Being a New Kid
I’ve been thinking a lot about what it was like to start college, about being a “new kid” at anything, really. I was so concerned about my appearance and thought so hard about what I should wear to my first class as a freshman at the University of Oklahoma, that I know exactly what I wore that day. Blue jeans, of course, with slight bell bottoms. A silky, pale blue and green t-shirt style top. Platform sandals, also of course. And a jade heart necklace that had been a graduation present. I desperately wanted to look like I belonged on campus, not that I was a brand new freshman. Since people still thought I was a new student eight years later when I started my first full-time campus job, I probably wasn’t successful as an actual freshman.
I no longer have to worry about looking like a freshman. But, I’ll admit, I also don’t want to give off too much grandma energy either, though I clearly am the age of most undergraduates’ grandparents. I suspect there will be a range of ages in my graduate program, but based on my challenges with the admission requirements, I’m sure I’ll still be an outlier. (They suggest using a paper from an undergraduate history course as a writing sample. I no longer have a copy of one of those. I’m not that much of a saver. They also wanted recommendations from professors to attest to my ability to handle graduate work. I didn’t tell them I had spoken at the funeral of one of my graduate professors. Nor did I ask why my two graduate degrees didn’t suffice, I just asked two friends with vice president titles to write something for me. Clearly, I’m not their typical applicant.)
If you’re wondering, I do know what I’m wearing to my first class, but I’m not nearly as stressed about it. And that’s the advantage of being new all over again. I’ve often told students looking for their first jobs and newer professionals wanting to move up or on that there is always a time when we know we’re ready for a change. Unfortunately, it’s often true that the next thing isn’t always sitting there waiting on us. We have to live through that uncertainty. The advantage I had when I faced that time was that I had lived through it multiple times and I had enough experience to make the discomfort more manageable. I understood it as a necessary part of a life-long career. I had developed skills to cope.
It’s the same here. I’ve been a new student, or a new employee, many times now. I recognize the symptoms. It’s still uncomfortable, but I know how to live through it. I’ve gone to campus a couple of times to start to learn my way around. I know where my classes will be, have most of my text books and all of the digital ones where I can find them. I sort of know where I’ll be parking and it’s no longer in the center of campus. I will go to New Grad Student Orientation this week and my departmental orientation next week because there are many things about being a student in 2026 that I need to learn.
The trick is to remember I’m no longer supposed to know everything about my new campus or how to use the technologies and to ask questions. And I know I’m better at asking such questions than I was as an undergraduate student.
Peter and I went to campus last week. We were standing in the sun trying to get our bearings and a student asked if he could help us. He was going the way we needed to go and offered to walk with us. (Peter is sure he’s been a tour guide. If he hasn’t, he should be.) He easily made conversation with us and then with only the slightest hesitation asked if we were bringing a student to campus. His response when I said I was the new student, was a delighted, “Oh, that’s cool!”
And he’s right, being a new student is cool and I’m grateful for the opportunity to do this all over again. Now, I just have to find my way around Texas State University, my new campus. One with a lot of stairs! Wish me luck!