# What was the first year of university like for you?



## Banzai (Jun 4, 2009)

Socially and in terms of how much work you did. What grade did you get at the end of the first year?


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## SocialAnxietyMC (Sep 3, 2011)

My first year was horrible I had not told anybody about SA and really didn't even know what was wrong with me. I dropped every class I took except acing my physical education class and passing my Math Course. It was a living hell.


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## mathman (Jan 20, 2009)

Socially, I'd say it was definitely no better than highschool. Work-wise, general education courses kicked my *** with the amount of reading and are still doing so in my third year. My grades were the same as in highschool, A's, but I had to put in a lot more effort.


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## Perfectionist (Mar 19, 2004)

I never had that big shock with the transition to univ. I'm not sure why - maybe I was already used to the workload as I went through an accelerated high school program.

Socially I hung out with high school people still. Academically I got A's without too much work.


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## Urquhart (Jan 9, 2012)

The work wasn't too bad, just a standard increase in workload, same as between high school years (with the possible exception of the amount of reading). The really miserable part was living in student housing. I really didn't connect with my flat-mates, and so I spent most of the year alone. Practically lost my voice during the week from lack of use.


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## GoFlyers (Nov 4, 2010)

I did very well grade wise freshman year. I retook calc I and II even though I could have tested out of them and that was a big help. Pretty much I built up a nice solid high GPA freshman year and have been chipping away at it every year since.

Social wise, I lived in the freshman dorms and was put on a nice floor. Everyone seemed to get along. I would say that I was a little more social freshman year than I was in high school. Still not great though, it's just being around a whole bunch of people kinda makes you have to do things.


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## sansd (Mar 22, 2006)

I had to retroactively withdraw from my first quarter after transferring from a community college. I stopped going to my classes early on, and the therapist I'd seen a few times called my parents to tell them they needed to pick me up because I was a danger to myself after I didn't go to an appointment and my roommate told her she hadn't seen me in weeks (which wasn't true).

I transferred again a year later. I withdrew completely from one of my first two quarters, and during the other one I dropped all but one class (so I wouldn't lose my admission), in which I got a C- because I didn't turn in any assignments and only showed up for tests after the first few weeks.

The first time, my roommate and a few other people in the dorms would try to talk to me, but I avoided them as much as possible. By the time I had to pack up my stuff and leave my roommate was pretending I wasn't even there. She didn't say a word to me, and she had told me she was _always_ friends with her old roommates. The one person I made friends with I met online and he was not a student. The second time, I didn't talk to anyone and didn't even sleep in my dorm room because my roommates (and the ever-present boyfriend of one of them) made me so uncomfortable. We ignored each other on the rare occasion I went into the room. The good thing about them not caring at all about me was that they never told my parents I wasn't actually living there.


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## Frozen In a StarryVoid (Feb 4, 2012)

SUCKS i hate college


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## adamac (Feb 1, 2012)

Well I'm halfway through my first year now, social wise pretty bad plus living with house mates I don't particularly like or have anything in common with to talk about doesn't help. Work wise has been pretty okay so far although I get my exam/coursework grades for semester 1 back next week so I guess I'll see how I did then, hopefully ok


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## RenegadeReloaded (Mar 12, 2011)

I got a study scholarship in the first semester, and only 10 out of 200 ppl did that, cause u were supposed to pass every exam, and that was kinda hard.

Then I realized how crappy my social life was cause I moved to another city to start that university, and I couldn't fit in socially, nor at home, nor at school, and that's when I met my best friend depression that has given me so much over this years. Basically the first year of university was also the year that my life started falling apart on all aspects.


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## lambykins (Nov 10, 2011)

It was kinda bad. I tried to be kind of optimistic in the beginning and joined a club but I was just too shy and I didn't feel like I was making any "progress" with the people in that group, so I just disappeared from the meetings. A lot of people knew someone else from the same high school and stuff and I just felt excluded. 

I didn't really meet any people in my classes. I got decent grades but I guess in the first year my classes are pretty easy. During the second semester I was pretty depressed and slept pretty much all the time. So far I think this year (I'm now a sophomore) is a little better.


