I first heard of The Campus through my RA during my freshman dorm information session at the beginning of the year. Not too long after, I attended the Clubs and Organizations fair held in the Henderson Campus Center and stopped by The Campus’ table to say hello and catch up. Knowing I wanted to be involved with a few different clubs my freshman year and remembering how positively my RA talked about her experience with The Campus so far, I figured, “What the heck. I might as well put my name on the email list; I can try it out and always quit later.” I knew I wanted to attempt writing an article before deciding to stay, but I had no idea what to write about or how much time I could commit to writing.
However, a solution arose early into the start of the school year. I was so used to my study cycle from high school that I did not know how to adapt to college. I knew my studying preferences, but I no longer had places that felt safe to use for studying. Thus began my introduction to my first article: checking out potential study spots to gauge my comfort level and productivity across these new spaces. This topic is one that I felt would be a decent introduction to journalistic writing, an area I had no previous knowledge or experience in, and that I would get some bonus classwork studying done in the meantime, which would help make sure I was getting my homework done on time.
But where does one even study on campus? As a first-time student at Allegheny, I barely knew what my classes were covering, let alone where everything was on campus. I tried to list the places I knew geographically and spots I already felt comfortable in. My list was smaller than I had hoped, so I had to research the college’s website and think back to orientation for places I could potentially get work done. I ended up settling on four areas: Lawrence Pelletier Library, the Carrden, the lounge on my dorm floor and the desk within my room.
Mostly, I opted for these locations for their convenience. I keep an active schedule between classes, athletics and other clubs, so having some spaces closer to my other activities helped immensely. In addition to the convenience factor, these places are all areas I would define as a safe space for me. I am also a major procrastinator, but we will pretend that did not influence my choices.
I originally wanted to study in each of these places for about an hour or more, starting at roughly the same time of day, hoping to limit any chance of outside factors playing a negative role in my productivity results. However, I found this would not be possible for me very early in studying for this piece. My schedule is different every day between my involvement on campus, and while being involved is a good thing, this made me think about my obligations and time management as a student and an athlete. I had to be very careful about making time to get work done and to have downtime to relax, and creating the proper balance between those times was crucial. Unfortunately, I did not get to use some of these study spaces to the extent that I had hoped.
Thankfully, I was able to visit every chosen spot and study there for some time. Every study session I had was successful in terms of work completion or set-up. I achieved a better understanding of various locations on campus and what they can provide me.
Throughout the two weeks of working on this article, I also met and made numerous new connections among faculty and peers. I better understand how my time management and organizational skills should improve for a successful college career. But most importantly, I learned that I am not as prepared as I thought.
I walked into college knowing that I am smart but not necessarily the best at everything, which, in my opinion, is a fantastic mindset to hold. This mindset allows me to feel confident in my present abilities while allowing myself to continue to become the best version of myself. I walked into college with the idea that I had figured out everything I would need to know to be able to do my coursework with little to no problems, and I was dead wrong.
Simply put, college is not high school. To those of you reading this and thinking, “Well duh, Ainslee. Of course, college isn’t high school; that’s why it’s called college,” bear with me. It is fair to say that most of us have had an adult tell us something about college that we later found to be the complete opposite in practice. In my case, I always had “good study habits.” And that was true — for high school. When transferring to college life, I found I did not regularly have five hours every evening to do all my homework or club preparations. I rarely have two consecutive hours. I have been mostly successful in my transition, but I have had to completely uproot everything I knew about studying and redesign my system to work with my new schedule. I hate it. I hate mourning something that worked so well for me for many years.
To anyone else in a similar situation as me, whether it be studying-related or not, I see you. It is not easy changing your schedule and preferences, especially when it is a big change. It may be tough to adjust to for a while, and that is okay. It will get easier as time passes.
Remember that it is normal to have mixed feelings about all these changes in your life, that everyone around you is also experiencing changes, and that you are not as alone as you may think. You will figure it out. You are doing great, darling.