How to get through your freshman year at Valparaiso University: Advice from a VU senior
Making the transition from high school to college is a much bigger jump than most people think. A lot of people believe the main challenge is simply living away from home and no longer having their parents look after them. However, they’re wrong. In this blog, I’m going to give advice on how to get through your freshman year at Valparaiso University.
Confessions of a VU Senior
I’ll have it be known that the hardest part of your freshman year is a personal battle. It’s getting to the point where you finally feel comfortable, when college feels like your home.
The first few weeks of college will either be amazing for you, or it’ll probably make you roll your eyes.
People resort to comfort
Everyone is new to Valparaiso University. You all live in old dorms, and you all are lost and unsure of what to do. What is going to happen is students are going to try to make themselves feel at home. That’s their comfort, and so that’s what people are going to try to strive for.
People are going to try and fit in. Freshman all leave their dorm rooms open to give off a welcoming vibe. They want people to say hello to them. They want people to stop by and try to hang out with them.
Fake it till you make it
And just like that, it’s probably going to work. It may not be your exact dorm room people stop by, but it’ll be someone’s or a few rooms in your hallway where everyone ends up flocking to.
It’s going to appear like everyone is friends with one another, but they are all faking it. By the second semester, you’ll know I was right when smaller groups form and the days of massive gatherings begin to dwindle.
It’ll no longer be so welcoming. The first couple months of school you can basically go wherever you’d like; it’s the norm. But by second semester, if you try the very same tactics, you might get some looks when you enter a new scene such as, “Why are you here?”.
Everything gets better
This is all very frustrating as a freshman at Valparaiso University. Some nights you’ll be alone in the quiet, and then the next room over you’ll hear loud laughing every two minutes. You might even begin to think, “What’s wrong with me?”.
I’m currently a senior at Valparaiso University living at the off-campus Uptown East Apartments, but I’ve been in your shoes too. I’m going to give you some advice on how to get through your freshman year, and make it as enjoyable as possible.
It’s easier said than done
At Valparaiso University, you’ve most certainly heard from parents, faculty, and the like that you need to “get involved” as much as possible. This isn’t bad advice at all. Getting involved will very likely help you in your freshman year. It will likely find you friends, and it’ll likely fill all of that free time you have with something you enjoy.
But the advice is easier said than done. Not everyone just wants to adventure off into the wild on their own. If your new roommate doesn’t want to come with you, going off alone might be your only option.
Be open-minded, seriously
When college first begins, it’s likely that you’ll have several predispositions about various involvements. One common one? Greek life.
My advice, whether you plan on rushing a fraternity or sorority or not, is to go out there and attend the recruitment events they host at the start of your freshman semester at Valparaiso University.
All of the Greek life organizations are there to show off. They are going to set up fun events to try and make you want to join them your following semester when you’re eligible.
It pays off
All of the Greek life members will be exceptionally nice to you when you attend their recruitment events. They do not want a bad reputation, nor do they want to turn you off. Take advantage of this as you will be able to play basketball, dodgeball, attend sporting events, grill out, go paintballing, play board games, etc., all for free.
On top of this, you’ll probably also be exposed to all kinds of free food. At recruitment events it’s common for Valparaiso University fraternities and sororities to have pizza, wings, burgers, desserts, or entire meals complimentary with your attendance.
While obviously having the above perks, if you fit in with a Greek life crowd, you basically just made dozens of friends that will be there for you your entire four years of college. And if you don’t? Just walk away and say thanks for the fun recruitment event.
There’s something there for you
While I’m more familiar with Greek life, Valparaiso University literally has countless clubs and organizations you can get involved with. Many of them will have similar recruiting events to appeal to the new freshman class when the year starts.
There are academic organizations, recreational sporting organizations, service organizations, political organizations, business organizations, and much much more at Valparaiso University. No matter what kind of person you are, there is a group you can get involved with.
Don’t be afraid to go out and experiment, because I can assure you that nobody will give you a hard time, let alone remember you if you decide not to stick with an organization.
Don’t be constricted by where you were placed
As a freshman at Valparaiso University, in dorm life, you’ll often find many people rarely ever leave their starting hallway wing to meet new people. For whatever reason, it’s just common. And indirectly, alliances form.
While this might be super cool for you, there’s also a chance you don’t actually like anyone on your hallway wing enough to actually want to be friends with them.
That can suck, but if you’re sensing those vibes, I heavily encourage you to go to the other side of your floor and try getting involved with the other hallway. If that fails? Go to the floor that’s either above or below you and experiment with them.
This will give you three times the number of options and increase your chances of finding someone you click with drastically.
Having a friend, or friends, makes you feel at home. I strongly encourage you focus on finding a real friend in your dorm that you can begin to hang out with on the regular. Doing so will make everything else your freshman year easier.
Studying is your friend
When classes start, you won’t know anyone either. That is fine, everyone has to deal with the same situation.
I recommend that you try to take advantage of class work to ask some people if they’d want to study with you. This will allow you to socialize more and branch out to new groups of people. You’ll get new phone numbers, and from there, the magic should take care of itself.
Everyone has to eat. Everyone likes to talk
People typically eat two or three meals a day in college. Some people refuse to eat breakfast, and others couldn’t survive their day without it.
At Valparaiso University, people either eat at Founders or “the Café”. These are the two places on campus that every student ends up at daily.
Take advantage of this opportunity to socialize with your newly made friends, as you’ll often branch out further socially when such opportunities arise.
Low Risk, high Reward
And if you still haven’t found a friend or a group to hang out with? It’s not the end of the world. When school first starts, it’s normal for people to be adventurous. Just ask someone who looks like a potential friend, or a group of people you think seem cool, if you can sit with them.
Students at Valparaiso University are exceptionally nice to people they do not know. The chances of rejection are practically zero. If you don’t enjoy your meal with whoever you sat with, try again tomorrow, and if you did, you might have a new friend or several that could become part of your college life.
The weekend spells opportunity
On weekends, people tend to kick back and take a couple of days off to stop worrying about their stress. This is the perfect opportunity to try new things and meet new people. Don’t take weekends as time to be reclusive in your room alone.
Plenty of things happen over the weekend at Valparaiso University. People get together to watch movies, they grab dinner off-campus together, they play video games, laugh together, hang out somewhere in town, and they party.
Parties are a freshman’s best friend
The last option, although possibly intimidating, is a great opportunity for a freshman at Valparaiso University. As a freshman, you can basically get into any Greek life associated party you want because you’re seen as a possible recruit.
As you know, parties are essentially a large informal gathering of college students. Some people are intoxicated, some people are not, but regardless, it’s an amazing place to make potential friends.
It’s very normal to talk openly at parties. Take this time to find out who people really are in an informal situation, and meet new people you’ve never seen in your life.
Friends bring the comfort you need
The key to getting comfortable at Valparaiso University is to find real friends that you genuinely enjoy being around. Humans are social creatures; we enjoy having people we can go to when we want or need them.
My biggest advice to you as a freshman isn’t in telling you how to live your life. My advice is to try and get you comfortable in a place that’s away from home.
Basically, when you have some friends to hang out with, everything will take off from that point on forward, and you can assume your own unique lifestyle that makes you happy.
Matt Jano Janesheski
