Freshman Anxiety and Questions...

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

Hey guys!

I have been fortunate enough to have been accepted to Penn’s Class of 2021 and had questions/concerns to current students.

As with any big transitions, I tend to get really anxious and often arrive to panic. I was able to visit the campus with my family and I found it a bit intimidating of the urban environment because I grew up in the suburbs. I guess the idea of attending an Ivy League and living out of state is really giving me anxiety. I had some questions and was hoping it would calm my nerves and fear haha…

  1. I will be attending the College of Arts and Sciences and I put Political Science as my anticipated major but I am uncertain as of now. Will I be able to change majors if I wanted to or am I too late? I really want to get into politics and government when I finish college.

  2. How is the workload at Penn? Is it really stressful and overwhelming? What would you rate it out of 10?

  3. How is the social life in terms of making friends as a Freshman?

  4. How was your Freshman transition?

2

My D is a junior Poly Sci major, with a concentration in International Relations. You cannot officially declare your major until junior year, so no worries there. Best advice is to join clubs/groups that share your interests. You will find an instant group of friends similar to you!

3

@socratesthegreat Congratulations! Being admitted to Penn is the chance of several lifetimes. Make the best of it!

Regarding your questions:

“1) I will be attending the College of Arts and Sciences and I put Political Science as my anticipated major but I am uncertain as of now. Will I be able to change majors if I wanted to or am I too late? I really want to get into politics and government when I finish college.”

It is easy to change majors at Penn.

“2) How is the workload at Penn? Is it really stressful and overwhelming? What would you rate it out of 10?”

On exam weeks, student are pretty stressed. Most of the time, students are also having a good amount of fun. They tend to be engaged socially, as well as in clubs and other activities in addition to classes. The opportunities at Penn are limited by the hours in the day. To manage stress, be careful about getting involved in more opportunities than you can manage.

“3) How is the social life in terms of making friends as a Freshman?”

My D has a lot of friends. It helps to participate in the programs that are offered before school begins, and get involved in clubs or groups that interest you early on. It also helps to put yourself out there a bit with other freshman. Everyone is in the same situation.

  1. How was your Freshman transition?

D had a good transition. It took her a little time to really establish a group of friends but that is true anywhere. I think by the end of the first semester she felt quite established.

I understand that going to an Ivy, and being away from home are a bit scary. However, if you did not have all the tools to be successful, Penn would not have admitted you. They have many valedictorians and applicants with perfect SAT scores available for every single place in the freshman class. To admit you, one more of those students had to be rejected. Someone was very impressed with your achievements and confident that you would be a success or they would have chosen someone else.

The fact that you are a bit nervous about going is a good sign, that just means you are smart and thoughtful. Take up the challenge and meet it head on. You can do it, and you will always be glad you did. Have a great 4 years!

4
  1. I will be attending the College of Arts and Sciences and I put Political Science as my anticipated major but I am uncertain as of now. Will I be able to change majors if I wanted to or am I too late? I really want to get into politics and government when I finish college.

You declare after like a year or two. You’re fine. In fact, you might even want to switch from PoliSci to something else or tack on another major or minor. A lot of people do double majors. Even more do minors. Also don’t be afraid to take PoliSci grad classes - it’s literally just reading (although harder reading).

  1. How is the workload at Penn? Is it really stressful and overwhelming? What would you rate it out of 10?

9/10 depending on what you’re looking for. If you want straight A’s and have taken AP’s, etc, you can do 4 classes a semester and graduate. This is a much better route and easier to study for, etc. Classes here can be hard af. However, you can also make it easy. Generally, most people are stressed and overwhelmed 24/7. That said, people still have friends, have fun, party, procrastinate, blah, blah, blah. You need to make an effort to find balance yourself because no one will give it to you.

  1. How is the social life in terms of making friends as a Freshman?

Everyone latches onto one another in freshman year. I am still friends (close-best friends) with people from my hall. However, it’s easy to get stuck with shitty people. Also freshman year often sucks. You need to initiate, be almost aggressively friendly, etc. Even then, people here can be unfriendly. Never ask if someone is a freshman. The question is “what year are you?”

  1. How was your Freshman transition?

Bad.

5

Hi Socrates, I didn’t go to Penn and am only writing because you might get freaked out that humanbean had a bad transition. Here’s a couple of things you can do to help avoid that:

As Much2learn mentioned, there are usually some programs that start shortly before school. Look into these and do one (at my school aeons ago I did an Outdoor Club trip). This really helps because you start off with a smaller group of kids and experience something together so it gives you an instant commonality and something to bond over, so when school starts and thousands of kids are there, you already know some kids.

Some kids might have a hard time transitioning from high school to college academically if their high school programs weren’t that strong. I’m thinking of our tour guide at Duke who grew up in farm country and said she didn’t have a lot of exposure to things. She said she went to a lot of tutoring sessions and was able to catch up with her classmates by Spring semester. If you think you might fall into this category, you should find out about how tutoring is offered at Penn, and you might want to consider taking a lighter course load your first semester.

You might also want to find out information about the counseling center in advance, so if you start experiencing a lot of anxiety while you are there, or if you get into a bad situation while you are there, you know where to go for help and what’s involved with getting it. I don’t know if the following would be helpful or hurtful to you (depends on your personality), but what about thinking about a potential negative situation and talking with your parents about how you’d handle it? Like, what would you do if your roommate has illegal drugs in the room?

Finally, others should chime in here, because there have to be a couple of good books that you could read about this issue, and I think having some more knowledge going into this would make you feel more in control and relaxed.