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- Hi everyone, my name is Daniela Padilla,
I am a K through 14 academic preparation specialist
with the Early Academic Outreach Program at UC San Diego.
So today we're gonna be talking specifically
to first generation college students hoping to give you
a little bit of insight into college and some advice
on how to navigate the experience.
So what we're actually going to be covering today
is first defining who a first-gen student is.
I'll talk a little bit about some big differences
between high school and college.
And then I'll get into my three main pieces of advice
which are; taking initiative, advocating for yourself
and finding community.
So defining what a first generation college student is,
so a first-gen student is someone whose parents
did not complete a Bachelor's degree.
And these students are typically the first
in their families to go to college.
Now, I hear this a lot from a lot of my students,
my older brother or sister went to college,
so I'm not a first-gen student.
And that's actually not true.
You are considered a first-gen student,
even if your older brother or sister graduated from
or went to a college.
Now, it's important to acknowledge
the first generation student experience because college
is a whole new ballgame.
There are different expectations, different policies.
And typically for first-gen students,
they are figuring this out as they go.
And this presents a very unique experience.
And it's important for us to talk about the challenges
that you may face and hopefully give you some advice
to help you overcome those challenges.
So some important differences between high school
and college, there are a lot but I'm going
to only talk about three important ones.
The first one is setting your own schedule.
So in high school, you probably went to school,
Monday through Friday 8:00am to 3:00pm,
and you had no choice.
In college, you are actually choosing your own schedule.
And ideally, you pick one that's best for you.
For example, if you know
that you're going to be working evenings,
then you wanna take classes in the morning
so that you can go to school in the mornings
and go to work in the evenings.
Similarly, if you know that you're not a morning person,
then you wanna take classes in the evenings
so that you don't have to wake up early for your classes.
You just need to figure out what works best for you.
Picking your own classes.
So not only do you get to pick when you go to school,
you actually get to pick what classes you take.
Now, in high school, you probably talked to your counselor
every time you are going to register for classes,
and they sat down and told you specifically what you needed
to take to graduate.
It's a little different in college in that,
one, you register yourself for your own classes.
And two, you probably won't meet with a counselor
as often as you did in high school.
So what I recommend is the first time that you meet
with a counselor,
sit down and talk about your general education requirements
and your major requirements,
and then create a four year plan.
So your general education requirements are classes
that your university will require you to take.
These are classes like, two years of English,
two years of math, one year of history, et cetera.
And then your major requirements are classes
that your specific major requires you to take
to graduate with a degree in that major.
So when you talk to your counselor,
sit down and talk about your general education requirements
and your major requirements and create that four year plan.
The four year plan tells you specifically
what classes to take and when.
This is really important because sometimes
classes are not offered consistently,
some classes may be only offered at certain times
of the year.
Some may not even be offered every school year.
So you need to make sure that you're taking the classes
that you need to be taking at the right time.
The third important difference is the academic rigor.
I've had a lot of students underestimate
how much classes change in college.
And when you go to college,
you're choosing to continue your education,
you're paying money to continue your education.
And so is everybody else around you.
So it's important to realize that you're surrounded
by committed individuals.
And it may be necessary for you to spend a little more time
studying or doing your homework, and that's perfectly okay.
It's just something to be aware of.
Now, what I hope that you're getting
from these important differences is that you are very much
treated like an adult.
It's up to you to be responsible and follow through
on your commitments, and I hope my advice helps you do that.
My first piece of advice is to advocate for yourself.
And this simply means to learn to look out for and speak up
for your best interest.
I created a little process and I'm gonna be using
financial aid and housing as the example
because these are two things that first-gen students
typically struggle with and rightly so.
These two topics can be confusing.
There's a lot of deadlines, a lot of policies
and things change from year to year.
So it can be confusing.
So what you need to start off by doing is understand
what it is that you're struggling with.
In this example, we're using financial aid and housing.
So the first thing you need to do is do your own research.
Try to learn as much as you can on your own
about these subjects.
Do simple Google searches, use your college website
or your college portal to figure out what the policies are
and how they apply to you.
The second step is to go in and ask others for help.
So financial aid and housing are good examples
because these two typically have offices set up
at your university where you can go in
and ask individuals for help with your specific case.
Now, when you're going in to talk to someone
and getting help, it's important to remember
that they are people just like you and me,
and people make mistakes.
So it's possible that you're gonna get some misinformation.
What's important is that you take notes on your meetings,
and you write down the name of the person
that you're talking to.
There were times in college where I had to file appeals
because I missed some important deadline.
And it was because I was given misinformation.
