The transition from high school to college is one of the biggest changes a student can face in life, and for many it can feel overwhelming.
The national First-Year College Experience survey, sponsored by the Jed Foundation, Jordan Porco Foundation and Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, said about a third of college freshmen are not emotionally prepared — or able to care of themselves, adapt to new environments, control negative emotions and build positive relationships — when they first come to campus.
Out of the 1,502 U.S. college students who participated, the survey said 50 percent of the students reported feeling stressed most or all of the time and 36 percent said they were emotionally unprepared for college and felt that they were not in control of managing day-to-day stress.
These students reported to be more likely to report poor academic performance, regularly consume drugs or alcohol, consider transferring and rated their overall college experience as being terrible or poor.
John Disher, a journalism professor, said he sees evidence of this study personified within students he's taught in the last 25 years.
“It is pretty easy to spot someone who is not focused and in the game," he said.
Disher said he can tell when his students are struggling because their academic performance starts to suffer along with attendance rate. Students begin to withdraw from what is important and become stuck in a cycle.
The First-Year College Experience reported that 38 percent of students said they felt anxious, 25 percent said they felt lonely and 22 percent said they felt depressed all or most of the time during their first term of school.
“I think the transition from high school to college can be emotionally shocking,” said freshman telecommunication and theatre major Tara Heilwagen.
Freshmen expect the work to be easy and think college is about partying, when that is not the case in reality, Heilwagen said.
"When they realize how much work they have to put in to actually be successful, students get stressed or even depressed and that’s when the thoughts of just giving up happen," she said.
Journalism professor Martin Smith-Rodden said the major life changes freshmen go under does spark stress and a feeling of being emotionally unprepared.
“With every major change in life, there is all sorts of stress,” Smith-Rodden said. “Freshmen are put in completely different environments and are left to become more independent, which can be dramatic.”
Zach Shimer, a freshman computer science major, said he personally felt the stress when he moved to Ball State.
“It’s so easy to feel vulnerable being on your own,” Shimer said. “I felt like a wreck and lonely at first, but I didn’t want to continue to feel like that my first year here. I opened up and developed connections with people which really helped.”
The survey said 51 percent of the first year college students found it difficult at times to get emotional support at college when they needed it. Eleven percent said they did not turn to anyone for support when needed.
But Jody Nader, a landscape architecture professor, said the university has a fix for that problem.
“In our school, we have a heavy amount of advisers and upperclassmen to help mentor, and departments with faculty who really care a lot about the freshmen,” Nader said. “The biggest thing that students can do when they're going through emotional or stressful times is to just talk. Almost everyone is or has gone through that same adjustment.”
Smith-Rodden agreed — taking advantage of counseling and having a support system is the best way to help students get through their first semester of college, he said.
“People don’t reach out to friends and support systems enough,” he said. “It’s so important for students to realize that they have resources that will talk and listen to them. The best advice I could give is to go out and talk because you’re not alone in what you’re feeling.”
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