Blog Post #1: Who Will You Be in Four Years?
Dear Future Self,
You are currently in your first year at Longwood University as a Nursing student. As expected, the transition into college life has been full of challenging feelings, such as anxiety and uncertainty. On a more positive note, you are currently feeling extremely optimistic toward your future here. You have found comfort in the little town of Farmville and the beautiful campus it has to offer. I am confident that this feeling of comfort never faded for you and has only grown over four years. Is that the case?
A more specific part of this transition that you found difficult is determining the best way to balance all of the academic responsibilities at hand. Furthermore, you are finding it difficult to develop study habits that will serve you best in each course you are taking. Therefore, I hope that you have been able to figure that out for yourself and have used them throughout all four years. In addition to that, hopefully you found a way to divide time between all responsibilities, leaving time for yourself within all of them.
As a Nursing student, you are currently aware of the difficulty the next four years is going to bring you. Did it end up being as bad as everybody makes it seem? Despite any hardship, I trust that you stuck with it and avoided giving up on yourself. I hope that you have come out of it confident in your abilities and are ready to bring them into the real world. Ideally you have now had a successful outcome on the NCLEX, and therefore have earned your official nursing license. I wish you the best of luck in your next journey of finding a job opportunity. I am very curious to find out whether you stuck with the original specialty you wanted to pursue or if you have found a passion for another one.
The aspect of life that I hope you have grown in the most is your social experiences. Although the main purpose of college is to learn and help build a career, it is not the only one of college. That being said, I truly hope you allowed yourself to get involved in something other than your own studies. It could be as simple as getting to know more people and forming life-long friendships. Whatever they may be, I hope you went as far as getting involved in clubs and finding new hobbies to occupy your time. Seeing that you have always enjoyed service, and you are making a whole career out of it, I am hopeful that you found a way to get involved in it somewhere on or around campus.
Most importantly, I hope you are genuinely happy and are satisfied with everything you accomplished over the last four years.
Best Wishes,
Present Self
Dear Molly,
I can totally relate to the kind of stress and anxiety that you are experiencing with the college courses you are taking. Everyday I think about if I’m going to get too overwhelmed because of the assignments that are piling up as the days go by. More importantly, I worry about my mental health because I am a computer science major; however, I struggle a lot in my precalculus class. Although you are transitioning into the college life, like many of the other freshmen on campus, I admire your work-ethic because you have a good attitude about what needs to be done.
Before I came to college, I was undecided if I would be able to take on the responsibilities that come with being a college student; however, my GPA made me think that I could get accepted into any college that I wanted to as long as I was committed to my major. That’s why on the days that I am free, I manage my time wisely by getting tutored, studying for a test, or working on upcoming assignments. Currently, I do not have any academic responsibilities because I am not an athlete or manger of any team. So, you may be more overwhelmed than I am because in your free time, you are handling the academic responsibilities that are imminent.
Even though I don’t have any academic responsibilities, I want to try a new sport that is convenient for me;however, I don’t know if I would be able to play that sport at a high-level because I lack experience. In the book “They Say/ I Say”, the author talks about if the reader would wonder if his or her `”personal experiences would carry much weight in the high-level academic arena” (108). Another statement that the author said in “They/Say I Say” was that “there is at least one domain of your experience that is bound to be relevant to any course or assignment” (109). Basically, the author is trying to say that the sports or other activities that you get involved in will help you just as much as being committed to schoolwork because you are acquiring people skills in the process. All in all, I can understand the challenges you are facing in college. Additionally, I am proud of you because you are not giving up on your major and you are staying committed to furthering your education in nursing. Keep working hard and you will become a great nurse one day!
Hi my name is Makynna, I am also a freshman at Longwood and a criminal justice major. Hello, my name is Makynna, I am also a freshman at Longwood, and I am majoring in business and criminal justice. I really enjoyed reading you blog post. I have also had a lot of lot of anxiety about adjusting to college but so far has been going very well. I hope to develop better study habits and become very successful. I also hope I find a good balance between my social, academic and personal life. Although I am not a nursing student, I am also worried about how hard the work will be between two majors. I hope you find your balance and can be very successful in your major. I also believe academics are very important but that is not that college is all about. I miss my bestest friend, but I have definitely already made friends here that I will share a life long of friendships with. I am so thankful for the people I have met so far and can not wait to make many more. I hope you meet and find your people as well. I am really glad I got to read your blog post, it was interesting to read about someone idea of college so far with a different major and still have so many relations. I hope that longwood is everything you wish it to be, and I hope you along with myself and other find their way and can be the most successful versions of themselves. I can’t wait to read and respond to more blog post in the future along with creating my own and getting to heard other responses.
Dear Molly,
Hi, my name is Kaylie, and I am a bio/pre-med major! I can understand why the transition to college life an anxious and uncertain time can be, I was also definitely very scared and nervous going into this new adventure. I am so glad you found comfort in Farmville! I grew up in the next town over and had always found myself hanging out in Farmville throughout high school, so I am glad its providing you with that same comfort! Nursing is a great and amazing choice of study and an even more amazing career field, and I applaud you for chasing your dreams and the hard-work and determination you show! I love the idea of either being a NICU nurse or labor and delivery nurse, but I also really want to be in the radiology field, so I can understand your strive and the work you are putting towards this. I too hope you keep true to that and keep doing wonderful things these next few years! I love how you pointed out that yes, we are in college to study and learn and earn a degree to congratulate our hard work, but also that you can build some meaningful and lifelong friendships/relationships during your time here! I personally have trouble getting out of my dorm since this is all so new and slightly frightening as a first-year student but like you, I cannot wait to see the opportunities that await me! I wish you the best of luck, and all of the success during your time at Longwood! Make the most of it, you chose to be here so make every moment way more than worth it! I truly wish nursing treats you well, and I hope you get every good opportunity when it comes to finding a job! Future you is doing amazing because present you is too!
Dear Molly,
Hi, my name is Madelyn and although I am not a Nursing major I get the feeling of being stressed. I am also a freshman but I am a much easier major… I am a communication major with a concentration in public relations. This is a big transition and it is going to take a while to get used to. I agree with you when you said you’ve had trouble finding study habits. I feel like since I have been here I have found myself becoming more distracted by little things. Personally, something I have done to try and help myself focus better was going to the library to do work. Going to the library gives me alone time away from my roommates and any other distractions. I also find listening to music while I work has helped me but I know that doesn’t work for everyone. I like how you talk about how yes, college is about academics and the importance of helping you in your future career but there is also a social aspect of college like making meaningful memories and life-long friendships. I too hope to make many memories and unforgettable experiences in college. Stories I can one day tell my kids as my parents tell me the memories they made in college. I am really glad I got to read and respond to your blog post because I agree with many points you made! I hope you do get to make those unforgettable memories and meaningful connections here at Longwood and I hope you pursue your dreams of becoming a Nurse. If you end up figuring out any study tips you recommend please let me know because I can take all the help I can get. I can’t wait to read more blog posts from you!