First Years’ expectations versus reality

Now well into the first full month of their first semester, First Years are starting to realize some of their experiences completely differ from what they had expected when coming to UVA.

Tiannah Steele

“I wasn’t really expecting to understand what teachers are talking about because I didn’t come from the best high school. I thought I would come to class and it sound like the professors are speaking some other language, but instead I actually understand everything professors are saying and find their classes are pretty easy to comprehend.”

“I was expecting a ‘movie college’ as far as professors being mean and unapproachable but the professors I’ve had so far are actually very approachable and nice.”

Something else that can be a big shock to new students is the demographics of their new school. They may have come from very diverse high schools while some come from schools that have a predominant race, class, etc.

“I wasn’t expecting to see this many black people,” Tiannah said. “I saw that 8% statistic on our website and it honestly made me a little nervous because I wouldn’t have many people of my own race at my school. I thought for sure I’d only see three black people on grounds, but to my pleasant surprise that 8% looks very different when you actually walk Grounds during the school day.”

Jessica Lafaree

“My high school was actually very diverse. I went to an IB school, but white people were actually a minority. My mother is Persian and my father is white and as a result I’ve always had both cultures in my life. Coming to UVA was a complete culture shock for me. I actually felt conflicted to ‘choose sides’ in a way because it’s not very diverse here, and that is something I’ve never had to do before.”

Jessica also said she had been used to small intimate classrooms where teachers knew all the students’ names and classes were discussion-based.

“I’m still adjusting to lecture style and taking notes in a way that is best for me. Also, in high school I had a very structured schedule where everything was planned out through my entire day, but here we are in charge of our lives and have to learn how to manage our time in between classes and so on.”

Michael Boddie

“I expected there to be more work. I have a lot of free time especially on weekends, and I expected there to be more girls in E-school but it seems like they only make up 30%. I was really surprised about that.”

“I was also expecting there to be much more activity on campus during the week but everyone is so busy during the week doing their homework and whatever else that the campus is actually pretty dead until the weekend.”

Caroline Milikin and Brooke Valentine

Roommates Caroline and Brooke were shocked by the size of the school.

Caroline said that she is from Richmond and a lot of people from her high school went to UVA. “I was expecting to see a lot of Richmond people but I didn’t realize how big UVA was. I don’t see them as much as I thought except maybe on my way to class.”

Brooke didn’t take the size of Grounds into accounts when scheduling classes.

“I expected it to be smaller than it is. I live in Gooch and never even thought about how far I would have to walk to classes. New Cabell is about a 30 minute walk!”

“I also expected to find a best friend within a week of coming to school, but we meet so many people you can’t be best friends with all of them. Here there isn’t the security of best friends to count on right when you get to school like there was in high school.”

Kevin Adams

The grandest of all expectations came from Kevin Adams, who had an entirely different view of coming to college.

“I expected people to cheer for me with birds flying everywhere and people to love me, but really I am just another student. At least the lunch ladies here love me.  On a serious note though, walking to classes is hot as hell and there are so many hills everywhere so if your backpack is heavy you’re getting a crazy workout.”