Brain Matters S12.E01: How Crucial Is The Freshman Year In College?

[00:00:00] Speaker A: This show is not a substitute for professional counseling and no relationship is created between the show host or guests and any listener. If you feel you are in need of professional mental health and are a UA student, we encourage you to contact the UA Counseling center at 348-3863. If you are not a UA student, please contact your respective counties crisis service hotline or their local mental health agency or insurance company. If it is an emergency situation, please call 911 or go to your nearest emerg. [00:00:45] Speaker B: All right, it's 6 o' clock and time again for Brain Matters, the official radio show of the UA Counseling Center. We are broadcasting from the campus of the University of Alabama. Good evening. My name is Dr. BJ Gunther and I'm the host to the show along with my colleague and producer, Kathryn Howell. And in case you don't know, this show is about mental and physical health issues that affect college students and in particular, UA students. So you can listen to us each Tuesday night at 6pm on 90.7 FM or you can listen online at WVUAFM UA. Edu. You can also download different apps that we're on the platform. I like my tuner radio app and just type in WVUAF 90.7. As you can tell, my voice sounds horrible tonight. This is our first show for the academic year for fall semester, and I don't know what's happened to my voice, but I have severe laryngitis. But I was not going to put this off another week because we need to get these shows going because we do about, I would say, 10 to 12, maybe 13 shows a semester. We don't do shows in the summer, so we have a lot of topics to cover. But if you have any ideas for upcoming shows, please email those to me@brain mattersradiovuafmua.edu and I'll consider using your show topic. A lot of suggestions for show topics and it's hard sometimes to pick which shows we're going to do. It's okay that, you know, we've done depression before, we've done stress management, we've done, you know, test anxiety and some things that are common for the college student. But it's, you know, I think it's good to have some of those topics every year. And I think this year is another example of the first topic we're going to do for for the school year. Tonight we are diving into one of the most defining seasons of a student's journey and that's the freshman year in college. It's a year full of firsts. First time living away from home, first time balancing freedom with responsibility and for many, the first real test of resilience. But just how crucial is that first year? Does it set the tone for the rest of the students, college experience and even their future? Tonight we'll explore the challenges, opportunities and turning points of their freshman year and hear insights on how students can only serve not only survive, but thrive during this pivotal time. Sorry, that's a long introduction, isn't it? I usually don't have an introduction that long. My guest tonight is Chelsea Ratcliffe. She's the director of UA first and I'll let her tell us a little bit about UA first and your role and how you got to be the director of UA first here at the University of Alabama. Thanks for being on the show, Chelsea. [00:03:31] Speaker C: Yes, thank you so much. I am so excited to be a part of the show. I am Chelsea Ratcliffe. I serve as the director for UA First. UA first is the office on campus for transition and retention of students. Really focused on your first year experience if you are a freshman at the university and your full college experience if you are a first generation student. For us first generation students is if you are the first in your family to go to college. So if neither of your parents graduated with a bachelor's degree, then you're considered to be a first generation student. And then of course our freshman students, everyone entering is their first time to attend ua. We offer programs and resources and a variety of opportunities really geared towards helping you seek success for your college experience. We really believe that building that foundation in your first year is what's going to set you up to return for graduation, for everything that's to come in your future in terms of how did I get here. So I came to the university as a student student 15 years ago, fell in love. Yes. Roll tide all the way. Came as a first generation college student, fell in love with campus, went through some journeys my first year, went through some journeys my whole academic year to figure out or academic career to figure out what I wanted to do when I graduated. Ultimately upon graduation I went to grad school here as well. So a two time graduate of the university and really from there fell in love with working with college students. So I have worked for first year experience for the last 10 years and absolutely love exploring that first year of college. It will never be something that you repeat again. And so excited to talk about what are some of those crucial moments, what are those crucial resources and how to best support students. [00:05:23] Speaker B: I love hearing that and I Mean you as a first generation student, you know, you know better than anybody about the first gen students who are coming in. And I would think you would have more, maybe you don't, but I think you do have more of a passion for your role on this campus because you've lived it and you know, when you came to college 15 years ago, was there a department like this on campus? [00:05:50] Speaker C: There was and wasn't. So we did not have a first year experience department at that point in time. There was a first generation programs area, but it was focused on a lot of our first generation scholarships. So we still have our first gen scholars and still do quite a bit of programming for them, but we did not have a department that was available to all students. [00:06:08] Speaker B: I like the name change too. You know, it used to be first year experience and it's now UA First. That is an umbrella that covers, like you said, both, you know, freshman and first gen. So that, that's genius. That's really smart. And I just, I know y' all did too. I just saw the numbers come out for enrollment. 