Freshman year of college is analogous to retirement since it is a transitional stage of life. Although freshman year of college adds more stress and work to your life, people also gain a sense of freedom compared to living with their parents beforehand. One will learn several new things about themself in college, and new retirees will get to do what they want given the resources, which emphasizes their true passions and goals. People can also choose what communities to be in and begin new hobbies and interests. Students also find friends that stay in their lives even through retirement. These are stages in life that people cannot avoid, so they prepare in several different ways to make the stages better.
Notre Dame Freshman Class of 2014:
- 2,010 students
- 110 international students, and is one of the most diverse classes in the history of ND
- Average student must travel 900 miles to campus
- Top 15 university
- Jobs include: professors, administration, the President of the University, various hall staff positions, St. Liam’s employees
Key Takeaways:
- A new sense of freedom can result in positives and negatives. While freedom allows people to pursue their goals and favorite hobbies, it can also lead to unhealthy habits and a sense of loneliness.
- Entering a new stage of life brings new relationships with a diverse set of people. Getting outside of your comfort zone may be challenging at first, but noticing that change can be a good thing early on makes the experience more pleasant.
- Joining specific communities can bring a purpose to your life and new people that you share interests with.
- Training your mental and physical health will improve your life in the short term and long term, and at the end of the day it is the student’s or new retiree’s responsibility to maintain their health and stay informed about it.
- Utilizing the resources around you, such as professors, career advisors, or various doctors, will help you stay informed on how to live a good life. Transitional stages of life almost always require help from others, and it is important to accept that you should not be alone through them. This holds true even if what the resources are saying something other than what you want to hear.