But it was easy for me to file the appeals,
and when because I had notes and I knew
who I had to talk to, and when.
So I highly encourage you all to take notes.
Second, when you're going in to talk to someone,
make sure that you actually get the help
and the clarification you need.
If something that they tell you is confusing,
it's perfectly okay for you to ask for them to explain
in a different way, or get clarification.
If they say, well, actually, you don't qualify
for this grant and you thought you did it.
it's perfectly okay for you to say,
well, actually, I did my own research
and I thought I was qualified,
can you explain to me why I'm not.
So make sure that you're always getting to the bottom
of what you need help with.
My second piece of advice is to take initiative.
So there are countless opportunities in college.
And what you need to decide is how you're going
to spend your time.
What I encourage you to do is to sit down and reflect
on what kind of experience you want to have.
And from there, do your own research.
So research what kinds of opportunities are available
at your school, maybe there's a study abroad program
at your school, maybe they have really great internships,
do the research to figure out what things you can join,
figure out how you apply, how you join,
and take advantage of the resources and the opportunities
that are available to you.
Something to keep in mind
when you're looking into this, is your career.
So for example, if you know you wanna be a lawyer,
do your research, figure out how you become a lawyer
and you're gonna figure out, you need to go to law school
and law schools care about good grades.
So maybe you need to spend time studying
and going to tutoring and making sure you earn high grades.
You may also realize that law schools really like experience
so maybe you'll look into legal internships,
or finding lawyers you can network with.
Also take initiative getting to know your professors.
So in high school, your teachers most likely knew you
and your name.
In college, this is not likely.
One professor can have hundreds of students in a lecture,
and it's up to you to take the initiative
to get to know them,
and give them the chance to know you.
You want to know your professors for three reasons.
One, because they themselves are a resource.
So they especially if it's a professor in your program
and your intended major, they know a lot of people,
they may even have direct opportunities,
work or internship opportunities for you.
So you can use them as a resource for opportunities.
Number two is if you wanna go to graduate school,
law school, medical school, these are the people
that are going to be writing your recommendations.
So you need to give them the chance to get to know you.
And then three, I really enjoyed getting to know
my professors in college.
I really admired them, I thought they were awesome.
They had done a lot of really important work.
So it was interesting for me to hear how they got
to where they are
and what their own college experience was like.
College professors are usually interesting people.
And then number three, seek help when you're struggling.
So if you are struggling in the class,
then you need to take initiative to figure out
how you can get help.
So can you talk to your professor?
Can you talk to your classmates and form a study group?
Can you research what tutoring is available for you?
When I was in college, I really struggled in the math class
and it was a class of 300.
And most of the class was doing really well.
So I was really intimidated to go talk to the professor.
And I didn't know what tutoring was available.
So I struggled through it on my own.
And I really wish that I had talked to the professor
because they probably would have pointed me to tutoring
or they would have offered to help me
and I probably would have gotten through that class
a lot easier than I did.
So make sure that you are taking the initiative to get help
when you're struggling academically.
Not only can you struggle academically,
you can also struggle mentally and emotionally.
College is a really big change, you're going through a lot.
And most universities now have therapists
that you can talk to about what you're going through.
Maybe we have some kind of program
where they can match you with a mentor
who has gone through the same experience
and can help you get through it.
Whatever it is, there's probably resources out there
to help you through your challenges.
So make sure that you're taking initiative
in looking out for opportunities and resources.
My final piece of advice is to find community.
So college is going to be so much easier
and so much better if you find people to share with.
Now, universities usually have spaces built in to them
where you can go in and find people, meet people.
A good example is student centers.
So these are centers like the cross cultural center,
an LGBTQ center, a black resource center,
these centers are a great place for you to go
and meet people and find community.
Another good one is student orgs.
So student orgs can be faith based, career based,
social based, but again, a good way for you to go
and do something, be a part of something
you're interested in and find other people
or meet other people.
And then some universities actually have
first generation specific programs.
These are for first-gen students.
And if your school has one of these,
I highly, highly encourage you to join them.
We talked a lot about taking the initiative
to find resources and opportunities,
these programs will usually help you through that process.
So make sure that you take advantage
of any first-gen student programs at your university.
And I've told you a couple places where you can go
and meet people but meeting people is only half of the step.
You also need to be willing to share your own experience
and connect with others.
You are all college students,
you're all going through the similar transition
from high school to college.
Find people that you can trust, that you can open up to
and connect with.
And that will make your college experience so much better
and so much easier.
That is all I have for you.
If you have any questions or you feel
like you need more individualized help,
you can visit eaop.ucsd.edu.
Thank you so much.
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