LYNX LIFE LIBRARY

Back when I was a first-year student in college in 2010 (I know, I know, it has been a minute), I chose to go out of state and attend a university where I knew no one. In fact, I had never visited the university prior to committing—the first time I stepped onto campus was the day I moved into my first-year residence hall. 

Fast-forward 15 years and three degrees later, I still remember one key moment in my first year that pushed my college experience into one of the most exciting, positive, and critical developmental points of my life. Picture this: it was a sunny day, tons of students around campus, and I had two hours of free time between my orientation activity and my residence hall safety meeting. I remember sitting on the grass outside my residence hall, staring at my silent cell phone, and realizing for the first time that I was truly alone. I had no one to call to come hang out with me, and I knew no one to go to on campus. In that moment, I felt the most incredible wave of loneliness, homesickness, and isolation. I also realized I HATED that feeling! I vowed at that point that I would never feel that way again while I was in college and was determined to go out and experience as many things as I could so I could begin to find my place at my school.

That night, the women who lived across from me popped their heads into my open dorm room door (I always propped my door open, hoping people would stop by and say hi), and they asked if I’d like to go with them to an ice cream social that night. I didn’t know any of these women and didn’t know what the ice cream social was about, but I decided to commit to my goal of going out and experiencing new things, so I said yes.

It was at that ice cream social that a guy recognized a woman in that group and came over to talk to her. She introduced us, and now 15 years later, that guy has been my husband for over seven years. And that ice cream social? Two years after I attended as a new student, I was hosting it as the student leader in charge of the event for the university. 

All this to say, it’s very normal to feel lost, a bit lonely, and nervous when you first arrive at your university. However, by committing to trying new things, meeting new people, and going to events, you can quickly turn your experience into one that you look back on fondly years and years later (like me!). If you still want to make sure you don’t have an amazing, transformative experience like I did, here are some tips to have a terrible college experience: 

1. Go to class and go home
   • By just attending your classes and then immediately dashing back to your car to go home or running to your dorm to close your door, you can guarantee you won’t meet any new people. However, if you take a look at the MyLynx calendar in between classes and attend some free events, or if you go back to your dorm room and decide to strike up a conversation with the folks who live across the hall from you or who are hanging out in the lounge, you are guaranteed to be introduced to new people or engage in new events and opportunities across campus. Of course, if you don’t want to meet new people, make new friends, or grow in your own leadership, connections, and networks, definitely make sure you leave campus or go to your residence hall room as soon as class ends. 
2. Don’t go to events 
   • By not going to events, you can guarantee you won’t be able to access all the resources, opportunities, and support at the university. Decades of first-year experience research shows that students who are engaged in at least one organization or activity (like undergraduate research) are more likely to retain at their university and graduate, but if you aren’t interested in doing that, skip all the amazing events we offer. 
3. Don’t go to office hours
   • Not going to office hours for your faculty guarantees you won’t get to know them. This keeps you from getting support in your classes and possibly future recommendations to graduate school, law school, medical school, and more. In fact, some of our faculty might even be able to connect you to on-campus and off-campus opportunities, like research opportunities, internships, and more, so definitely don’t go to their office hours if you don’t want access to all that support. 
4. Don’t ask for help
   • The University of Colorado Denver has amazing faculty, staff, and peer mentors here to support you as you make your way through your degree program. We can help you find organizations to join, get prepared for job interviews or internship searches, find ways to study abroad, or even find a job on campus. Our dedicated teams across the Learning Resources Center, LynxConnect, and our amazing academic advising units are here to support you in all types of ways, and they certainly have some amazing student success stories to share with you too! Of course, if this sounds like something you’re not interested in, avoid going into any of our offices and asking about what we can do for you as a CU Denver student.
5. Don’t pay attention in class
   • College is one of the few places where you get the freedom to explore various new areas of study and research, whether it’s in your major-specific courses, your core classes, or your electives. Your faculty will expose you to new ways of thinking, reading, writing, and exploring new information and research throughout your time at the university. However, you can avoid this by putting your headphones in, skipping class, or working on other class assignments during your lecture times. Learning new information is difficult, and sometimes things don’t come naturally to you when you take new classes on topics you’ve never learned about, so instead of asking questions in class or engaging in your coursework and readings, be sure to avoid all of it. This will ensure you don’t learn anything new while you are here!

Obviously, this advice is terrible, and we don’t want you to have a terrible time while you are in college. If you read my story at the beginning of this article and are thinking that you want to avoid those same feelings that I felt as a first-year student, then I want you to lean in and engage with your university. Do the opposite of what I’ve told you to do—go to events, talk to new people, ask for support, attend office hours, and make sure you are engaged and present in your classes. That way, you can one day look back on your experience at CU Denver and remember all the moments you tried something new, talked to someone new, and did something new that helped you get to that graduation stage. 

Not sure how to get started? Reach out to us at the First-Year Experience office by emailing us at [email protected] or stopping by Suite 2206 in the Learning Commons building (right above Einstein’s!). We would love to see you in person and help you find your sense of belonging here at CU Denver!