February 21, 2025 • 48 mins
The transition from high school to college can be scary. There's lots to navigate in your freshman year, from dorm life to academic advising - and we're here to unpack it all.
Join Dr. Ross and producer Michaela Murphy in discussing the freshman experience with four first-year UT Tyler students: Dylan Bennet, Paula Castellanos, Mary Mooney, and Dominic Robinette. Together, they share stories of their freshman year journeys and the unfiltered realities high school grads face. Whether it's moving from Ecuador to take classes in another country, building friendships with track teammates, or struggling to connect with professors, each story lends heartfelt and practical advice to students launching into the college experience.
Have more questions about freshman year? Email us at ADRquestions@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you!
Special thanks to Michaela Murphy, who produced and co-hosted season two's opening episodes. The show goes on because of you!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Stay tuned to the Ask Dr Ross podcast.
It's created to give you infoto succeed at college.
Our hosts are highly qualified.
Dr Catherine Ross is a memberof the University of Texas
System's Academy ofDistinguished Teachers.
She's also a popular professorof 19th century English
literature.
Ask Dr Ross is a communityservice of the University of
(00:27):
Texas at Tyler.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
So welcome to season two of the podcast called Ask Dr
Ross, where actually what we dois.
We ask a lot of other peoplewhat's going on in their lives
in the University of Texas atTyler, but also in their life as
a student or a professor.
All we have today here is agroup of freshmen and my new
producer, Michaela Murphy.
Would you like to introduceyourself?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Sure, Hi guys, my name is Michaela Murphy.
I am a graduate student here atthe University of Texas at
Tyler and I'm super happy to behelping Dr Ross.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
She's an English grad student and I'm thrilled to
have her as my right-hand person, so first thing I'll ask you to
do is just tell us your fullname and where you came from.
Speaker 5 (01:10):
My name is Mary Mooney and originally I'm from
Jacksonville, texas.
Speaker 6 (01:13):
My name is Dylan Bennett and I'm from Mount
Pleasant, texas.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
My name is Dominic Robinette and I'm originally
from Midland, texas.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Midland, texas.
That's pretty far away, isn'tit?
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Yeah, it's about a seven-hour drive.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Seven-hour drive.
So tell me this, Mr Midlandwhat made you want to come all
the way out here to Tyler, Texas, when in fact, there's the
University of Texas in yourhometown?
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Well, it was mostly the size and the location.
Like I was really lookingforward to getting out of my
hometown.
You know Midland, it's not themost pretty town, to say the
least, but I was just ready toget out of my hometown.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Well, does the scenery in Tyler Texas make up
for what you didn't have inMidland?
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Oh, it definitely does.
It's so much greener here andyou know there's actually like
rolling hills and you know it'sbeautiful here.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Now, what about you?
Tell us about yourself, nameand where you're from.
Speaker 7 (02:07):
My name is Paula Castellanos and I'm from Ecuador
.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Ecuador.
What in the world are you doinghere?
I'm here on the tennis team.
You're here on the tennis team,Okay, so we're going to ask you
tell us a little bit about wereyou a high school student or in
college when you were inEcuador, about were you a high
school student or in collegewhen you were in Ecuador?
Speaker 7 (02:27):
In Ecuador, I finished my high school this
year actually and then I comehere for my college studies.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
So this is the first time you've really been in
college.
You didn't do college at home,you came straight to the US.
Speaker 7 (02:37):
Yeah, I didn't do any college classes or anything, I
just came straight here.
Did you know what to expect?
I knew that the classes wereharder and that it was different
than how I was thought in highschool.
Okay, good.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Dylan, I'm going to ask you a question here.
I think you're here as anathlete too, aren't you?
Speaker 6 (02:59):
Yes, ma'am, I'm on the track team.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
How did you get recruited?
How did you find out about ourtrack team or how did they find
out about you?
Speaker 6 (03:06):
Coach A had reached out to me, coach Anthony, he's a
sprinter's coach.
He had saw me run, like onTwitter.
He had texted me and reachedout to me.
And then we got on the phoneand like we just clicked, I knew
I was gonna come here.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
So you're pleased about them being on the track
team here.
It's working out well for you.
Speaker 6 (03:26):
Yes, ma'am, I like my teammates, we like a family.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I already like a family.
That's great, because you'reworking out right now, but
you're not really competinguntil the spring.
Is that correct?
Speaker 6 (03:38):
Yes, ma'am, most of the time we just really like
working out lifting weights.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Is it kind of like a built-in group to get to know
people?
Speaker 6 (03:46):
so even though you're away from home and first time
away, is that working real wellfor you to feel connected and
yes, well, because like as thecoaching staff, like coach k and
coach a, they try to help theteam like get to know each other
, so like we have events witheach other and we just hang out
like everybody know each otherthat's really great.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Now, how about you?
Is your team working as a teamand you get to know people that
way?
Speaker 7 (04:09):
yeah, well, we're not .
It's not a pretty big team.
Um, we're eight girls, onlyeight.
Yeah, we're eight.
So we know each other prettywell, like we have been knowing
each other like for the lastthree weeks and we're really
close and we live close to eachother, so we have been having a
(04:30):
really good time together.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
I'm glad to hear that Now, the issue of connection,
feeling like you belong, is animportant one, and you didn't
come for a team now, did youDominic?
Speaker 4 (04:41):
No, I didn't.
I just came here just foreducation.
You know, before I was in band,but that's not much of an
option here.
You know there is a drum line,but Are you going to try out for
it?
I thought about it and I mighttry out for it next year.
You know, I just wanted to kindof get settled in here first
meet some people and focus onclasses.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Have you met people?
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Do you feel like you're as connected as these two
?
I don't know about thatconnected Like I've hung out
with people from my orientationslash swoop camp.
That's who I've mostly hung outwith, and my roommates, and
where are you living?
I'm living in Ornelas Hallright now.
Ornelas.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Hall?
And are all of you living inOrnelas Hall Just nod, yes, no,
you're in Patriot VillageLiberty, so are you feeling like
you belong?
Speaker 5 (05:26):
yet I think so.
I think, with me being anhonors student, there's a
community there that is reallydifferent compared to, like,
sports teams or stuff on thecampus, and especially with me
living in the living learningcommunity, I feel like it's like
helped me make a lot of friends.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah, I think that's one thing a lot of people don't
know that colleges do is that wehave what we call living
learning communities.
Are you in one too, Dominic?
Speaker 4 (05:50):
Yeah, I'm in first generation, Ah, first gen.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
So we try to set it up so that you have some folks
that you'll naturally have afirst acquaintance with a reason
to know each other.
So how's it going?
Have you been homesick at all?
Speaker 4 (06:05):
I've been a little homesick, I can't lie.
After the first week I was kindof like you know this was a
pretty long week, it felt like,but at the same time like I had
a lot of fun and it went by fast.
But at the same time by the endof it I was like man, you know,
like I miss my family quite abit.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Are you the oldest child in the family?
Yes, I am, so you've gotyounger siblings at home and
your mother and dad are probablygoing.
Oh, he's gone.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Yeah, I have three younger siblings at home.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Do you talk to your family much?
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Yeah, I do.
I call them once a week atleast.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
That's good.
I talk to my mother every dayand she lives in North Carolina,
so that's a pretty long ways.
How about?
Speaker 5 (06:43):
you, ms Mooney.
I mean with me being fromJacksonville, I'm literally like
30 minutes away from home, soit's not that much of a far away
college experience, but it'sdefinitely been a little bit of
a trouble like having to notonly orient myself to, like
living in a totally differenttown, totally different room,
and also struggling withbalancing education and stuff.
(07:04):
I mean the classes that I'mtaking, while they're not
necessarily the hardest, butit's definitely a different
workload from high school.
So having to balance those outit's kind of I have to give
myself a lot of slack and a lotof sympathy, I guess.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Now here's the question I'm going to ask you,
dylan have you found that theclasses are a lot different from
what you expected, and do youhave to give yourself a lot of
self-sympathy, like Mary wassaying?
Speaker 6 (07:29):
Yes, ma'am, it's really different from high
school because, like, comingfrom like athlete point of view,
you can miss class and like youwon't really be missing that
because, to be honest, it wasreally just easy.
But now, like that, youtransfer from colleges, the
classwork is like morechallenging, Like you have to
study and you have to do yourwork and listen in class or
you're just not going to pass.
(07:51):
They make us like we got tostudy, we got to do four hours a
week.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Isn't it enforced by the coaches?
Speaker 6 (07:57):
No, like we got to sign in and stuff, Like it's a
lot.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
How about for you, Paola?
How is the studying going?
You're in a wholly differentlanguage.
Speaker 7 (08:07):
My goodness, yeah, the first week for me was the
hardest because, like thetransition from high school to
college classes was hard,because in Ecuador I actually
never taken a college classlevel.
I just have like high schoolclasses and the ones I took in
my senior year and before andwhen I came here it was totally
(08:28):
different.
