Written By: Dr. Richard David, Professor in Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences; Health Sciences and Kinesiology
Welcome to Chapman! I hope you get a chance to take a moment, before school gets super intense, to reflect with pride on all you accomplished in high school and how it led you here. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say, freshman year is kind of crazy. You have tons of newfound freedom and endless social opportunities (friends, Greek life, clubs, etc…) here at Chapman. However, at the same time you also have a full schedule of classes and sports on your agenda. I think both social and academic aspects of college life are essential and both should be something every student focuses on. There’s just one problem, there are only 24 hours in the day and you can’t be in two places at the same time, something’s gotta give.
The solution to this problem is finding balance. Trying to find balance between academics and social life at Chapman is something that every freshman struggles with. Balance is tricky to define and it’s different for everyone. While at Chapman you will have friends who think they are balanced when their life is 95% academic and only 5% social and at the same time have friends who think they are balanced when their life is 5% academic and 95% social. The reality is that both of these students are going to look back with regret on their college years because they totally neglected and missed out on a big part of the Chapman experience. Ideally, most students will find balance somewhere in the middle and be both happy with their social life as well as successful academically. But don’t expect this perfect balance to be something that just happens organically here at Chapman, you’re going to have to feel your way through it.
I encourage you to experiment a little during your freshman year, don’t be afraid to be a little unbalanced at times. You won’t know what your ideal balance point is if you haven’t gone a little too far toward the academic side and little too far toward the social side. Don’t be afraid to occasionally skip a party in order to study for an important test, you’ll still have plenty of friends. Don’t be afraid to occasionally hang out with friends playing FortNite instead of working on a project, you’ll still get in to grad school.
Freshman year is as much about finding your groove as it is about learning and making friends. The balance you work toward creating as a freshman will set you up for a more enjoyable and successful time here at Chapman. Lastly, it’s not common knowledge but, faculty are some of your biggest supporters and we are always rooting for your success. Don’t be afraid to come to us for help of any kind. Most of us are in this job because we get great joy out of seeing you succeed. If there is ever anything we can do to help you with during your time at Chapman don’t hesitate to ask! Good luck in your first year here at Chapman and feel free to say hi and introduce yourself if you run into me on campus.
Best Wishes,
Dr. Richards