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## Paradoxic (Feb 5, 2012)

I did poorly my first semester academically which seems to be the opposite with you guys. I went to a lot of frat parties, drank a lot, smoked some weed, missed a lot of class, etc. 

I felt like I almost had no motivation to do any work at all for some reason..


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## GaaraAgain (Oct 10, 2011)

I made a lot of friends, had a lot of fun, and went to a lot of events and parties... But my grades suffered horribly as I was too busy hanging out to do any work or actually regularly attend class at all. 

My GPA freshman year was a 2.8 (or B-). I still don't regret it and would do it again, to be honest.


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## Paradoxic (Feb 5, 2012)

Gaara my GPA was a 0.69 lol.


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## CoolUnderFire (Oct 11, 2011)

I lived in residence, and it was like having a huge epiphany, like my dream of making friends and relating to people had been shattered right before my eyes.

The reality was, I didn't have much in common with my roommate or the people in my residence. I ended up going home every weekend, and I ended up despising my roommate. In terms of academics, everything was good.

Luckily, I managed to meet some friends who I then lived with for the next three years, but I had really felt like I made a huge mistake going to University in my first year.


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## fanatic203 (Jun 23, 2010)

My first year of university was wonderful. I had just gotten out of the depression of high school with a new outlook on life. I was lucky that I was put on the "nice" female residence floor, and I made great friends. However, I, along with a lot of the people on my floor, didn't integrate into the rest of the residence as much as I'd have liked, because we were all pretty shy. My average for first year was about 83%, the best I've done in university.


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## NatureFellow (Jun 14, 2011)

Pretty bad, university wreaks of teenage desperation, booze and unwashed loins.

On topic : I worked like a champ!


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## Resonance (Feb 11, 2010)

Banzai said:


> Socially and in terms of how much work you did. What grade did you get at the end of the first year?


I did approximately zero work, got a 2.1 at the end of it, which as every first year knows, is meaningless as first year marks dont count for anything - hence the zero work. Socially, I was drunk most of the time so I don't really remember...at first I had no friends, then I had people to go drinking with, then I got too drunk and pissed them off, then I found new people to go drinking with.


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## Banzai (Jun 4, 2009)

Resonance said:


> I did approximately zero work, got a 2.1 at the end of it, which as every first year knows, is meaningless as first year marks dont count for anything - hence the zero work. Socially, I was drunk most of the time so I don't really remember...at first I had no friends, then I had people to go drinking with, then I got too drunk and pissed them off, then I found new people to go drinking with.


First year counts for me unfortunately...(and some other unis around here) 1/9 of degree.  :cry


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## Resonance (Feb 11, 2010)

Banzai said:


> First year counts for me unfortunately...(and some other unis around here) 1/9 of degree.  :cry


Ouch, that's harsh, I thought the whole 40% to pass and thats it thing was pretty much universal. If first year actually counted for me it'd definitely have been a lot different.


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## NWZ (Dec 21, 2011)

Academically I did pretty well with a GPA of ~3.50. Socially I was a disaster. I met a total of four people my first year: my roomate, my roomate's brother, my ra, and my roomate's girlfriend.This was at a university with an enrollment of 14,000. I did a little better socially my last three years, although my grades declined.


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## GaaraAgain (Oct 10, 2011)

Seeing this idea repeated throughout the comments lol.


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## Gorillaz (Jul 13, 2010)

^ right now I have 1. Sleep. woop woop


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## blue the puppy (Jul 23, 2011)

socially kind of hellish, though i *did* like my roommate which made it bearable. at one point i nearly left the university because i was so miserable. but by the end of the year i felt better.

workwise not much different than high school. but i took fairly easy classes, i think.


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## layitontheline (Aug 19, 2009)

Boyfriend, social life, dorm rooms, fun fridays, intoxication, absences, break-up, failure, required to withdraw


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## anotherusername (Nov 5, 2011)

Well, it was great. Social life, group that was for 99% consisting of nice girls, befriending all these girls, hanging out and having good times together (to the point of sleepovers, collective visits to someone of us who got ill, ice skating every weekend, and so on), easy learning, great teachers, overall excitement from all the new experiences.

