One pretty common worry among high school students is handling the college workload. I remember hearing about ten page papers and wondering how anyone managed to write that much about one topic. If that’s a worry for you as well, read on! It’s all going to be easier than you think–at Wellesley at least!
First of all, it does just kind of click. Everyone tells you this, and I promise you it’s true. When you read the material while keeping in mind that you’re going to need to write a longer paper it definitely changes the way you see it. When you sit down to write, you’ll find yourself coming up with many more things to say. It’s just not as stressful as it sounds!
Second, professors are very available to help. They understand that first years (yes, we call new students ‘first years,’ yes, it’s because freshman has the word ‘man’ in it) don’t really know how big full length academic papers work. They don’t expect you to get it right off the bat, and they’re willing to work with you. When I had one assigned for the first time, I think I visited office hours three times. My professor suggested a new topic, looked over my outline for me, and explained the difference between primary and secondary sources.
Third, the library offers a lot of resources. There’s a book on literally every topic. (Well, not literally, but close.) Wellesley has subscriptions to a lot of databases as well. Occasionally, I’ll find something interesting that has nothing to do with my paper and flag it just to read on my own time. The librarians are always willing to lend a hand with research too.
Fourth, the writing tutors can be really helpful. They’ll look over your paper with you, offer feedback, suggest new angles, or whatever you need. It can be really useful to get a second set of eyes on your work, especially since professors won’t always be able to look over your entire papers or give lots of feedback on rough drafts. Sometimes talking to another student is less intimidating than going to a professor.
Fifth, you’re going to be enrolled in a class that’s specifically designed to help you with this. First year writing seminars are set up to teach new students how writing complex papers works. You can take them on basically any topic, including The Cities of Italy, Science and the Bible, and Vladimir Putin. (Check ’em out!)
Finally, literally none of this actually counts because of good ol’ shadow grading. Wellesley understands that the first semester of college can be a big transition and they want you to take interesting, challenging classes. None of your first semester grades count toward your GPA. You still need to pass to get credit, of course, but other than that–it seriously doesn’t matter. You’ll have a little grace period to get a handle on all this.
I hope that clarifies things a little and makes it a bit less intimidating. Now don’t worry about this stuff and focus on your last few months of high school!