Fall is finally here, bringing college students midway through their semesters. As the leaves change from a lively green to a long-lived red, and as the weather chills down to sweater season, first-year students are forming their own opinions on their college experience at Oakland University thus far.
Anahid Gurdjian is a new OU student majoring in graphic design. She has been exploring OU for the past few weeks and explains what she thinks about it so far.
“OU is pretty good,” Gurdjian said. “I like walking around campus, and I went to the Rec Center for the first time today. It was nice, and I really like the gym. I was also happy that OU had free parking. That surprised me because at Grand Valley [State University], it was much more expensive, so I was happily surprised.”
When it comes to students transitioning from high school to college, the workload for classes can be quite jarring. Gurdjian explains her recent experience with this change.
“It’s a little different than I expected, but it’s going good,” Gurdjian said. “At first, the workload was a little stressful. It was a big change, but now I’m kind of getting a grasp on it.”
As new students roll into campus life, many are unfamiliar with living on campus. Naim Stevens, a theater design and technology major at OU, explains his experience in the residential spaces on campus.
“Originally, I had no roommate,” Stevens said. “One day before the housing reassignment closed, I got a roommate. At first, I was a little bit devastated because I didn’t want a roommate, but he’s a really cool guy. I really enjoy rooming with him and talking to him. I’m also very cool with all my suitemates as well.”
While many people have an idea of what college life is like before they get there, their views can drastically change once they step into this new chapter of their lives. Stevens explains his previous expectations about college and how they have since changed.
“I didn’t find the weight in college,” Stevens said. “In fact, that kind of drove me to not wanting to go, so I guess my understanding beforehand was that there was no real point. I started to gain this idea that being here is a perfect middle ground between adulthood and just getting out of high school, so I decided to take this step so I can be much more prepared.”
Kyla Gan, a student majoring in psychology, explains how the college experience was also different from what she expected.
“I really thought I would be out more, and I wish I had more financial stability,” Gan said. “I definitely wish I could juggle having a college life and a job. I also thought there would be better food choices in the cafeteria.”
Gan explains some aspects of OU she would change.
“I feel like it should be easier for the students to get to class in bad weather,” Gan said. “Nobody wants to walk in a blizzard or a terrible storm. Another thing I don’t like is how everything is closed on the weekends. If they aren’t going to keep things open late, at least let them be open on the weekends.”