Like I had to adapt myself liketo the system of the classes,
like that, and it's so differentfrom Ecuador, and like also the
language.
Sometimes I still strugglingwith some things, but it haven't
been really, really hard.
I found that I'm adaptingreally good to the language.
(08:48):
That was my biggestpreoccupation when I came here
that I was not going to be ableto understand the classes and
the language.
But I think I'm doing it prettygood.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
So now Dylan says his high school didn't really have
to make him work very hard.
Did your high school back inEcuador make you work hard so
that you feel academicallyprepared?
Speaker 7 (09:08):
Not really In my senior year.
We didn't do much.
My senior year was really easy.
So the hardest years are like11th and 10th grade, but like my
last year it was not thatdifficult.
So after I came here it waslike a huge transition to me and
I graduated in like February.
(09:28):
So I really didn't study.
I didn't do any study like fromFebruary to August.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Wow, wow.
Well, I'm going to ask you thesame question, dominic.
Wasn't it different how theclasses compared to what you
were getting ready for in highschool?
Speaker 4 (09:43):
I mean, yeah, in high school it was all the classwork
and everything that you neededto do was basically done in
class.
Me personally, I didn't have todo hardly anything outside of
class, you know, unless it wasmostly math because they
assigned, you know, like gradedhomework.
So that was really the onlything.
Like you know, I got used todoing everything in class, and
(10:03):
once you were done with classes,that's it.
But here now, like, wheneverI'm done with a class for, like
whenever I go to the lecture,like that's not the end of it, I
go to the library almost everysingle day and I also do work in
the arts and science building,you know, just in between my
classes.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Yeah, so it's a bit of a surprise, huh.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
How about you, Mary?
How do the classes compare tohigh school?
Speaker 5 (10:26):
Well for me.
I mean, I took a majority ofcollege classes in high school
and in fact I graduated asvaledictorian, so there's that
natural inclination for me toalways study and always be in
the books.
So for me, the classes it's notan increase in difficulty, more
so like an increase inresponsibility, and it's me
making sure I'm getting allthese good grades and doing the
(10:46):
best I can, rather than, oh, Iwant to make my teacher proud.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
It's like make me proud ah, so there's less of a
personal relationship with yourteachers.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
I would say so, but only because I think one, it's
the beginning, and two, I'msomewhat intimidated by my
teachers, just simply because Ilook up to them so much, because
I personally want to be anEnglish professor.
So it's like, oh, I want to beable to seem smart, but I'm in
the position where, it's justlike getting in a conversation
with my professors or whatever,I'm going to look, not
necessarily dumb, but it's likeit's scary to put yourself in a
(11:18):
position where you know that youknow less and you might look
vulnerable in that sense.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Okay, well, now I've got to say something.
First of all, we are sothrilled that all four of you
first-year students were willingto come and talk to us, because
we knew that was the way youwere going to feel, and so I
just want to say that rightthere.
That's a huge step, I think.
Of course, I really pushed hardon you, dylan, didn't I?
I wasn't going to let you offthe hook, but I also wanted to
(11:45):
hear from all four of you,because I thought it was
important to have a range ofvoices.
Let me tell you something yourprofessors put on their pants
and their shoes every morning,just the same way you do, and we
want you to talk with us.
We want to hear from you.
You want to talk about that alittle bit, michaela.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Sure.
So this is my first semester asa teacher's assistant here, so
I am teaching my own English1301 class, and that has been an
interesting transition frombeing solely a student here to
also teaching students here aswell, while I'm still learning.
But yeah, I would say the samething as Dr Ross.
Obviously I'm still learning,just like y'all are still
(12:25):
learning, and I know I toldPaula and Dominic that in class,
but I would say the same thingfor any of the professors here.
Each year brings on differentthings, so each time we're
learning with y'all.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
And what we want very much is for you to be willing
to reach out to us and talk tous, and I don't know if you know
this or not, but we're requiredto have these office hours, and
getting students to come tooffice hours is like pulling
your teeth.
And yet oftentimes after youcome, they'll say oh, that
wasn't so scary after all, Nowyou've been a student and you
want to give them some coachingadvice on office hours and
(12:58):
talking to professors.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Yeah.
So I would definitely say toutilize office hours as much as
possible.
We are required to have officehours and most of the time
students don't show up, whetherthey think it's going to be
super intimidating and they'regoing to get yelled at during
office hours, or they don't knowwhat questions to ask and they
think kind of like Mary said,they're going to look dumb if
(13:20):
they come in with the wrongquestions.
But that's completely not it atall.
The professors are there tohelp.
If you have questions that aresort of more basic not dumb but
basic then that's okay as well,because that's going to let the
professor know, kind of wheremost of your class is, at what
level they're at, as well aswhere certain students are at as
well.
(13:40):
So once we know those levels,it's a lot easier to mold what
we're bringing into class foreveryone and the questions that
y'all have specifically.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
You want to talk a little bit, Dominic, about what
you're studying and how you feelabout the topics you're
studying and the courses, howyou picked them.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Yeah.
So I really wanted to dopre-med.
Right now.
I am a biology major, you know,with just focusing on, you know
, courses, that'll help me withmedical school.
You know, obviously I was goingto have to take some biology
courses, but whenever I foundout, you know, while I was
getting advised, that I wasgoing to have to, you know,
reject some AP credit that Iearned, I was kind of like
(14:19):
really Like I worked so hard forthis, but it's okay.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
So now tell us why they told you you had to reject
it.
Did it have to do with medschool?
Speaker 4 (14:28):
Yeah, med school they were.
You know they told me likemedical schools really don't
like AP credit, like they'drather you have the experience
like in college and in the labsand stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Because the high school AP class had that,
compared to what you're doingnow, because I guess you took
the same class.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
So the high school one, it was still mostly like
the work was in class.
I didn't have to do muchstudying outside of class.
You know, just a little bit oflike vocab.
Really that was the biggestthing.
You know, we didn't really havemany labs in class either.
Our classes were only like 40minutes long.
Now, like you have yourlectures and then you're like
(15:06):
man, I just got a lot ofinformation.
I need to like really work hardto remember what in the world
we just talked about.
And then the labs in college aswell.
You know like whenever I wentto my first one, I was like, wow
, this is like a real, real lab.
I just, you know, it's just alot different.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
How about you, Paola?
How did you pick your classesand what classes are sort of
speaking to you the most thatyou're getting the most out of?
Speaker 7 (15:33):
Well, I actually didn't pick my classes.
The schedule was given to mebecause I took the TSI late, so
my advisor didn't haveappointments close to the date
when I had my TSI scores.
They had like three weeks awayand it was too hard because,
like my coaches needed to havemy schedule.
(15:53):
So a person helped me, like topick me up the classes, and they
gave me the schedule.
So I didn't know what to expectin my class actually, and the
only thing they sent me was likesyllabus from past classes,
like for other classes that theyhad.
So I only read those and I wentto the classes like that.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
You just went to the classes?
Yeah, Did you start a littlebit late?
Did you start on the first dayof classes with everybody?
Speaker 7 (16:19):
I started in the first day of classes.
The thing is, I took my TSI,like then in June.
So then the classes.
If I waited for the appointment, the classes were going to be
full and I was not going to beable to have enough credit.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
You just brought up something that all students have
to deal with, which is advising, and classes sign up, right.
So, dylan, were you advised theway she was?
Did they just tell you here'swhat you have to take because
you're an athlete?
Speaker 6 (16:43):
No, no, when I went to orientation and picked my
classes, I have no clue.
So I had to come back up hereand change my classes.
My mom she knows me, she knowsI don't know what I want to do
right now.
She could tell, and I told herI don't know what I want to do.
So she was just like go do yourcore classes and then, when you
(17:04):
get ready to major in something, you already have them out the
way ready to like major insomething.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
You already have them out the way.
A lot of people know, or thinkthey know, about core classes.
Now, mary, you took a lot ofdual credit right, and so you
know a little bit about that.
I want to address somethingthat you just said, dylan, which
I think is really important.
It's okay to come here and notknow what the heck you're going
to do, because part of thereason why we have those core
classes, you know we have twocomposition classes, we have a
literature class, we have a mathclass, we have political
science, american history,things that poor old Paula's
(17:34):
fighting with right now, andthen you also have something in
that fine arts and something inthe social sciences and I
probably left something out thehard sciences as well.
And that's so people just likeyou, dylan, who have no idea
what you want to do, but justknow you think you better go on
to college and get going, canhave a little bit of this, a
little bit of that, a little bitmore of something else and get
a sense of what your facultiesare.
(17:56):
Here I'm going to use the fancyword we use in British
literature the faculties areyour will, your intelligence,
your imagination, your abilityto think, and when we talk about
your faculties, we're talkingabout all the things that make
you, intellectually andemotionally, you and so that's
what you're supposed to be doingis developing those things, and
those classes four, maybe fiveclasses will start to do that
(18:18):
for you.
Now, mary, you got ahead bytaking some dual credit classes,
right, or AP.
