Freshman Year Survival Guide

Freshman Year at Howard University: Survival Course Being a freshman at Howard University can be the start of a great life for a young black person. Student’s freshman year is the year that can mold or break them. Being a freshman at any college is very opportunistic. However, at Howard if a student starts of their college career strongly, it can propel them to do well their remaining years at the university. On the other hand, at Howard University if a student doesn’t address school seriously they can run into an abundance of distractions that can hurt a student’s college career.

In saying that, it’s evident that the social scene at Howard University is prelevant enough to swallow a student’s time and focus. How would freshman students know how to balance out the fun and still focus on their education without previous knowledge of how Howard is? It would be very difficult to say the least. Howard University should require mandatory courses and meetings that freshman attend to tell them how to get through their freshman year the correct way. One might ask, what does the proposed way of getting through your freshman year consist of?

I think the prototypical freshman year should consist of getting solid grades, joining clubs that has other students from the same states, maybe getting a job on campus your second semester, and having an easy transition to becoming an independent person, would be the main components. In addition, clubs and groups can be very effective to students coming from sheltered backgrounds. In addition, students who will have always been organized have a vision of what they should live up to or excel beyond.

Furthermore, these mandatory courses would just be a three credit hour course taken one of the semesters of the year. To reiterate, there are lot of books written on how to get through your freshman year of college. I think that a book could be written on how to get through your freshman year specifically at Howard University as well as a course being taught about the book. In high school, students were required to go to advisory meetings. So that the students could be hear what the school thought was necessary for them to know.

So I think that college freshman should be required to do the same thing. On the other hand, sometimes, mandatory meetings in freshman dormitories are held that exemplify about ways to help freshman get through their first year at Howard. However, not all students attend these meetings and miss out on important information for them. If students had to attend seminars that teach them how to get through their year by showing the futures of a balanced student and a student who parties too much, I think they would follow the right path.

Likewise, one of the biggest reasons why students struggle or even drop out their first year of school is because they can’t balance partying and extra curricular activities with school. That is why students should be shown what happens when a freshman at Howard takes the wrong route by almost dropping out. Easily, freshman could easily get too wrapped up in everything else besides school because of Howard University’s environment.

So when students attend these seminars and classes they can see the careers of a prototypical student and worst possible student at Howard University. Obviously, freshman year for a student at any school is important. Students should have the opportunity to know the best and worst they can do as they take on a big change in their life. At a University as prestigious as Howard University, why not ensure future greatness by attempting to make the freshman of Howard as comfortable and informed as possible. Word Count: 627