If you’re reading this, it’s not too late to make a change.
Starting something new can be exciting and freeing, but it can also be daunting. Even something as simple as joining a pottery club or picking up a part-time job. What if you don’t connect with the people around you? What if it’s not what you’re expecting? What if you just don’t like it?
Last year, I wasn’t expecting a perfectly smooth transition into college. Nobody can. But I was excited to explore new academic offerings, meet new people, and enjoy newfound freedoms living away from my parents. I was ready to dive into the next chapter of my life.
Unfortunately, things didn’t feel right from the start. I was having doubts about my university by orientation week. As time went by, I struggled to find peers that matched my academic drive and extracurricular passions. The school spirit and social life were disappointing at best, and the pre-medicine program lacked a strong advising framework. Worst of all, I felt like I didn’t belong. I was told that everything college-related would work out in the end, but I knew that that wasn’t what I was experiencing. Things were in fact not working out in the end.
About halfway through my first semester, I realized that I needed to explore the idea of transferring. That was not an easy conclusion to come to. It would involve another arduous application cycle in addition to keeping my grades high, and it would mean a complete reset. It would mean leaving behind the friends I’d made and the faculty I’d connected with. The ensuing months were filled with essay drafting, internal crises, redrafting, breakdowns in the shower (the only moments when I could find the time), revising, and the all-pervasive sense of self-doubt. I submitted my application two hours before the deadline, my stomach churning at the thoughts of sentences left grammatically incorrect and of college friends left feeling betrayed.
But it was a change that I knew was necessary, and it was a change I had wanted to make for a very long time.
I’m writing this letter in Perkins Library at Duke University, and I’ve finally found my home. Not everything has been easy – especially not the eight-hour drive to Durham – but I’ve found people who match and exceed my enthusiasm for knowledge. I’ve already found amazing friends in my transfer class. I’ve eaten at the dining halls that online rankings rave about, just like every other Duke student. I’ve found what I was looking for all along in a university. And it’s beginning to feel like home.
Change is hard, but it doesn’t always have to be quite as drastic as transferring schools. You could join a pottery club, or even pick up a part-time job. Change is always an option. And if you need it, take it.
Anonymous., Duke University