Now tell us a little bit aboutwhat your journey was with that.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
Yeah, so I was able to come into college as like I
think I had like 36 credit hoursfrom high school, that's like a
whole year.
Yeah, I'm classified as asophomore and in fact this year
I'm able to take a junior levelclass.
But for me, with registeringfor classes, I was lucky enough
since I am, like my hometown isso close to UT Tyler, my high
school set up a pre-registrationevent.
Like my hometown is so close toUT Tyler, my high school set up
a pre-registration event.
(18:48):
So I just went into a libraryone time and there was an
academic advisor there and shekind of just like asked me what
my major was, what I wanted tobe, and she pretty much was like
, ok, these are all the classesyou're going to take.
And I was like, ok, I mean likeI was so like uninformed of like
what classes I needed to take,what classes and credits I
(19:09):
already had.
There wasn't like I couldn'teven ask any questions.
I had no idea.
I was just like, ok, I'm goingto go to class and learn, like
that's all I had.
But I think my classes now I'mdefinitely in the right place.
But the whole journey and it'sstill very overwhelming at times
when it's like OK, we got toget ready for the next semester.
What core classes do you haveright now?
And your curriculum path andfor your degree plan?
(19:31):
And it's a lot of terms thatI've yet to become familiar with
, but I think throughout thecourse, especially freshman year
, I'm going to be able to getfamiliar with those a lot better
.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
You know, this is a big confusion for a lot of
people and there's so many ballsin the air and like all these
different fields, and that's whyit's a university, so you have
all these different courses andall these things to study, but
it can be overwhelming andeverybody's supposed to have
these core classes.
They have to have some basicwriting, some basic composition,
some math and science and on upto history and social sciences
(20:04):
and some literature classes andit does seem like what.
I don't know if I need that.
In your case, you already knewyou wanted to be an English
professor Amazing.
In your case, dominic, you'rethinking about medicine and so
you have an idea.
But over here we got a guy whojust says I just want to get to
college and try to figure it allout, which is lovely.
(20:24):
It's exactly where a lot of ushope you will be, because a lot,
lot of times I've had studentscome to me desperate to become a
medical student and they took acouple of math classes or a
couple of higher levels of thebiology and they went oh my God,
I don't want to do this.
I can't stand it.
My parents think I'm supposedto do this.
I've told everybody mygirlfriend or my boyfriend
(20:44):
thinks I'm doing it.
What do I do I really likeEnglish?
What boyfriend thinks I'm doingit?
What do I?
Do I really like English?
What am I going to do with anEnglish degree?
Or I really like history.
What can I do with a historydegree?
And we can tell you what youcan do with those degrees?
Okay, because obviouslysomewhere along the line we got
to figure out what you're goingto do when you get out of here,
right, and that's the big goal.
But also we want you to getsuch a good foundation when
(21:07):
you're here that you're notrushing through to get finished
and miss a chance to take agreat art history class, for
example, mary.
Or maybe take an incrediblegeography class or an astronomy
class and things like that.
Dylan, tell us a little bit sofar.
Can you tell us what classesyou're taking, and is it giving
you a sense of which directionyou want to go yet, or is it a
(21:28):
little early?
It's only three weeks in inyeah, it's a little early.
I'm taking uh english forensicchemistry, music, appreciation,
history so, generally speaking,you said it was really different
and you're having to show up.
Um, have you been surprised byanything you've learned so far?
Have you noticed that this issomething you might want to
(21:51):
pursue?
Yet it's a little early, butmaybe I haven't really decided.
Speaker 6 (21:54):
I've just been trying to get a feel for it, you know,
because it's different fromhigh school.
So I've just been trying to getdifferent.
I like sociology though.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
That's great.
That's great, paula, did youhave an idea what you wanted to
study, like Mary wanted to be inEnglish?
We've got a doctor over here.
Speaker 7 (22:14):
We've got someone who's just glad he's figuring
out how to get to his next class.
What about you?
My whole life I've known that Idon't want to be in the medical
field or something like biologyand that stuff.
I actually like more like thebusiness side.
Right now I'm an economicsmajor and I have my econ class.
I had it online but I like thatclass, so I guess I'm on the
(22:36):
right path for now.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
We'll look for Dr Doty's class because she teaches
the most amazing macro andmicroeconomics class.
Speaker 7 (22:44):
Yeah, they recommend me that class but it's full and
it doesn't fit my schedule.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
That's an issue too, isn't it?
Getting classes that fit yourschedule?
You can't always get in theprofessor you want or the time
of day you want.
How's your schedule working outfor you, Dominic?
Speaker 4 (22:59):
Really, my schedule was decided because I got
advised late.
I'm going to be honest.
I went to the last session ofSwoop Camp and a lot of the
better times I would say werefilled up already.
So I have biology three days aweek, I have psychology twice a
week and I have English twice aweek and then I have stats three
(23:20):
times.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
So that's a different kind of schedule to have, isn't
it Five days a week?
Speaker 4 (23:36):
normally you'd have class after class after class.
So what do you do with all thatfree time?
Is it free time?
It's not really free time.
Between my 8 am biology class,I have my stats class at like 11
.
And so between that time I goto the arts and science building
and I usually work on, you know, assignments that I need to do.
But I also study in that timeLike I work and I study for the
exams that are coming up andquizzes and all sorts of stuff
like that.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
So it's three weeks in.
You're not going home, it'sworking.
You got 12 more weeks.
How does that look?
Is it uphill or is it like?
Ah, I think I'm getting.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
It's looking a little uphill because, you know, we
just haven't had any exams yet,and that's the thing that's
causing me just a little bit ofstress right now, Because you
know, actually I had my firstexam today and I was like I
don't know what this exam isgoing to look like.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
And how did it look?
Speaker 4 (24:19):
Actually it wasn't that bad.
It was a stats exam and itwasn't bad at all.
Like I thought I was going tobe underprepared for it and just
really not know what was goingon, but I actually felt really
good about it.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Makes me really happy to hear that.
So let's talk a little bitabout the thing that surprised
you the most.
Everybody, think about whatsurprised you the most.
We'll go to you, paola, first,and then we'll talk to Dylan and
then Mary.
So what surprised you the mostabout being a freshman in
college, a first-year person incollege?
Speaker 7 (24:55):
The thing that surprised me the most was like
the length of the classes.
The classes are super long andat the end of the class
sometimes I can't remember whatdid the teacher said at the
beginning, and also like all theworks and assignments that we
have to do outside the class.
So it's just not the class.
We have like assignments,readings, quizzes.
(25:16):
We need to watch videos.
Yeah, it's like so different.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Which of the things I did when I was in high school.
Do you think that's differentfrom the way it is in
universities in Ecuador, or doyou think it's just the
university?
Speaker 7 (25:24):
I would say it's kind of like the same, but not in
the workload that the studentshave.
Like classes are kind of likethe same, but the
after-the-class things they'relike a workload that is bigger
than the ones in Ecuador.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
The workload Now.
I think you told me earlierthat a lot of folks in Ecuador
think going to the US for acollege degree is a good thing
to do.
Is that correct?
Speaker 7 (25:49):
A lot of folks in Ecuador think going to the US
for a college degree is a goodthing to do.
Is that correct?
Yeah, if you play sport liketennis, and if you have the
opportunity to go, you can do it.
But it depends on also what youwant to study, because, like,
if you want to be a doctor, it'sgoing to be like really long
career and you're not allowed toplay more than eight semesters,
I think like four years.
So imagine if you decided tocome to do meds.
(26:12):
You have to first do pre-medand then you have to do the med
school.
So it's going to be hard.
Or if you want to study law, ifyou study law here in the
United States, your degree isnot going to work in Ecuador if
you come back.
So it depends on the career.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
I hear you, I hear you.
So, dylan, what surprised youthe most so far at UT Tyler?
Speaker 6 (26:32):
I'll say the work that you have to do outside of
class, all the stuff that theysaid.
It was true.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
It really is as hard as they say it is.
Now the professors isintimidating, as Mary feels like
they are.
Speaker 6 (26:47):
No, because, like I mean, I'm just there to listen,
like I, like all my professorsthey understand and like I can
email them, I can talk to themif I have any help.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
I would add one thing it is important not just to
listen, it's important to be anactive member of the class.
That's a big transition.
We don't want you to sit thereand be listeners, we want you to
be active participants, and Iwant to know how that's going
for you, mary.
And then I want to hear fromyou over that mental stoop.
Speaker 5 (27:31):
But I don't know, I mean, I just I feel like in a
college class, I'm just there tolearn and I think that might be
some high school mentalitygetting to me I'm just there to
learn.
It's not necessarily acollaborative space.
It's more so like I still havethe mentality that the teachers
are like trying to show theirsuperiority by saying like, oh,
let me teach and let me see howwell you can listen.
No, it's more.
I need to change my mind for itto be like a collaborative,
like I need to learn with myprofessors and I need to be like
(27:53):
participating in class in orderto get the full experience.
