edtechdev/chatbotfiles · Datasets at Hugging Face

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leadership, professionalism/work ethic, career management, and global/intercultural fluency. There are
few occasions that will provide you the opportunity to develop all of these skills in a low-stakes
environment (i.e., without the fear of being fired!). You will learn all of this and more in your classes. Seems
4 Carnevale, A.P., Smith, N., & Strohl, J. (2013). Recover: Job growth and education requirements through 2020. Georgetown
University's Center on Education and the Workforce. Retrieved from https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/recovery-job-growthand-education-requirements-through-2020/.

11

12

1 • Exploring College

like a great opportunity, doesn’t it? If you find yourself asking the question “What does this course have to
do with my major?” or “Why do I have to take that?” challenge yourself to learn more about the course and
look for connections between the content and your larger educational, career, and life goals.

ANALYSIS QUESTION
In what ways will earning a college degree be valuable to you now and in the future? Be sure to describe
the financial, career, and personal benefits to earning a college degree.

Why This Course?
Now that you have considered why you are in college and why a college degree may be valuable to you, it’s
time to focus on why you are reading this book. Most likely, you are enrolled in a course that is helping you
learn about college and how to make the most of it. You may be asking yourself “Why am I taking this course?”
or even “Why do I have to read this book?” Answers to the first question may vary, depending on your college’s
requirements for first-year students. Nevertheless, you are probably taking this course because your college
believes that it will help you succeed in college and beyond. Likewise, the reason your professor has assigned
this book is because it has been designed to give you the best information about how to make your transition
to college a little smoother. If you are not convinced just yet of the value of this course and its content,
consider the following questions that you will be encouraged to answer as you learn about how to succeed in
college:
• What will college expect of me in terms of skills, habits, and behaviors, and how can I develop them to
ensure that I am successful?
• What do I need to know about how to navigate the process of completing a college degree?
• How can I ensure that I develop worthy long-term goals, and how best can I meet those goals?
These questions are designed to assist you in the transition from high school, or the workforce, to the new
world of college. And this won’t be the last monumental transition that you will experience. For example, you
will experience a new job more than once in your life, and you may experience the excitement and challenge of
moving to a new house or a new city. You can be assured that transitions will require that you identify what
you need to get through them and that you will experience some discomfort along the way. It wouldn’t be
such a great accomplishment without a little uncertainty, doubt, and self-questioning. To help you, the next
section speaks specifically to transitions for the purpose of making your next steps a little smoother.

1.2 The First Year of College Will Be an Experience
Estimated completion time: 14 minutes.
Questions to consider:
• How will you adjust to college?
• What are the common college experiences you will have?

5 National Association of Colleges and Employers. (2019). Career readiness defined. Retrieved from https://www.naceweb.org/
career-readiness/competencies/career-readiness-defined/.

Access for free at openstax.org

1.2 • The First Year of College Will Be an Experience

Adjustments to College Are Inevitable
College not only will expand your mind, but it may also make you a little uncomfortable, challenge your
identity, and at times, make you doubt your abilities. It is hard to truly learn anything without getting messy.
This is what education does: it transforms us. For that to happen, however, means that we will need to be open
to the transformation and allow the changes to occur. Flexibility, transition, and change are all words that
6
describe what you will experience. Laurie Hazard and Stephanie Carter (2018) use the word adjustment.
Hazard and Carter (2018) believe there are six adjustment areas that first-year college students experience:
academic, cultural, emotional, financial, intellectual, and social. Of course, you won’t go through these
adjustments all at once or even in just the first year. Some will take time, while others may not even feel like
much of a transition. Let’s look at them in brief as a way of preparing for the road ahead:
• Academic adjustment. No surprises here. You will most likely—depending on your own academic
background—be faced with the increased demands of learning in college. This could mean that you need
to spend more time learning to learn and using those strategies to master the material.
• Cultural adjustment. You also will most likely experience a cultural adjustment just by being in college
because most campuses have their own language (syllabus, registrar, and office hours, for example) and
customs. You may also experience a cultural adjustment because of the diversity that you will encounter.
Most likely, the people on your college campus will be different than the people at your high school—or at
your workplace.
• Emotional adjustment. Remember the range of emotions presented at the beginning of the chapter?
Those will likely be present in some form throughout your first weeks in college and at stressful times
during the semester. Knowing that you may have good days and bad—and that you can bounce back from
the more stressful days—will help you find healthy ways of adjusting emotionally.
• Financial adjustment. Most students understand the investment they are making in their future by going
to college. Even if you have all your expenses covered, there is still an adjustment to a new way of thinking
about what college costs and how to pay for it. You may find that you think twice about spending money
on entertainment or that you have improved your skills in finding discounted textbooks.
• Intellectual adjustment. Experiencing an intellectual “a-ha!” moment is one of the most rewarding parts
of college, right up there with moving across the graduation stage with a degree in hand. Prepare to be
surprised when you stumble across a fascinating subject or find that a class discussion changes your life.
At the very least, through your academic work, you will learn to think differently about the world around
you and your place in it.
• Social adjustment. A new place often equals new people. But in college, those new relationships can have
even more meaning. Getting to know professors not only can help you learn more in your classes, but it
can also help you figure out what career pathway you want to take and how to get desired internships and
jobs. Learning to reduce conflicts during group work or when living with others helps build essential
workplace and life skills.
The table Six Areas of Adjustment for First-Year College Students provides a succinct definition for each of the
areas as well as examples of how you can demonstrate that you have adjusted. Think about what you have
done so far to navigate these transitions in addition to other things you can do to make your college
experience a successful one.

