subject: College Life: Conquering Your Freshman Fears Part 5 [print this page] A freshman in college can have his/her own fears that can hamper their college life. Earlier parts of this article explained ten such commonly held fears and how to get rid of them or handle them. This is part 5 of this series where two more freshman fears are explained.
Freshman Fear #11: I am intimidated by my faculty members. I know I would need their help but do not know how to approach them.
Your college professors are not only smart but very helpful and approachable people. It is scary to meet someone who seems out there to point out your mistakes and fail you; however, this may just be your fear speaking. They may actually turn out to be quite nice and helpful if only you approached them. Get to know your professors, introduce yourself to them and ask genuine questions when you have not understood the subject.
Freshman Fear #12: Am I safe?
Living in an unfamiliar environment, with unknown faces, and to top that, there may be seniors whose sole purpose in life is to intimidate you how can you feel safe? Spend a lot of time going around and knowing your environment. Within a week, you will be familiar with what is located where, what to find where, etc. If you make attempts to meet people and talk with them, you will seem approachable and more people will want to talk with you. Within a short period of time, you will find yourself surrounded with familiar faces.
As for seniors, ragging is a problem in many places but not all of them. Most look at ragging as a way to form a bonding between the freshman and seniors. Look at it as a way to make friends but by all means refuse to do anything that you are not comfortable with. Ragging is considered a punishable offence in most colleges so if you feel that things are going out of your comfort level, be sure to knock the college office to complain.