But yeah, I feel like I need tobe a little more brave in class
.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
I'm glad you understand that, but it is a
hard jump, isn't it?
Michaela, you want to addressthis issue because I think this
is a really important one, andI've watched Michaela become, in
many ways, the ideal student,and now she's probably an ideal
teacher.
You learn more when youparticipate, right?
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Yeah.
So one thing we like to try toconvey to our students is that
if you have a question,oftentimes everyone else in the
class, or almost everyone elsein the class, has that same
question and they're on the samelevel as you of not really
wanting to speak up and askabout it.
But you're never going to sounddumb or like it's too basic of
a question because, kind ofgoing back to what I was saying
(28:40):
earlier, we want to know whatlevels y'all are at and kind of
how we can best give youresources, and so when you speak
up then we'll know kind of howwe can mold our lessons to help
you best, because we alreadyknow the content as the
professor, as the teacher, right.
So we're not up there saying itjust to be up there and to say
(29:00):
it and to get paid.
We're there to make sure thatyou're learning.
We're there to make sure thatyou're growing and that you're
getting what you need for in thefuture when you have to apply
those skills and that knowledgeto your job.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Yeah, and when you say level, we don't really care
what level you are.
We're not judging you by whatyour level is.
We just need to know what it isso that we can work with you.
I mean, I've got students inthe class that Mary and Dylan
are in.
They're really bright but theyhave some learning disabilities
and I have to spend extra timewith them.
I've got a student in anotherclass who is blind, and so,
while the rest of the class istaking a handwritten quiz, I'm
(29:35):
over there reading her thequestions and she's responding
to me.
But that's okay, because all ofyou all are here.
You made it in, we know you cando the work, but then every one
of you, being a different human, has got different gaps,
different interests, differentskills, different faculties.
The more you tell us, the morewe can help.
Now I'm watching your face,dominic, and you're having a lot
(29:55):
of thoughts.
Do you want to comment on a fewof the things we've just been
talking about?
Speaker 4 (30:00):
I mean the way that I've always learned like the
best is.
You know, I really like to seeexamples and I like to do like
example questions and mostclasses they have a textbook
with some example questions, butsome of those questions they
don't really make much sense andthen the textbooks are kind of
just hard to understand.
It's hard to find, like theresources that I need to learn
(30:24):
the content like to the best ofmy ability.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
So what are you doing to work on that?
Speaker 4 (30:29):
I've contacted a few of my professors.
I've talked to them a littlebit.
I've mostly just introducedmyself to them, just trying to
get a little bit more of apersonal connection, because I
know these people, they want tohelp me.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Well, and if you were to come up to me and say, dr
Ross, this question in thistextbook doesn't make a bit of
sense, I don't understand it.
You think I'm going to look atyou and say, well, you're a big
dummy.
No, I'm going to say.
I'm probably going to say, yeah, I don't exactly understand it
either.
Let's work it out.
Textbooks are just textbooks.
What's really happening in aclassroom is this stuff.
(31:04):
You know what's going on.
Now.
The advising you said you wereadvised late.
Advising is a big issue inuniversities and it's a big
problem because we've got over11,000 students here and each
one of you has got to take fivecourses this semester and five
next semester and 10 for thenext three or four years each.
(31:25):
And you just think about thenumbers going up there in the
air, all the number of peoplethat we've got to advise, and so
it's almost always a bottleneckearly on and one of the best
pieces of advice we can giveother people.
Because you all said advisingwas a problem.
Right, we know it and we try towork hard to fix it.
But you can also always reachout to individual professors for
that, and the best advice forhigh school students probably is
(31:49):
sort it out ahead of time ifyou can.
But if you can't, your coachesalmost always will intervene.
In your case, the dean of theHonors College will help.
In your case, poor old you, youdon't have anybody but us to
help you.
But it sounds like you went toyour professors, right?
Okay, so that's a big stepright there.
So we've talked a little bitabout what surprised you the
(32:09):
most.
It's the amount of work youhave to do outside.
What pleased you the most?
Speaker 4 (32:15):
Just getting to meet new people.
You know I'm in a wholedifferent town.
Most of these people I didn'tmeet until either orientation or
move-in day.
I'm really excited to be ableto meet new people, meet with
professors, people that can giveme future jobs.
That's the thing I'm mostexcited for is just having
connections and having peoplethat I can rely on.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Your world has gotten a lot wider all of a sudden,
hasn't it?
But it also sounds like you'veresponded to that.
You haven't been afraid of it.
You've sort of reached out andshook hands with us, right?
Speaker 4 (32:46):
Yes, I have.
I always had the idea like, ohyeah, I'm definitely going to go
like reach out to my professors, but honestly it took me.
After the first day I was likeman, there's a lot of people
like in my biology classespecially there's over 100
people in there and then there'sbeen a one professor and I
couldn't do it the first day.
But after that I slowly gotwarmed up to them and, you know,
(33:08):
I was able to like actuallymeet them.
Speaker 7 (33:10):
What about you.
I think that the thing thatpleased me the most was first,
the fact that I understand allof my classes, that I was able
to understand what the teacherswere saying and I also like all
like the support that I havehere.
Like some of my professors havetold me that if I have
questions, that I can go totheir office hours and also to
(33:32):
meet new people.
Like it was so weird becausewhen I came here I didn't know
anyone and now I have like myacquaintances and meet new
people and like that.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
How about you, Dylan?
What surprised you the most?
Speaker 6 (33:46):
To be honest, I thought professors was going
gonna be real hard on likestudents, like real hard, be
like figured out on your own,but they really understanding,
they'll help you if you need it.
And like meeting new peoplebecause like I don't really talk
much, I just stay quiet, butlike I met some people and they
cool.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
What about you, Mary?
Surprised you the most.
Speaker 5 (34:08):
I think what surprised me the most is how
much control over my ownschedule I do have, like
throughout the day.
I mean, especially in highschool I was told, like when to
go to class and I kind of had towork my at-home and
out-of-school schedule aroundschool.
So it was kind of like I had nocontrol there.
But now I get to dictate when Istudy whether that's in the
(34:30):
middle of the night or if Iwanted to sleep in.
Well, of course I still have togo to class, but I have a lot
more control over my wholeschedule and I think that
surprised me the most and alsoit's one of the most pleasing
things.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
What I'm hearing today makes me really happy for
all you guys, but managing timeis a big deal, isn't it Now?
Now for an athlete?
It sounds like for you, paula,the tennis team and practices
really do manage your time foryou, and so you miss out on some
things.
What about you over there inthe track team?
Do you have the same problem?
Speaker 6 (35:01):
no, not really.
Like if you have class, they'lltell you go to class.
Like they take like schoolserious, they make sure like you
get your education.
So if you can't make it topractice because when you need
to study or like you have class,like you'll come like after you
have class and you would justget your workout in.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
This is D2 now, right , division two, and so you all
have scholarships, is that right?
And so to keep them, you got tokeep doing the work, don't you?
Scholarship is meaningful there.
So your schedule, paola, soundslike it's really really
restricted by tennis right now.
Is that going to be the wayit's all year, you think?
Speaker 7 (35:37):
It depends on the semester.
This semester I have practicekind of 9 to 12.
Every day, yeah, 9 to 12.
All the days my mornings arefrom practice.
I have classes in the afternoonevery day.
So I only have afternoons free.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Dominic, I want to ask you a question about your
time and the freedom you have.
How do you manage your time,and is managing time been an
issue for you?
Speaker 4 (36:03):
I really had to force myself when I first got here to
like actually study.
You know, after the first day Irealized how much free time I
actually have and I'm like it'sgreat to have all this free time
, but at the same time it's likewhat can I do to like take
advantage of this?
So I had to force myself tolike go to the library, get my
work done.
(36:23):
And then, you know, in themornings, you know on Tuesdays
and Thursdays, when I don't havemy 8 am I actually go to the
gym before classes?
8 am I actually go to the gymbefore classes?
And so, you know, I takeadvantage of just all the free
time I have to, you know, workon my classes but also work on
myself as a person.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
I'm glad you mentioned that you're going to
the gym, because we got twoathletes here, you don't have to
worry about going to the gym.
But a lot of times they talkabout the freshman 15, the 15
pounds you gain your freshmanyear because you don't do as
much as you used to and there'salways food around and all of
that sort of stuff.
So, mary, have you been able toget physical activity?
Speaker 5 (36:59):
in.
I haven't been to the gym yetbecause it's kind of scary, but
every day I go on a long walk.
That's kind of like my freetime, like usually it's around
two hours a day.
I walk and I get upwards tolike eight to ten miles a day,
but I just walk and I put mymusic in and I kind of just like
daydream and stuff.
But yeah, I feel like that'sthe most physical I get and with
(37:20):
eating and stuff, the Met foodisn't really something that is
such a treat that I just can'thelp but indulge myself every
day.
So I think that's kind ofhelpful.
But definitely with all thefast food like the Subway and
Chick-fil-a being on campus, youhave to be responsible and
that's kind of helpful.