6 Hazard, L., & Carter, S. (2018). A framework for helping families understand the college transition. E-Source for College Transitions,
16(1), 13-15.

leadership, professionalism/work ethic, career management, and global/intercultural fluency. There are

few occasions that will provide you the opportunity to develop all of these skills in a low-stakes

environment (i.e., without the fear of being fired!). You will learn all of this and more in your classes. Seems

4 Carnevale, A.P., Smith, N., & Strohl, J. (2013). Recover: Job growth and education requirements through 2020. Georgetown

University's Center on Education and the Workforce. Retrieved from https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/recovery-job-growthand-education-requirements-through-2020/.

11

12

1 • Exploring College

like a great opportunity, doesn’t it? If you find yourself asking the question “What does this course have to

do with my major?” or “Why do I have to take that?” challenge yourself to learn more about the course and

look for connections between the content and your larger educational, career, and life goals.

ANALYSIS QUESTION

In what ways will earning a college degree be valuable to you now and in the future? Be sure to describe

the financial, career, and personal benefits to earning a college degree.

Why This Course?

Now that you have considered why you are in college and why a college degree may be valuable to you, it’s

time to focus on why you are reading this book. Most likely, you are enrolled in a course that is helping you

learn about college and how to make the most of it. You may be asking yourself “Why am I taking this course?”

or even “Why do I have to read this book?” Answers to the first question may vary, depending on your college’s

requirements for first-year students. Nevertheless, you are probably taking this course because your college

believes that it will help you succeed in college and beyond. Likewise, the reason your professor has assigned

this book is because it has been designed to give you the best information about how to make your transition

to college a little smoother. If you are not convinced just yet of the value of this course and its content,

consider the following questions that you will be encouraged to answer as you learn about how to succeed in

college:

• What will college expect of me in terms of skills, habits, and behaviors, and how can I develop them to

ensure that I am successful?

• What do I need to know about how to navigate the process of completing a college degree?

• How can I ensure that I develop worthy long-term goals, and how best can I meet those goals?

These questions are designed to assist you in the transition from high school, or the workforce, to the new

world of college. And this won’t be the last monumental transition that you will experience. For example, you

will experience a new job more than once in your life, and you may experience the excitement and challenge of

moving to a new house or a new city. You can be assured that transitions will require that you identify what

you need to get through them and that you will experience some discomfort along the way. It wouldn’t be

such a great accomplishment without a little uncertainty, doubt, and self-questioning. To help you, the next

section speaks specifically to transitions for the purpose of making your next steps a little smoother.

1.2 The First Year of College Will Be an Experience

Estimated completion time: 14 minutes.

Questions to consider:

• How will you adjust to college?

• What are the common college experiences you will have?

5 National Association of Colleges and Employers. (2019). Career readiness defined. Retrieved from https://www.naceweb.org/

career-readiness/competencies/career-readiness-defined/.

Access for free at openstax.org

1.2 • The First Year of College Will Be an Experience

Adjustments to College Are Inevitable

College not only will expand your mind, but it may also make you a little uncomfortable, challenge your

identity, and at times, make you doubt your abilities. It is hard to truly learn anything without getting messy.

This is what education does: it transforms us. For that to happen, however, means that we will need to be open

to the transformation and allow the changes to occur. Flexibility, transition, and change are all words that

6

describe what you will experience. Laurie Hazard and Stephanie Carter (2018) use the word adjustment.

Hazard and Carter (2018) believe there are six adjustment areas that first-year college students experience:

academic, cultural, emotional, financial, intellectual, and social. Of course, you won’t go through these

adjustments all at once or even in just the first year. Some will take time, while others may not even feel like

much of a transition. Let’s look at them in brief as a way of preparing for the road ahead:

• Academic adjustment. No surprises here. You will most likely—depending on your own academic

background—be faced with the increased demands of learning in college. This could mean that you need

to spend more time learning to learn and using those strategies to master the material.

• Cultural adjustment. You also will most likely experience a cultural adjustment just by being in college

because most campuses have their own language (syllabus, registrar, and office hours, for example) and

customs. You may also experience a cultural adjustment because of the diversity that you will encounter.

Most likely, the people on your college campus will be different than the people at your high school—or at

your workplace.

• Emotional adjustment. Remember the range of emotions presented at the beginning of the chapter?

Those will likely be present in some form throughout your first weeks in college and at stressful times

during the semester. Knowing that you may have good days and bad—and that you can bounce back from

the more stressful days—will help you find healthy ways of adjusting emotionally.

• Financial adjustment. Most students understand the investment they are making in their future by going

to college. Even if you have all your expenses covered, there is still an adjustment to a new way of thinking

about what college costs and how to pay for it. You may find that you think twice about spending money

on entertainment or that you have improved your skills in finding discounted textbooks.

• Intellectual adjustment. Experiencing an intellectual “a-ha!” moment is one of the most rewarding parts

of college, right up there with moving across the graduation stage with a degree in hand. Prepare to be

surprised when you stumble across a fascinating subject or find that a class discussion changes your life.

At the very least, through your academic work, you will learn to think differently about the world around

you and your place in it.

• Social adjustment. A new place often equals new people. But in college, those new relationships can have

even more meaning. Getting to know professors not only can help you learn more in your classes, but it

can also help you figure out what career pathway you want to take and how to get desired internships and

jobs. Learning to reduce conflicts during group work or when living with others helps build essential

workplace and life skills.

The table Six Areas of Adjustment for First-Year College Students provides a succinct definition for each of the

areas as well as examples of how you can demonstrate that you have adjusted. Think about what you have

done so far to navigate these transitions in addition to other things you can do to make your college

experience a successful one.

6 Hazard, L., & Carter, S. (2018). A framework for helping families understand the college transition. E-Source for College Transitions,

16(1), 13-15.