42,000. That shocked me. That shocked me. I thought we were going to go down a little bit or hold steady for some reason. I don't know why I thought that, but that really surprised me. And I know you've been busy. These. It used to be the week of welcome, now it's the weeks of welcome. Maybe I should know this, but I don't. When did that already end? Or is it still continuing? [00:06:51] Speaker C: Yeah, so it's still continuing. So the university programs department is doing eight weeks of welcome. And so we go all the way through the beginning of October with events for students. [00:07:01] Speaker B: Oh wow. That is just unheard of. Just unheard of. And you know, to me, what's changed in the 20 something years I've worked here is the participation factor of students. Now, like I used to go to outreaches and there would be no one showing up sometimes. And that just doesn't happen anymore. That just doesn't happen. You're at least going to have maybe even if it's just five students, you're going to have people showing up to your programs, right? [00:07:29] Speaker C: Yes, yes. Lots of participation, which is exciting. What we know and what I try to tell students all the time is finding that connection point on campus is really the difference maker to your college experience. And so going to a program, going to an event, just even if it's one time meeting somebody else becomes that person, that becomes that connection point for you. [00:07:51] Speaker B: You know, I know you went to Alabama and so did I. So we don't really have anything, another university, necessarily, to compare it to. Well, how do you think. Do you think it's any different? Do you think it's any harder for people, students who go to a smaller university with less enrollment numbers or a larger university? Do you think it's still. The theme is still the same for, like, connectivity and, you know, getting involved? Don't you think even it doesn't matter how big or small an institution is? [00:08:22] Speaker C: Absolutely. No matter what the size of the institution is or the number of opportunities available to you, that importance of having that connection point is true all the way across the board. So whatever that looks like for each. [00:08:35] Speaker B: Student in your research or in your experience in your role, do you feel like there's a. I don't know how to ask this. Do you feel like there is a certain time frame that a student kind of needs to get on board? I'm using quotations for this. Before they kind of lose. I don't want to say hope that's dramatic, but, you know, lose the motivation to pursue getting connected. Did that sound right? Do you know what I mean? [00:09:11] Speaker C: I know what you mean. That's a great question. So the truth to that question is anytime is better than no time. So any time of realizing, hey, I really want to get involved in something is better than never finding an involvement. But with research and really with my experience over the last several years, the goal is within that first six to eight weeks of your freshman year is to find something to get involved in. Not everything. So not to fill the schedule with so many meetings that it becomes overwhelming and too much to do. But finding something. And that something may be that you go to eat at Lakeside at the same time every Tuesday with the same four people from your residence hall. Or it may be that you join a program like Freshman Forum and you have a regular meeting time every week, or you have a study group with your math class. It can be anything, but it's having some type of connection. The most important piece as humans is that we have connectivity somewhere. And so we've got that human interaction and human connection on a deeper level than just, oh, hey, I see you, but something a little bit more rhythmic. And what do you think? [00:10:19] Speaker B: I have students who will come in as freshmen and they will go to one thing. They'll go to like one organization meeting or one function, and it didn't take for them, or they didn't like it, or they just. No one spoke to them. You know, it might be one little thing and they will just like not go back or they're just very discouraged. What would you say to that student? [00:10:44] Speaker C: Yeah, so that that's common. That can happen. Everything is not for everybody. And so that's what I try to remind everyone of is it's finding what you're interested in or what works for you. Now, if you go one time and you're like, oh, I kind of liked it, but I'm not sure how much I liked it. Try it. Same philosophy of trying foods. Try foods more than one time until you decide that you really don't like a food and so try it again. But if you still are like, this is, this is not for me, know that there's something else. So then it's finding what do I want to try next? Or come connect with us. So in our department in ua, first we have a team of student leaders that will meet with you anytime between 10 and 4, Monday through Friday to talk about what are your interests and then help connect you to, okay, well, you like cars? This club is meeting on Thursday night at this time. [00:11:34] Speaker B: Yeah, sometimes they just don't know. And I don't have students. I don't know if it's a complaint, but it's not. I don't know if it's a complaint, but they will say they wish they met more. Like they might be in an organization that meets like once a month and they wish they met more regularly to make those connections, you know? [00:11:52] Speaker C: Yes, that absolutely happens. And so I think there that's great to have that involvement. Let's look for another one that meets more regularly or has more connection points. And you can be involved in both. [00:12:02] Speaker B: Because there's how many clubs and organizations on our campus? [00:12:06] Speaker C: There are more than 600 clubs on campus and then probably hundreds of department and college programs on the campus. It's unbelievable. [00:12:14] Speaker B: It's so much fun. It's unbelievable. Hey, let's take our first break and then when we come back, I want to break it down a little bit about what you think makes the freshman year so crucial in a critical time for students. So hang on. We'll be right back to listening to brain matters on 90.7 the cat. [00:12:43] Speaker C: WVUAFM Tuscaloosa. [00:12:46] Speaker A: This show is not a substitute for professional counseling and no relationship is created between the show host or guests and any listener. If you feel you are in need of professional mental health and are a UA student, we encourage you to contact the UA Counseling center at 348-3863 if you are in. If you are not a UA student, please contact your respective counties crisis service hotline or their local mental health agency or insurance company. If it is an emergency situation, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room. [00:13:26] Speaker B: Hey, you're back listening to praying matters on 95, the Capstone. I'm Dr. B.J. guenther. We're talking tonight with Chelsea Ratcliffe. She is the director at the UA first program. And it's a wonderful program on campus. I hope most students know about it. And that's our topic tonight, is how crucial is the freshman year in college? And I'll just ask you, Chelsea, what do you think makes the freshman year so unique and critical for students? [00:13:57] Speaker C: One of my favorite questions. So I think that the freshman year is so unique because it is truly a year that you will never repeat again for the good and the bad of it. So when it comes to that freshman year, you really have this opportunity to define who you are going to be. But with that comes some freedom that requires you to figure out exactly how do I use this time that I now have, or I get to decide what organizations I'm going to join. So which one's the right one for me or which one's the wrong ones for me. On top of learning a new academic system. So even though you may have studied in high school or may have gotten involved with different academic clubs or organizations, the college academic system looks