But definitely with all thefast food like the subway and
Chick-fil-a being on campus, youhave to be responsible and
that's where you have to kind ofgrow up and be like oh, I can't
eat Chick-fil-a three times aday, every day, even though it's
super good.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Does the tennis team make you eat certain food?
Do you have to have a specialathletic diet?
Speaker 7 (37:46):
No, the only thing they told us is to eat healthy,
like to know what our body needs, like to be able to get through
the practice and like throughthe whole day, and to make good
decisions at the Met.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
The Met.
By the way, is our dorm foodright.
It's cafeteria.
Speaker 7 (38:02):
Yeah, so you can't eat pizza every day, although
it's there, isn't it?
Yeah, it's there, but you can'teat pizza every day.
So you have to make goodchoices based on what your body
needs and what you need as aperson.
Of course, you can decide toeat pizza once a week, but you
can't eat pizza three times aday, or Chick-fil-A Even though
you have it there.
You have to manage yourdecisions and be aware of the
(38:26):
consequences that will have onyour weight or on your health
have like on your weight or onyour health.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
It's really impressing me that you're saying
all these things, because Iwonder sometimes what kind of
decisions and what kind ofknowledge our students have
about their body and theirhealth, because it's so
important.
And you know, good minds don'tcome from weak bodies or from
malnourished bodies or poorlynourished bodies.
What about you?
Speaker 6 (38:48):
They tell us not all fuel is good fuel.
So like they tell us we need toeat breakfast, but like not
just no heavy breakfast.
Before you come like lift orpractice, they tell us to eat a
couple hours before practice.
They tell us you got to eatsomething before you come.
That's your fuel.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Have you been able to eat well enough?
I mean, have you been able tofind food that you're willing to
eat?
Speaker 6 (39:11):
I mean, I don't really eat breakfast like that,
but like I eat some fruit, I eatthe med food sometimes and then
like I buy some the next day.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
So y'all live in dorms or apartments.
Really, it's a universityapartment, Is that right Dylan?
Speaker 6 (39:26):
Yeah, I like it.
I mean, it's really your ownroom.
You have your own restroom.
You share the kitchen Me and myroommate we cool, we know each
other.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
That's great, that's great.
What about you?
How's the dorm life for youover there, paola?
Speaker 7 (39:41):
My apartment is really nice.
I have two roommates andthey're both on the tennis team,
so we are seeing each otherevery day.
We walk every day together.
We live in Building 12, sowe're really far away, but like
it's really nice to have yourown room, your own restroom, and
like it makes you feel more athome because you live in an
apartment like at a house.
(40:01):
You share the kitchen with yourroommates, but like you have
your own space.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
That's kind of different from home, isn't it?
Speaker 7 (40:09):
And it's a good different yeah at least I don't
share my room with anotherperson, but I have my own space.
I can be there if I want or Ican go, like, to their sharing
space, like that.
So it's different, but it'sgood to have your own space.
Yeah, I'm glad to hear that.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
What about you, Dominic?
I really like my dorm so you'rein a dorm, not an apartment
situation.
Speaker 4 (40:33):
Yeah, but I'm in one of the triple rooms so I have
two roommates.
I do have my own personal space.
I mean I don't have to share aroom with someone exactly, but
it's not like a huge space and Idon't really spend much time in
there anyways.
You know, I enjoy it, but Ithink the hardest part is not
having like a kitchen.
I like to actually cook stuffand it's kind of not easy to do
(40:56):
in those rooms.
There is a community kitchen,but it's not the same.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
So these two athletes with their apartments are
making you kind of jealous,aren't they?
Speaker 4 (41:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
Well, you know what to shoot for next round.
Huh, how about you, Mary?
How's the dormitory situation?
Speaker 5 (41:10):
Yeah, I too live in the three-bedroom dorm and I
didn't cook much at home, so theabsence of a kitchen is not as
surprising to me.
But the thing that is kind ofgetting to me is I live with RA.
She's a junior now and RA is aresidential assistant, so she's
kind of like not necessarily thedorm police, but she's the dorm
(41:31):
mom.
The one thing that I have beenstruggling with is like getting
to know my roommates, becausewith the three-suite dorm we get
to close our own rooms and wecan seclude ourselves easily.
Especially when we were gettinginto it and we first moved in,
everyone wanted to like havealone time and it was kind of
hard to reach out.
But yesterday in fact was myRA's birthday, so me and my
(41:52):
other roommate we went to theDollar Tree and we decorated her
room and got her some presentsand stuff.
That was kind of like one ofthe first moments we had like
all three together, likerealizing okay, like we live
together, we can be besties too.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
Having a bad roommate situation, especially first
year, can be really traumatic.
Everybody lucked out and youdidn't not luck out, mary, you
just took a little while to getit developed, huh.
So now we're going to talkabout what is your best advice
to maybe friends back in Midlandwho want to go off to college.
What would you tell them?
What are two or three thingseach of you would tell a student
(42:25):
coming up to look out for, orbe sure you do, or be sure you
don't do.
Speaker 4 (42:31):
I'd tell them to just try and get ahead early.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
With their academics.
Speaker 4 (42:36):
Yeah, like get ahead early with academics, get
advised early, get registeredfor housing early, like get
everything done that you knowyou need to get done, so that
way you don't have to end uplike some people One of my
friends actually.
He ended up in one of thedouble rooms, but there's three
people in there.
You know it's just not great.
And so my biggest piece ofadvice is get things done early
(42:58):
so that way you don't struggle.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
And, of course, a lot of times they don't know what
the things are.
Do they Advising dorm rooms,getting your ID, all the stuff
that you have to do?
Okay, mary.
Speaker 5 (43:13):
A piece of advice I would give to incoming freshmen
would definitely be giveyourself some grace.
Especially for me, I thoughtcollege was supposed to be a lot
easier than home life, becauseyou get to look by yourself and
you get to dictate everythingyou do on your own.
But it's definitely hard to nowhave to think oh, I need to
make sure I eat three times aday and I have to make sure I
allow myself enough time tosleep and take care of myself
(43:33):
without the presence of parentsor people looking over you all
the time.
So definitely I would say giveyourself some grace and realize
that you're doing a big thingand you should be proud of
yourself, no matter if you thinkyou fail or not.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
Oh, I think that's such a good way.
You are doing a big thing.
It's so much more social andemotional development that's
happening for you all right now.
It's a huge leap.
I'm so glad you calledattention to that, Mary.
Thank you, Okay, Dylan.
What's your best advice to kidsback at your school?
Speaker 6 (44:01):
I'd say not to procrastinate on anything,
especially work-wise.
You can't procrastinate because, like, if you get behind, like
it's kind of hard to catch backup.
Because, like, if you getbehind, like it's kind of hard
to catch back up, and like, whenyou get here, like, be social,
you want to meet new people andyou want to get to know new
people because you never know,they might help you or might be
like a long-term friend.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
You know they say a lot of people meet their future
partner in school or they comeand join them a year or two
later.
Never can tell what about you.
Speaker 7 (44:33):
What's your best advice?
My best advice is to beprepared, kind of prepared to be
by yourself and like get thingsdone by yourself, like not
having other person, liketelling you what to do, and like
prepared to sometimes feellonely or feel like you miss
your home and like that.
Also be prepared for theclasses so they won't take you
(44:56):
by surprise or you won't be likesurprised on the first day.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
Yeah, so college is the real deal, but it sounds
like all four of you arehandling it.
Anything else you want to addto this conversation or anything
you thought of as a teacher butalso a former student here?
Speaker 3 (45:14):
Maybe I'll just add also like my advice for first
year college students.
So I would just say, once youdo get here, also trying to find
all of the resources that youcan because, like we talked
about earlier, professors are abig resource, but then the
university, not just professorsbut career centers and the
(45:35):
library and the writing centers,and there's so many other
resources as well asorganizations that you can get
involved with that will help youto kind of acclimate to campus
a little bit better, as well asacclimate to your academics a
little bit better.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
Yeah, the librarians, for example.
You've had your meeting with MsDubry now, and you've had yours
too.
How did that go?
Tell folks about that researchlibrarian.
Speaker 6 (46:00):
I'll say Ms Dubry is a big help Having to do projects
writing papers.
She'll guide you through likehow to get information from the
web and all that and using thelibrary database.
Speaker 2 (46:13):
It's like a teacher that's not your teacher, right?
Yeah, she's great.
Yeah, what about you, mary?
Speaker 5 (46:19):
My meeting with her was so insightful as to, like
you think a librarian doesn't domuch.
Oh, they just sit around with alot of books, but she showed me
how to navigate the onlinedatabases and how much like I
didn't know and how much effortis put into actual research.
So I feel like it was just soinsightful, like meeting with
her, and definitely I'm going tobe in contact with her a lot
more as I go throughout college.
Speaker 2 (46:41):
And she will stay with you throughout your time,
especially because she's the litlang person.
So she's going to be yourspecialty.
