The other day as I jogged around the track at the SERF, I could not help but overhear two young women talking about the reasons they attend UW-Madison. From what little I observed they seemed to be freshmen seriously debating the merits of continuing their educations at UW. After I jogged on away from them, I realized the despondent tone of one of the young women mirrored exactly how I had felt three years earlier.
I had decided to attend UW for a number of reasons: the quality of the education it offered, its relatively cheap price, its proximity to my parents’ home and the high number of people I knew who were coming here.
However, I found adjusting to college life to be quite a challenge. While my high school experience had prepared me well for college classes, I struggled in other areas.
In high school, I had been incredibly involved with the school, but at UW I just could not find my niche. From the onset, I participated in honors events and meetings and even volunteered for student government campaigns, but nothing really seemed to reflect who I was. As a result, I temporarily gave up on becoming an active part of the UW community. And this is the one regret I have about my college experience.
Most of the students who are admitted to UW are far from apathetic, making it all the more unsettling that some simply do not feel a part of the community. Basically, one can get an education and make friends almost anywhere, but what makes UW stand apart from other universities is its diverse and exciting wealth of opportunities for community involvement.
UW offers organizations ranging from a group devoted to belly dancing to the Student Alliance of Veterinarians for the Environment. A student can easily access a myriad of organizations at one time through the Student Organization Office website. However, with so many options available, one can be easily overwhelmed.
At smaller colleges, one does not need to try too hard to find like-minded people or activities of interest, but at larger universities within a thriving city such as Madison, students need to actively approach their education. If they do not, they might face the prospect of becoming disenchanted with the school and might even consider transferring or dropping out.
In “The Fiske Guide to Colleges,” Edward D. Fiske highlights the importance of actively approaching UW, saying, “If there is one common characteristic among the undergraduates, it’s aggressiveness.” Perhaps this description would be more aptly applied to the students who remain at UW, not all who initially attend.
And aggressiveness was one quality which I clearly did not have enough of my freshman year. Another quality I also lacked that contributed to my inability to find organizations of interest was openness. Yet, I do no think I am alone in that deficiency either.
Part of the reason I refused to participate in sorority recruitment my freshman year was the overabundance of negative attitudes my peers expressed toward the Greek system. Now I do not want to suggest that everyone should join the Greek system, but I do firmly believe students should approach the Greek system as well as any other student organization with an open mind.
By the end of my freshman year, I had painfully learned the consequences of not exploring everything UW had to offer. So when my sophomore year began, I decided to take another try at my “freshman” year. I joined a sorority, began writing for The Badger Herald and volunteered at Lapham Elementary School. My aggressiveness that semester has made my college experience.
So for those freshmen, transfer students or anyone else struggling with finding their niche at UW, I urge you to take heart and keep trying to become involved with anything and everything that interests you. Your tenacity and courage will pay off in the end.
It may be relatively easy to receive an education at UW, but it is much more demanding and rewarding to become an active member of this unique community.