Everything from enthusiasm and to social connections were on decline since then. Except for work opportunities, but that's not really that cool when you don't feel any excitement.


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## revolutionrocknroll (Dec 16, 2011)

Socially: I haven't made a single friend yet, and the year's almost over. I don't even know the people who live in my hall. They're very intimidating. I don't understand how they can all be so outgoing. I wish there was someone quieter who I could relate to more.
Academically: The first semester was tough because I was blocked into all of my classes (I didn't choose my schedule) and I hated all of them. I also had 17.5 credits, and 18 is the max we're allowed to take. This semester is much better. I'm only taking 15 credits and I was able to choose my classes and they're all interesting, and therefore, easy for me.


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## liktheangel (Oct 23, 2010)

It was okay. Socially I had no friends but my GPA was 3.2.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

It was in 1994 and I went to a local community college in Los Angeles, not a 4-year university. I remember being happy just to get out of the house and being able to choose my own schedule (unlike high school). I had basically dropped out of school at age 12, except for a couple short lived stints (2-3 months) at trying to get me go back and doing a program where you can study at home (which I didn't study for). I don't recall making any real friends, just a few acquaintances. I met one married woman in one of my classes. She was from Papua New Guinea which at the time I thought was pretty cool. She had married a missionary and showed me pics of her kids. They both had big blonde afros.

Because my dad was threatening to cut me off financially, I got it into my little head that I would take classes to do clerical work. Total waste of time and I never found a job. The first year I only took these stupid classes along with Japanese. I got all As, except for 1 B and 1 W. It wasn't till the 2nd year that I started taking real classes to transfer to a 4-year. The Japanese proved to be very useful and led me in the direction of my beloved 2nd country.


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## alte (Sep 4, 2010)

Pretty great. There was so much potential for making friends, trying relationships. Everyone was friendly and seemed interested in wanting to get to know me. Also, add to this the waking up late part (no class scheduled earlier than 7am and this was thought to be horrendously early), having lots of free time, it was great. It is the one year I would like to re-live 

Academically, a good year as well.


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## Ape in space (May 31, 2010)

Academically: Best year ever

Socially: Best year ever. I lived in a residence and had only about 3 or 4 friends, but that's way more than I've ever had before or since. I was lucky to have a roommate who was the most outgoing person I've ever met, and he was able to get me to make friends with a couple of other people. I also got drunk a few times that year, which I'd never done before or since. It's been all downhill since then. I haven't had a friend in 7-8 years.


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## wildcherry876 (Feb 6, 2012)

I'm in community college, but here's how my first year went:

Academic: I got really good grades. I did wayyy better that year than I ever did high school because I took it pretty seriously.

Social: First semester I didn't know anyone and got really depressed. In my second semester, I met someone that brought me into a group of friends, went to a couple parties with them, hung out and had fun. Their interests were different than mine, though, so I still felt kinda weird around them. I don't talk to them anymore, though...

Now I'm in my second year, second semester. Grades dropped....a lot...and i'm pretty much feeling like I did back in my first semester of college :/


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## Elizabeth419 (Sep 9, 2010)

Completely god awful. If you go to university I highly recommend not isolating yourself. Because if you do, everyone will have made their friends in the first week, and you will be left with no one. If I known this in the beginning, I would not have become the recluse that I was. 

In terms of grades, they were the worst I've ever received. Partially because of depression, and also because of being ill prepared for the intensity of the course work. All's good now, though.


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## NWZ (Dec 21, 2011)

Elizabeth419 said:


> Completely god awful. If you go to university I highly recommend not isolating yourself. Because if you do, everyone will have made their friends in the first week, and you will be left with no one. If I known this in the beginning, I would not have become the recluse that I was.


This is absolutely correct. My first year in college I was pretty much completely isolated. In the second year I made a much greater attempt to meet people early on, which at least got me some friends for my last three years in school.


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