I use Ms Dubree in my ownresearch.
In fact, my first book isdedicated partly to her, because
if it hadn't been some thingsthat she helped me find that I
could have never found, Icouldn't have gotten through
with that book.
So, yeah, there's libraries.
I'm so glad you brought upresources.
And here's the other thing tooyou pay for it.
(47:03):
It's part of the deal, so youuse it as much as you can.
We also have counselingservices and we have the career
center is really good.
Did you know?
We have a career closet?
You can get career clothes.
You can get fancy clothes ifyou want to go on a job
interview.
(47:23):
I want to tell you all that.
Y'all made me smile about 18times this afternoon, and I know
it's a Friday afternoon.
You want to get out of here.
But most of all, I hope youtake the wisdom that you've
shared with us back to your dormor to your fancy apartment or
to your team, and I just want tocompliment you on making you're
making the transition.
You're doing the thing.
There's these two fancyprofessors called Chickering and
Reiser.
(47:43):
They talk about the sevenvectors of college student
development, and only one ofthem has to do with studying.
All the others have to do withinterpersonal relations.
They have to do with learninghow to be alone, but also how to
reach out and how, ultimately,to find who you are, what your
ethics and your identity are,and those are things that I
(48:05):
think you're all already workingon, and I'm real happy that you
all are here at UT Tyler.
So thank you for being a partof our conversation so well.
That was pretty interesting.
I enjoyed that.
I guess that's a wrap, ashley.
Speaker 8 (48:18):
Yes, ma'am, this has been the Ask Dr Ross podcast.
Thank you so much for listeningin with us today, and if you
have questions about collegelife or any of the topics that
we were talking about today,please send us your questions to
ADR questions at gmailcom.
We'd love to hear from you.
In the meanwhile, we'll see youin the next episode.
Thank you very much.
This is Ashley Wirtle signingoff.
(48:40):
Bye-bye.
Stay tuned to the Ask Dr Ross podcast.
It's created to give you infoto succeed at college.
Our hosts are highly qualified.
Dr Catherine Ross is a memberof the University of Texas
System's Academy ofDistinguished Teachers.
She's also a popular professorof 19th century English
literature.
Ask Dr Ross is a communityservice of the University of
(00:27):
Texas at Tyler.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
So welcome to season two of the podcast called Ask Dr
Ross, where actually what we dois.
We ask a lot of other peoplewhat's going on in their lives
in the University of Texas atTyler, but also in their life as
a student or a professor.
All we have today here is agroup of freshmen and my new
producer, Michaela Murphy.
Would you like to introduceyourself?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Sure, Hi guys, my name is Michaela Murphy.
I am a graduate student here atthe University of Texas at
Tyler and I'm super happy to behelping Dr Ross.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
She's an English grad student and I'm thrilled to
have her as my right-hand person, so first thing I'll ask you to
do is just tell us your fullname and where you came from.
Speaker 5 (01:10):
My name is Mary Mooney and originally I'm from
Jacksonville, texas.
Speaker 6 (01:13):
My name is Dylan Bennett and I'm from Mount
Pleasant, texas.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
My name is Dominic Robinette and I'm originally
from Midland, texas.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Midland, texas.
That's pretty far away, isn'tit?
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Yeah, it's about a seven-hour drive.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Seven-hour drive.
So tell me this, Mr Midlandwhat made you want to come all
the way out here to Tyler, Texas, when in fact, there's the
University of Texas in yourhometown?
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Well, it was mostly the size and the location.
Like I was really lookingforward to getting out of my
hometown.
You know Midland, it's not themost pretty town, to say the
least, but I was just ready toget out of my hometown.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Well, does the scenery in Tyler Texas make up
for what you didn't have inMidland?
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Oh, it definitely does.
It's so much greener here andyou know there's actually like
rolling hills and you know it'sbeautiful here.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Now, what about you?
Tell us about yourself, nameand where you're from.
Speaker 7 (02:07):
My name is Paula Castellanos and I'm from Ecuador
.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Ecuador.
What in the world are you doinghere?
I'm here on the tennis team.
You're here on the tennis team,Okay, so we're going to ask you
tell us a little bit about wereyou a high school student or in
college when you were inEcuador, about were you a high
school student or in collegewhen you were in Ecuador?
Speaker 7 (02:27):
In Ecuador, I finished my high school this
year actually and then I comehere for my college studies.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
So this is the first time you've really been in
college.
You didn't do college at home,you came straight to the US.
Speaker 7 (02:37):
Yeah, I didn't do any college classes or anything, I
just came straight here.
Did you know what to expect?
I knew that the classes wereharder and that it was different
than how I was thought in highschool.
Okay, good.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Dylan, I'm going to ask you a question here.
I think you're here as anathlete too, aren't you?
Speaker 6 (02:59):
Yes, ma'am, I'm on the track team.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
How did you get recruited?
How did you find out about ourtrack team or how did they find
out about you?
Speaker 6 (03:06):
Coach A had reached out to me, coach Anthony, he's a
sprinter's coach.
He had saw me run, like onTwitter.
He had texted me and reachedout to me.
And then we got on the phoneand like we just clicked, I knew
I was gonna come here.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
So you're pleased about them being on the track
team here.
It's working out well for you.
Speaker 6 (03:26):
Yes, ma'am, I like my teammates, we like a family.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I already like a family.
That's great, because you'reworking out right now, but
you're not really competinguntil the spring.
Is that correct?
Speaker 6 (03:38):
Yes, ma'am, most of the time we just really like
working out lifting weights.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Is it kind of like a built-in group to get to know
people?
Speaker 6 (03:46):
so even though you're away from home and first time
away, is that working real wellfor you to feel connected and
yes, well, because like as thecoaching staff, like coach k and
coach a, they try to help theteam like get to know each other
, so like we have events witheach other and we just hang out
like everybody know each otherthat's really great.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Now, how about you?
Is your team working as a teamand you get to know people that
way?
Speaker 7 (04:09):
yeah, well, we're not .
It's not a pretty big team.
Um, we're eight girls, onlyeight.
Yeah, we're eight.
So we know each other prettywell, like we have been knowing
each other like for the lastthree weeks and we're really
close and we live close to eachother, so we have been having a
(04:30):
really good time together.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
I'm glad to hear that Now, the issue of connection,
feeling like you belong, is animportant one, and you didn't
come for a team now, did youDominic?
Speaker 4 (04:41):
No, I didn't.
I just came here just foreducation.
You know, before I was in band,but that's not much of an
option here.
You know there is a drum line,but Are you going to try out for
it?
I thought about it and I mighttry out for it next year.
You know, I just wanted to kindof get settled in here first
meet some people and focus onclasses.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Have you met people?
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Do you feel like you're as connected as these two
?
I don't know about thatconnected Like I've hung out
with people from my orientationslash swoop camp.
That's who I've mostly hung outwith, and my roommates, and
where are you living?
I'm living in Ornelas Hallright now.
Ornelas.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Hall?
And are all of you living inOrnelas Hall Just nod, yes, no,
you're in Patriot VillageLiberty, so are you feeling like
you belong?
Speaker 5 (05:26):
yet I think so.
I think, with me being anhonors student, there's a
community there that is reallydifferent compared to, like,
sports teams or stuff on thecampus, and especially with me
living in the living learningcommunity, I feel like it's like
helped me make a lot of friends.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah, I think that's one thing a lot of people don't
know that colleges do is that wehave what we call living
learning communities.
Are you in one too, Dominic?
Speaker 4 (05:50):
Yeah, I'm in first generation, Ah, first gen.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
So we try to set it up so that you have some folks
that you'll naturally have afirst acquaintance with a reason
to know each other.
So how's it going?
Have you been homesick at all?
Speaker 4 (06:05):
I've been a little homesick, I can't lie.
After the first week I was kindof like you know this was a
pretty long week, it felt like,but at the same time like I had
a lot of fun and it went by fast.
But at the same time by the endof it I was like man, you know,
like I miss my family quite abit.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Are you the oldest child in the family?
Yes, I am, so you've gotyounger siblings at home and
your mother and dad are probablygoing.
Oh, he's gone.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Yeah, I have three younger siblings at home.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Do you talk to your family much?
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Yeah, I do.
I call them once a week atleast.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
That's good.
I talk to my mother every dayand she lives in North Carolina,
so that's a pretty long ways.
How about?
Speaker 5 (06:43):
you, ms Mooney.
I mean with me being fromJacksonville, I'm literally like
30 minutes away from home, soit's not that much of a far away
college experience, but it'sdefinitely been a little bit of
a trouble like having to notonly orient myself to, like
living in a totally differenttown, totally different room,
and also struggling withbalancing education and stuff.
(07:04):
I mean the classes that I'mtaking, while they're not
necessarily the hardest, butit's definitely a different
workload from high school.
So having to balance those outit's kind of I have to give
myself a lot of slack and a lotof sympathy, I guess.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Now here's the question I'm going to ask you,
dylan have you found that theclasses are a lot different from
what you expected, and do youhave to give yourself a lot of
self-sympathy, like Mary wassaying?
