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I sat down this week with Helena Hilton (freshman, explore Andrews) to talk about her first few weeks of college.

How have the first few weeks of school been for you?

They’ve been pretty fast-paced. A lot more work than high school. It’s definitely doable, though, so just don’t get behind.

Is that the main difference between your college and high school experience? The pace?

In high school there were a lot of things you could wait until the last minute to do and you would still be fine, like, get a good grade fine. Here, there’s so many things you have to do, especially with all of the different classes, so you can’t really procrastinate.

How has the adjustment been, academically, from high school to college?

I’m struggling a little bit, but I think that it will get better when I get the rhythm down pat. In high school I was a little more prone to procrastination, so that’s an adjustment.

I remember that I had to learn really quickly how to study, since that’s not something I was really taught in high school. Do you feel like you’re having a similar experience?

Yeah. I mean, in high school you have a vague idea of “read your textbook” but nobody really does that, because you’re taught the exact same stuff in class anyways. But here, there are some classes where they go over the information as if you know about it already. So you really have to stay on top of it.

What are you most excited about regarding the upcoming college experience?

I guess, finding myself? And gaining more experiences outside of my comfort zone. I don’t know, I feel like I was living in kind of a bubble before.

What are some highlights and lowlights of your last few weeks?

Biology [Foundations of Biology] for sure. It’s definitely pretty difficult, and I had heard before that it’s a weeder class — I think that’s a really good thing because it helps people figure out whether they really have an interest in it. I think it really helped me decide that that’s not where I want to be. Highlights? Meeting new friends and meeting people in general. Soccer, too. I’m definitely not the greatest at it and I’m still learning but it’s been a fun experience.

What do you like the least about the college experience?

The area is kind of really bland. There’s a lot of people, but there’s not a lot of things close-by and accessible. You have to drive if you want to go anywhere, and that’s inconvenient.

On a one to ten scale, how would you rate your college experience so far?

Hm. Maybe seven? I guess somewhere in between a six and a seven. I’ve definitely been able to experience more things here than in high school. There are a lot of things to do where I am from, but I lived pretty far away from the general area of where my friends lived,  so I wasn’t able to do a lot of fun things after school. Now that I’m on campus pretty often, I’m able to see people and go to events more.