University sucks, but that’s fine.
There are tons of articles out here that tell you how to make the most of your time at university, and how it is going to be the best time of your life. Some of the advice is good, some of it is simple common sense, but the underlying assumption of all this advice — that university is going to be the best time ever — is outright harmful.
I don’t know much about US universities, but I know that many students in the UK are struggling with stress and anxiety, often in silence. Around 20% of British students fear that they may suffer from a mental health condition, while between 5–10% (that’s around 115,000 people) see a counsellor regularly. The worrying things is that those numbers can increase by as much as 50% per year at some institutions. I see it at my university as well, in my job as a residential advisor: just getting into a room with a counsellor is a struggle because the demand for their services is so high.
I believe that the reason for this is that expectations for students are set way too high, and I don’t mean expectations about getting good grades, or finding a good job. I mean the fact that ever since you start high school, you are told that university will be great, that everyone loves it, and that if you don’t — you’re just doing it wrong. You live with this knowledge for a few years, you’re then happy that you got into your dream school, and upon arriving…whoops!
I am not an expert in education, nor in giving advice. However, I am a student, so I can say this: university doesn’t have to be the best time of your life. It may be the best, but it can also be the worst, or it can be the epitome of mediocrity. Some days you will cry from laughter, others from annoyance. Sometimes you’ll feel like you can do anything, at other times you’ll feel like a failure. Some people will become your friends, others will remain a bunch of 1s and 0s on your Facebook friends-list. And guess what…that’s all completely normal.
So if there is any advice that I would give to college freshmen, it would be to remain open-minded, and have as few expectations as possible. By all means, approach university with a positive outlook, but remember that life is life, and it goes on…and far beyond your college experiences, too.
Note: this is based on conversations I have had with a variety of people at my university (anyone, including friends, tutors, or people at my job), and some reading around anxiety and stress at UK universities. It is, of course, not representative of everyone’s experiences (it isn’t even representative of mine), so do not treat it as if it is.