a little different. So it's a little less about teaching you how to memorize and a little more about you having to take the material and interpret it for yourself and then be able to share back what's going on. So I think that's what makes it unique is it's this overwhelming at times. Experience, experience. If I'm learning all these new things, but I've got some familiarity of what I want to do. And you get to really just define and write that story for yourself. [00:15:06] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. All these decisions, you know, that they're having to make, it's just so much fun, but also a little bit scary, you know, for some students. I've got some email questions coming in. Let me see. Oh, okay. This is interesting. Concerning homesick freshmen. Do you recommend they stay on campus despite wanting to go home on the weekends for the first few months, or do you find it helpful for them to go home more frequently? Oh, I love this question, but go ahead, answer it, please. [00:15:36] Speaker C: What a question. All right, so I'm going to give the same advice my mom gave me 15 years ago. The rule was that I had to stay on campus for the first three weeks. So the first three weekends I had to stay on campus. Now we. We bent the rules a little bit. She came and visited me in the weekend in between, but I had to and figure it out on my own and figure out how to fill, especially weekend time. Weekend time's the hardest because there's not some kind of set schedule going on. It's not that I have to go to class or have to do this, but the weekend is the opportunity to really find those people that you connect with, those people that, oh, it's so fun because we both. We like to shop at Target. So let's meet somebody and go shop at Target for our groceries this weekend or go to a university event and be able to try something new or something different. So my recommendation is, as hard as it is, staying on campus for those first three weekends at an athletic campus like we have, a lot of times the athletic events have started at that point, too. So it starts building out a schedule and opportunities, but really spending a little bit of time. Because if we continue to go back to our norm and our comfort zone of going home or back with our friends at home, it's very hard to break that homesickness feeling of, well. [00:16:56] Speaker B: And we have so many students who are so. From so far away that that's really not an option for them. They are like sink or swim kind of thing. And one thing I've noticed, and I've talked about this now for. For several years since I've been working here at the beginning, when I first started working here, I saw more students who were homesick, and I don't see as many anymore. Like, we're into week. What week is this now? We started on August 20, so we're almost a month out. And knock on wood, I don't think I've had one student that's been homesick, you know, or that I've seen yet. Who knows, Maybe it's a little bit early and they're trying to, like, conquer it. And sometimes they'll come in a little bit later, like in October and be like, I don't know if I can do this. I thought it'd be better now, you know, so we have that conversation. Right. [00:17:49] Speaker C: I'm with you. I haven't seen as many this year so far. But I think a lot of it, too, is there's been so many opportunities to do something. [00:17:57] Speaker B: You're doing your job, Chelsea. [00:17:59] Speaker C: Yeah. So hopefully that means we're doing our job or that we've found. Found that rhythm because yes. We see homesickness frequently in this first month, late October, and then that return to classes in January. [00:18:11] Speaker B: I hate it. I hate it for them. In your experience, what do you think is the biggest challenge for freshmen academically? [00:18:21] Speaker C: Yeah, so I think the biggest challenge academically is discovering your own learning style and how to match your study skills to that. And I will be honest, until I started teaching about four years ago, I had never really put that puzzle piece together of what was going on. [00:18:40] Speaker B: I didn't realize it until graduate school. I was like, I don't learn this way. [00:18:44] Speaker C: Yes. So that's something that I really try to work with students on now is how do you actually learn? So maybe I am not an auditory learner. And that is how I've always been taught was to just listen to material and information. Quickly learned that I'm very visual. And so the minute that I started creating my own study notes using visual mechanisms and drawing graphs and charts, my academics flipped quickly. And so I think it's really important. It's as simple as just googling Learning Style questionnaire to figure out what your learning style is. But then we in the Capstone center for Student Success have success coaches and tutors that can then take that learning style and help you really figure out how do I study off of this now? So what does it mean to. To be a tactile learner and need to put my hands on everything? But if it's my history class, how do I figure out how to study that way? [00:19:38] Speaker B: There's just so many more tools now for students like what you. I just wrote down Learning Style Questionnaire. There's just so many more tools now than I think we had. You know, obviously, I mean, we didn't even have the Internet. That's how old I am. What about adjusting to college level coursework? You know, that's different from high school. I know a lot of students come in who have already taken. I mean, what's the. What's the percentage would you say of students who. Who are coming in as freshmen who've already taken college courses? Let's face it. [00:20:12] Speaker C: Yeah, I wish I knew the percentage. I do not know, but it's high. It is pretty common for. So I've taken at least one or two college courses. Even more common now that it's. That it is the college courses and not the AP credits or the testing credits. And so with that though, I think what makes it different is once you're in the college classroom itself, sometimes it's class size, sometimes it is teaching Mechanisms that are different at that college. [00:20:44] Speaker B: Oh yeah. [00:20:47] Speaker C: If you walk into a class that's in a lecture hall with 200 students, how do you motivate yourself to engage with the class material and not sit back on your laptop or sit on your phone the whole time? Even though you showed up to class, did you actually retain the information that was presented? Or if you're in a smaller classroom, the professor may teach differently. And so it may be that they're overly engaging and you're not used to having to speak up and share your thoughts. [00:21:15] Speaker B: Oh yes, I hated that. [00:21:18] Speaker C: Yes, I think it goes both ways. [00:21:22] Speaker B: That's really hard for somebody who is shy. You know, I have students who. That really is a challenge for them and it makes them sometimes miss class. They will avoid class because of that. Sometimes, you know, just the lack of confidence and self esteem and all that stuff that goes along with it, you know, how does adjusting