First year university students often claim that good academic skills will lead them to academic success. However, research suggests that social skills and personal attributes have a significant influence on how well students cope with the challenges of transition to university.
This essay examines the process of transition of a young person to a new university environment. In this essay it is argued that an excellent academic performance is not the only key and is not the most important factor for the achievement of academic success. Some people say that personal attributes, social skills and good-fellowship are even more effective than academic achievements when it comes to dealing with a difficult situation. A transition period is a very challenging time and a dramatic change for any student. This essay also points out that without specific communication and social skills the way to a successful first year of university study for a student is closed. And I definitely support this point of view.
The decision to attend university is one increasingly encouraged by schools and parents, as well as the Australian government (Gale & Tranter, 2011). But sometimes such a decision is considered as the Herculean task by young adults. It is not only of the most significant steps in a student's life, but also one of the toughest. Balancing your life and finding the ideal pace of living are not so easy as they seem, especially when you are left on your own for the first time in your life. When a young person enters a university, he/she start seeing their life from another point of view. Not only the priorities and preferences of a student may change significantly, but also his philosophy and attitude to life are not likely to remain the same. Practice report by Richardson, King, Garrett, and Wrench (2012) supports the idea that for many students, the struggle to balance the competing demands of study, work and personal commitments feels overwhelming and they report significant declines in their overall health and well-being.
Such a drastic change of the life scene may lead to a sequence of serious problems. Of course, the range of problems and the level of their seriousness may be different for every student, but there are several negative effects that the majority of first-year students experience. According to the article in Journal of American College Health by Douglas, Collins, Warren, (1997), for too many students the first year of study leads to negative effects. These problems the students are exposed to may have an unfavorable impact on their physical and moral health. The fact that first-year university students "tend to report decreases in physical activity" was brought to life by Leslie, Owen, Salmon, Bauman, Sallis, & Lo (1999). They prefer staying at home by themselves rather than simply going out for a walk or going in for sports activities. Another problem is that university education mostly focuses on the test results and academic performance. Therefore, many students are being under pressure all the time. So, despite the general agreement about the importance of a student's struggle towards the achievement of excellent academic results, this struggle may bring some serious negative effects with it.
The survey conducted by Hallett, Howat, Maycock, McManus, Kypri, & Dhaliwal (2012) exposed the information about many of the students using drugs for recreational purposes. This particular problem may get a student in trouble and he/she may even be expelled from a university. What is more, many students become avoidant and self-constrained and tend to shrink from society of their peers.
The first year transition is not the same for every student. According to Glogowska, Young, & Lockyer (2007) many complex and interrelated factors have an effect on students' adjustment to new conditions. There a lot of circumstances which influence whether first year students stay at the university or leave it. In general, there are two types of behaviour that are most common for the first-year university students. There are those who can easily adapt to the new conditions and those who have to struggle hard in order to adjust. As the future is in the lap of students, it is crucial for them not only to gain knowledge, but also to learn how to adapt to this demanding time and feel comfortable in any challenging situation.
The establishment of supportive and productive relations during the first year of study is one of the keys to succeed. Studying together and socializing outside of school is what helps students to thrive, but not survive (Glogowska, Young, & Lockyer, 2007). It is a well-known fact that studying together also encourages better academic results for both students. We can say that such interaction is like killing two birds with one stone. It means that such cooperation is beneficial for both students. Moreover, social activity involvement helps students to make new friends faster and easier than academic success does. In addition to this, socializing is the most important factor to avoid stress and make an escape from loneliness. Taking into consideration the fact that a first-year student has to face many problems all the time, it becomes obvious and understandable that a young person especially needs a friend who can support and pick a newcomer up. Sometimes making new friends can even help you build your future career, as these people may become your employer, or business partners. Therefore, students should not try to keep a low profile, quite the opposite, they should do their best in order to make friends with their peers.
Non-academic skills are just as crucial as the academic ones. Thus, these two components of a student's life should not be separated. Nicpon, Huser, Blanks, Sollenberger, Befort, & Robinson Kurpius (2007) suggest that non-academic skills have a variety of forms, including interpersonal skills and forming social relationships, coping and stress-management, as well as organizational skills. Such skills were recognized as being just as important as academic skills for a successful integration into the new university environment. Thus, a student that is socially active, has a lot of friends and knows how to '"sell himself/herself" can easily cope with the transition to university. Therefore, both academic and social skills are an integral part of a student's successful process of adjustment and should not be separated from each other.
A first year transition is a drastic change of the life scene of any student. Thus, it may lead to a sequence of serious problems. It is impossible to avoid these problems only by trying to survive or showing incredible academic results. Focusing exclusively on the academic performance puts students under pressure. Evidence points to the fact that the state of being under pressure all the time makes young people no good. However, there is always another way to deal successfully with the problems of transition period to a university. . No matter how hard you study to succeed in the achievement of incredible academic results, your personal attributes are the key to the successful adjustment to the new environment. Say the least, social skills and personal relations are just as important as academic skills and can help a student avoid depression, loneliness and other trouble during the transition period.
Reference list
1. Richardson, A., King, S., Garrett, R., & Wrench, A. (2012). Thriving or just surviving? Exploring student strategies for a smoother transition to university. A Practice Report. The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education, 3(2). 87-93. doi: 10.5204/intjfyhe.v3i2.133
2. Leslie, E., Owen, N., Salmon, J., Bauman, A., Sallis, J., & Lo, S. (1999). Insufficiently active Australian college students: Perceived personal, social, and environmental influences. Preventive Medicine, 28(1), 20-27. doi: 10.1006/pmed.1998.0375
3. Hallett, J., Howat, P., Maycock, B., McManus, A., Kypri, K., & Dhaliwal, S. (2012). Undergraduate student drinking and related harms at an Australian university: Web-based survey of a large random sample. BMC Public Health, 12(37), 37-44. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-12-37
4. Douglas, K., Collins, J., Warren, C., Kann, L., Gold, R., Clayton, S., Kolbe, L. (1997). Results from the 1995 National College Health Risk Behavior survey. Journal of American College Health, 46(2), 55-67. doi: 10.1080/07448489709595589
5. Glogowska, M., Young, P., & Lockyer, L. (2007). Should I go or should I stay? Active Learning in Higher Education, 8(1), 63-77. doi: 10.1177/1469787407074115
6. Nicpon, M., Huser, L., Blanks, E., Sollenberger, S., Befort, C., & Robinson Kurpius, S. (2007). The relationship of loneliness and social support with college freshmen's academic performance and persistence. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice 8(3), 345-358. doi: 10.2190/A465-356M-7652-783R
