Welcome Class of 2017!

Hello readers :),

Now, hopefully all of these first-years are not reading a blog, but rather out and enjoying activities. Regardless, I thought it might be useful to introduce myself again (beginning of the year and all :)), and share some things I wish I had known as a first-year, in the hopes that some of it will be applicable to your future adventures :).

Introductions! My name is Monica Gates, and I’m a rising junior from Edina, Minnesota. I didn’t expect to come to Wellesley, but fell in love during Spring Open Campus and have treasured it ever since. On campus, I’m an avid athlete; I’ve been a member of Wellesley’s varsity swim team for two years, and participated in Wellesley’s track and field team my first year. I’ve fallen into science (I’ve been accused of living in the Science Center ;P) and am a proud neuroscience major. I do neuroscience research on campus with Professor Bevil Conway, and plan to be a neuroscience professor in the future. This is going to be my third year blogging, and I am so pleased to be able to continue to write about my experiences at Wellesley, as I move into the second half of my college years. (And how astonishing that last phrase is :)).

The one mantra that has helped me most, from the beginning of college until now, is this: college is the best time of your life. It doesn’t always feel that way, when you’re adjusting to a new environment, with new friends and new food and new academics, but it is true, and just by focusing on the great new opportunities coming your way, you can make it more true, and more relevant, every day. Adjusting to college is hard, just because everything is changing, and you have to step out of the existence you made somewhere else. But everyone is adjusting, and it gets easier and easier, until where you came from is simply that, and Wellesley is where you identify as home :).

Things I wish I had known as a first-year:

1. Calm down :). Yes, there are tons of people to meet, and yes, there are a gazillion activities you want to try, and there are so many classes, and so many things to learn, and AHHHH I’m going to fail and no one’s going to like me and—. Yup. There’s lots to do. But everyone’s here to help you, and time will take care of almost everything. You’ll figure out what activities you want to stick with. You’ll make friends in those activities. You’ll find your place, and you’ll learn more about yourself, and it will work out vastly different than you planned, but wonderful all the same :).

2. It’s not going to go as planned. I’m one of those people who updates her four-year plan every semester, sometimes several times a semester. But I never could have imagined working at Harvard Medical School this summer, due to my Wellesley research professor having a lab there. I didn’t know I would be such a science nerd. I didn’t imagine that I’d work at the Admissions Office, and I didn’t know my major from the outset either. Everything changes, so love when it changes, and reach out for the opportunities that present themselves to you. This is probably the greatest lesson that I’ve taken from Wellesley, and I’m only halfway through :).

3. Find yourself a community. Wellesley is a great community, but even the most extroverted of us all can’t take on making 2600 new friends in a year :). So find yourself a community in Wellesley, and get to know the people in that group, since those are the friends who are going to stay with you. My family was the swim team, and I cannot imagine having gone through first year without them. My fellow first-years were ready friends, the upperclasswomen provided so much advice, and the team was a group of people who I knew would always be there for me, every day, two hours a day.

Swimming was something I had done in high school, but your activity doesn’t need to be something you’re already familiar with. Try something new—there are so many cool groups of people on campus who are doing things I’d never been able to do at my high school. Try things out, and once you’ve decided you like something, stick with it. Depth goes further than breadth, and you can always join something else later.

4. Ask for help. There are so many people on campus to reach out for (many of which I don’t even have time to mention!), adults and peers alike. I’ve always loved adults, so I readily reach out to a group of them when I’m academically confused—which I am quite frequently. For example, once I get on campus I need to talk to my class dean, my major advisor, my research advisor, the head of the neuroscience department, one previous professor, one potential professor, and two professors who have been helping me out this summer by email—ultimately within the first week, because I’m unexpectedly changing my schedule around (see Bullet #3) for this upcoming semester. I have all of their names in a neat list on my agenda, and this is not the first time I’ve called on them. And that’s only academic advising.

Asking for help is even more important in academics in general. TALK TO YOUR PROFESSORS. (Promise they aren’t scary. Wellesley is a teaching institution—especially for science professors, if they were interested in earning more money, having more prestige, and doing more research, they would be at research universities. They are at Wellesley so they can interact with students, because that is what they love.) TALK TO YOUR ACADEMIC PEER SUPPORT GROUPS. (I imagine the first year are already getting into Wellesley’s alphabet soup, so I’ll name of these support groups for you—SIs (Supplemental Instructors), APTs (Academic Peer Tutors), the tutors at the PLTC, peers who are in your class, Math Help Room, Physics Help Room, etc.) Form study groups, if they are helpful (they aren’t for me, but I’ve heard many good things.) The key point is that these people are here to help you, and first year is when you’ll most need help. So grab a friend if you need the support, and go ask for help :).

And finally, don’t be afraid to ask for general help from the upperclasswomen :). You’ve got an FYM (First-Year Advisor), who is an upperclasswoman who went through a competitive internal application process just for the right to be able to come to campus early and help you out with adjusting to campus. They want to be here. They want to help you. Often, so do the upperclasswomen who live down your hall, and who are in your activities, and even, if you ask nicely, those who are wandering around campus. When I was a first year, I didn’t know a lot of people, so I ended up eating meals with upperclasswomen who were also sitting alone. We often had very nice conversations, even if I didn’t see them again, and I got a lot of advice from different types of Wellesley students. It never hurts to ask.

5. You’re not going to get all As. Think about it: a good proportion of the people who come to Wellesley have 4.0s. These are the people you are competing with in campus for 4.0s. It’s not going to happen, so just accept it and don’t stress :). Do your best, ask for help, and you’ll be fine :).

6. And finally, most importantly, have fun. College is the best time of your life. You’re going to make connections with people you never could have dreamed of in high school, you’re going to feel understood by your friends in a way that you only knew from your family, you’re going to have opportunities you never could have imagined, you’re going to figure out the direction you want to go in your life (though hopefully not the specifics ;)), you’re going to know yourself as a person and as an adult, you’re going to work hard and learn something interesting every day, and you’re going to thank how fabulously lucky you are to be going to an institution like Wellesley, surrounded by smart and fascinating women, with your whole purpose to work hard and enjoy yourself.

It’s a good life, and I welcome you onto campus, Class of 2017. Wear that green with pride, questions make my day, and I hope to talk to some of you on campus next week!

Enjoy Orientation!

Monica