to college level coursework. Well, I already just asked you that. Sorry, I should have marked it off my list. Why do so many students struggle with time management? I see a lot of students and I will ask them when they tell me how many hours they're taking. They may be, I mean, they may be taken 16 or 17 hours as freshmen. And just because they've come in with college credit, I don't think they understand what we talked about at the very beginning. All the other parts of their life that is being thrown at them. Living independently, balancing their budget, possibly, you know, making friends, staying involved. Fomo. I wanted to use that term today. And so I don't think, you know, time management, sometimes they don't realize how poorly they are managing their time until mid semester or it's too late. So what do you say? What are some strategies you talk to them about? [00:22:39] Speaker C: Right. So time management, I think it's one of the biggest social challenges to the freshman year of college. The most important piece is first prioritizing. So what, what is the important pieces to your day or to your week? And you know, we want that to be your classes first because that is why we are here. We're here to be students first. The reality to class is we say that for every credit hour that you're enrolled in class, you need to be holding one hour a week to two hours a week for study time for that class. [00:23:12] Speaker B: Okay, now wait a minute. What? Okay, let's say I'm taking 15 hours. [00:23:17] Speaker C: Yes. So then we're saying that in addition to those 15 hours, you really should be holding 15 hours for homework, studying, reviewing of Notes. So you start thinking about that way and that's where we start losing our time. [00:23:30] Speaker B: Yes, yes. [00:23:33] Speaker C: So we forget about that piece and then it becomes that overwhelming hard to get back out of that time management rhythm because we filled that 15 hours with, with three organization meetings. Or I can remember as a freshman eating at the dining hall three times for lunch because three different friend groups wanted to go to lunch. And ultimately probably spending two hours at the dining hall when I really should have spent 30 minutes and then spent. [00:23:59] Speaker B: The other day making memories. [00:24:01] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly. I can remember it and we had fun. But was I prepared for the biology class the next day? Probably not. So our general tactics that I recommend at this point in the semester, semester, I would recommend that you Write out from 12am to 11:59pm and track yourself for a day. So see, in that day, what did you do every 30 minutes in that day, hopefully you slept for six, seven, eight hours. We would love eight, but six to seven, okay, hopefully you ate three meals a day, maybe got a little exercise in there and then where were your classes? If that's not what that daily kind of tracker looked like, then let's review it and let's see how we build it out. And I say really at this point it's about figuring out what is your current schedule and then what applications do we need to make to it to make out a weekly plan to move forward in a good time management system. If you're starting fresh, start fresh. [00:25:03] Speaker B: I used to do something similar with students and I do not know where the worksheet is that I use, but it's basically it's a worksheet like what you're talking about with, you know, 168 hours we all have in the week and where, you know, I would ask them, put in your must dos, you know, like you're talking about like you sleep, you're eating, you're getting dressed, whatever your classes. And it's surprising to me really how much time that we all have extra. Like it's shocking to some students. It was like, you know, I'd be like, you've got four hours in your day that you've got, you know, spare that you can do something fun. They're shocked. And I find too, I have asked people to bring lists in if they're list makers. And what I find is their lists are too long. I've talked about this before, their list for the day is too long. It's overwhelming. And they're like you said, they're very poor at prioritizing yes, you can list. [00:26:06] Speaker C: It all out, but if you are not ready to prioritize when to do the items, then the list becomes drowning mentally and the actual ability to do it. And so I recommend. There's so many different models out there about how to prioritize what to do, but looking for what works best to prioritize exactly what you need to do, what can wait till a little bit later, and what can wait even further off. [00:26:30] Speaker B: I usually ask this at the end, but are there any good apps that you know of to help with time management? I mean, I know a few and I try to keep a list, a running list, so I can print it off or email it to students. But do you know any that that are good? [00:26:46] Speaker C: I wish I could remember off the top of my head the name of one. I just had a student in my class last week mention one that I had never heard of, but seeing her use it, it was great. But I cannot remember. [00:26:58] Speaker B: Well, that's okay. If you email it to me, then I'll remember it and I'll add it to my running list. Because I always ask the students because they're on top of things like that with apps, especially more than I am sometimes, but they'll use the that. You know, some people like to write it down. I have some students who still use paper planners, you know, and I love seeing that. And then there's some that keep it on their phone. And then I have a few that tell me they keep it up here. And I'm like, that's why you're in counseling right now, because you can't keep everything up here. [00:27:29] Speaker C: After a while, that's what we want to move from. [00:27:31] Speaker B: And I'm pointing to my head for those listening. Sorry, we can see each other, but I realize you guys can't. Let's take our next break and then when we come back, I want to take a few more. We've got a few more email questions, so we'll take those. My voice, in case you don't recognize this is BJ Cut. It really is me. I just sound a little more raspy. Sorry for that, but we'll take our next break and we'll be right back. You're listening to brain matters on 90.7, the capstone. [00:28:12] Speaker C: WVUAFM Tuscaloosa. [00:28:14] Speaker A: This show is not a substitute for professional counseling and no relationship is created between the show hosts or guests and any listener. If you feel you are in need of professional mental health and are a UA student, we encourage you to contact the UA Counseling center at 348-3863. If you are not a UA student, please contact your respective counties crisis service hotline or their local mental health agency or insurance company. If it is an emergency situation, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room. [00:28:55] Speaker B: Hey, you're back. Listening to brain matters on 90.7. The capstone. I just realized I forgot to get. Give the email address out. Kathryn reminded me to do that. If you have any topic ideas for our upcoming shows for later on in this semester or