Entering my freshman year at Penn State University, I have set goals and expectations for myself. But first I want to discuss the things I am looking most forward to as I enter this new chapter in my life.

The three things I am looking most forward to are first, meeting new people. As I wrote in my “About ME!” page I mention that I am outgoing. Penn State gives me this opportunity to meet tons of new people and form new friendships. I am also looking forward to joining Greek life, to expand my friendships as well. Lastly, I am super excited for the football games. Everyone knows Penn State for the football games and the rah rah! Who wouldn’t love it!?

Starting this new chapter in my life is exciting but has also caused some anxiety to form. Having all this freedom in college causes most students to be confused with what to do with their time. Being a freshman at a huge school, I am nervous about time management. Managing my time well will help me study and keep my grades up, which I am also nervous about. Not doing well in my classes. One major difference between high school and college is how your assignments are given to you. The new change is scary for me because being given a syllabus with all my assignments seems very overwhelming. With good time management, strong study habits, and good relationships with professors and tutors I will be able to get over these anxieties.

Now that I am in college, thinking back to when I was in high school, I know I will need to try harder. To achieve good grades I will need better study habits, such as spending more time actually studying. I also want to manage my diet and exercise, their two things keep a person in shape. And being healthy physically helps you mentally. A new habit I want to try in college as well is completing my assignments a week in advance so I don’t cram or stress about close due dates.

As I mentioned previously, I for sure want to join Greek life. Joining a sorority will open so many positive gateways for me socially and academically. I want to find a study group, I work better when I collaborate with other people so a study group will help my testing and study skills for sure. Lastly, I want to join a club or organization with my friends. For example, I would like to join Hillel because I am Jewish and would like to meet other Jewish people around and on campus.

For my new college experience I have set short and long term goals I would like to achieve. By the end of my first semester I would like to have mastered time management. How to balance out my social life with my school work. By the end of my first year I would like to have created good habits for both my health and school work. By the end of my four year journey at Penn State I would like to have a few different internships under my belt. These internships are gateways into the real world, which I hope would have helped my find a post college job.

In my mass media class we discussed our “why” – why you are at Penn State, at first I thought this question would be easy to answer. But, the question sat with me for a few days, why am I here? Here’s what I came up with, I am a Penn State student because I am a big personality, outgoing, and determined person. Growing up I had ADHD, I was pulled out of class for testing, I had extra time, and had to sit in the front row of class. Over the years I worked hard in school to get past my ADHD without any medication needed. Now being a freshman in college I won’t have my extra time and mandatory front seat. Penn State will and is going to push me to work hard in class and out. I am at Penn State because I love meeting new people and forming friendships and relationships with my peers and anyone around me. The network in and out of Penn State is one of the largest in the world and will help me be successful after my four years here at Penn State.