Dean's Corner

by Mary Nisbet, Associate Dean

I have just finished teaching my Freshman Seminar class this quarter and, as usual, really enjoyed the experience (I hope the students did too!) Meeting my 20 freshmen each week and chatting to them about their experiences at UCSB reminded me of the ups and downs associated with the transition from high school to college. My own freshmen experience was at St Andrews University in Scotland (which you may have heard of because Prince William—Diana's son—is studying there). Although my experiences were back in the sixties, a lot of what I experienced was also being dealt with by this year's freshmen. Leaving home was hard and, even though I was in a dorm with a lot of people who quickly became friends, it took a while to not want to talk to my family every day. Since I had grown up in a small Scottish town inhabited, it sometimes seemed, only by my relatives, meeting and dealing with a very diverse group of people, attitudes, and opinions was sometimes disquieting.

Transitioning from semesters to quarters was an incredible shock to the system, and my first quarter's academic performance was certainly not stellar. Attending large lectures taught by professors who were so erudite and intellectual was intimidating. Moving from a high school where I was one of the top students to an environment with only top students was daunting. Finding that the classes I had loved in high school were not as interesting at university was disappointing. Discovering I could study completely new subjects that I'd never seen before and very quickly came to love was intellectually exciting.

All of these challenges changed me, although not overnight. I became much more independent, open to new ideas and cultures. My opinions and attitudes changed but also became much more grounded, and most importantly, I eventually became more confident about my own abilities and came to revel in the intellectual challenges and opportunities available to me.

Students in the honors program have many ways of helping them transition to college—everything from honors sections in large classes to a special mentorship program, and from special advising services to the Honors Study Center. I hope and expect that the freshmen reading this will be exploiting these opportunities and will already be well on the way to being thoroughly and happily integrated into the UCSB community. And I also hope I'll welcome at least a few of them into my class when I repeat my Freshman Seminar in Spring.

Have a great quarter!

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