the spring semester, please send those to me@brain mattersradiobuafm ua.edu and I'll consider using your show topic. But tonight we're talking. We're kicking off the season with my raspy, terrible laryngitis. I sound horrible and I'm so sorry if you can't understand me. My guest tonight is Chelsea Ratcliff. She is the director of UA first and we're talking about how crucial, how unique the freshman year is in a student's journey. And it's really fascinating over the years, as long as I've worked here, how things have changed. And I mentioned that while we were talking. We've got an email question, Chelsea. Let's see, let me see. Do you see? And we may have already answered some of these. Do you see any common themes with students who do adjust? Well, that's a good question. [00:30:02] Speaker C: That is a good question. So, yes, as much as we talk about the importance of the transition and that the transition can be challenging for some or difficult for some, there are many students that the transition is just fine in the beginning. What I say is many of the tips are important to remember because transition can happen at any point in time. In your freshman year, it may not happen until your sophomore year. But being prepared for or what that looks like, the actual idea of that transition is just any life event can alter where you are. So you may adjust great in the first six to eight weeks. And we love that. And that's what we love to see. But then that first trip home for fall break is where the tipping point comes in. And it's like, ooh, but I really loved home. And now I have to go back and I've got to power through the next few weeks or some courses. You may not even take your first exam until mid October. And when that happens, you don't really know how you're doing in the, in the course. And so the tips there are, if you're feeling good about the adjustment, keep going. So keep on the plan. You've got keep moving forward. But the most important thing is when you reach the point that there is something that becomes a little tough or a little challenging is don't forget the resources. So they may not be emailed to you every day after the first six to eight weeks of the semester, but they're still there. So seek them out, tell somebody, because there's somebody that can help you with anything across campus. [00:31:29] Speaker B: And I see this often, and Kathryn has too. I see this often where students, I think they think they can push through it. Like you mentioned, sometimes they will not have anything but a midterm and a final and maybe some homework projects. But they don't realize until mid or end of October, maybe 1st of November, how poorly they are doing in a class. And they'll come in to the counseling center and we, of course, we try to help them, but sometimes it is, I don't know, want to say too late, but sometimes it's just like very hard to dig yourself out of the hole when it's got. When you didn't know or it's gotten so bad and some students are lost, like, you know, in the class, in the class they're taking. That's one of the first things I'll ask is like, do you feel like you're completely lost or do you. Have you caught on to some of this? Because we can salvage it, I think. You can salvage it, you know. [00:32:22] Speaker C: Absolutely, yes. That's the biggest thing is there's always a point to salvage what's going on. So it may not be the perfect way of how you expected the class to go or the grades to go, but communication is so important and finding the right person to just have somebody to talk to. [00:32:40] Speaker A: That's right. [00:32:40] Speaker B: I've had to intervene sometimes and talk to professors on behalf of the students, too, when it's gotten so bad and there's been not to make excuses for them if they haven't done what they needed to do. But sometimes they need that advocate. And we mentioned homesickness already, but I just thought about this. I have in the past few years, I'm seeing more people in their sophomore year be homesick. I don't know why that is. Have you seen more of that? Do you know why that might be? [00:33:11] Speaker C: I've seen a little bit of that, too. And so we actually, we talk about that quite a bit in the student services kind of world of campus. I think that on the one hand, we've gotten so many support services out there for the freshman year at this point, because that has always been the challenging year to kind of make it through. And it's not that they disappear in the sophomore year, but a lot of times we see students come back for the second year. They feel like they don't need those things anymore, but then go through some kind of moment of homesickness, and it's like, almost like forgotten. This stuff still exists for me. I can still take advantage of it. And so we are working on some programs, programming, and some experiences and moving forward in the future to kind of look at that sophomore year, too. But I think that's a lot of it. I think it's in the freshman year. We, like, have gotten great at advertising, what resources are available and what services are there. But then we almost think that they're only available to us in that freshman year. [00:34:09] Speaker B: I think a lot of times they're just so busy. They're really. Y' all do a great job of keeping them busy, and they're just so busy and things kind of slow down a little bit more in the sophomore year. I guess that's kind of what you were talking about. I got another email question. Let me look. This is another good question, piggybacking on those themes that we talked about, we've already talked about. Why do you think some people don't adjust well? Do you think some students just are overwhelmed with the amount of students? It's such a big campus. Campus. I've often thought that was an issue. [00:34:47] Speaker C: You know, so there's. There's so many. I don't think that there's just one reason why a student doesn't adjust well. I think that one that's pretty common is really looking at kind of a student's background. So whether if you're coming from out of state, you're coming to a new place that may look different than where you're coming from or the experiences around you may be different. Your favorite grocery store place to grab a hamburger may not be here. And so that becomes an adjustment factor. [00:35:19] Speaker B: Of just being the weather. The weather, restaurants. [00:35:23] Speaker C: Yes, all of those things. So that can play into it quite a bit, your academic experience. And so if you're coming from a high school that's smaller, then, yes, coming here can be a much larger campus. Many more people around, just learning how to navigate. Navigate the right time to go to the dining hall. Because if Everybody goes at 12, then, yes, it's going to take a while to get through the line or whatever it may look like. So I think that's a little bit of it. And Then just in general, it's just a life transition time. So it's. We oftentimes we forget about what entering kindergarten may have felt like or going to middle school for the first grade. But all of those are life transition pieces too, where it's a big change, it's a new place, it's