Freshman year, expectation vs reality

Every incoming freshman dreams of the perfect college experience.

Some hope to make new friends, some are eager to begin their major and some are sad to leave home. Although the ideal freshman year doesn’t look the same for every student, each dream will eventually be met with reality.

Like many incoming freshman, Bryan Medrano dreamt of freedom when he pictured college.

Medrano moved out of his parents’ home and into Bennett Hall, eager to explore the opportunities college had to offer him. Immediately, Medrano found this freedom restricted by college expenses.

“I really didn’t get to have a lot of freedom, because I worked a part time job,” Medrano said. “After the first semester, I was working two part time jobs.”

Medrano said he had time for two things: work and school. He found himself saying ‘no’ to his friends each time they invited him to hangout, as he constantly had work. Halfway toward the end of second semester, Medrano recognized he rarely did anything for fun.

“You never you never saw me walking around campus just for fun,” Medrano said. “You never saw me going to the strip. You never saw me going to any SUAB events, anything. I didn’t realize how hard I was on myself for the entire year until the end.”

Medrano said he realized it was time to prioritize his mental health. He said he was not mentally prepared for the transition from high school to college.

In high school, Medrano said he found himself finishing his homework early each week.

Once he arrived at college, Medrano, an applied exercise science major, quickly learned freshman year would take more of his time and effort than he expected. Unlike some of his peers, Medrano didn’t have the privilege of focusing solely on his course work. Managing two part time jobs as he adjusted to college life proved difficult, and Medrano said he didn’t expect his courses to require the amount of effort they did.

“I feel like freshman year is just seen as the beginning,” Medrano said. “It’s, ‘oh, it’s easy,’ or, ‘oh, it’s not that difficult,’ but I mean, it’s not like a synonym for slack off.”

Christian Jimenez faced similar struggles based off similar expectations as a freshman.

Jimenez said his classes were harder than he expected them to be, and it took time for him to transition from attending each of his classes daily in high school to attending each class two to three times a week in college.

“Just take it one day at a time,” Jimenez advised incoming freshman. “Don’t try to do everything all in one day.”

Jimenez entered college with expectations about not only the workload of his classes, but his learning environment. As a political science major, Jimenez said he expected to disagree with classmates often. Although this expectation proved itself to be true, Jimenez said his peers left the arguments in the classroom.

“I thought when we disagreed, we wouldn’t talk to each other outside of class, but that is what’s false,” Jimenez said. “We talk all the time.”

Many freshmen like Jimenez and Medrano enter college with low expectations for classwork difficulty, but Avery McIntyre had reservations about her coursework months before she began her freshman year. The summer before her first semester at college, McIntyre arrived at her freshman orientation a double major in mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering and expected to enroll in engineering classes.

“My dad is a software engineer, so I was like, ‘oh, well STEM is something that will help me be successful later in life,’” McIntyre said. “But quite literally, I was at the computer, entering my O-KEY credentials getting ready to register, and I said, ‘you know what, I don’t really want to do this.’”

As McIntyre sat in front of the computer, she realized engineering was not for her, as she didn’t like math. She alerted an orientation leader that she wanted to change her major, and she was escorted to another building to make a drastic major change from engineering to political science.

McIntyre said she doesn’t regret her choice at all and advised incoming freshman to explore their options.

“Freshman year is your time to find what works for you before you have to really get into some of those nitty gritty upper-level courses,” McIntyre said.

McIntyre did not expect to change her major the day of orientation, and she didn’t have many other expectations for her college experience, either. McIntyre was homeschooled her entire life and was unfamiliar with the classroom setting.

If there was any part of college that was familiar for McIntyre, it was band. McIntyre had participated in band since she was 8 years old, and she is part of OSU’s marching band.

McIntyre experienced many firsts at college, including her first football game.

“I expected watching football and like being at the games to be very similar,” McIntyre said. “But probably what made the most difference that was most impactful to me was being in the band and being able to be an active part of that college football experience.” entertainment.ed@ocolly.com

Like these three students, each freshman will face a set of realities once at college.

Medrano said freshman year can be as easy or as difficult as one makes it.

“If you just put in the effort, you can do whatever you set your mind to,” Medrano said.

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