Life of an Undergraduate – Untold Story
“My daughter got selected to the Faculty of Medicine, University of Moratuwa!”
I’m pretty sure the beginning of your university life would have been somewhat similar to this. Maybe the faculty was different from mine. So, higher education is both our dream and that of our parents. They would have been overjoyed at our achievement. Some well-wishers might have joined our parents and celebrated our victory as theirs.
But what happens after the selection and all this over-excitement are what I’ll be emphasizing. In our context, a university is a place where several faculties, each consisting of 4-5 batches at a time, co-exist. Sometime after receiving the selection letter, we enter the university premises, not alone but as a batch with many others who carry the same dream in their hearts. Willingly or unwillingly, we’ll have to travel this journey with them.
Almost all of us spend around 20 years of our lives confined to a tiny space. Most of the significant people in our lives, including our friends, are from our school. But once we enter university, we encounter a diverse group of people, from different socio-cultural backgrounds, with unique personalities, not only in our batch but also in the university as a whole. We’ll find seniors, academic staff, non-academic staff, and other service providers here. So, initially, adapting to this completely new environment would be stressful, especially if you’re an introvert. For some of those who are fortunate, their school friends might follow them here. But not every one of us is lucky in this aspect. Sometimes we might be the only ones from our school or district selected for our respective course.
We are qualified for our selected course, undoubtedly due to our academic excellence. But who are these others in our batch? They are also equally talented as us. So, they might come with the “know-it-all” attitude, which could sometimes be depressing and suppressing. Apart from all these human factors, we need to adapt to the following changes as well: The unique culture of a university, from the dress code to the events organized; the massive amount of work at universities compared to school days; usage of English instead of our mother language. While adapting to these, parents’ expectations can also lead to trauma.
Thus, the initial days and months at university could be daunting. Now comes the question, how can we face all these challenges and survive here? First, it’s crucial to understand that these challenges are temporary. Next, we should thank our universities for helping us orient via an orientation program. Taking part in this itself can solve many issues like socialization and language barriers and change the “know-it-all” attitude slowly to the “learn-it-all” approach. To further familiarize ourselves here, we need to take time and try to understand the people around us. We should never get ourselves so attached to anyone at the very first instance. We must find suitable people with the same goals and team up. Support and be there for each other. But finding friends at university is not compulsory. In case we cannot find one, there’s nothing to be stressed about. We should still embrace the differences among us and accept them. Isolating ourselves from the batch as no one is found suitable is never a good idea. Instead, we can maintain a healthy and professional relationship at a safe distance. It is possible that we will be isolated if we outperform others because it can be difficult for our peers to accept our versatility at first. Sometimes, we may not even be recognized. So, we better be prepared for this as well.
Everything I mentioned above is based on my experience because undergraduate life is not as easy as it seems, at least for the first few years. I attempt to reveal the untold side of this life to proclaim that we’re in the same boat. Nevertheless let's celebrate this journey, as the university is our first exposure to the larger society we must live in the future. Finally, interdependence is crucial but comes only after independence. So let’s learn to be independent first, then eventually, everything will fall into place.
Undergraduate life is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. So let’s make mistakes and some wrong decisions. But never forget to learn a new lesson from them in order to lead a remarkable life!
