Interview with a First Year at the Tail End of Their First Year

For my final blog I decided it would be best to interview a current first year student.  The student that I decided to interview is named Gabby and she is first year student living in the Livingston towers.  She is from a town roughly 20 minutes away so she had frequented the Rutgers community long before enrolling.  One thing she made clear in her interview is that although she had visited Rutgers multiple times in high school actually going here is a completely different experience, one that she was not completely ready for.

Paige: Tell me about your experience with New Student Orientation?

Gabby: I thought orientation was pretty cool overall.  I remember it being really hot and it really took me awhile to get into it but by the end of it I was honestly really happy that I went.

Paige: Do you think going to orientation affected your experience here, especially your first semester?

Gabby: Well, I’m not sure.  I know a lot of people that didn’t go to orientation and they are doing pretty well and have plenty of friends but I also know a lot of people in the towers that met some of their good friends here at orientation.  I live really close so I came in with a lot of friends from my own town and I could always go home if I really wanted to but going to orientation gave me the chance to meet new people that weren’t the same people that I was used to seeing all throughout high school and stuff like that.  But one of the main reasons why I am so glad that I went to orientation is because I learned a lot of really cool tips that helped me out when I got to college.  For example, there is no way that I would have known that the DCC allowed you to use meal swipes for things like drinks and breakfast at the Rock Café.  I know a lot of my friends were really surprised when I told them those things.

: Do you think orientation was missing anything?

Gabby: I mean, I think orientation was pretty cool, but I wish there was more of a chill time period.  Like a time where we could just hangout with all of the people there and just mingle.  I know there was like a two hour time period at the end of the first day but I wish there was more throughout the days.  I don’t think I would have been as tired by the end of it.  I also wish I got to see more than just one campus but I understand why that might be hard.

Paige: Well you’re almost done with your first year, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

Gabby: I think I had a pretty successful freshman year, I joined a sorority, did well in my classes but there are a few things that I do think I would do differently. I think I would not let the little things effect me and I definitely would have made a much larger effort to find out about a lot of the different things going on around campus.  It’s easy to hear about the big concerts and shows but there was a lot of little stuff going on around campus that I didn’t even know about.

Paige: Do you think orientation added to your success this year?

Gabby:  I mean I think orientation gave me a really great place to start.  I learned a lot of great skills and information that were honestly the stepping-stone for a successful year.  It’s also nice to have an orientation leader that you can contact anytime you have a question.  That was especially helpful in the summer before actually moving in. 

That concludes my interview with Gabby and I found a lot of her answers very interesting.  What I found especially interesting about Gabby is that while her first year was different she did not necessarily have a unsuccessful year which is one of the main reasons I chose to interview her.  Many students end up having a hard time adapting to college and while it Gabby's transition from high school to college wasn't perfect it was successful.  I'd like to consider Gabby an orientation success story.  She took the information offered to her at orientation and put it into action.