Senior government and politics major
About two years ago, I sent in a guest column to The Diamondback regarding the Freshmen Connection program. As a spring-admitted freshman, I had opted into the program, which allowed me to live off the campus and take classes in the evenings. In my column, I emphasized that despite some issues I encountered, I would still recommend the program.
After two years of reflection, my mind was changing. I felt as though Freshmen Connection had interrupted something vital in the model college experience. My friends were more pen pals, and I spent most evenings alone. While my expectations were never high and my own introversion shared the blame, I could have had a better first year at any other school where I had been accepted.
But when I heard Prince Frederick Hall will free up beds on the campus for Freshmen Connection students, my mind changed again. The Department of Resident Life said that with the addition of the new dorm, which blossomed between the South Campus Dining Hall and Van Munching Hall over the past almost two years, there will be more space on the campus for Freshmen Connection students.
Assuming this comes to fruition, I can’t help but once again recommend the Freshmen Connection program to spring accepted students. Separation from other students was the worst part of the program, and being able to live among regularly enrolled students would resolve almost every problem I had.
For one, living on the campus would have saved me from the vicious jungle that is subleasing in College Park. I would have had a better housing priority number if I had lived on the campus. I wouldn’t have had to go on Route 1 at night half as often as I did or depend on buses to get to class every day. I would have had a chance to make friends on my floor outside the three hostile strangers with whom I was bunked.
And on top of that, I would have been able to do freshman things, such as going to a dining hall for dinner with friends, hanging out after classes with friends or doing anything spontaneous with friends. For a shy person, spending my first semester off the campus was the worst possible scenario.
Other issues in Freshmen Connection besides housing don’t appear on the surface. Taking classes at night means smaller class sizes and more professor attention, and the small pool of students means a weary but familiar community grows over the semester. Missing out on club meetings is definitely crippling, but it’s possible to catch up in the spring.
The actual issues are only visible in the semesters after enrollment in the program. Some vital first-semester classes for certain majors are not available in Freshmen Connection, and it’s far too easy not to realize this until you’re already a semester behind.
Still, with a fair bit of independent research and a guaranteed bed on the campus, Freshmen Connection is beginning to look like a viable option. If those beds are in short supply, however, or if there is a lottery, or if any language other than “guaranteed” is used, think of other schools. The first semester at college is formative, and this university is a huge sea to get lost in.
Emma Atlas is a junior government and politics and journalism major. She can be reached at eatlasdbk@gmail.com.
