what are the problems faced by first year university students in? Free Essay Example

Embarking on University career is a daunting adventure as well as a learning curve of one’s life. However, there are several erratic dapples in the first year journey of University. Even the most prepared students find it difficult to cope up with the surprising challenges of the life at University.

According to Brooks & Dubois 1995, sense of isolation (condition of being alone and unhappy) is one of the major problems faced by the students. In a recent study, Timothy Smith even found out that loneliness and isolation put an individual at great mortality risk.

This is so because it is a well proven fact that any person whether at work, home, study or anywhere else need humans to interact otherwise can fall into the stage of depression. Besides this, as claimed by Fisher & Hood 1987, absent-mindedness or lack of concentration is another issue encountered by the new beginners at University. This happens when an individual instead of concentrating on the required task flies into the fantasy world which is related to some other work or task going on in his life.

Both the issues, to some extent may be amplified for the students who live in hostels to attend University as they don’t get their parents or neighborhood support for the same. In the opinion of Buote et al. 2007, concern over formation of new peer relationships is also higher in this group of students as compared with those commuting from the family home. Another worry that serves as an add on to the challenges of newcomers is time management.

It moulds the student’s mind into path of discipline and sense of duty. Good time management skills can improve the grades as well as help to keep the stress in check.

Moving on to the solutions of these problems, one that is possible in case of isolation, as per Smith is to make it compulsory for all freshmen to get involved in communities or clubs or organizations of the University. When individuals keep on interacting with one another, they get to know similarities of interests and slowly start mixing up in the new environment. Kruger states that “At larger institutions, students can become invisible, so talking to people closer to them- their professors can be beneficial.” The solution to the problem of lacking concentration is to allow movement and breaks after few work hours. Glenda Thorne & Alice Thomas(2005) states it as one of the strategy for managing attention problems. Also, discouraging frenetic work patterns can be a solution to it as lot of work load can put students in a stage where they work too quickly and carelessly. After this comes the time management. Goals must be set for managing time. Time management mastery lies in Eisenhower method, named after President Dwight D. Eisenhower who states, “What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.” Using it as a tool to manage the time, all students can deal with urgent and important issues as they work toward long term goals.

To sum up, all those described are few issues faces by first year University students. These can be devastating to their career. So, effective solutions as well as their implementation is necessary for successful University life. Therefore, all the clean hands to University along with parents, friends and professors must move shoulder to shoulder with each other coping up all these complications and leading to a glorious journey.

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