Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Disparities between new students and established students extend beyond knowing where to get the best pizza.
As the first weeks of the fall semester come to a close, freshmen find themselves adjusting, while seniors find themselves preparing. Freshman worry about filling out the right forms to get into the right classes; seniors hope they have taken the right classes and received the right grades so graduation will go off without a hitch.
Jesse Plous, New York senior, said graduation and preparation for the job market are big concerns for seniors and graduate students.
“For a frosh, graduating is something that is a worry, but it’s four years off,” he said. “I, on the other hand, have only nine months left.”
Upperclassmen like Plous spend their time maintaining their grade point averages to get internships or gain entrance to graduate school; they also have to keep up their grades while hunting for post-college jobs.
Experienced students and beginning students have different priorities. Seniors have much busier schedules and fast-approaching deadlines for graduate school applications, internships and job applications. Freshmen think they possess a lot of time, and with that time comes room in their schedules.
Taylor Bennett, Lenexa freshman, said classes weren’t the hard part of college; they were “no stress. I’ve found some of my classes to be childish at best.”
His only real concern right now was the size of his classes; he was intimidated by the size of some of the lecture halls. Other than that, he said, college has been interesting so far.
“I’m different from a senior in that I’m not worried so much about what I’m doing immediately after college,” said Bennett. He admitted that what concerned him most was not necessarily what would worry a senior.
Bennett also said that the main aspect of college life he faced was “adapting to the social structure” and balancing his social life with classes.
Andrew Slater, Overland Park freshman, said what differentiates freshmen from seniors is that freshmen are “incredibly naive;” they have yet to firmly establish themselves, define opinions and feel confident in expressing them. He admitted he had “no profound thoughts” yet.
Another difference between upperclassmen and underclassmen is the concept of the grade point average. For freshmen, a GPA is something to establish and maintain if they want to get into the professional school of their choice.
Slater has been thinking about enrolling into the William Allen White School of Journalism, but said his biggest concern for his first year in school was getting the right GPA; the school requires a minimum of a 3.0 cumulative GPA for early admittance, or a 2.5 for regular admittance.
—Edited by Becca Evanhoe
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