Ask Dr. Ross
"Ask Dr. Ross" answers the important and nagging questions parents and potential college students raise about higher education. Topics include preparing for college, avoiding student debt, and secrets to good grades. Hosted by award-winning professor Catherine Ross, Ph.D., and student producer Ashley Worley, listeners can ask their own questions by emailing ADRquestions@gmail.com.
Find us on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/@AskDr.RossPodcast/featured
Ask Dr. Ross
What Can I Expect From Freshman Year? Pt. 1
The transition from high school to college can be scary. There's lots to navigate in your freshman year, from dorm life to academic advising - and we're here to unpack it all.
Join Dr. Ross and producer Michaela Murphy in discussing the freshman experience with four first-year UT Tyler students: Dylan Bennet, Paula Castellanos, Mary Mooney, and Dominic Robinette. Together, they share stories of their freshman year journeys and the unfiltered realities high school grads face. Whether it's moving from Ecuador to take classes in another country, building friendships with track teammates, or struggling to connect with professors, each story lends heartfelt and practical advice to students launching into the college experience.
Have more questions about freshman year? Email us at ADRquestions@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you!
Special thanks to Michaela Murphy, who produced and co-hosted season two's opening episodes. The show goes on because of you!
Stay tuned to the Ask Dr Ross podcast. It's created to give you info to succeed at college. Our hosts are highly qualified. Dr Catherine Ross is a member of the University of Texas System's Academy of Distinguished Teachers. She's also a popular professor of 19th century English literature. Ask Dr Ross is a community service of the University of Texas at Tyler.
Speaker 2:So welcome to season two of the podcast called Ask Dr Ross, where actually what we do is. We ask a lot of other people what's going on in their lives in the University of Texas at Tyler, but also in their life as a student or a professor. All we have today here is a group of freshmen and my new producer, Michaela Murphy. Would you like to introduce yourself?
Speaker 3:Sure, Hi guys, my name is Michaela Murphy. I am a graduate student here at the University of Texas at Tyler and I'm super happy to be helping Dr Ross.
Speaker 2:She's an English grad student and I'm thrilled to have her as my right-hand person, so first thing I'll ask you to do is just tell us your full name and where you came from.
Speaker 5:My name is Mary Mooney and originally I'm from Jacksonville, texas.
Speaker 6:My name is Dylan Bennett and I'm from Mount Pleasant, texas.
Speaker 4:My name is Dominic Robinette and I'm originally from Midland, texas.
Speaker 2:Midland, texas. That's pretty far away, isn't it?
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's about a seven-hour drive.
Speaker 2:Seven-hour drive. So tell me this, Mr Midland what made you want to come all the way out here to Tyler, Texas, when in fact, there's the University of Texas in your hometown?
Speaker 4:Well, it was mostly the size and the location. Like I was really looking forward to getting out of my hometown. You know Midland, it's not the most pretty town, to say the least, but I was just ready to get out of my hometown.
Speaker 2:Well, does the scenery in Tyler Texas make up for what you didn't have in Midland?
Speaker 4:Oh, it definitely does. It's so much greener here and you know there's actually like rolling hills and you know it's beautiful here.
Speaker 2:Now, what about you? Tell us about yourself, name and where you're from.
Speaker 7:My name is Paula Castellanos and I'm from Ecuador.
Speaker 2:Ecuador. What in the world are you doing here? I'm here on the tennis team. You're here on the tennis team, Okay, so we're going to ask you tell us a little bit about were you a high school student or in college when you were in Ecuador, about were you a high school student or in college when you were in Ecuador?
Speaker 7:In Ecuador, I finished my high school this year actually and then I come here for my college studies.
Speaker 2:So this is the first time you've really been in college. You didn't do college at home, you came straight to the US.
Speaker 7:Yeah, I didn't do any college classes or anything, I just came straight here. Did you know what to expect? I knew that the classes were harder and that it was different than how I was thought in high school. Okay, good.
Speaker 2:Dylan, I'm going to ask you a question here. I think you're here as an athlete too, aren't you?
Speaker 6:Yes, ma'am, I'm on the track team.
Speaker 2:How did you get recruited? How did you find out about our track team or how did they find out about you?
Speaker 6:Coach A had reached out to me, coach Anthony, he's a sprinter's coach. He had saw me run, like on Twitter. He had texted me and reached out to me. And then we got on the phone and like we just clicked, I knew I was gonna come here.
Speaker 2:So you're pleased about them being on the track team here. It's working out well for you.
Speaker 6:Yes, ma'am, I like my teammates, we like a family.
Speaker 2:I already like a family. That's great, because you're working out right now, but you're not really competing until the spring. Is that correct?
Speaker 6:Yes, ma'am, most of the time we just really like working out lifting weights.
Speaker 2:Is it kind of like a built-in group to get to know people?
Speaker 6:so even though you're away from home and first time away, is that working real well for you to feel connected and yes, well, because like as the coaching staff, like coach k and coach a, they try to help the team like get to know each other, so like we have events with each other and we just hang out like everybody know each other that's really great.
Speaker 2:Now, how about you? Is your team working as a team and you get to know people that way?
Speaker 7:yeah, well, we're not. It's not a pretty big team. Um, we're eight girls, only eight. Yeah, we're eight. So we know each other pretty well, like we have been knowing each other like for the last three weeks and we're really close and we live close to each other, so we have been having a really good time together.
