<p>So, I go to a top 20 school, and I just finished my first semester. Since I go to a top 20 school, everyone is from out-of-state like me. First semester, I was able to make friends with most of the kids in my hall, and I would go to lunch and dinner (I rarely eat breakfast) with my floormates. Outside of my floor, I was only able to meet like 10 kids. The workload at my school is a lot, and as a result, I am constantly forced to study. I never have time to just go meet people/party/and hang out. My social life is pretty much dead. Ever since school started after winter break, I have been feeling really depressed/anxious/lonely. Just thinking about the amount of work that I will have to do, as well as how long the semester is, just makes me depressed/anxious. Being far away from home, is also making me homesick. Its only the first year, and I can't imagine how long the next 3 years will be. (I am thinking about graduating early in 3 years because I have enough credits and it will save me 50,000.)</p>
<p>It seems to me like you need to be willing to put yourself out there and ask for help from some people at your university–a counseling office, RA, upperclassman that you trust, etc. They have all been there before and more likely than not, have dealt with the same issues.</p>
<p>One thing that helped for me was setting specific study times. For instance, if I have all of Tuesday to study, I tell myself I’ll study from 9-noon, eat lunch, study for 2 more hours, go to the gym with people, etc. Exercise (especially with your friends) does wonders for your health and sanity–I would highly recommend it. Huge days of doing nothing but studying decreases your productivity and just makes you feel really bad about yourself.</p>
<p>Also, it seems like your study skills could use some honing. You shouldn’t have to study all hours of the day. If you purposely picked a major (engineering) with a heavy workload, you might want to consider switching, because college offers amazing opportunities and when you look back in ten years, you want to remember the people who became a part of your life and the experiences you had together, not your grade on that one exam. I’m not saying you should “wimp out”, just that you should realistically look at your study skills and see if your major is a good fit for you. Keep in mind that if things are this hard freshman year, as you get into more upper-level classes, they will likely get even more difficult. </p>
<p>Also, homesickness will decrease as you build a stronger support system at school. Consider joining clubs–athletics, religious, social action, etc.–to meet people outside of your floor and get to know some upperclassmen. I don’t know if you’re into the Greek system but that is also a good way to bond with other students, who might be able to give you some tips on finding a better balance between your academic and social lives.</p>
<p>I’m in the same situation. My workload has gotten so ridiculous that to get the GPA that I need to keep my scholarships, my social life has for the most part been killed off and I just got into a really depressed mood for the past semester. I’m sorry but I might have to disagree with the poster above me in some respects. I’m not sure what your major is (I’m actually engineering) but if you like your major right now and are interested in the classes or the end goal, dont be deferred by the work. I know a lot of us in engineering that do study all hours of the day (and I really do mean ALL hours). If its a hard major like this, them remember the payoff is after graduation when we’ll have multiple job offers in this sucky economy along with a bunch of paid internships during undergrad if you want them! Especially since you’re paying that much for college. I guess it’s more of a thing on seeing if you’re in school more to learn and get a good job after college or instead to have the “college experience”. </p>
<p>Honestly, I’ve noticed that people study a lot more than they let on so I can bet that you’re not the only one in your situation even on your floor! I’ve found that it helps to make friends within your classes whom you can study and hang out with. Also, try finding a club that meets once a week or something that you can fit in with your limited time commitment. I’m not trying to sound like a ***** or something by saying “find the easiest club to join”, but something that you can reasonably fit into your schedule. I was stupid and took on a club that required a much bigger time commitment than I could handle and it ended up just causing more stress than was worth it, so avoid that if possible!</p>
<p>^ I am a pre-med at a top 20 school, so I am enrolled in 2 intro science classes, which are weeder classes and require a lot of work.</p>
<p>Most of my pre-med friends from classes do study really hard, just as hard as me, and they have complained about how their social lives have been destroyed.</p>
<p>just to give a comment so you dont feel so alone in your experience, I have a friend who is going through most of what you are also.</p>
<p>My friends attends fordham and he is also pre-med. He took 22 credits his second semester and just studied studied studies to keep his scholarships.</p>
<p>At the end of the semester he still attained his scholarship, but lost his sanity.</p>
<p>Haha, yea, it seems like for people that put academics as our highest priority, our social life suffers! And another thing I forgot to mention, although the courses do get harder, it can overall get a little easier after the first year. Freshman year is filled with way too many weedout classes and just the overall adjustment to college vs. high school work can make it more difficult than the higher level courses you’re going to have to take. </p>
<p>It’s different for everyone but I know especially in my case (engineering major at the 9th best program in the country), the first semester was such a ***** academic wise simply because I had no idea how to fit my high school studying habits to college efficiently. It got better my second semester and even better my sophomore year even though the classes were significantly harder. Just things like learning how I learned the best (which also involved implementing a arbitrary highlighting system to all my notes but somehow works surprisingly well!). </p>
<p>The main thing is not to be too hard on yourself and as bad as it sounds, to try to have a more positive attitude towards everything and not to dwell on things that put you in a mood like this. Welcome to college. It’s not like the movies at all, because otherwise, all those college movies filled with drinking and partying all the time with the occasional lecture scene would instead be filled with students locking themselves in their dorms orthe library if they want a good GPA and no one would want to go to college. Most people don’t care about academics at all in college and it tends to follow them and bite them in the ass in the end. The fact that you’re priority is on school instead of trivial things like the aforementioned college parties every night will help you out in the end! Just keep on going! :)</p>
<p>If your academic life is sucking up all of your time, there are one of two things wrong here; one, you don’t know how to manage your time efficiently. Or two, you pick a ridiculously and needlessly hard courseload. Judging by how most college dunces seem to ‘study’ these days, I’m guessing it’s the former. I have a hard ****ing double major and because I do stuff early, manage my time, and don’t dick around when it comes to studying (“lolol, I’ll just put some music on” and then sit in the library literally just staring at their damn notes for five hours) and you should have plenty of time for both a life and a stellar GPA. Look into how real students manage their time, like Cal Newport’s stuff, and you’ll get out of this academic hell. Otherwise, if you suck and you don’t want to make drastic changes, have fun; these will be the next four years of your life.</p>