<p>I'm going to be a freshman in the fall (after completing the bridge program) and I'm just afraid. I have really low self-confidence and I'm very shy. I went on the University of Michigan Class of 2018 page on Facebook and I feel like a complete idiot. All these things these people are talking about..things I have no clue about. All these AP kids..I was always too afraid to take AP classes in high school. I'm willing to work hard. But I don't have anyone to talk about this with..the people that I know that are going from school, make me feel worthless. Sometimes it seems like it's a miracle that they even accepted me. UM is my dream, it always has been. I'm just afraid of meeting new people and I feel like my depression and social anxiety will become even worse. I want to do well in classes and make great friends but I don't know. </p>
<p>@detroithopeful </p>
<p>Chill out. Seriously. Chill out.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Don’t worry about AP classes. Once you walk into your first lecture, your high school record becomes obsolete. It doesn’t matter what classes you took in high school. It doesn’t matter what your high school GPA was. It doesn’t matter what your ACT or SAT score was. It’s a whole new ball game in college and everyone starts with a clean slate. They have no effect on how well you will do in classes.</p></li>
<li><p>You are not the only person who is nervous about making new friends. A lot of people are nervous. Just be yourself. Introduce yourself to your classmates. Introduce yourself to your hall mates.</p></li>
<li><p>You need to believe in yourself! You can do it!</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If the college admitted you, they believe you will do well. They believe in you! Follow their example :)</p>
<p>Just think that everyone is starting out the same, everyone will be looking for friends. You will find someone to hang out with, and I imagine you will love your time at UM. Congrats on getting in! </p>
<p>So be sure you take advantage of social opportunities when you get to school. Go on any outings organized for your dorm, talk to the people you sit near in class the first few days, try to find an activity or club (or two) on campus to join. Leave your dorm room door open when you are hanging out in the room and play music so people feel welcome to come in. Talk to other people if they have their doors open. Sit with anyone you recognize from your hall or a class at the cafeteria. If you are in on a weekend evening, see if anyone wants to play cards – if they suggest a game you don’t know, ask them to teach you. Don’t take too heavy a course load your first semester, you don’t want to be too stressed to settle in with more than just studying in your life.</p>
<p>The bridge program is also designed to help you make the transition, and one of the nice things about the program is that you will have a permanent advisor to help you through your years at UM. I think you will feel much more confident after you complete the program this summer. One thing I would strongly encourage is to take advantage of all the support offered to you, through the bridge program and through the University’s resources as well. One thing that is different in college than high school is that you have to take more initiative to reach out for help. This is a very good life skill to develop that will take you far after college is over. Don’t be intimidated by the size of UM; while it can seem sometimes less personal, you can find your niche since there are so many different types of people there, and believe it or not, over time the University will start to feel (almost) small. Think of this as a great experience that will give you life skills you can use in the future!</p>
<p><<–Michigan Class of '93 here; now faculty at Some Other Big Ten School. Echoing the above: every freshman starts with a blank slate – once the first semester is underway, what you did in high school matters not at all. AP, IB, varsity sports – no one in Ann Arbor will know or care. So relax a little! </p>
<p>My story: I originally did NOT want to go to UM, because so many people from my high school were headed there, and I was afraid it would be just as horrible and cliquish and depressing as high school had been. Boy, was I wrong. I found my own new friends and activities, tried a lot of academic options that were new to me, changed my major three times (I think) and I ended up having a fantastic four years.</p>
<p>Also, one of the great things about UM is that even the smartest, most cocky, multiple-AP-high school superstar will meet people at UM who leave him in the shade, in one way or another. You too will meet people who are incredibly clever and talented in ways that you can hardly imagine right now. (This is why you wanted Michigan, and not some lesser school, right?) It’s an amazing and inspiring place, and you can learn an awful lot from just talking to your hallmates and classmates, or heck, even people waiting for the campus bus with you. Don’t be afraid to try new things: college is the absolute best time of life to do that, and there is a lot of space for intellectual experimentation at UM. Ask questions. Go to faculty office hours, even just to chat (we LOVE that – really we do!). Receptive, open-minded confidence is the attitude you want to convey – even if the confidence part isn’t quite real yet. With practice, it will be. </p>
<p>Good luck, and GO BLUE! </p>
<p>Oh, one more thing: the anxious girl’s super-secret trick to appearing receptively open-minded and confident? (Aside from actually, you know, doing the reading for class…) Stand tall, shoulders back, and smile. No kidding. This continues to get me through lots of situations where I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing, like hob-nobbing with the trustees. </p>
<p>@BigTenProf, you are incredibly kind. It was nice to reveal that even professors have their insecurities =D> </p>
<h2>Don’t worry about AP classes. Once you walk into your first lecture, your high school record becomes obsolete. It doesn’t matter what classes you took in high school. It doesn’t matter what your high school GPA was. It doesn’t matter what your ACT or SAT score was. It’s a whole new ball game in college and everyone starts with a clean slate. They have no effect on how well you will do in classes.</h2>
<p>Come August a Birmingham Seaholm student with a 3.8, 33 ACT and 20 AP credits and a DPS student with a 3.6, a 24 ACT and no AP credits are suddenly the same? Pure hogwash. Using degree data, the OP is more likely to drop out, take longer to graduate and major in psychology, sociology, general studies or African American studies.</p>
<p>Wow, ^what a confidence boosting post. Just because a kid has some AP classes doesn’t mean a thing about their success in college. And how do you know that this student has a lower GPA? You are making broad assumptions with no basis. My kids went to a high school that does not offer any APs until senior year. With no hooks they still cleaned up in college admissions, and competed very successfully with students from some of those flashier “higher ranked” high schools. I personally went to a pretty lousy public high school in Michigan where no APs at all were offered. And I did just fine (graduated with a 3.5 GPA from what is now Ross). My ex-H went to Michigan after 2 years at community college, and went on from Michigan to gradate from Georgetown Law. You are a snob.</p>
<p>I’m not being a snob, I’m painting an accurate picture. The field is not level when we start college, period. To pretend it is is ludicrous. In fact, Michigan prob has the largest gap on any top tier university from the top 10% to the bottom 10%. If the OP wants to make up ground, he/she needs to understand a gap exists and work relentlessly hard over the summer and into freshman year to make up ground. Anything is possible but the reality is people are what they are and competing at one of the world’s greatest colleges is nearly impossible if you had substandard primary and secondary education, and are not equipped with the toolset to perform at an elite level.</p>
<p>As for my assumptions, the OP said they were “very surprised” to be accepted. To most people that means bottom 25%, if not bottom 10% numbers.</p>
<p>Bridge is to get the bottom 10% not to drop out. They aren’t preparing students to major in chemical engineering. Most of the bridge students end up in an easy major. As long as you get a degree, any degree, they’re happy. It is what it is.</p>
<p>You know what they say about assuming things? 