Speaker 2:I'm glad to hear that Now, the issue of connection, feeling like you belong, is an important one, and you didn't come for a team now, did you Dominic?
Speaker 4:No, I didn't. I just came here just for education. You know, before I was in band, but that's not much of an option here. You know there is a drum line, but Are you going to try out for it? I thought about it and I might try out for it next year. You know, I just wanted to kind of get settled in here first meet some people and focus on classes.
Speaker 2:Have you met people?
Speaker 4:Do you feel like you're as connected as these two? I don't know about that connected Like I've hung out with people from my orientation slash swoop camp. That's who I've mostly hung out with, and my roommates, and where are you living? I'm living in Ornelas Hall right now. Ornelas.
Speaker 2:Hall? And are all of you living in Ornelas Hall Just nod, yes, no, you're in Patriot Village Liberty, so are you feeling like you belong?
Speaker 5:yet I think so. I think, with me being an honors student, there's a community there that is really different compared to, like, sports teams or stuff on the campus, and especially with me living in the living learning community, I feel like it's like helped me make a lot of friends.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's one thing a lot of people don't know that colleges do is that we have what we call living learning communities. Are you in one too, Dominic?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'm in first generation, Ah, first gen.
Speaker 2:So we try to set it up so that you have some folks that you'll naturally have a first acquaintance with a reason to know each other. So how's it going? Have you been homesick at all?
Speaker 4:I've been a little homesick, I can't lie. After the first week I was kind of like you know this was a pretty long week, it felt like, but at the same time like I had a lot of fun and it went by fast. But at the same time by the end of it I was like man, you know, like I miss my family quite a bit.
Speaker 2:Are you the oldest child in the family? Yes, I am, so you've got younger siblings at home and your mother and dad are probably going. Oh, he's gone.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I have three younger siblings at home.
Speaker 2:Do you talk to your family much?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I do. I call them once a week at least.
Speaker 2:That's good. I talk to my mother every day and she lives in North Carolina, so that's a pretty long ways. How about?
Speaker 5:you, ms Mooney. I mean with me being from Jacksonville, I'm literally like 30 minutes away from home, so it's not that much of a far away college experience, but it's definitely been a little bit of a trouble like having to not only orient myself to, like living in a totally different town, totally different room, and also struggling with balancing education and stuff. I mean the classes that I'm taking, while they're not necessarily the hardest, but it's definitely a different workload from high school. So having to balance those out it's kind of I have to give myself a lot of slack and a lot of sympathy, I guess.
Speaker 2:Now here's the question I'm going to ask you, dylan have you found that the classes are a lot different from what you expected, and do you have to give yourself a lot of self-sympathy, like Mary was saying?
Speaker 6:Yes, ma'am, it's really different from high school because, like, coming from like athlete point of view, you can miss class and like you won't really be missing that because, to be honest, it was really just easy. But now, like that, you transfer from colleges, the classwork is like more challenging, Like you have to study and you have to do your work and listen in class or you're just not going to pass. They make us like we got to study, we got to do four hours a week.
Speaker 2:Isn't it enforced by the coaches?
Speaker 6:No, like we got to sign in and stuff, Like it's a lot.
Speaker 2:How about for you, Paola? How is the studying going? You're in a wholly different language.
Speaker 7:My goodness, yeah, the first week for me was the hardest because, like the transition from high school to college classes was hard, because in Ecuador I actually never taken a college class level. I just have like high school classes and the ones I took in my senior year and before and when I came here it was totally different. Like I had to adapt myself like to the system of the classes, like that, and it's so different from Ecuador, and like also the language. Sometimes I still struggling with some things, but it haven't been really, really hard. I found that I'm adapting really good to the language. That was my biggest preoccupation when I came here that I was not going to be able to understand the classes and the language. But I think I'm doing it pretty good.
Speaker 2:So now Dylan says his high school didn't really have to make him work very hard. Did your high school back in Ecuador make you work hard so that you feel academically prepared?
Speaker 7:Not really In my senior year. We didn't do much. My senior year was really easy. So the hardest years are like 11th and 10th grade, but like my last year it was not that difficult. So after I came here it was like a huge transition to me and I graduated in like February. So I really didn't study. I didn't do any study like from February to August.
Speaker 2:Wow, wow. Well, I'm going to ask you the same question, dominic. Wasn't it different how the classes compared to what you were getting ready for in high school?
Speaker 4:I mean, yeah, in high school it was all the classwork and everything that you needed to do was basically done in class. Me personally, I didn't have to do hardly anything outside of class, you know, unless it was mostly math because they assigned, you know, like graded homework. So that was really the only thing. Like you know, I got used to doing everything in class, and once you were done with classes, that's it. But here now, like, whenever I'm done with a class for, like whenever I go to the lecture, like that's not the end of it, I go to the library almost every single day and I also do work in the arts and science building, you know, just in between my classes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's a bit of a surprise, huh.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:How about you, Mary? How do the classes compare to high school?
Speaker 5:Well for me. I mean, I took a majority of college classes in high school and in fact I graduated as valedictorian, so there's that natural inclination for me to always study and always be in the books. So for me, the classes it's not an increase in difficulty, more so like an increase in responsibility, and it's me making sure I'm getting all these good grades and doing the best I can, rather than, oh, I want to make my teacher proud.
