Belonging exercise

You’ve just read eight stories of students’ initial challenges and ultimate resilience at school. Many students described feeling worried about fitting in when they first started. And, over time, they were able to feel a real sense of belonging, made friends, got to know professors, and felt comfortable being in their school’s academic environment.

Now it’s your turn! We’re interested in your thoughts and feelings about transitioning to college.

In this exercise, please describe why you think some students may initially feel unsure about whether they belong at college. And, describe how these feelings are likely to go away over time as they start to feel settled at school.

In this exercise, draw on your own experiences! Illustrate your answer with examples from your own life – how do YOU feel about starting college? How have previous transitions gone for you (like starting high school)? You can also use the examples that you just read to answer this question.

Think about any worries or concerns that you may have about starting college, and how these worries are likely to be common and will likely go away over time.

Note: If you give us permission, your response may be provided to future college students to give them a better sense of what starting college is like. Don’t worry, your response will be anonymous!