Column:

Beyond-the-basics tips for tigers

Here's some advice we all could use.

By Erica Zucco

Published July 7, 2009

If you're entering (or entered) MU as a freshman, chances are you've spent a few SWeet, SWeaty days SWarming around campus rubbing David Francis' nose, learning the "dry campus" policy and hearing words that normally start with vowels prefixed with "SW."

It's two busy days jam-packed with tours, talks and advising sessions meant to comfort your anxious parents and make you know and love MU. Summer Welcome does help you set up your schedule, learn about STRIPES and the Student Health Center and in some cases, gets you pumped about "being a tiger."

But for some incoming students, orientation and the associated pamphlets and information packets are just a stream of cliche advice and professions of love for M-I-Z-Z-O-U.

And for some students, brief discussions about the dangers of parking garages, resources for survivors of rape and sexual assault and the common emergence of depression in college (15 percent of college students begin having depressive symptoms when they come to school, according to a University of Michigan Depression Center study) aren't enough.

Summer Welcome might help introduce you to MU's traditions and get you settled in, but it doesn't (and in some cases, can't) prepare you for a lot of what you'll face when you actually get to college. Two days just isn't enough time to get through it all!

So here are just a few other things to know to help you make MU your home:

1. It's OK to ask for help. College is a time to become independent and grow up if you aren't/haven't already, but sometimes there are things you can't tackle on your own. The Counseling Center is great, but it's often impossible to get an appointment in the near future and there are, in some cases, specific resources to target what you need. Become acquainted with the Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Center, the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center, the LGBT Resource Center and the Women's Center. Those are just a few. Know what your options are. And use them -- that's what they're there for.

2. You've heard the buzzwords -- "get involved." Typically they translate into "join student organizations," "go to football games" and "be busy, busy, busy." But after joining every group under the sun (and eventually having to drop many), I caution you to take that advice with a grain of salt. Join smart. Find activities that specifically fit your career goals and personal beliefs and that you think might help you grow. Sometimes you have to say no to the good opportunities so you'll have time and energy when the great ones come along.
   

3. Allow yourself some time to be spontaneous, to explore, to get to know yourself. Because as clichŽ as it sounds, college is one of the best and easiest times to figure out what you believe and care about and what kind of difference you want to make. For some of us, it's the first chance we have to really get to know people that aren't from the same gender or religion or ethnicity or region as we are. And over the next four years, gradually learn how to live and behave as an adult. Grow up.

4. "You will fit in somewhere." Here's the thing -- you might not. And that's OK. College is, in part, about independence and growth -- learning to be happy with yourself, and learning and experience as much as you can in the process. And when you notice other people who don't fit into the mold, don't just accept it -- embrace it.

In your first few weeks or months or even years at MU, you're going to learn a lot about yourself and a lot that will shape your perceptions of the world around you. Don't be afraid to step out of the pre-distributed black and gold box that says to join these Mizzou-rah groups or attend these specific events to experiment. Take the classes you want to take, and make the friends you want to make. In time, you too will bleed black and gold...and whatever other colors you choose.