This semester I was able to open my mind with my school work and create things my other classes would’ve never allowed me to do. I really loved having a blog and being able to put my two-cents out there for the world to see. Something I would’ve improved about my site was the wordiness. I could have better promoted my content on Twitter by finding out when the most people get on and maybe posting to another social media site as well.

The best experience I had with this project was reflecting how much I learned being a first-gen student and how I could help other people. This experience could benefit me in so many ways! Being able to show my future employers a blog account that I have will be so awesome, especially because I will have a job that is mostly writing.

March 23-29 was my most popular week, I had twenty-three views and seventeen visitors. My most popular post of the semester was my “Taking care of your mental health in college“, it got seven views. I think this was my most popular post because mental health in college students is very important. I think that in recent years there has been more light shed on mental health, so it would make sense to why that was my most popular post.

1. Who cares what anyone thinks of you?!!!! Everyone is worried about themselves. Wear what you want, speak up for what you want.
2. You won’t think about those few bad test grades or even that failed class in five years. Try not to beat yourself up too bad.
3. You WILL meet your people. Wait on it.
4. Try not to procrastinate as much as you possibly can. Procrastination can produce so much more stress in the long run
5. Call your mom, she misses you a lot.
6. It’s okay to not know what you want to do, and it’s okay to change your major a few times.
7. REMEMBER, EVERYONE ELSE IS TRYING TO FIGURE IT OUT TOO, YOU’RE NOT ALONE.
8. Mental health is just as important, if not more important, than physical health.
9. Getting involved with clubs or organizations through your school is the best way to meet people who are interested in the same things as you.
10. Soak it all up while you can because I’m only two years in and it really has only felt like one semester. Don’t take anything for granted!

College not only teaches you book intelligence, it also gives you a lot of life lessons. These past two short years I have learned more about myself than I ever have and I am so grateful!!

My expectation of college was basically professors that don’t give a crap about you and a lot of parties. In high school, my teachers constantly preached that “college professors aren’t going to care about you”. Which is pretty much the farthest thing from true, at least in my experience. In my last two years of college I’ve had professors that actually care about their student, unlike most of the high school teachers I’ve had.

The months leading up to moving to SFASU I was pretty scared. I didn’t feel like high school really prepared me for college level work. When I actually started my first semester I was overwhelmed with the amount of workload I had. But the difference is that in my college courses my professors made it known that they are they to help you and they actually want you to learn the material. In high school it was all out busy work and just getting a passing grade so I could move on.

The reality of it all is that:

1. High school teachers only threaten you with the idea of college so that you’ll listen to whatever they’re saying in the moment.
2. Yes, college is hard. But, there’s so many resources that you can utilize if you’re struggling with a class. Like your professors office hours or going to other tutoring opportunities on campus. Bottom line is that, professors in college care if you show them that you care.

I was curious if anyone else felt this way too, so I googled college expectations vs reality, and found another blog post! To check it out click here.

The transition you make going from high school to college is drastic. In high school you can literally coast your way through all four years without studying for any tests. In college, not so much. For me, my biggest struggle was accepting the fact that I HAVE to learn the material to pass the class, and also that you HAVE to study for hours to just make a C on a test. Another thing I struggled with was figuring out how to balance everything. I mean, how am I supposed to get all this work done, eat good meals, have a social life, do extra curricular activities, ect.?

It took me awhile to get the hang of everything and I’m definitely still learning, but there’s a few things I found to be helpful when trying to manage your time.

1. The first thing is to make a list of what you need to do. Put the thing you don’t want do the most at the top.
2. Next thing, do stuff in between your mandatory to-do list. Put in things you actually enjoy. Like reading a chapter out of the book you’re reading, watching an episode of the show you’re watching, check your social media for 30 mins, take a cat nap, ect. That way you don’t get bogged down by a bunch of stuff you don’t want to do.
3. If you plan on hanging out with your friends, let them know about the things you need to get done first. This keeps you accountable for the things you need to get done before going to see them.
4. Make your mental health a priority. If you’re having a bad week and don’t feel like studying, then don’t. Mental health always comes before grades.
5. Do meal preps at the beginning of the week so you don’t have to spend time making something everyday.
6. Use the ‘reminder’ app on your phone and use it as your planner if you’re to lazy to write everything down. This way, you get notifications at certain times throughout the day reminding you what you need to do next.
7. Use sticky notes if you’re more of a person who needs to see something in front of them. Put them on your bathroom mirror or in your car or wherever else.