a new, new system to understand and a lot of information. [00:36:13] Speaker B: A lot of students don't have transportation. That's a big factor. You know, I mean, even though we have a great bus system system here in the Crimson Ride, and it's so much more improved than it used to be, still, if you don't have a car that, That I think that can contribute to not feeling like you can get places when you need to or. Or just not knowing how to get, you know, And. And how crucial. This is my next question. How crucial is the roommate, you know, with the freshman year? Because I have already just sitting here thinking about it. We haven't even been in class in school a month yet, and I've already had more roommate problems than I've had in a while. I don't know why that is, but what's your take on that? How critical is that? [00:37:04] Speaker C: Interesting. So the roommate's a big deal. So it's somebody that you've got to. You've got to live with, you've got to share a space with that requires a lot of compromising, collaborating, communication, all these important skills. But the roommate really can be an important piece to the whole freshman experience and freshman journey because that's where you're going home. So if you don't feel comfortable where you're going home every night, it's something to work through. Our housing department and our RAs do a wonderful job offering conversations and ways to talk about it. I do think we're seeing it a little bit more now, honestly, coming from post Covid. So coming from a time frame where people did not necessarily spend as much time together or even with strangers that you may not have ever met before. [00:38:00] Speaker B: Randos, as they call them. Chelsea. [00:38:02] Speaker C: That's right. Sorry. I probably am way behind the randos with randos around town. And so because of that, you're now living with someone that you. The first time you may have met them is when you both pick up your keys. And so learning how to. [00:38:16] Speaker B: That would be so hard. I mean, I did it, but we were in, you know, a residence hall. We called it a dorm. So it's a little bit different. But these kids, some of these kids are doing it in apartments, and there's there's two or three randos. And that would be hard. Yes. [00:38:33] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:38:34] Speaker B: Especially if they're, how do I put this gingerly? Especially if their hygiene or etiquette, you know, routines are different than your own. [00:38:46] Speaker C: Yes, absolutely. And I think that's, I mean, it's a beautiful part of the university is how many, how many different people we have, where people come from, all their experiences. But then when you're sharing living spaces, it does become an important conversation. [00:39:03] Speaker B: It's not pretty at all. What did another email question. This is, this is a wonderful question. What do freshmen tend to say that they love the most about their freshman year? [00:39:15] Speaker C: Oh, what a question. [00:39:16] Speaker B: I know. That's so good. [00:39:20] Speaker C: So we, I mean, I'll say it's probably a controlled group. We do ask a similar question every spring of students that participated in UA first program. [00:39:31] Speaker B: Is it the script day? [00:39:33] Speaker C: So it's always a favorite event. [00:39:35] Speaker B: I love it. [00:39:36] Speaker C: Really. What I hear is the sense of community. So students finding that community. So whether that was a friend that they met, whether that's a program they joined, but I hear it a lot too, the support from staff. So knowing that their community is not just the friends or the people around them in their residence hall, but also the people that work at the university. And I think that's what always makes me so excited is to hear that different people across campus. [00:40:05] Speaker B: I think the community personally, like in the churches and just the community in general along with the university. I have heard more talk in the last several years about mentors. You know, that was just not a thing when I was in college. I'm not going to lie. That was just not a real big thing. And it is a big thing now. And I think that is, I think they're bringing that expectation with them from their high schools, hopefully too. Do you see that? [00:40:33] Speaker C: I do see that quite a bit. There's a lot of mentoring programs from the high school level that, that is something we try to create is that environment where you've got that mentor and they may only be the mentor for you for that first year, but you stay connected with them because you've built such a strong relationship over time. [00:40:50] Speaker B: Is there a, is there an avenue through your department that if someone is listening, a staff member or maybe someone in the community that's listening and would like to become a mentor, how would someone do that? That. [00:41:02] Speaker C: Yes, that's great. So specifically for first generation students, we have a faculty and staff mentoring program. And so someone can email us at uafirsta Edu and we can add them to that mentor list in that way. The other thing that we have available for all freshman students is we have a program called out to lunch. And so it is designed for a student to invite a faculty or staff member to go to coffee with them, go to lunch, grab a snack, you don't actually have to eat anything at all, but to connect with them, to talk about anything and everything outside the classroom. So it's a little less of a structured mentoring program and more of just having someone on campus to build that connection with. We call it out to lunch because it's partnership with Bama dining. If a student uses their dining dollars or their meal plan to purchase the faculty or staff members meal, we will reimburse them on the back end for that meal. [00:42:03] Speaker B: So they never paid for it, but. [00:42:05] Speaker C: They got to connect in that way. And so with it we have a go to list. And so faculty and staff that are interested in being more of that kind of casual mentor role of just if a student reaches out, connect with them. We can add someone to that list. And that form is available on our website, which is FYE, uh, UA Edu OuttoLunch. [00:42:27] Speaker B: That is so cool. I would love to do something like that. I've always felt like because of my, because of the nature of my role at the counseling center as a staff therapist, I don't want it to be like awkward for a student. Like if I became a mentor and then if one of their friends saw them out, you know, us out at one of the dining halls, they might be like, oh, so and so's got to go to counseling because she's a staff therapist at the counseling center. You know, I don't want it to be, be like awkward, but I would love to do something like that. I think it would be so rewarding, not only for me, but hopefully for the student. [00:43:01] Speaker C: Yes, well, I think out to lunch would be great. Like I said, it's more kind of one off conversations and we just produce that list so that if a student is like, I want to connect with somebody or I'm looking for a resource