Freshman Year Peer Pressure

It’s that time of the year again! Summer is coming to an end, and school is about to begin. One thing for sure is that college freshmen everywhere are preparing for their first year of college.

Many freshmen may already have expectations as to how their first year of college will turn out. However, a few of those freshmen’s expectations won’t go exactly as planned. In other words, there is more to worry about besides gaining the “freshman 15” or deciding if you should try out for the basketball team.

As a freshman, many students go to college with the decision to not lose sight of their morals, values, and the home training their parents raised them to have. Once school begins, you  make new friends — and with new friends comes new peer pressures. That’s right. Peer pressure still exists in college, and it’s much worse.

In college, there are so many different pressures, especially for freshmen, also known as “freshmeat” to the older, experienced college-goers. Pressures of drinking, partying, smoking, engaging in sexual activities, and so on tend to be the most infamous pressures. Be it guy or girl, it’s easier than you think to give in to pressures.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Melissa Wang

There are parties every week in college, if not every day. One thing college students cannot seem to party without is alcohol. Being “freshmeat”, someone is bound to pressure a freshman into drinking — which usually resorts to the freshman giving in and taking the drink. The drinking might then become a once-in-a-while thing, then grow into an every day thing. Before you know it, grades will start to slip. You may end up doing poorly in academics and have to return home. I’ve seen this happen to many people, and it’s pretty embarrassing.

Succumbing to the pressures of being a freshman on campus leads to bad consequences, whether it’s unplanned pregnancy, failing out of school, or becoming an addict. These pressures don’t just happen at parties, they are everywhere.

No one wants to shame their parents, who trusted their child to make good decisions while in college, especially their first year. Even though it will be hard to stay true to yourself and remember the morals and values you established before going to college, it pays off in the end.

It’s okay to go out and have fun with friends every now and again. Just don’t lose sight of the reason why you went to college in the first place, which is to get an education and graduate.  So my advice to all the college freshmen out there is this:  remember that your parents didn’t pay all the money they paid for you to party and fail your classes. Don’t let peer pressure get the best of you!