Speaker 2:It's like make me proud ah, so there's less of a personal relationship with your teachers.
Speaker 5:I would say so, but only because I think one, it's the beginning, and two, I'm somewhat intimidated by my teachers, just simply because I look up to them so much, because I personally want to be an English professor. So it's like, oh, I want to be able to seem smart, but I'm in the position where, it's just like getting in a conversation with my professors or whatever, I'm going to look, not necessarily dumb, but it's like it's scary to put yourself in a position where you know that you know less and you might look vulnerable in that sense.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, now I've got to say something. First of all, we are so thrilled that all four of you first-year students were willing to come and talk to us, because we knew that was the way you were going to feel, and so I just want to say that right there. That's a huge step, I think. Of course, I really pushed hard on you, dylan, didn't I? I wasn't going to let you off the hook, but I also wanted to hear from all four of you, because I thought it was important to have a range of voices. Let me tell you something your professors put on their pants and their shoes every morning, just the same way you do, and we want you to talk with us. We want to hear from you. You want to talk about that a little bit, michaela.
Speaker 3:Sure. So this is my first semester as a teacher's assistant here, so I am teaching my own English 1301 class, and that has been an interesting transition from being solely a student here to also teaching students here as well, while I'm still learning. But yeah, I would say the same thing as Dr Ross. Obviously I'm still learning, just like y'all are still learning, and I know I told Paula and Dominic that in class, but I would say the same thing for any of the professors here. Each year brings on different things, so each time we're learning with y'all.
Speaker 2:And what we want very much is for you to be willing to reach out to us and talk to us, and I don't know if you know this or not, but we're required to have these office hours, and getting students to come to office hours is like pulling your teeth. And yet oftentimes after you come, they'll say oh, that wasn't so scary after all, Now you've been a student and you want to give them some coaching advice on office hours and talking to professors.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I would definitely say to utilize office hours as much as possible. We are required to have office hours and most of the time students don't show up, whether they think it's going to be super intimidating and they're going to get yelled at during office hours, or they don't know what questions to ask and they think kind of like Mary said, they're going to look dumb if they come in with the wrong questions. But that's completely not it at all. The professors are there to help. If you have questions that are sort of more basic not dumb but basic then that's okay as well, because that's going to let the professor know, kind of where most of your class is, at what level they're at, as well as where certain students are at as well. So once we know those levels, it's a lot easier to mold what we're bringing into class for everyone and the questions that y'all have specifically.
Speaker 2:You want to talk a little bit, Dominic, about what you're studying and how you feel about the topics you're studying and the courses, how you picked them.
Speaker 4:Yeah. So I really wanted to do pre-med. Right now. I am a biology major, you know, with just focusing on, you know, courses, that'll help me with medical school. You know, obviously I was going to have to take some biology courses, but whenever I found out, you know, while I was getting advised, that I was going to have to, you know, reject some AP credit that I earned, I was kind of like really Like I worked so hard for this, but it's okay.
Speaker 2:So now tell us why they told you you had to reject it. Did it have to do with med school?
Speaker 4:Yeah, med school they were. You know they told me like medical schools really don't like AP credit, like they'd rather you have the experience like in college and in the labs and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:Because the high school AP class had that, compared to what you're doing now, because I guess you took the same class.
Speaker 4:So the high school one, it was still mostly like the work was in class. I didn't have to do much studying outside of class. You know, just a little bit of like vocab. Really that was the biggest thing. You know, we didn't really have many labs in class either. Our classes were only like 40 minutes long. Now, like you have your lectures and then you're like man, I just got a lot of information. I need to like really work hard to remember what in the world we just talked about. And then the labs in college as well. You know like whenever I went to my first one, I was like, wow, this is like a real, real lab. I just, you know, it's just a lot different.
Speaker 2:How about you, Paola? How did you pick your classes and what classes are sort of speaking to you the most that you're getting the most out of?
Speaker 7:Well, I actually didn't pick my classes. The schedule was given to me because I took the TSI late, so my advisor didn't have appointments close to the date when I had my TSI scores. They had like three weeks away and it was too hard because, like my coaches needed to have my schedule. So a person helped me, like to pick me up the classes, and they gave me the schedule. So I didn't know what to expect in my class actually, and the only thing they sent me was like syllabus from past classes, like for other classes that they had. So I only read those and I went to the classes like that.
Speaker 2:You just went to the classes? Yeah, Did you start a little bit late? Did you start on the first day of classes with everybody?
Speaker 7:I started in the first day of classes. The thing is, I took my TSI, like then in June. So then the classes. If I waited for the appointment, the classes were going to be full and I was not going to be able to have enough credit.
Speaker 2:You just brought up something that all students have to deal with, which is advising, and classes sign up, right. So, dylan, were you advised the way she was? Did they just tell you here's what you have to take because you're an athlete?
Speaker 6:No, no, when I went to orientation and picked my classes, I have no clue. So I had to come back up here and change my classes. My mom she knows me, she knows I don't know what I want to do right now. She could tell, and I told her I don't know what I want to do. So she was just like go do your core classes and then, when you get ready to major in something, you already have them out the way ready to like major in something.