Speaker 6 (07:29):
Yes, ma'am, it's really different from high
school because, like, comingfrom like athlete point of view,
you can miss class and like youwon't really be missing that
because, to be honest, it wasreally just easy.
But now, like that, youtransfer from colleges, the
classwork is like morechallenging, Like you have to
study and you have to do yourwork and listen in class or
you're just not going to pass.
(07:51):
They make us like we got tostudy, we got to do four hours a
week.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Isn't it enforced by the coaches?
Speaker 6 (07:57):
No, like we got to sign in and stuff, Like it's a
lot.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
How about for you, Paola?
How is the studying going?
You're in a wholly differentlanguage.
Speaker 7 (08:07):
My goodness, yeah, the first week for me was the
hardest because, like thetransition from high school to
college classes was hard,because in Ecuador I actually
never taken a college classlevel.
I just have like high schoolclasses and the ones I took in
my senior year and before andwhen I came here it was totally
(08:28):
different.
Like I had to adapt myself liketo the system of the classes,
like that, and it's so differentfrom Ecuador, and like also the
language.
Sometimes I still strugglingwith some things, but it haven't
been really, really hard.
I found that I'm adaptingreally good to the language.
(08:48):
That was my biggestpreoccupation when I came here
that I was not going to be ableto understand the classes and
the language.
But I think I'm doing it prettygood.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
So now Dylan says his high school didn't really have
to make him work very hard.
Did your high school back inEcuador make you work hard so
that you feel academicallyprepared?
Speaker 7 (09:08):
Not really In my senior year.
We didn't do much.
My senior year was really easy.
So the hardest years are like11th and 10th grade, but like my
last year it was not thatdifficult.
So after I came here it waslike a huge transition to me and
I graduated in like February.
(09:28):
So I really didn't study.
I didn't do any study like fromFebruary to August.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Wow, wow.
Well, I'm going to ask you thesame question, dominic.
Wasn't it different how theclasses compared to what you
were getting ready for in highschool?
Speaker 4 (09:43):
I mean, yeah, in high school it was all the classwork
and everything that you neededto do was basically done in
class.
Me personally, I didn't have todo hardly anything outside of
class, you know, unless it wasmostly math because they
assigned, you know, like gradedhomework.
So that was really the onlything.
Like you know, I got used todoing everything in class, and
(10:03):
once you were done with classes,that's it.
But here now, like, wheneverI'm done with a class for, like
whenever I go to the lecture,like that's not the end of it, I
go to the library almost everysingle day and I also do work in
the arts and science building,you know, just in between my
classes.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Yeah, so it's a bit of a surprise, huh.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
How about you, Mary?
How do the classes compare tohigh school?
Speaker 5 (10:26):
Well for me.
I mean, I took a majority ofcollege classes in high school
and in fact I graduated asvaledictorian, so there's that
natural inclination for me toalways study and always be in
the books.
So for me, the classes it's notan increase in difficulty, more
so like an increase inresponsibility, and it's me
making sure I'm getting allthese good grades and doing the
(10:46):
best I can, rather than, oh, Iwant to make my teacher proud.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
It's like make me proud ah, so there's less of a
personal relationship with yourteachers.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
I would say so, but only because I think one, it's
the beginning, and two, I'msomewhat intimidated by my
teachers, just simply because Ilook up to them so much, because
I personally want to be anEnglish professor.
So it's like, oh, I want to beable to seem smart, but I'm in
the position where, it's justlike getting in a conversation
with my professors or whatever,I'm going to look, not
necessarily dumb, but it's likeit's scary to put yourself in a
(11:18):
position where you know that youknow less and you might look
vulnerable in that sense.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Okay, well, now I've got to say something.
First of all, we are sothrilled that all four of you
first-year students were willingto come and talk to us, because
we knew that was the way youwere going to feel, and so I
just want to say that rightthere.
That's a huge step, I think.
Of course, I really pushed hardon you, dylan, didn't I?
I wasn't going to let you offthe hook, but I also wanted to
(11:45):
hear from all four of you,because I thought it was
important to have a range ofvoices.
Let me tell you something yourprofessors put on their pants
and their shoes every morning,just the same way you do, and we
want you to talk with us.
We want to hear from you.
You want to talk about that alittle bit, michaela.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Sure.
So this is my first semester asa teacher's assistant here, so
I am teaching my own English1301 class, and that has been an
interesting transition frombeing solely a student here to
also teaching students here aswell, while I'm still learning.
But yeah, I would say the samething as Dr Ross.
Obviously I'm still learning,just like y'all are still
(12:25):
learning, and I know I toldPaula and Dominic that in class,
but I would say the same thingfor any of the professors here.
Each year brings on differentthings, so each time we're
learning with y'all.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
And what we want very much is for you to be willing
to reach out to us and talk tous, and I don't know if you know
this or not, but we're requiredto have these office hours, and
getting students to come tooffice hours is like pulling
your teeth.
And yet oftentimes after youcome, they'll say oh, that
wasn't so scary after all, Nowyou've been a student and you
want to give them some coachingadvice on office hours and
(12:58):
talking to professors.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Yeah.
So I would definitely say toutilize office hours as much as
possible.
We are required to have officehours and most of the time
students don't show up, whetherthey think it's going to be
super intimidating and they'regoing to get yelled at during
office hours, or they don't knowwhat questions to ask and they
think kind of like Mary said,they're going to look dumb if
(13:20):
they come in with the wrongquestions.
But that's completely not it atall.
The professors are there tohelp.
If you have questions that aresort of more basic not dumb but
basic then that's okay as well,because that's going to let the
professor know, kind of wheremost of your class is, at what
level they're at, as well aswhere certain students are at as
well.
(13:40):
So once we know those levels,it's a lot easier to mold what
we're bringing into class foreveryone and the questions that
y'all have specifically.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
You want to talk a little bit, Dominic, about what
you're studying and how you feelabout the topics you're
studying and the courses, howyou picked them.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Yeah.
So I really wanted to dopre-med.
Right now.
I am a biology major, you know,with just focusing on, you know
, courses, that'll help me withmedical school.
You know, obviously I was goingto have to take some biology
courses, but whenever I foundout, you know, while I was
getting advised, that I wasgoing to have to, you know,
reject some AP credit that Iearned, I was kind of like
(14:19):
really Like I worked so hard forthis, but it's okay.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
So now tell us why they told you you had to reject
it.
Did it have to do with medschool?
Speaker 4 (14:28):
Yeah, med school they were.
You know they told me likemedical schools really don't
like AP credit, like they'drather you have the experience
like in college and in the labsand stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Because the high school AP class had that,
compared to what you're doingnow, because I guess you took
the same class.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
So the high school one, it was still mostly like
the work was in class.
I didn't have to do muchstudying outside of class.
You know, just a little bit oflike vocab.
Really that was the biggestthing.
You know, we didn't really havemany labs in class either.
Our classes were only like 40minutes long.
Now, like you have yourlectures and then you're like
(15:06):
man, I just got a lot ofinformation.
I need to like really work hardto remember what in the world
we just talked about.
And then the labs in college aswell.
You know like whenever I wentto my first one, I was like, wow
, this is like a real, real lab.
I just, you know, it's just alot different.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
How about you, Paola?
How did you pick your classesand what classes are sort of
speaking to you the most thatyou're getting the most out of?
Speaker 7 (15:33):
Well, I actually didn't pick my classes.
The schedule was given to mebecause I took the TSI late, so
my advisor didn't haveappointments close to the date
when I had my TSI scores.
They had like three weeks awayand it was too hard because,
like my coaches needed to havemy schedule.
(15:53):
So a person helped me, like topick me up the classes, and they
gave me the schedule.
So I didn't know what to expectin my class actually, and the
only thing they sent me was likesyllabus from past classes,
like for other classes that theyhad.
So I only read those and I wentto the classes like that.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
You just went to the classes?
Yeah, Did you start a littlebit late?
Did you start on the first dayof classes with everybody?
Speaker 7 (16:19):
I started in the first day of classes.
The thing is, I took my TSI,like then in June.
So then the classes.
If I waited for the appointment, the classes were going to be
full and I was not going to beable to have enough credit.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
You just brought up something that all students have
to deal with, which is advising, and classes sign up, right.
So, dylan, were you advised theway she was?
Did they just tell you here'swhat you have to take because
you're an athlete?
Speaker 6 (16:43):
No, no, when I went to orientation and picked my
classes, I have no clue.
So I had to come back up hereand change my classes.
My mom she knows me, she knowsI don't know what I want to do
right now.
She could tell, and I told herI don't know what I want to do.
So she was just like go do yourcore classes and then, when you
(17:04):
get ready to major in something, you already have them out the
way ready to like major insomething.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
You already have them out the way.
A lot of people know, or thinkthey know, about core classes.
Now, mary, you took a lot ofdual credit right, and so you
know a little bit about that.
