Advice for Freshman Students

College is a new experience for many and being a freshman student at Cal State La can be nerve recking. As a freshman you aren't aware of all the resources you have and you aren't aware of all the struggles that you will be facing as a college student. At first, as I was going into my first year of college, it made me excited but the excitement lasted very little. I was overwhelmed about choosing my classes and I was over thinking about my major since pre-nursing is very competitive. When classes began I was stressed by all the work given to me and I would stress out because I didn't know how to keep up with everything. Because of this, college students begin to experience mental health issues in college and many don't know how to cope with the issues or who to ask for help. As a college student I have my own responsibilities, such as paying bills and helping out my mother, which is why I work and do school at the same time. School is my number one priority but I have to work as well so that my mother won't have so much stress on her regarding the bills, and other expenses. When I began college I began to work and I thought it was going to be easy but I was wrong. It is difficult to handle two things at once when you're constantly being stressed over school work. My advice for incoming freshman students would be to speak to their advisor when they need help whether its about classes, or advice on how to manage your time. During my first semester I would get out early from school but I would then work shifts from 6pm-12a.m and then I would still get home and do homework which lead to me feeling overwhelmed, I even cried a couple times because of how stressed I began to get. My advisor suggested for me to explore the resources on campus and to get a group of friends who I can work with after my classes in order to get most of my homework done early so that I can reduce my stress since I would stay up late multiple days. Cal State LA offers many clubs, as well as many resources for students and I would advice freshman students to explore around campus to find things that interests them and things to help them get through college because college is a new transition and it involves struggles as well as stress, but you can always minimize both by seeking advice and help from professors, students, and advisors.