Speaker 2:You already have them out the way. A lot of people know, or think they know, about core classes. Now, mary, you took a lot of dual credit right, and so you know a little bit about that. I want to address something that you just said, dylan, which I think is really important. It's okay to come here and not know what the heck you're going to do, because part of the reason why we have those core classes, you know we have two composition classes, we have a literature class, we have a math class, we have political science, american history, things that poor old Paula's fighting with right now, and then you also have something in that fine arts and something in the social sciences and I probably left something out the hard sciences as well.
Speaker 2:And that's so people just like you, dylan, who have no idea what you want to do, but just know you think you better go on to college and get going, can have a little bit of this, a little bit of that, a little bit more of something else and get a sense of what your faculties are. Here I'm going to use the fancy word we use in British literature the faculties are your will, your intelligence, your imagination, your ability to think, and when we talk about your faculties, we're talking about all the things that make you, intellectually and emotionally, you and so that's what you're supposed to be doing is developing those things, and those classes four, maybe five classes will start to do that for you. Now, mary, you got ahead by taking some dual credit classes, right, or AP. Now tell us a little bit about what your journey was with that.
Speaker 5:Yeah, so I was able to come into college as like I think I had like 36 credit hours from high school, that's like a whole year. Yeah, I'm classified as a sophomore and in fact this year I'm able to take a junior level class. But for me, with registering for classes, I was lucky enough since I am, like my hometown is so close to UT Tyler, my high school set up a pre-registration event. Like my hometown is so close to UT Tyler, my high school set up a pre-registration event. So I just went into a library one time and there was an academic advisor there and she kind of just like asked me what my major was, what I wanted to be, and she pretty much was like, ok, these are all the classes you're going to take.
Speaker 5:And I was like, ok, I mean like I was so like uninformed of like what classes I needed to take, what classes and credits I already had. There wasn't like I couldn't even ask any questions. I had no idea. I was just like, ok, I'm going to go to class and learn, like that's all I had. But I think my classes now I'm definitely in the right place. But the whole journey and it's still very overwhelming at times when it's like OK, we got to get ready for the next semester. What core classes do you have right now? And your curriculum path and for your degree plan? And it's a lot of terms that I've yet to become familiar with, but I think throughout the course, especially freshman year, I'm going to be able to get familiar with those a lot better.
Speaker 2:You know, this is a big confusion for a lot of people and there's so many balls in the air and like all these different fields, and that's why it's a university, so you have all these different courses and all these things to study, but it can be overwhelming and everybody's supposed to have these core classes. They have to have some basic writing, some basic composition, some math and science and on up to history and social sciences and some literature classes and it does seem like what. I don't know if I need that. In your case, you already knew you wanted to be an English professor Amazing. In your case, dominic, you're thinking about medicine and so you have an idea. But over here we got a guy who just says I just want to get to college and try to figure it all out, which is lovely.
Speaker 2:It's exactly where a lot of us hope you will be, because a lot, lot of times I've had students come to me desperate to become a medical student and they took a couple of math classes or a couple of higher levels of the biology and they went oh my God, I don't want to do this. I can't stand it. My parents think I'm supposed to do this. I've told everybody my girlfriend or my boyfriend thinks I'm doing it. What do I do I really like English? What boyfriend thinks I'm doing it? What do I? Do I really like English? What am I going to do with an English degree? Or I really like history.
Speaker 2:What can I do with a history degree? And we can tell you what you can do with those degrees? Okay, because obviously somewhere along the line we got to figure out what you're going to do when you get out of here, right, and that's the big goal. But also we want you to get such a good foundation when you're here that you're not rushing through to get finished and miss a chance to take a great art history class, for example, mary. Or maybe take an incredible geography class or an astronomy class and things like that. Dylan, tell us a little bit so far. Can you tell us what classes you're taking, and is it giving you a sense of which direction you want to go yet, or is it a little early? It's only three weeks in in yeah, it's a little early.
Speaker 2:I'm taking uh english forensic chemistry, music, appreciation, history so, generally speaking, you said it was really different and you're having to show up. Um, have you been surprised by anything you've learned so far? Have you noticed that this is something you might want to pursue? Yet it's a little early, but maybe I haven't really decided.
Speaker 6:I've just been trying to get a feel for it, you know, because it's different from high school. So I've just been trying to get different. I like sociology though.
Speaker 2:That's great. That's great, paula, did you have an idea what you wanted to study, like Mary wanted to be in English? We've got a doctor over here.
Speaker 7:We've got someone who's just glad he's figuring out how to get to his next class. What about you? My whole life I've known that I don't want to be in the medical field or something like biology and that stuff. I actually like more like the business side. Right now I'm an economics major and I have my econ class. I had it online but I like that class, so I guess I'm on the right path for now.
Speaker 2:We'll look for Dr Doty's class because she teaches the most amazing macro and microeconomics class.
Speaker 7:Yeah, they recommend me that class but it's full and it doesn't fit my schedule.
Speaker 2:That's an issue too, isn't it? Getting classes that fit your schedule? You can't always get in the professor you want or the time of day you want. How's your schedule working out for you, Dominic?
Speaker 4:Really, my schedule was decided because I got advised late. I'm going to be honest. I went to the last session of Swoop Camp and a lot of the better times I would say were filled up already. So I have biology three days a week, I have psychology twice a week and I have English twice a week and then I have stats three times.
Speaker 2:So that's a different kind of schedule to have, isn't it Five days a week?
