Freshmen Timeline. We offer this Freshmen Timeline so that you might see what many students experience at various stages of the semester.

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Marilyn Johns
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1 Freshmen Timeline This timeline was compiled by the Dean of Students Office at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire to outline the perspectives of first-year students, their parents, and faculty throughout the first semester of college. Though some events mentioned are specific to UW-Eau Claire, the overall experiences and issues that these groups face are quite common. We offer this Freshmen Timeline so that you might see what many students experience at various stages of the semester. Week 1 ~ Saying goodbye to parents, siblings, friends, pets ~ Enthusiasm ~ CUBE Fest (Creating the Ultimate Blugold Experience Traditional Welcome Week) ~ All new faces ~ Getting used to and along with roommates ~ Learning to live with someone s habits, his/her friends and relationships, his/her tastes and preferences ~ Getting lost ~ Fear of the unknown ( Can I be successful personally and academically? ) ~ Homesickness and letting go ~ Long distance boyfriends/girlfriends ~ Discovering house parties ~ Saying goodbye to student ~ Dependent/independent behavior by student ~ Excitement for their son/daughter ~ Hopes that the experiences of the student will be good ones ~ Feeling concerned because the reality of student leaving really hits ~ Feeling sad about the separation ~ Fear of the unknown ~ Struggling to keep the perspective that this is just one more milestone among many, not an end in itself ~ Looking forward to teaching again ~ Looking forward to new students ~ Updating course syllabi and course content ~ Receiving class lists ~ Placing material on reserve in the library ~ Excitement about the quality of students this fall 59

2 Week 2 3 ~ CUBE Fest is over What do I do now? ~ Do I join a fraternity or sorority or other student organization? ~ Following the crowd for weekend activities ~ Experimenting with alcohol ~ Homesickness continues ~ Adjusting to lectures ~ Finding a place to hang out while down the hill during the day ~ Waiting for the mail ~ Care packages from home ~ Time management study or have fun? ~ Doing my own laundry or finding a way to get Mom to still do it ~ Being sick alone for the first time no one to take my temperature or make soup for me! ~ Figuring out health services ~ Homesickness!!! ~ Test preparation and finding a systematic way of studying ~ Not hearing from friends from home ~ Remembering why I m here ~ Wondering Do my parents love me even though they re not taking care of me anymore? ~ Re-evaluation of parent/student relationship ~ Show interest in what is going on at school ~ Reality of the student s departure is confirmed by new quiet in the house ~ Availability of the phone increases tenfold ~ The family car is in the garage ~ Parents struggle with when, how, and how often to contact their student ~ Concern about student being sick ~ One parent wants to go to Eau Claire to take care of the student, the other one suggests that the child take advantage of the health service ~ Beginning to identify students personally ~ Pace and intensity of faculty/student interaction picks up ~ Begins to spend more time answering questions about course requirements ~ Reminded by behavior and responses that they are dealing with new students who are making the adjustment from high school to college for the first time 60

3 Week Student Perspective Parent Perspective Faculty Perspective through 8 ~ Exam #1 ~ Feeling overwhelmed ~ First reality check on level of academic performance ~ New boyfriend/girlfriend ~ Roommate problems because the initial politeness wears off ~ Getting used to fire drills ~ Computer problems ~ Exposure to ~ By now, first visit home has occurred My parents treated me like a kid ~ Concern that professors don t know my name ~ Now see the need for time management related to sleep, work, social activities and sports ~ I don t understand I got A s and B s in High School! ~ Seemingly unsympathetic professors ~ Some feelings of discouragement ~ Papers are due ~ Group projects are assigned ~ Friendships have been established and will continue to change ~ Learning the campus culture ~ Deliberate experiments with personal identity ~ Parents are analyzing first visit home and beginning to recognize, if not understand, the changes that are occurring ~ Mails relevant clippings from local newspaper, such as high school football stories ~ Request for more money to meet special needs ~ Siblings want to visit dorms to see how student lives ~ Adapting to student being gone ~ Wonders if student is studying hard enough ~ Would appreciate a real letter from the student ~ Would like to lecture the English professor who gave Sue a D ~ Parents are comparing reports of progress with other parents of college freshmen ~ Other people give very positive spin on their student s progress (no one wants to admit their student is having trouble adjusting) ~ Thoughts about planning a visit for parent s weekend ~ I really wish we knew how John was doing academically ~ Students are asking for some form of evaluation; instructors are saying grades are not that important this early in the semester just stay with the learning process ~ Develops first impressions of students individual and group capabilities ~ Tries to control response to student who was not in class and asked if he missed anything important ~ Outline mid-semester expectations such as assignments or tests ~ Hands back first major paper/test results ~ Prepares for complaints and appeals ~ Administers first aid to the academically wounded ~ Starts to force more integration in the learning process, including writing style and content ~ Expectations are more clearly articulated, such as spelling and grammar, scope and rigor of work expected 61

