College Veterans Share Experiences

The College and Career Center hosted a panel of recent graduates who offered advice about college life to current juniors and seniors during Academy period on January 5.

College counselor Joan Batcheller asked the alumni to share what they found hardest about the college transition, as well as their best experience. Some panelists noted the contrast between high school life with lots of friends and the isolation of college and the challenges of making new friends.  Others discussed the need to be self reliant, including the need to take on domestic choirs like laundry, shopping and cooking for one’s self.

Senior Emily Rasmussen said it was helpful to hear from the alumni because she worries about not making friends in college.

“It’s really reassuring knowing you’re probably not going to find your best friend in the first year and that most people don’t anyways,” added senior Emma Wiley.

Alumni also discussed the higher academic expectations of the college experience.

Nikki Ahazie, who graduated from Campolindo in 2016, shared her difficulties at the University of Southern California (USC). She thought it was her dream school, but while attending she realized that it wasn’t all that she thought it would be. “I came in with really high expectations so when it didn’t meet all of them in my first year I was pretty upset about it,” said Ahazie. “I struggled a lot with people because everyone tells you that college is going to be the best 4 years of your life.”

Ahazie now works with a group on her college campus that help new students with the transition; in speaking to students at USC and at Campolindo, she focuses on the reality of collegiate disappointment. “It’s important for people to know that it’s okay not to be okay,” she explained.