Speaker 4:normally you'd have class after class after class. So what do you do with all that free time? Is it free time? It's not really free time. Between my 8 am biology class, I have my stats class at like 11. And so between that time I go to the arts and science building and I usually work on, you know, assignments that I need to do. But I also study in that time Like I work and I study for the exams that are coming up and quizzes and all sorts of stuff like that.
Speaker 2:So it's three weeks in. You're not going home, it's working. You got 12 more weeks. How does that look? Is it uphill or is it like? Ah, I think I'm getting.
Speaker 4:It's looking a little uphill because, you know, we just haven't had any exams yet, and that's the thing that's causing me just a little bit of stress right now, Because you know, actually I had my first exam today and I was like I don't know what this exam is going to look like.
Speaker 2:And how did it look?
Speaker 4:Actually it wasn't that bad. It was a stats exam and it wasn't bad at all. Like I thought I was going to be underprepared for it and just really not know what was going on, but I actually felt really good about it.
Speaker 2:Makes me really happy to hear that. So let's talk a little bit about the thing that surprised you the most. Everybody, think about what surprised you the most. We'll go to you, paola, first, and then we'll talk to Dylan and then Mary. So what surprised you the most about being a freshman in college, a first-year person in college?
Speaker 7:The thing that surprised me the most was like the length of the classes. The classes are super long and at the end of the class sometimes I can't remember what did the teacher said at the beginning, and also like all the works and assignments that we have to do outside the class. So it's just not the class. We have like assignments, readings, quizzes. We need to watch videos. Yeah, it's like so different.
Speaker 2:Which of the things I did when I was in high school. Do you think that's different from the way it is in universities in Ecuador, or do you think it's just the university?
Speaker 7:I would say it's kind of like the same, but not in the workload that the students have. Like classes are kind of like the same, but the after-the-class things they're like a workload that is bigger than the ones in Ecuador.
Speaker 2:The workload Now. I think you told me earlier that a lot of folks in Ecuador think going to the US for a college degree is a good thing to do. Is that correct?
Speaker 7:A lot of folks in Ecuador think going to the US for a college degree is a good thing to do. Is that correct? Yeah, if you play sport like tennis, and if you have the opportunity to go, you can do it. But it depends on also what you want to study, because, like, if you want to be a doctor, it's going to be like really long career and you're not allowed to play more than eight semesters, I think like four years. So imagine if you decided to come to do meds. You have to first do pre-med and then you have to do the med school. So it's going to be hard. Or if you want to study law, if you study law here in the United States, your degree is not going to work in Ecuador if you come back. So it depends on the career.
Speaker 2:I hear you, I hear you. So, dylan, what surprised you the most so far at UT Tyler?
Speaker 6:I'll say the work that you have to do outside of class, all the stuff that they said. It was true.
Speaker 2:It really is as hard as they say it is. Now the professors is intimidating, as Mary feels like they are.
Speaker 6:No, because, like I mean, I'm just there to listen, like I, like all my professors they understand and like I can email them, I can talk to them if I have any help.
Speaker 2:I would add one thing it is important not just to listen, it's important to be an active member of the class. That's a big transition. We don't want you to sit there and be listeners, we want you to be active participants, and I want to know how that's going for you, mary. And then I want to hear from you over that mental stoop.
Speaker 5:But I don't know, I mean, I just I feel like in a college class, I'm just there to learn and I think that might be some high school mentality getting to me I'm just there to learn. It's not necessarily a collaborative space. It's more so like I still have the mentality that the teachers are like trying to show their superiority by saying like, oh, let me teach and let me see how well you can listen. No, it's more. I need to change my mind for it to be like a collaborative, like I need to learn with my professors and I need to be like participating in class in order to get the full experience. But yeah, I feel like I need to be a little more brave in class.
Speaker 2:I'm glad you understand that, but it is a hard jump, isn't it? Michaela, you want to address this issue because I think this is a really important one, and I've watched Michaela become, in many ways, the ideal student, and now she's probably an ideal teacher. You learn more when you participate, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So one thing we like to try to convey to our students is that if you have a question, oftentimes everyone else in the class, or almost everyone else in the class, has that same question and they're on the same level as you of not really wanting to speak up and ask about it. But you're never going to sound dumb or like it's too basic of a question because, kind of going back to what I was saying earlier, we want to know what levels y'all are at and kind of how we can best give you resources, and so when you speak up then we'll know kind of how we can mold our lessons to help you best, because we already know the content as the professor, as the teacher, right. So we're not up there saying it just to be up there and to say it and to get paid. We're there to make sure that you're learning. We're there to make sure that you're growing and that you're getting what you need for in the future when you have to apply those skills and that knowledge to your job.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and when you say level, we don't really care what level you are. We're not judging you by what your level is. We just need to know what it is so that we can work with you. I mean, I've got students in the class that Mary and Dylan are in. They're really bright but they have some learning disabilities and I have to spend extra time with them. I've got a student in another class who is blind, and so, while the rest of the class is taking a handwritten quiz, I'm over there reading her the questions and she's responding to me. But that's okay, because all of you all are here. You made it in, we know you can do the work, but then every one of you, being a different human, has got different gaps, different interests, different skills, different faculties. The more you tell us, the more we can help. Now I'm watching your face, dominic, and you're having a lot of thoughts. Do you want to comment on a few of the things we've just been talking about?