Who cares what it means “to most people”? That was not explicitly stated and your assumptions are groundless.</p>
<p>And what’s up with dissing sociology, psychology, African-American studies, and general studies? Plenty of successful people have these majors and go on to make a mark in the world. The world needs more than just chemical engineers. Sheesh.</p>
<p>In fact, my ex-H was a general studies major (the one who graduated from Georgetown law). </p>
<p>I didn’t “diss” anything. I cited facts that apparently piqued your insecurities. A diss would be to call them the softest and easiest majors on campus, that exist to support bloated faculty and to make money and shuffle kids out the door that don’t have the capacity for the more rigorous concentrations. But that diss is also a factual. Of course you can become successful with an easy degree, there are always outliers. You want to bank on being an outlier? The employment landscape is stiffer than ever and you want to enter it with a humanities or soft science degree? Good luck.</p>
<p>stmarys14, don’t worry about people like intparent who are of the “wahh wahhh every kid is special in their own way” crowd.
You know what I love about stats? Stats doesn’t lie in a large enough sample size. You can make an occasional spoonful of chicken salad out of a pound of chicken crap, but I’d still rather use a pound of quality chicken and create half a pound of good chicken salad. Some people just don’t get that.</p>
<p>Instead of painting a realistic picture of what the OP is up against and hope that he/her would do everything necessary to close the gap, they’d rather sugar coat with white lies in their “confidence boosting posts” as intparent would call it. They think they are helping when in fact they are doing the opposite.</p>
<p>“If the college admitted you, they believe you will do well.”
Or they think it would look good politically to admit you and boost “DIVVVVERRSSSITTEEHHHH” and don’t give a crap about how you would turn out.</p>
<p>I’m not going to get into an affirmative action debate, what I posted doesn’t have any racially coded language. I just don’t see how lying about the pre-college achievement gap is helpful to anyone. An 8 week summer bridge program can certainly help, but with the top students you’re talking about a knowledge base, a skill set and a character that has taken a 17 years to cultivate. If there was only an 8-week gap, do you think bridge kids could knock off a 30+ ACT score by the end of August? Of course not. The difference between hiding out in a soft science or humanities with a 2.6 GPA and earning a STEM from Michigan takes an incredible amount of dedication. Very few have it in them to catch up. It’s a disservice to the OP to lie about the gap. The OP should be trying to catch up now with MOOCs, spring semester at local community college, finding a mentor, etc.</p>
<p>Stmarys14, why in the world would you think the private school student has better ‘character’ than the public school student? There is nothing ‘coded’ about your post, it is flat out elitist and racist. Just curious, have you got a degree from Michigan? I was a 3rd generation Michigan grad, and you know what? A degree from Michigan is still from Michigan, no matter what the major is. And the bottom 50% of the class has a degree they can put on their resume just like everyone else can. Do privileged students from wealthy environments have an advantage? Sometimes. They place out of classes, or re-take work that they have already seen in high school. This does give them an edge in the first year. And a student from less money and a background with fewer tutors/AP classes/smaller class sizes/paid summer program background will have to push hard through that first year. Which is one reason I suggested a lighter load for the OP. </p>
<p>And HEY – did you guys notice that this poster was actually asking more about social issues than academic ones? But you would not waste a chance to push your agenda – much more fun than reading the actual question and looking for concrete ways to help the poster succeed. </p>
<p>OP, ignore these philistines. Frat boys with an elitist attitude who want to convince themselves that no one could possibly come out of a less privileged environment and succeed at Michigan. Probably those students who re-took their APs as freshman so they could cruise to good grades (but watch out, those students ARE out there). </p>
<p>Really? You think colleges let people in who obviously aren’t qualified? That’s kind of the point of college admissions. To admit those who are qualified. </p>