For more click here 🙂

Before you start your first semester of college you have all these preconceived expectations of what your life is about to look like. Most of the time we’re completely wrong and it could end up being way worse or better than what you thought it would be. In my head I thought it would be partying it up everyday and meeting all my new best friends. Little did I know I was completely wrong. My first year of college I went to Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, the oldest town in Texas.

I think what hit me the hardest was that I was expecting to make all these new friends that would stick by me through the rest of my life, like everyone always says. My best friend and roommate was the only friend I had that whole year, of course there were people I was acquainted with through her because she joined a sorority so she knew a ton of people. Greek life just wasn’t for me and it’s scary putting yourself out there in classes because no one is really there to make friends, and trying to talk during a lecture doesn’t work. I tried joining their newspaper, The Pine Log, but the atmosphere to me was ‘off’ and no one made me feel overly welcome, so it lost my interest.

The work load in college is something you don’t really understand until you’re doing 5+ hours of homework plus studying for a test the next day and it ends in a meltdown. My mental health has always been something that I am self-aware about. But in college it’s so much different because of all the extra stuff on your plate. It’s hard being thrown into the world with all these responsibilities you’re expected to keep up. It’s like you graduate high school, (where you didn’t retain any information because the teachers and the curriculum sucks) and then everyone acts like you’re all of the sudden an adult who knows everything and you’re completely ready for anything college throws. To say the least, my mental health was deteriorating in the atmosphere that I was in. Then, I transferred to Texas State University and my whole world did a 180.

Okay so enough sappy stuff, here are some ways to make sure you maintain your mental health in college:

• Eat three meals a day!! I can’t stress how much my mental health improved when I actually started making time in the morning to make a filling breakfast. I know it’s hard because of how busy you maybe, but I promise starting your day with a full stomach gives you energy to get through your day.
• Make time to do things you really love and that give you a little escape from reality. This could be literally anything. Also remember that just because you don’t have years of practice or skill in one particular hobby doesn’t mean you can’t do it because you simply enjoy it.
• Get good sleep!! I totally understand having to stay up late to study or do homework, but making a bad sleep schedule into a habit isn’t good for your physical and mental health.
• Surround yourself with good people who make you comfortable enough to be your 100% authentic self.
• Try to remember that grades don’t define your worth. Most of the time a couple of low test grades or a few missed assignments aren’t going to wreck your future. Going to your professors office hours help a lot if you’re uncertain about your grade or the material in the class.
• Drink as much water as you can!!!!!!
• Getting exercise is a huge stress reliever.
• Try meditating if you’re feeling overwhelmed to clear your head. When you have a calm and collected brain again, try approaching the situation you’re overwhelmed with in a different way than before.
• Make a list of everything you need to get done in the morning and check it off as you complete them.
• Join a club or organization! Getting involved with something you’re interested in outside of classes will give you the opportunity to meet people who are interested in the same things as you.

These are just some of the ways I personally attempt to take care of my mental health, but there’s more here. I hope this helped!:)

This week I was assigned to review someone else’s blog that is similar to mine. After some research to find a blog dedicated to helping first-gen students, I could only find bloggers who had just written one post about being a first-gen. The one I liked the best was from Rachel Hicks. On October 15, 2019 she made a blog post about how college has changed her and what she wish she would’ve known as a first-gen student.

What I like the most about her post was that she made sure to include a section on not being the only one who doesn’t know what the heck is going on. It’s really easy to feel lost and isolated as an incoming first-gen student because you think everyone around you has it figured out, even when that’s far from the truth. Trying to remember that it’s not you against the world or against your fellow classmates is so hard. You feel like since no one in your family went to college, that you’re somehow inferior to your classmates that have parents and family members who did. Knowing that everyone else is learning with you and everyone is in it together is easy to forget.

