#like genuinely asking if u have any advice pls message me lol | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gayflowerdad · 6 years

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ok so i was homeschooled for a major part of my life + im starting college this fall. i know you have experience with this issue so can u like.. pls reassure me it's not as scary as it seems??? im behind in math and will def need remedial classes and i'm like worried about making friends lol

Hello!! I’m so glad you messaged me. Okay, so I was in this position not too long ago. I was homeschooled my entire life and I was quite terrified of starting university. I never received a proper education, I was homeschooled by my religious mother who taught me basic English and mathematics and my education roughly ended there; anything I knew beyond that, I taught myself.

(putting the rest under a read more because this is so long lol)

Thankfully, the school I am attending, while it is a four year institution, it is also a fairly small community university, and there are people from all walks of life here. There are several students in my classes who have been in their 50s-60s, and have been out of school for a long time and probably forgot a lot, so I was in a pretty non traditional environment, but even if you’re not that is fine, university is all about learning, that is what your teachers are for, let them know you have a genuine want to learn and they will help you, and they will be thrilled to do so. Most people don’t even talk to their professors, they just want a passing grade, so teachers (good teachers) are thrilled when students really want to learn and grow. You may even try talking to them and explaining your situation and your worry, and I’m sure they would understand and help you with whatever you need help with. Especially in a remedial math class!

For me when I took remedial math, it was all online, I just showed up to class twice a week and we just sat in a room on computers and did our work, the teacher was just there to answer our questions. I just used a calculator for all my work and got through it all without actually learning anything, and I didn’t get an A or an F, I just got graded either “passed” or “failed.” there was no letter grade, which was weird. I don’t know how your class will be, but that’s how mine was. Everyone there struggles with math. And the teacher knows this. So do not be afraid. The teacher’s job is to teach, they chose this profession because they love doing so. So if you ask questions and put in the effort to learn, they will be overjoyed to help you. Find them in their office hours and ask them for help, or advice, or anything really. You can learn a lot from just talking to them. Never be afraid of bugging a teacher!!! This is their job and they’re there to help you! I used to be so afraid of bugging them I would never speak to them about anything and I really regret that.

Believe me, university is not anything as scary as what I imagined. And I got so scared about the whole thing, I grew ill (I actually developed ulcers from how worried I was), I didn’t sleep, I ate horribly, all because I was so scared about what would happen and I felt like because of my education background (or lack thereof) it would be a disaster. But it wasn’t at all. I just listened in class, took notes, did my work, and I was okay. In my philosophy class, I really admired my professor and wanted to do well, and every two weeks or so we had to write these short essays about something we learned in class and I always put so much work into them, and then at the end of the semester I wrote a six page paper on Oscar Wilde and aestheticism, and all this time I thought I was making a fool of myself and that my teacher thought I was stupid, but I made an A in the class and this semester I was talking with him and he said to me, “you were a great student. You really were.” And it meant the WORLD TO ME! I’m doing so well in all my classes and I don’t know how because I’ve convinced myself I could never thrive in an academic setting and I wasn’t smart enough, and anyways my point is it’s not scary at all I promise, just please talk to your teachers because they are literally experts in their field who are there to help you succeed in life!! They are your friends, not your enemies. My professors mean the world to me, they’re honestly my heroes. So please talk to them and make relationships with them, you will learn so much from them!!!! Especially professors teaching classes related to your major (for example, me (an English major) and my composition professor)!

As for making friends, my first semester I didn’t really make any friends, but my second one (that I just finished) I met the closest friend I have ever had offline, and also befriended a bunch of people in my speech class. Making friends is inevitable. Try to join a club if you find one you are interested in, hang around on campus, try to get involved in class discussions and things like that. Being homeschooled you know how utterly lonely the whole thing is, but now we are in an environment where we can see and talk to people!!! It’s thrilling!! And you’re guaranteed to make friends, if it happened to me I know it is!!

This is really long so I’ll wrap it up now. I was so scared of university and thought I would either flunk out or drop out. But now, I think I may want to be a professor myself one day, and go to grad school and all this stuff, because I love it so much. I just love learning in general. It’s like I’ve had this intense hunger for knowledge and now that it’s finally being fed, as it were, it’s just all my life is. Anyways I could go on so if you ever want to message me please do. I really know how you feel and if you ever need advice or just someone to vent to don’t hesitate to send me a message and I’ll be glad to help you in whatever way I can. :-) It’s going to be so great, so don’t be scared!!!

#long post #sorry I tend to ramble soooo much about school heheh #also just out of curiosity I put this in a word document and size 12 new times roman doube spaced this is a three page essay #I am so...sorry anon #Anonymous

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