Freak-outs, life changes part of college experience

Several years ago in The Pitt News’ annual New Student Guide, a very wise man gave to the… Several years ago in The Pitt News’ annual New Student Guide, a very wise man gave to the incoming students of Pitt some very, very good advice:

“If you play your cards right, just about every year you’ll be able to look back and marvel at how little your life resembles what it once was and what you thought it would be. Do not panic. This is called growing up.”

Former managing editor and current deranged newspaperman Dan Richey printed those words in the summer 2005 New Student Guide.

As I began thinking about what sort of wisdom I could impart upon the fresh young faces entering Pitt, I couldn’t get what Dan said out of my head.

Now listen, I’m not trying to scare you. But I’d be doing you a disservice if I allowed you to believe your college experience will be nothing but rainbows, sunshine and puppies.

Well, maybe it will be, but that would make you the exception, not the rule.

I know that I’ve had at least three or four oh-my-God-what-am-I-doing meltdowns since I started college.

And you probably will too. It’s all part of the process. College is serious stuff – these four years (sometimes it takes six years to get a bachelor’s degree. That’s OK too) will determine what you’re going to do for the rest of your life, and that’s scary.

So if you get through your first semester and you find that you’re really unhappy with the classes you’re taking for your major, take some classes in other subjects the following semester.

I would strongly recommend intro to cultural anthropology with Richard Scaglion. I didn’t have the opportunity to take anthropology in high school, and I wasn’t even 100 percent certain of what the study of anthropology was until I entered college. Now it’s one of my majors.

Trust me, if you switch your major within the first year (or two), it’s totally possible to still graduate in four years.

College is also the time to figure out who you are and what you want to be. I know that’s really cheesy and cliched and that the narcissistic I-can-be-anything-I-want-to-be vibe that college students give off is already a problem, but I mean it: Figure out who you are.

As an example, I entered college as a pharmacy major, and for the first year or two I didn’t have a whole lot of fun. I wasn’t happy with my major or my living situations or how things were going.

So I switched it up. I started at The Pitt News as a copy editor at the end of my freshman year, and now I’m the grand poo-bah, the editor in chief. I changed my major from pharmacy to English writing and anthropology.

I know what you’re thinking. “Good major switch, Tubbs. That’ll be a $75,000 a year pay cut with no health insurance, a 401k or benefits of any kind.”

Which leads me to my next bit of advice.

After you have the inevitable oh-my-God-I-don’t-know-what-I’m-doing freak out, do something.

Here’s why: It doesn’t matter if you end college with a sparkling academic record and a 4.0 to boot. If you don’t gain any practical experience, your skills won’t hold up in the workforce.

There are – and this is an estimate – about a bazillion groups to join on campus. Join one of them. But don’t do it just to put it on your resume. Be active. Run for a leadership position.

Get an internship. It gives you an opportunity to get your foot in the door and impress a company that might be your future employer.

Yes, my English writing and anthropology degree would be sad on its own, but I’m hoping – really, really hoping – that my internship and my experience at The Pitt News will boost my resume enough to make me a valuable asset to the journalism community.

All right, I’m done lecturing about all the things you should do while you’re in college. For now, it’s the summer, and you have your new city to explore. So utilize the tips in this issue, take a walk, check out the city, try a cuisine you’ve never had before.

And after a few years, just remember the words of Mr. Richey: Don’t panic. This is called growing up.

Annie dares you to e-mail her in three years and tell her she was wrong. Or you could thank her for the practical advice at editor@pittnews.com.