or a mentor, we direct them there and say, hey, go check it out. It's divided by college or by service across campus. [00:43:17] Speaker B: Is that a common program at other institutions? Do they have something similar to, you. [00:43:22] Speaker C: Know, it is not super common. There are some others with it, but it's not. I haven't found it to be as common as what I might have thought it would. [00:43:32] Speaker B: I know, I'm shocked. I thought it would be like very this is a really smart idea. It's really. And it's kind of like a down home, you know, kind of idea, you know, for us southerners to be taken out to lunch. You know, I love that. What about, what do you think about, I will say this. I don't know what the, what do you call it when. Retention rate. I don't know what the retention rate is. And I bet you know a little more about that than even I do because I don't know what the percentage of students who are first year freshmen who leave the university and you know, how much does the freshman year really influence whether a student will persist to graduation? [00:44:21] Speaker C: Yeah, so great question. What I do every day is working in and out of it. Our retention rate hovers between 87 to 89 over the last five years. So it does shift around. So you know, about 10% of students not returning, variety of reasons. So the freshman year is crucial to that persisting to graduation. And that's 100%. The work we do is helping students be able to return for that second year because getting through that really that third semester. So first semester of your second year can be a pivotal point for continuing your graduation. [00:44:58] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a big deal. And I mean I have very few sophomore or juniors who transfer and I bet you don't see that much either, you know, so if we can get, get them to stay here and get engaged, that's the key. I mean, that's what the research backs it up to, you know. So let's take our last break and when we come back, I want to talk about mental health and also I want to talk about resources. I like to give the listeners resources before we say goodnight. So we'll be right back. You're listening to brain matters on 90.7, the capstone. [00:45:43] Speaker C: WVUAFM Tuscaloosa. [00:45:45] Speaker A: This show is not a substitute for professional counseling and no relationship is created between the show hosts or guests and any listener. If you feel you are in need of professional mental health and are a UA student, we encourage you to contact the UA Counseling center at 348-3863. If you are not a UAE student, please contact your respective counties crisis service hotline or their local mental health agency or insurance company. If it is an emergency situation, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room. [00:46:26] Speaker B: Hey, you're back. Listening to brain matters on 90.7 the Capstone. Yes, this is Dr. B.J. gunther. Yes, I have laryngitis. No, I'm not sick. I feel fine, but I Sound horrible. Thank you for hanging out with us tonight. We have had a great show and this is our last segment with Chelsea Ratcliffe. Chelsea is the director of UA first, which is an umbrella department basically covering freshman students, but also first generation. We're talking tonight about how crucial the first year is. The freshman year is in colle and I want to remind everybody, if you have ideas for show topics for future shows, for brain matters, please email those to me at brain mattersradiovuafm ua.edu and I'll consider using your topic. My question, Chelsea, I'm interested personally, professionally about how mental health factors into this transition from high school to freshman year. And what warning signs should students and families watch for? [00:47:29] Speaker C: Yes, mental health is. It's a big piece of that transition. I think that it shows up in different ways and it can be that mental health is coming into play from just overwhelm of too many things to do or homesickness and homesickness can kind of lead more to that depression side of just. I'm not really sure what's going on here. Imposter syndrome is a big piece of the freshman year too. Like, do I belong here? Can I do this? And so in terms of warning signs, things that we watch for is if your student's not attending class, something's going on. And so what's causing that non attendance to class? If a student signs up for a program and says, hey, I want to be a part of this experience, but then they don't show up for the first session or don't show up for the second session, that's a sign that something's going on or something may be happening. And sometimes it's just I'm too busy or this is happening. So what we do as a department is we try to watch for that. So especially with our program, so the student signs up and then they, they don't come, we do a calling campaign. So we will recall and say, hey, just want to check in. If you don't want to do this one, that's great. Let's find out something else. Let's see what fits your schedule or what you're interested in. But a lot of times those calls lead to, well, this is what actually is going on. And so then it's being able to connect to the right resource on campus, whether that's the counseling center, whether that's just coming to talk to one of our staff members and letting us help time manage or help see what's available across campus. But if we're not doing well Mentally. So if we've got something on our brain, we've got too much that we're thinking about, it quickly becomes a snowball effect for the rest of the student's life. And we really want to get on top of it before it gets to that point where, you know, there's a lot going on or a lot to be managed. [00:49:23] Speaker B: That's right, because there are usually there are warning signs. And if a student's coming in with already a history of some sort of mental health challenge, you wouldn't know that. But you just, you know, it's a good thing. You follow up. And it's not like harassment like my dentist office. You know what I'm talking about. It's like they hit you with the text, the phone call, the email, the phone call at work. You know, that's a little bit too much. [00:49:51] Speaker C: But I promise, when we reach out, we are reaching out simply to just see how you're doing. So for any students listening that are like, oh, these are the people that call, we just want to know what, what you're doing and how we can help you. [00:50:04] Speaker B: And sometimes it's that little push, sometimes it's that little, you know, the student knowing that somebody is paying attention and somebody does care. And you aren't just a number here on this campus. You. Okay, last question. And I should have asked this earlier because it's a very important question. What role should parents and families play during the transition from high school to freshmen? [00:50:26] Speaker C: Yeah, it's such an important question. I'm going to be honest. Probably my philosophy on this question was very different before I had my first child four years ago. Because once you are a parent, your brain does think differently about the whole experience. But I. I think