SEPTEMBER 2007 :: ON CAMPUS

'I'm Ready'
I Have Questions and Doubts, but Also Faith: College Will Be Fine

BY EMMA SLAYTON
Special to The Classroom Edition

Right down to the last days of summer vacation, my friends were discussing college: everything from roommate forms to dining-hall food. Most of them were sharing tips handed down from their older siblings-tips on picking classes or what to pack.

I never had much to add to these conversations. I'm an only child, brand new to college, with no preconceived notions, no handbook. I'm going into this with an open mind.

And you can tag along with me.

Human Fears

My name is Emma. I'm 18 years old and beginning college this fall. I'm attending Pitzer College, a small private school that's part of the larger Claremont Colleges consortium in Southern California, far from my home outside Seattle.

In high school, I was very focused on getting into the right college. After meandering through freshman year, I went straight into extracurricular mode, everything from tutoring English to serving on the board of a Jewish youth group. My two favorite activities were working as a Link Crew leader and leading the creative-writing club. Link Crew was a program at my high school in which upperclassmen help incoming freshmen adjust to their new surroundings. And the creative-writing club gave me the chance to mentor young writers. Both suited my personality well. With no little siblings to look after, I tend to be overprotective of my friends, always acting as the "big sister." Helping people is what I like to do. And I'll have a chance to do more of that at Pitzer.

Pitzer has only about 1,000 students. This means my college experience is going to differ slightly from what you might find at your average campus of 30,000. But I imagine that all freshmen enter college with the same types of concerns: making new friends, picking a major, avoiding the "Freshman 15" and budgeting time. Human fears in this area are generally constants, not anomalies.

I thought that at least the stress of the admissions process would disappear once I got my acceptance letter. But for months after I was accepted, I endured the summer-vacation equivalent of post-traumatic stress disorder.

One nagging worry: whether I really got in. Had I dreamed my acceptance into Pitzer? Had it all been a giant misunderstanding?

These fears didn't seem so unreasonable at the time. By early summer, all my friends had received bulky packets of information from their colleges, with gushing welcome letters, roommate assignments and meal-plan choices.

Me? I got a Pitzer bumper sticker and a pair of flip-flops. Flip-flops ... had they changed their minds?

Weeks went by. Finally, frustrated and bewildered, I made a call to the admissions office. It turns out my envelope had gotten lost in the mail-"that's never happened before," an admissions staffer told me, which was not particularly reassuring. But the envelope finally arrived, barely three weeks before the start of orientation.

One useful thing inside the packet was the name and contact information of my roommate. I quickly telephoned her, another call that paid off. Just talking with her eased my apprehension. She's friendly, open and, thankfully, neat.

There were other things to worry about, like making a good first impression and picking the right course of study.

With my passion for stories, I plan to major in creative writing, because it is a funnel for the stories that pop out of my imagination, and anthropology, because it is the study of the stories of everyday occurrences and culture from the past.

The one bit of advice I've been getting from everyone is not to close yourself off too soon. College, according to those who have been there, is all about "experiences." Don't be afraid to dabble, they tell me. Take that course in exotic African dance, sign language, or physics for poets. I could hate it, or I could discover something I love. Either way, I could say I've pushed past my own comfort zone.

As for making a good first impression, that's not something I could really practice in advance. I just have to be me.

Other than that, I've been diving right in, flinging myself at anything related to Pitzer. I've bought merchandise in Pitzer blue and orange and dreamed about working in the admissions office someday. College spirit has bitten me. I'm ready.

Clean Bathroom

I chose Pitzer not only for its academic reputation, but also for its focus on social action. I think it's fantastic that students here are required to perform community service in order to graduate. Pitzer is also invested in environmental protection and fighting global warming. This is great for me, because this year's freshmen get to live in new dorms that have been constructed with conservation in mind. It's good for the Earth, and I get a truly clean bathroom.

And yet, questions persist. Did I make the right selection? Will I get lost on campus? Am I going to make a complete fool of myself in class?

While I can't say that college is going to be easy-in fact, I'm inclined to believe the opposite is true-I'm sure it will also be some of the best years of my life.

As I settle in, I hope to deal with the big issues and not agonize over the small ones. I have faith that I'm going to do fine. I have to stop and remind myself that I've already made it this far.

Let's hope everything just gets better from here.