What inspires me the most about this blog post is that she lays out all the facts and gets to the point. I want readers to see my posts, how I saw Rachel’s (by googling “best first-gen bloggers”), and immediately feel some type of relief. Whether that be just from seeing that someone out there understands the struggles of being first-gen, or from reading my content out of pure hope of some direction on what their next steps in college should be. Rachel’s post is well written and the visuals on her page are aesthetically pleasing so it makes reading a text-heavy blog posts easier to read. I loved the different sections separated by large headings regarding different things she wished she had known as a first-gen student, as well as how much she was hyperlinking in her text to make it easier for the reader. Overall great blog post and blogger!

Growing up I never thought I would actually end up going to college. Yes it was always something that I wanted to do, but it was just hard to fathom and picture myself really doing it. Neither of my parents went to college and my mom didn’t finish high school, she started working and is now self-employed. So to say the least there was no one in my immediate family to look up to for help with how to get into college, and more importantly how I was going to pay for it. That meant I was going to have to figure out how to do it myself, because my parents didn’t know what what the first step would even be and neither did I. I had help from my high school counselors but they couldn’t help me with every single little question I had because so much of the process had to be done at home. I’ve been there and it’s really intimidating. So, here are some fundamental steps you should follow.

1. The first step to getting into college is registering for SAT/ACT tests. To know which test you need to take, go to the school website you’re looking into and find the requirements they need from you. The SAT registration is on the CollegeBoard website. The ACT registration is on the ACT registration website.
2. Next step is actually apply to schools. (DO THIS AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE, DON’T PUT IT OFF) You should do a little research on the schools you’re looking into to see what the requirements are and how much each semester will cost. When you’ve figured that out there is usually a link from the schools website that says “apply now” or something along those lines. For Texas universities you can use the Apply Texas website to apply to Texas universities. Through this website you can even copy one application and paste it to a different application for another school (remember this only applies to Texas universities). Also, once you get your SAT/ACT scores back make sure you send them to the college you applied for. The faster they get all the requirements they need, the faster you will hear back from them and also the higher your likelihood of acceptance is.
3. Next you need to start thinking about where the money is going to come from. If your parents can afford it by themselves then you can skip this step, but for most people that’s not the case. So, first you need to apply for FAFSA. FAFSA is money provided by the government for people who cannot afford college, but you don’t have to pay any of the money back.
4. Next you need to go to the schools websites that you’re looking into and find the scholarship page, find one that best suits you and fill it out.
5. To find other scholarships all you have to do is google scholarships, there are a huge amount of random scholarships to apply for. (For example, a family friend found a scholarship for people who have lived in DFW their whole life. So, there is definitely a scholarship out there for you.)
6. If worse comes to worst, there are always loans you can take out from your college/university. They are usually good with working with you on a payment plan and whatnot. Just do a little research on your school’s website.
7. Once you hear back from the school all you have to do is follow the steps in the letter they send.

That’s pretty much all you need to know for the application process! Be sure to look out for all my upcoming blog posts on how to survive college!

Hello everyone! My name is Faith Smith, I am a sophomore at Texas State University and I am starting this blog for my Fundamentals of Digital and Online Media course. With this blog I intend to help first-generation college students along with anyone else who is interested in how to “survive” college. Being the first person in your family (or the 10th) to go to college can be overwhelming, so with this blog I hope to guide any in-coming or current college students.

I chose this topic because I am a first-generation college student and while I’m still learning the ropes, I have picked up some helpful tips and tricks that can make this transition in life a lot easier. When I was a senior in high school trying to apply to universities I had no idea what I was doing and neither did my parents. At the time I wish that I had a guide like this to help me figure out what my next moves should be so that I wasn’t as stressed out. With this blog I’m looking forward to exploring new ways to help myself as well as others adapt to college life.

Although college can be a crazy rollercoaster it can also be the best time of your life. I say this because while there is a huge responsibility to carry, at the same time it’s like a little buffer period between still being a kid and being a full-blown adult in the real world. My college experience so far has been the most life changing and enlightening chapter so far, in the best way possible. Moving three hours away from my hometown and being on my own has taught me so much about myself and I couldn’t be more grateful for this opportunity. With that being said, if I can reach at least one person and help them with this transition then I would consider this blog a success!