a parent or guardian's role, even just a whole family's role, it's really important in that transition. But it's important in two ways. It's important to be there for the student so the student knows they have a support system. They know they have someone to call. They know that there's some cheerleaders for them for whether they succeed or fail at what they're doing. But I think it's also important that as parents, we do step back and let the students figure out what the case may be. [00:51:07] Speaker B: That's hard. [00:51:10] Speaker C: I read something the other day in the parenting world about letting our children gracefully fail, and I was like, I'm never going to forget that because you got to do. Don't want them to fail, but if they're going to, that they do it in a way that we're not overstepping the boundaries to where they don't know how to handle things on their own but at the same time they know there's somebody here that's going to be in their corner. [00:51:33] Speaker B: That's right. And it teaches resilience. That's the definition. That's wonderful. Yeah. What are some resources? I know you given the website again but give the website again for your department and then if you have any more resources, any apps that you can think of, any other websites, any books, anything. [00:51:53] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. So our department is UA first, so we are UAFirst UA edu. The next resource I will give is we are within the Capstone center for students. So that website is Success UA Edu. The Capstone center is home to all free tutoring services, coaching services which is really that ability to take all of your out of class experiences and map them out. So is that time management? Is that study skills? Is that note taking? What does that look like? It's home to our unit and so all of our first year experience programs and then the six success center is also home to undergraduate research and so if you're looking at research we have resources for you there academic engagement departments and so looking to help you. Our goal as a whole center is to help students find what they need to be successful and so that looks different for everybody and we just offer such a variety of resources from people to meet with to workshops to attend to just having community. So we offer community events quite a bit just to come hang out. So I think that's another great one to know about. In general, the student life resources are crucial to a student's college experience and so just going to SL UA Edu you can review all of the departments but whether that is getting involved, attending events, the counseling center, health and well being, health promotion, all of those things super important in terms of apps. There are so many out there and I think that's what the struggle is keeping up with them. Campus to itself the Safety app is really important and so if you haven't downloaded it, check out the Safety app. It's a great one to have as particularly a freshman in a new environment, a new place. I think it's really important. The bus system has its own Apple service. [00:53:50] Speaker B: What do they call the app now for the bus system? [00:53:53] Speaker C: It has a brand new name. [00:53:55] Speaker B: I know it. They changed. I never can remember it. Google it. Go website in the search window, type in transportation and it'll come up. [00:54:04] Speaker C: Yes. [00:54:05] Speaker B: What about what? Where are y' all located. Are y' all in the student center? [00:54:10] Speaker C: Such a great question. We are in Russell Hall. So Russell hall is home to the Success Center. The Success center is floors two and three. Our office is on the third floor and we cover quite a bit of the third floor. So coming there and saying, I'm looking for UA first, we can find where you need to go from that point. [00:54:29] Speaker B: That's so cool. Thank you so much for being on the show. I mean, I just feel like this is one of the topics that we need to talk about every year at the beginning of the school year because it really is a critical time. And I think people are really starting to take the freshman year more seriously than just kind of like, oh, you're a freshman. You know, it really is a foundation for the rest of the students academic journey. [00:54:56] Speaker C: It is, absolutely. I appreciate being invited to the show so much because I do believe if we can help support you through your freshman year that you're gonna make experience. [00:55:05] Speaker B: You're gonna make it. [00:55:06] Speaker C: Yeah. Great thing. [00:55:08] Speaker B: Let me make a few more announcements before we go. Don't forget, our shows are recorded and podcasted on the Apple Podcast, audioboom.com and Voices UA Edu. Just type in Brain Matters and you'll find some of our past shows. There' a link to Voices UA Edu and our counseling center's website. And that website is Counseling UA Edu. I want to mention that Suicide Awareness walk is Sunday, October 19th at the Student Center Plaza. Registration will begin at 5pm and the walk begins at 6 and it should be finished by 7pm we also have several events planned throughout the week and listeners can follow us on Instagram at Tied Against Suicide to get more information. Brain Matters will feature several students from the Tide Against Suicide organization on our special show. And that show is going to be on October 14th during the week of suicide Awareness. So I'm pretty excited about that. I want to again thank all the people who made the show possible. As always, Dr. Greg Vanderwaal. He's our executive director here at the Counseling center, my producer and colleague Katherine Howell, my colleagues at the counseling center, and also the person who edits our shows at wvua. And I have forgotten his name. That's what laryngitis will do for you. So I'll have to get that. My guest tonight, Chelsea Ratcliffe. Thanks again. Join us next week. Our topic's gonna be an interesting one. It's called you got in now what? 100 insights into finding your best life in college. So we'll see what that's about. We've got an author who has written a book about this and I find forgot where they are located. But this should be interesting and fascinating. So tune in next week, same time, same place. Thanks again for listening. Have a good evening. Bye bye. [00:57:06] Speaker A: This show was not intended as a substitute for professional counseling. Further, the views, opinions and conclusions expressed by the show hosts or their guests are their own and not necessarily those of University of Alabama, its officers or trustees. Any views, opinions or conclusions shared on the show do not create a relationship between the host or any guest and any listener and such a relationship should never be inferred. If you feel you're in need of professional mental health and are a UA student, please contact the UA Counseling center at 348-3863. If you are not a UA student, please contact your respective county's Crisis service hotline or their local mental health agency or insurance company. If it is an emergency situation, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.