4 Week 9 10 through ~ Mid-semester goals ~ Second reality check as more work is evaluated and returned ~ Maybe I need to rethink my major ~ Frustration that my instructor knows my face, but STILL doesn t know my name ~ Planning for Spring Semester registration with advisor ~ I need to take some time for myself ~ Busy with academics ~ Thanksgiving break time to touch base with high school friends ~ Many of my friends are already looking for off-campus housing ~ Frustration about class selection for second semester since new students register after upper-class students ~ Excited to see friends again at Thanksgiving ~ Crunch time begins ~ Pressure from home regarding grades ~ Students realize they have changed and high school now seems in the past ~ Learn of new boyfriend/girlfriend and are very interested in what kind of relationship their son/daughter is involved in What religion? ~ Is my son/daughter making ethical and moral decisions ~ Student spending too much money, the summer savings is running out ~ Student wants to go skiing over winter break ~ Student needs car repairs ~ Student needs money for cultural and social events ~ I wonder if my child needs me for anything besides money. Other people have become so important in their lives. ~ Hopes social life isn t out of control ~ Does he/she party too much? ~ I want my student to stay in the dorms another year, but she really wants out. ~ Must he have a car? ~ Enthusiasm over meeting new students has tempered substantially by the challenges students present ~ Why didn t they learn this in high school? ~ Recognize only a week and a half left of class and a lot of material left to cover ~ Negotiation with students to alter syllabi ~ Advisors help with schedules for second semester ~ First time to breathe easy since start of semester (Thanksgiving) ~ Time to get un-graded papers back ~ Make sure essential material in course covered 62

5 Week Winter Break ~ Everything is due ~ All-nighters are pulled ~ Dead hours (24-hour quiet hours) begin in the residence halls ~ Even the library isn t quiet ~ First serious love relationship crashes ~ Finals week ~ Packing to go home ~ Holiday stress ~ No money for gifts ~ Final semester grades sent home ~ Adjusting to living at home ~ Changing relationships with family members ~ Seeing how friends from home have changed ~ Missing school friends ~ Long distance relationships and introductions to family ~ Relaxation ~ Working in hometown ~ Anticipation of going back to a place where the student now feels familiar ~ Stressed out student calls home ~ Parents wonder how to deal with student s love relationship ending ~ Parent tries to express love and support ~ Great time for big care package ~ Early holiday present/gift certificate to restaurant ~ Student being home is not like it used to be ~ It s different we just got used to living this way. ~ I don t believe it! He wants to major in Philosophy. ~ Preparation for finals ~ Conferences with individual students ~ Reminder that students should have read the syllabus ~ Giving finals ~ Grading finals ~ Finishing up semester ~ Preparation for the upcoming semester ~ Catch up on reading, writing, and/or researching ~ Write grants ~ Travel to conferences Freshmen Timeline was compiled by Robert Shaw, Dean of Students Office University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire In collaboration with students January Boten, Matt Ludt, and Kristin Kleinsteiber Appearing in the Instructor s Manual for Higher Learning: Reading and Writing About College Eds. Patti See and Bruce Taylor Prentice Hall,

04.2015 07.2015. I agree to the publication of my personal report on the website of the International Office of Pädagogische Hochschule Freiburg.

04.2015 07.2015. I agree to the publication of my personal report on the website of the International Office of Pädagogische Hochschule Freiburg. PERSONAL REPORT for incoming exchange students Cover Sheet Please save your personal report as a PDF-file and send it to Mrs. Angelika Vogelmann. Note that the file size should not exceed 4 MB and must