimacy in university friendships.
• Increased personal freedom can feel both wonderful and frightening. Students can come and go as they choose with no one to "hassle" them. At the same time, things are no longer predictable. The strange environment with new kinds of procedures and new people can create the sense of being on an emotional roller-coaster. This is normal and to be expected.
• Living with roommates can present special, sometimes intense, problems. Negotiating respect of personal property, personal space, sleep, and relaxation needs can be a complex task. The complexity increases when roommates are of different ethnic/cultural backgrounds with very different values. Communicating one's legitimate needs calmly, listening with respect to a roommate's concerns, and being willing to compromise to meet each other's most important needs can promote resolution of issues.
• It is unrealistic to expect that roommates will be best friends. Roommates may work out mutually satisfying living arrangements, but the reality is that each may tend to have his or her own circle of friends.
• University classes are a great deal more difficult than high school classes. There are more reading assignments, and the exams and papers cover a greater amount of material. Instructors expect students to do more work outside the classroom. In order to survive, the student must take responsibility for his or her actions. This means the student needs to follow the course outlines and keep us with the readings. The student must do the initiating. If a class is missed, it is up to the student to borrow lecture notes from someone who was present. If the student is having difficulty with course work, he or she needs to ask for help--ask to do extra work, request an appointment with an academic advisor, or sign up for tutoring or other academic skills training at the Center for Student Achievment.

The Counseling Center provides free and confidential counseling services to students experiencing difficulty in adjusting to university life. Among the most common concerns students bring to our office are: low self-confidence; finding, enhancing, or ending a relationship; getting along with others; emotional difficulties; family problems; self-defeating behaviors; controlling use of alcohol and drugs; and life purpose and direction.

The Counseling Center offers qualified, trained mental health professionals with backgrounds in social work and psychology. Any full or part-time student currently enrolled at USC Aiken may use the services at The Counseling Center. There is no fee.

Any interested student can arrange to see a counselor by visiting The Counseling Center.

* Content adapted from Counseling Services, University at Buffalo, the State University of New York

Additional tips and information ("25 Tips to Help You Survive and Thrive Your Freshman Year") can be found at LiveCareer.com