Picture from my graduation this past spring. Photo attributed to Erin Pease.
Finding Your Niche
Hello, all incoming freshmen! Welcome to UW-Madison, I hope you all have just as great of an experience as I did at UW. Here are some tips that I wish I had known when I was in your shoes just 4 short years ago.
One thing that helped me find my niche and make meaningful connections with other Badgers was clubs and activities. UW has many options, finding something you enjoy scholastically or personally shouldn’t be hard. Making it easy to find other people who have similar interests.
Another big thing is making friends with people on your dorm floor. These are people you are going to see every day. It makes it easy to go to the dining hall with them, hit the gym, or walk to class. One of my best friends is a girl who lived next to me during my freshman year. So it’s a good thing I knocked on her door and forced her to hang out with me.
The last piece of advice I have is to make friends in your classes or within your major. There is a high likelihood that you are going to have similar classes throughout the next four years. Having someone else in the class with whom you can work on homework or study is a game-changer.