Speaker 4:I mean the way that I've always learned like the best is. You know, I really like to see examples and I like to do like example questions and most classes they have a textbook with some example questions, but some of those questions they don't really make much sense and then the textbooks are kind of just hard to understand. It's hard to find, like the resources that I need to learn the content like to the best of my ability.
Speaker 2:So what are you doing to work on that?
Speaker 4:I've contacted a few of my professors. I've talked to them a little bit. I've mostly just introduced myself to them, just trying to get a little bit more of a personal connection, because I know these people, they want to help me.
Speaker 2:Well, and if you were to come up to me and say, dr Ross, this question in this textbook doesn't make a bit of sense, I don't understand it. You think I'm going to look at you and say, well, you're a big dummy. No, I'm going to say. I'm probably going to say, yeah, I don't exactly understand it either. Let's work it out. Textbooks are just textbooks. What's really happening in a classroom is this stuff. You know what's going on. Now.
Speaker 2:The advising you said you were advised late. Advising is a big issue in universities and it's a big problem because we've got over 11,000 students here and each one of you has got to take five courses this semester and five next semester and 10 for the next three or four years each. And you just think about the numbers going up there in the air, all the number of people that we've got to advise, and so it's almost always a bottleneck early on and one of the best pieces of advice we can give other people. Because you all said advising was a problem. Right, we know it and we try to work hard to fix it. But you can also always reach out to individual professors for that, and the best advice for high school students probably is sort it out ahead of time if you can.
Speaker 2:But if you can't, your coaches almost always will intervene. In your case, the dean of the Honors College will help. In your case, poor old you, you don't have anybody but us to help you. But it sounds like you went to your professors, right? Okay, so that's a big step right there. So we've talked a little bit about what surprised you the most. It's the amount of work you have to do outside. What pleased you the most?
Speaker 4:Just getting to meet new people. You know I'm in a whole different town. Most of these people I didn't meet until either orientation or move-in day. I'm really excited to be able to meet new people, meet with professors, people that can give me future jobs. That's the thing I'm most excited for is just having connections and having people that I can rely on.
Speaker 2:Your world has gotten a lot wider all of a sudden, hasn't it? But it also sounds like you've responded to that. You haven't been afraid of it. You've sort of reached out and shook hands with us, right?
Speaker 4:Yes, I have. I always had the idea like, oh yeah, I'm definitely going to go like reach out to my professors, but honestly it took me. After the first day I was like man, there's a lot of people like in my biology class especially there's over 100 people in there and then there's been a one professor and I couldn't do it the first day. But after that I slowly got warmed up to them and, you know, I was able to like actually meet them.
Speaker 7:What about you. I think that the thing that pleased me the most was first, the fact that I understand all of my classes, that I was able to understand what the teachers were saying and I also like all like the support that I have here. Like some of my professors have told me that if I have questions, that I can go to their office hours and also to meet new people. Like it was so weird because when I came here I didn't know anyone and now I have like my acquaintances and meet new people and like that.
Speaker 2:How about you, Dylan? What surprised you the most?
Speaker 6:To be honest, I thought professors was going gonna be real hard on like students, like real hard, be like figured out on your own, but they really understanding, they'll help you if you need it. And like meeting new people because like I don't really talk much, I just stay quiet, but like I met some people and they cool.
Speaker 2:What about you, Mary? Surprised you the most.
Speaker 5:I think what surprised me the most is how much control over my own schedule I do have, like throughout the day. I mean, especially in high school I was told, like when to go to class and I kind of had to work my at-home and out-of-school schedule around school. So it was kind of like I had no control there. But now I get to dictate when I study whether that's in the middle of the night or if I wanted to sleep in. Well, of course I still have to go to class, but I have a lot more control over my whole schedule and I think that surprised me the most and also it's one of the most pleasing things.
Speaker 2:What I'm hearing today makes me really happy for all you guys, but managing time is a big deal, isn't it Now? Now for an athlete? It sounds like for you, paula, the tennis team and practices really do manage your time for you, and so you miss out on some things. What about you over there in the track team? Do you have the same problem?
Speaker 6:no, not really. Like if you have class, they'll tell you go to class. Like they take like school serious, they make sure like you get your education. So if you can't make it to practice because when you need to study or like you have class, like you'll come like after you have class and you would just get your workout in.
Speaker 2:This is D2 now, right, division two, and so you all have scholarships, is that right? And so to keep them, you got to keep doing the work, don't you? Scholarship is meaningful there. So your schedule, paola, sounds like it's really really restricted by tennis right now. Is that going to be the way it's all year, you think?
Speaker 7:It depends on the semester. This semester I have practice kind of 9 to 12. Every day, yeah, 9 to 12. All the days my mornings are from practice. I have classes in the afternoon every day. So I only have afternoons free.
Speaker 2:Dominic, I want to ask you a question about your time and the freedom you have. How do you manage your time, and is managing time been an issue for you?
Speaker 4:I really had to force myself when I first got here to like actually study. You know, after the first day I realized how much free time I actually have and I'm like it's great to have all this free time, but at the same time it's like what can I do to like take advantage of this? So I had to force myself to like go to the library, get my work done. And then, you know, in the mornings, you know on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when I don't have my 8 am I actually go to the gym before classes? 8 am I actually go to the gym before classes? And so, you know, I take advantage of just all the free time I have to, you know, work on my classes but also work on myself as a person.
