It is easy to get swept away in the excitement of freshman year.
The new semester brings with it an aura of possibilities, new faces, new experiences, and a newfound sense of freedom.
No more curfews. No more parents checking in if you have gotten to bed yet. You’re on the cusp of making pivotal decisions that will reshape your future, and the buzz around you is fueling the thrill of adventure.
You’ve heard it all: how college is the best time of your life, how it’ll shape you into the person you’re meant to be.
Freshman year — the classification filled with a sense of discovery and excitement, where every day brings new opportunities to explore and grow. You find yourself surrounded by a group of friends who not only share your interests but also challenge and support you, creating a tight-knit community that feels like family. The campus becomes a place of adventure, whether it’s late-night study sessions, game nights, or fun-filled weekends at social events. Academically, you find a rhythm that balances your passion for learning with time for self-care and relaxation. By the end of the year, you’ve not only gained new knowledge but also discovered more about yourself, ready to face the challenges of the years ahead with confidence and excitement. ~ A perfect freshman year.
Now that’s a freshman year description many hear before entering college, and everyone anticipates such an experience. If not exactly at least partly.
However, behind all that hype, there’s a raw reality of freshman year that no one truly talks about. The realities that most people underplay while being caught up in the excitement of finally leaving home and stepping into something new and grand.
Take it from a student at Grambling State University (GSU) who had no intention of attending a university in the first place; “For me, it was about getting a college certificate and getting a job,” he says. Say less here he is, chasing a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity, far from home, and trying to grow into a better version of himself.
The fairytale of university life isn’t exactly what he imagined. Like many other freshmen, he found himself struggling with aspects of life that no one warned him about. The challenges of being a freshman go beyond the classroom and navigating assignments in Canvas.
Sure, everyone talks about the parties and the new friends you’ll make, but no one mentions the isolation that comes with being far from home, from everything familiar. “I never grew up with a lot of friends, so I came to college with a sense of wanting to change that,” he says. The fantasy of making instant friends, and forming lifelong bonds seems within reach, however, not everything within reach can be grabbed.
Loneliness creeps in when you least expect it. No matter how many parties you attend or how many people you meet, there’s still that nagging feeling of being lost in a sea of faces.
It’s the moments where you realize you don’t have anyone who really “gets” you. It’s the frustration of wanting to fit in but constantly feeling like you’re on the outside looking in. It’s the quiet evenings when everyone else seems to have somewhere to be and more important business to take care of, and you’re left alone, unsure of how to make those deeper connections.
And then there’s the emotional and mental toll. Anxiety, fear, self-doubt, and getting out of your comfort zone aren’t just side notes, they’re real struggles. For some students, coming from a broken home, college is supposed to be the place where they can reinvent themselves. But, what do you do when your mental health becomes a barrier to meaningful transformation? No one tells you that you might spend some sleepless nights questioning your decisions or feeling lost in a place that should be full of opportunity.
As if the emotional, personal, and mental issues aren’t enough; the pressure to keep up with everyone will most likely kick in and can be extremely overwhelming. Looking at the relentless social scene where hookup culture seems to dominate the campus, relationships and casual encounters can feel like a rite of passage. Not forgetting to mention being in a university whose motto seems to hint at the notion that “everyone is f***ing somebody or should be f***ing somebody.”
For some, it’s an added stress they aren’t prepared for. It’s difficult enough to navigate your own identity without the weight of social expectations to live up to, or the fear of being left out or judged. But perhaps the hardest part is learning to live with yourself. It’s about the struggle to balance priorities, to deal with anger or impatience, to ask for help when you need it.
You start to realize that the “perfect freshman year” everyone talks about isn’t as easy to achieve as it sounds. It’s not all parties and new friendships. There are moments of self-doubt, anxiety, stress, loneliness, and many more. There are moments when you feel like you’re the only one who isn’t getting it right.
For many students, university can feel like a whirlwind — a place where the hustle of being an achiever becomes part of their identity. The GSU student admits that his difficult background, and the challenges he faced growing up, became his motivation to keep going. “When you come from a place that’s not so advantageous, it pushes you harder to strive for something better,” he says.
It’s that drive, that hunger, that keeps him from giving up. In the end, he believes that one of the most important lessons he’s learned is to stay true to himself. “If you keep your values and personality, you should be fine and you’ll find your people,” he says. Even when the journey feels confusing and disorienting, it’s the people who stay true to their core who come out stronger.
The bottom line is this: the freshman year experience isn’t always what it seems. It’s not just about new friends, cool experiences, and becoming the person you’ve always dreamed of being. It’s about navigating the emotional rollercoaster of being independent, building yourself from scratch, and dealing with all the unseen struggles that come with it. It’s messy, it’s challenging, and it can be a lonely journey.
But it’s also the kind of journey that can shape you in ways you never imagined. So, if you’re entering university next semester/year, be ready for the hype. But also, be ready for the quiet moments, the loneliness, the struggles that might come when the excitement dies down. Know that it’s okay not to have everything figured out. It’s okay to ask for help. And remember, it’s not just about surviving freshman year. It’s about finding your footing, and your people, amidst the chaos.