Hey all,

Welcome to The College Blog! I am a recent graduate of SLA (‘24), and I am currently enrolled as a freshman at Haverford College. I am writing to all of the prospective college students in the hope of creating something I didn’t have when I was in your shoes; a guide to things I wish I knew when I was a rising junior and senior, coming from an SLA alum. I sincerely hope you all find this a helpful resource, and that it helps to better prepare you for the next chapter of your learning journey.

This post will be about one of the things I learned immediately when I transitioned to college from SLA; structure. In SLA, your teachers know who you are—you have advisors, and they have been with you for four years. They know your parents pretty well, and email you when you’re flagging in your studies, to try to push you to succeed. In college, all of that is on you. You’re considered an adult now, and everyone will treat you like one.

I’ll go into more detail later on, but the gist of what changes from SLA to college can be pretty well summed up in the table below:

SLA
College/University
Bands for each class, “waterfall” pattern
YOU make your schedule
Teachers email you when you’re doing well or struggling
Often, teachers only know who you are if YOU participate
Jeremy Spry emails with opportunities either at SLA or outside SLA
YOU have to find opportunities yourself

First semester, I was in charge of creating my schedule. There were no bands, just my blank calendar and the course catalogue. Each college and university is different, but across all institutions, there is the freedom to choose what you want to pursue and learn about, and it’s a great feeling. I was able to take a history class just because I didn’t know anything about history and wanted to learn more about it—it was truly an educational culture shock.

One thing to understand when it comes to picking classes is that sometimes, there are time limits, and people might need that class for a major requirement, or just click the “register” button slightly faster than you. However it happens, you could end up on the waitlist for a class. The important thing to remember is: don’t panic. In movies and TV-shows, the waitlist is this scary thing that prevents the main character from being able to take the class. Registration becomes this life-or-death situation. It’s not! Always remember that your professors are people—talk to them. Email them your situation in a polite and kind way, and they will listen and hear you out.

At SLA, teachers email you when you’re struggling, letting your parents know with “progress notes,” and sitting you down during lunch with the express purpose of helping you pass your classes. However, in big universities, teachers probably won’t recognize you if their class is lecture-based; some classes can be up to one hundred students. They probably will only be aware of you via email. That’s why it’s incredibly important to participate and ask questions. No matter how scary you think your professor is, they are there to teach you the subject matter, and if you show them that you care about your grades, they will always help you. I was falling quite a bit behind in my introductory chemistry class in the fall semester, and even though I was scared of talking to my professor alone, I knew that my fear of failing the class and having to retake it was greater than that of talking to a stranger. So I went to his office hours, and told him exactly what I was struggling with. He gave me a step-by-step plan of how to pass the class. I ended up passing with an A+ in his class—and it only reaffirmed my belief that talking to your professor is incredibly important, and will help you succeed in any class.

It’s doubly important to get to know your professors outside of class; even if you don’t need help, talk to them during office hours about their interests, say hi to them if you pass by them. Get them to recognize you. At SLA, Jeremy sends out a bi-weekly memo with opportunities in SLA and outside of SLA—I remember how easy it was for my friends to find internships each quarter. You may take those emails for granted now—some of you might not even read them—but in secondary education, no emails will be sent to you with opportunities that aren’t replying back to your own. Don’t think of this as a scary, insurmountable obstacle—there are plenty of jobs on campus that colleges and universities provide to students. At Haverford, one of my friends works as a library assistant, and another works as an academic tutor for introductory physics. There are plenty of opportunities out there, as long as you gather the motivation to find them.

Moral of the story is, in higher education, you are an adult. No one except yourself will get you to where you need to be. And that’s not so scary if you have the internal motivation to propel yourself towards your goal, whatever that may be.

To your success!

Lara Rosenbach

Class of 2024