Speaker 2:I'm glad you mentioned that you're going to the gym, because we got two athletes here, you don't have to worry about going to the gym. But a lot of times they talk about the freshman 15, the 15 pounds you gain your freshman year because you don't do as much as you used to and there's always food around and all of that sort of stuff. So, mary, have you been able to get physical activity?
Speaker 5:in. I haven't been to the gym yet because it's kind of scary, but every day I go on a long walk. That's kind of like my free time, like usually it's around two hours a day. I walk and I get upwards to like eight to ten miles a day, but I just walk and I put my music in and I kind of just like daydream and stuff. But yeah, I feel like that's the most physical I get and with eating and stuff, the Met food isn't really something that is such a treat that I just can't help but indulge myself every day. So I think that's kind of helpful. But definitely with all the fast food like the Subway and Chick-fil-a being on campus, you have to be responsible and that's kind of helpful. But definitely with all the fast food like the subway and Chick-fil-a being on campus, you have to be responsible and that's where you have to kind of grow up and be like oh, I can't eat Chick-fil-a three times a day, every day, even though it's super good.
Speaker 2:Does the tennis team make you eat certain food? Do you have to have a special athletic diet?
Speaker 7:No, the only thing they told us is to eat healthy, like to know what our body needs, like to be able to get through the practice and like through the whole day, and to make good decisions at the Met.
Speaker 2:The Met. By the way, is our dorm food right. It's cafeteria.
Speaker 7:Yeah, so you can't eat pizza every day, although it's there, isn't it? Yeah, it's there, but you can't eat pizza every day. So you have to make good choices based on what your body needs and what you need as a person. Of course, you can decide to eat pizza once a week, but you can't eat pizza three times a day, or Chick-fil-A Even though you have it there. You have to manage your decisions and be aware of the consequences that will have on your weight or on your health have like on your weight or on your health.
Speaker 2:It's really impressing me that you're saying all these things, because I wonder sometimes what kind of decisions and what kind of knowledge our students have about their body and their health, because it's so important. And you know, good minds don't come from weak bodies or from malnourished bodies or poorly nourished bodies. What about you?
Speaker 6:They tell us not all fuel is good fuel. So like they tell us we need to eat breakfast, but like not just no heavy breakfast. Before you come like lift or practice, they tell us to eat a couple hours before practice. They tell us you got to eat something before you come. That's your fuel.
Speaker 2:Have you been able to eat well enough? I mean, have you been able to find food that you're willing to eat?
Speaker 6:I mean, I don't really eat breakfast like that, but like I eat some fruit, I eat the med food sometimes and then like I buy some the next day.
Speaker 2:So y'all live in dorms or apartments. Really, it's a university apartment, Is that right Dylan?
Speaker 6:Yeah, I like it. I mean, it's really your own room. You have your own restroom. You share the kitchen Me and my roommate we cool, we know each other.
Speaker 2:That's great, that's great. What about you? How's the dorm life for you over there, paola?
Speaker 7:My apartment is really nice. I have two roommates and they're both on the tennis team, so we are seeing each other every day. We walk every day together. We live in Building 12, so we're really far away, but like it's really nice to have your own room, your own restroom, and like it makes you feel more at home because you live in an apartment like at a house. You share the kitchen with your roommates, but like you have your own space.
Speaker 2:That's kind of different from home, isn't it?
Speaker 7:And it's a good different yeah at least I don't share my room with another person, but I have my own space. I can be there if I want or I can go, like, to their sharing space, like that. So it's different, but it's good to have your own space. Yeah, I'm glad to hear that.
Speaker 2:What about you, Dominic? I really like my dorm so you're in a dorm, not an apartment situation.
Speaker 4:Yeah, but I'm in one of the triple rooms so I have two roommates. I do have my own personal space. I mean I don't have to share a room with someone exactly, but it's not like a huge space and I don't really spend much time in there anyways. You know, I enjoy it, but I think the hardest part is not having like a kitchen. I like to actually cook stuff and it's kind of not easy to do in those rooms. There is a community kitchen, but it's not the same.
Speaker 2:So these two athletes with their apartments are making you kind of jealous, aren't they?
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, you know what to shoot for next round. Huh, how about you, Mary? How's the dormitory situation?
Speaker 5:Yeah, I too live in the three-bedroom dorm and I didn't cook much at home, so the absence of a kitchen is not as surprising to me. But the thing that is kind of getting to me is I live with RA. She's a junior now and RA is a residential assistant, so she's kind of like not necessarily the dorm police, but she's the dorm mom. The one thing that I have been struggling with is like getting to know my roommates, because with the three-suite dorm we get to close our own rooms and we can seclude ourselves easily. Especially when we were getting into it and we first moved in, everyone wanted to like have alone time and it was kind of hard to reach out. But yesterday in fact was my RA's birthday, so me and my other roommate we went to the Dollar Tree and we decorated her room and got her some presents and stuff. That was kind of like one of the first moments we had like all three together, like realizing okay, like we live together, we can be besties too.
Speaker 2:Having a bad roommate situation, especially first year, can be really traumatic. Everybody lucked out and you didn't not luck out, mary, you just took a little while to get it developed, huh. So now we're going to talk about what is your best advice to maybe friends back in Midland who want to go off to college. What would you tell them? What are two or three things each of you would tell a student coming up to look out for, or be sure you do, or be sure you don't do.
Speaker 4:I'd tell them to just try and get ahead early.
Speaker 2:With their academics.
Speaker 4:Yeah, like get ahead early with academics, get advised early, get registered for housing early, like get everything done that you know you need to get done, so that way you don't have to end up like some people One of my friends actually. He ended up in one of the double rooms, but there's three people in there. You know it's just not great. And so my biggest piece of advice is get things done early so that way you don't struggle.
Speaker 2:And, of course, a lot of times they don't know what the things are. Do they Advising dorm rooms, getting your ID, all the stuff that you have to do? Okay, mary.
Speaker 5:A piece of advice I would give to incoming freshmen would definitely be give yourself some grace. Especially for me, I thought college was supposed to be a lot easier than home life, because you get to look by yourself and you get to dictate everything you do on your own. But it's definitely hard to now have to think oh, I need to make sure I eat three times a day and I have to make sure I allow myself enough time to sleep and take care of myself without the presence of parents or people looking over you all the time. So definitely I would say give yourself some grace and realize that you're doing a big thing and you should be proud of yourself, no matter if you think you fail or not.
Speaker 2:Oh, I think that's such a good way. You are doing a big thing. It's so much more social and emotional development that's happening for you all right now. It's a huge leap. I'm so glad you called attention to that, Mary. Thank you, Okay, Dylan. What's your best advice to kids back at your school?
Speaker 6:I'd say not to procrastinate on anything, especially work-wise. You can't procrastinate because, like, if you get behind, like it's kind of hard to catch back up. Because, like, if you get behind, like it's kind of hard to catch back up, and like, when you get here, like, be social, you want to meet new people and you want to get to know new people because you never know, they might help you or might be like a long-term friend.
Speaker 2:You know they say a lot of people meet their future partner in school or they come and join them a year or two later. Never can tell what about you.
Speaker 7:What's your best advice? My best advice is to be prepared, kind of prepared to be by yourself and like get things done by yourself, like not having other person, like telling you what to do, and like prepared to sometimes feel lonely or feel like you miss your home and like that. Also be prepared for the classes so they won't take you by surprise or you won't be like surprised on the first day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so college is the real deal, but it sounds like all four of you are handling it. Anything else you want to add to this conversation or anything you thought of as a teacher but also a former student here?
Speaker 3:Maybe I'll just add also like my advice for first year college students. So I would just say, once you do get here, also trying to find all of the resources that you can because, like we talked about earlier, professors are a big resource, but then the university, not just professors but career centers and the library and the writing centers, and there's so many other resources as well as organizations that you can get involved with that will help you to kind of acclimate to campus a little bit better, as well as acclimate to your academics a little bit better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the librarians, for example. You've had your meeting with Ms Dubry now, and you've had yours too. How did that go? Tell folks about that research librarian.
Speaker 6:I'll say Ms Dubry is a big help Having to do projects writing papers. She'll guide you through like how to get information from the web and all that and using the library database.
Speaker 2:It's like a teacher that's not your teacher, right? Yeah, she's great. Yeah, what about you, mary?
Speaker 5:My meeting with her was so insightful as to, like you think a librarian doesn't do much. Oh, they just sit around with a lot of books, but she showed me how to navigate the online databases and how much like I didn't know and how much effort is put into actual research. So I feel like it was just so insightful, like meeting with her, and definitely I'm going to be in contact with her a lot more as I go throughout college.
Speaker 2:And she will stay with you throughout your time, especially because she's the lit lang person. So she's going to be your specialty. I use Ms Dubree in my own research. In fact, my first book is dedicated partly to her, because if it hadn't been some things that she helped me find that I could have never found, I couldn't have gotten through with that book.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, there's libraries. I'm so glad you brought up resources. And here's the other thing too you pay for it. It's part of the deal, so you use it as much as you can. We also have counseling services and we have the career center is really good. Did you know? We have a career closet? You can get career clothes. You can get fancy clothes if you want to go on a job interview.
Speaker 2:I want to tell you all that. Y'all made me smile about 18 times this afternoon, and I know it's a Friday afternoon. You want to get out of here. But most of all, I hope you take the wisdom that you've shared with us back to your dorm or to your fancy apartment or to your team, and I just want to compliment you on making you're making the transition. You're doing the thing. There's these two fancy professors called Chickering and Reiser. They talk about the seven vectors of college student development, and only one of them has to do with studying. All the others have to do with interpersonal relations. They have to do with learning how to be alone, but also how to reach out and how, ultimately, to find who you are, what your ethics and your identity are, and those are things that I think you're all already working on, and I'm real happy that you all are here at UT Tyler. So thank you for being a part of our conversation so well. That was pretty interesting. I enjoyed that. I guess that's a wrap, ashley.
Speaker 8:Yes, ma'am, this has been the Ask Dr Ross podcast. Thank you so much for listening in with us today, and if you have questions about college life or any of the topics that we were talking about today, please send us your questions to ADR questions at gmailcom. We'd love to hear from you. In the meanwhile, we'll see you in the next episode. Thank you very much. This is Ashley Wirtle signing off. Bye-bye.