I want to address somethingthat you just said, dylan, which
I think is really important.
It's okay to come here and notknow what the heck you're going
to do, because part of thereason why we have those core
classes, you know we have twocomposition classes, we have a
literature class, we have a mathclass, we have political
science, american history,things that poor old Paula's
(17:34):
fighting with right now, andthen you also have something in
that fine arts and something inthe social sciences and I
probably left something out thehard sciences as well.
And that's so people just likeyou, dylan, who have no idea
what you want to do, but justknow you think you better go on
to college and get going, canhave a little bit of this, a
little bit of that, a little bitmore of something else and get
a sense of what your facultiesare.
(17:56):
Here I'm going to use the fancyword we use in British
literature the faculties areyour will, your intelligence,
your imagination, your abilityto think, and when we talk about
your faculties, we're talkingabout all the things that make
you, intellectually andemotionally, you and so that's
what you're supposed to be doingis developing those things, and
those classes four, maybe fiveclasses will start to do that
(18:18):
for you.
Now, mary, you got ahead bytaking some dual credit classes,
right, or AP.
Now tell us a little bit aboutwhat your journey was with that.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
Yeah, so I was able to come into college as like I
think I had like 36 credit hoursfrom high school, that's like a
whole year.
Yeah, I'm classified as asophomore and in fact this year
I'm able to take a junior levelclass.
But for me, with registeringfor classes, I was lucky enough
since I am, like my hometown isso close to UT Tyler, my high
school set up a pre-registrationevent.
Like my hometown is so close toUT Tyler, my high school set up
a pre-registration event.
(18:48):
So I just went into a libraryone time and there was an
academic advisor there and shekind of just like asked me what
my major was, what I wanted tobe, and she pretty much was like
, ok, these are all the classesyou're going to take.
And I was like, ok, I mean likeI was so like uninformed of like
what classes I needed to take,what classes and credits I
(19:09):
already had.
There wasn't like I couldn'teven ask any questions.
I had no idea.
I was just like, ok, I'm goingto go to class and learn, like
that's all I had.
But I think my classes now I'mdefinitely in the right place.
But the whole journey and it'sstill very overwhelming at times
when it's like OK, we got toget ready for the next semester.
What core classes do you haveright now?
And your curriculum path andfor your degree plan?
(19:31):
And it's a lot of terms thatI've yet to become familiar with
, but I think throughout thecourse, especially freshman year
, I'm going to be able to getfamiliar with those a lot better
.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
You know, this is a big confusion for a lot of
people and there's so many ballsin the air and like all these
different fields, and that's whyit's a university, so you have
all these different courses andall these things to study, but
it can be overwhelming andeverybody's supposed to have
these core classes.
They have to have some basicwriting, some basic composition,
some math and science and on upto history and social sciences
(20:04):
and some literature classes andit does seem like what.
I don't know if I need that.
In your case, you already knewyou wanted to be an English
professor Amazing.
In your case, dominic, you'rethinking about medicine and so
you have an idea.
But over here we got a guy whojust says I just want to get to
college and try to figure it allout, which is lovely.
(20:24):
It's exactly where a lot of ushope you will be, because a lot,
lot of times I've had studentscome to me desperate to become a
medical student and they took acouple of math classes or a
couple of higher levels of thebiology and they went oh my God,
I don't want to do this.
I can't stand it.
My parents think I'm supposedto do this.
I've told everybody mygirlfriend or my boyfriend
(20:44):
thinks I'm doing it.
What do I do I really likeEnglish?
What boyfriend thinks I'm doingit?
What do I?
Do I really like English?
What am I going to do with anEnglish degree?
Or I really like history.
What can I do with a historydegree?
And we can tell you what youcan do with those degrees?
Okay, because obviouslysomewhere along the line we got
to figure out what you're goingto do when you get out of here,
right, and that's the big goal.
But also we want you to getsuch a good foundation when
(21:07):
you're here that you're notrushing through to get finished
and miss a chance to take agreat art history class, for
example, mary.
Or maybe take an incrediblegeography class or an astronomy
class and things like that.
Dylan, tell us a little bit sofar.
Can you tell us what classesyou're taking, and is it giving
you a sense of which directionyou want to go yet, or is it a
(21:28):
little early?
It's only three weeks in inyeah, it's a little early.
I'm taking uh english forensicchemistry, music, appreciation,
history so, generally speaking,you said it was really different
and you're having to show up.
Um, have you been surprised byanything you've learned so far?
Have you noticed that this issomething you might want to
(21:51):
pursue?
Yet it's a little early, butmaybe I haven't really decided.
Speaker 6 (21:54):
I've just been trying to get a feel for it, you know,
because it's different fromhigh school.
So I've just been trying to getdifferent.
I like sociology though.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
That's great.
That's great, paula, did youhave an idea what you wanted to
study, like Mary wanted to be inEnglish?
We've got a doctor over here.
Speaker 7 (22:14):
We've got someone who's just glad he's figuring
out how to get to his next class.
What about you?
My whole life I've known that Idon't want to be in the medical
field or something like biologyand that stuff.
I actually like more like thebusiness side.
Right now I'm an economicsmajor and I have my econ class.
I had it online but I like thatclass, so I guess I'm on the
(22:36):
right path for now.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
We'll look for Dr Doty's class because she teaches
the most amazing macro andmicroeconomics class.
Speaker 7 (22:44):
Yeah, they recommend me that class but it's full and
it doesn't fit my schedule.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
That's an issue too, isn't it?
Getting classes that fit yourschedule?
You can't always get in theprofessor you want or the time
of day you want.
How's your schedule working outfor you, Dominic?
Speaker 4 (22:59):
Really, my schedule was decided because I got
advised late.
I'm going to be honest.
I went to the last session ofSwoop Camp and a lot of the
better times I would say werefilled up already.
So I have biology three days aweek, I have psychology twice a
week and I have English twice aweek and then I have stats three
(23:20):
times.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
So that's a different kind of schedule to have, isn't
it Five days a week?
Speaker 4 (23:36):
normally you'd have class after class after class.
So what do you do with all thatfree time?
Is it free time?
It's not really free time.
Between my 8 am biology class,I have my stats class at like 11
.
And so between that time I goto the arts and science building
and I usually work on, you know, assignments that I need to do.
But I also study in that timeLike I work and I study for the
exams that are coming up andquizzes and all sorts of stuff
like that.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
So it's three weeks in.
You're not going home, it'sworking.
You got 12 more weeks.
How does that look?
Is it uphill or is it like?
Ah, I think I'm getting.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
It's looking a little uphill because, you know, we
just haven't had any exams yet,and that's the thing that's
causing me just a little bit ofstress right now, Because you
know, actually I had my firstexam today and I was like I
don't know what this exam isgoing to look like.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
And how did it look?
Speaker 4 (24:19):
Actually it wasn't that bad.
It was a stats exam and itwasn't bad at all.
Like I thought I was going tobe underprepared for it and just
really not know what was goingon, but I actually felt really
good about it.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Makes me really happy to hear that.
So let's talk a little bitabout the thing that surprised
you the most.
Everybody, think about whatsurprised you the most.
We'll go to you, paola, first,and then we'll talk to Dylan and
then Mary.
So what surprised you the mostabout being a freshman in
college, a first-year person incollege?
Speaker 7 (24:55):
The thing that surprised me the most was like
the length of the classes.
The classes are super long andat the end of the class
sometimes I can't remember whatdid the teacher said at the
beginning, and also like all theworks and assignments that we
have to do outside the class.
So it's just not the class.
We have like assignments,readings, quizzes.
(25:16):
We need to watch videos.
Yeah, it's like so different.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Which of the things I did when I was in high school.
Do you think that's differentfrom the way it is in
universities in Ecuador, or doyou think it's just the
university?
Speaker 7 (25:24):
I would say it's kind of like the same, but not in
the workload that the studentshave.
Like classes are kind of likethe same, but the
after-the-class things they'relike a workload that is bigger
than the ones in Ecuador.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
The workload Now.
I think you told me earlierthat a lot of folks in Ecuador
think going to the US for acollege degree is a good thing
to do.
Is that correct?
Speaker 7 (25:49):
A lot of folks in Ecuador think going to the US
for a college degree is a goodthing to do.
Is that correct?
Yeah, if you play sport liketennis, and if you have the
opportunity to go, you can do it.
But it depends on also what youwant to study, because, like,
if you want to be a doctor, it'sgoing to be like really long
career and you're not allowed toplay more than eight semesters,
I think like four years.
So imagine if you decided tocome to do meds.
(26:12):
You have to first do pre-medand then you have to do the med
school.
So it's going to be hard.
Or if you want to study law, ifyou study law here in the
United States, your degree isnot going to work in Ecuador if
you come back.
So it depends on the career.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
I hear you, I hear you.
So, dylan, what surprised youthe most so far at UT Tyler?
Speaker 6 (26:32):
I'll say the work that you have to do outside of
class, all the stuff that theysaid.
It was true.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
It really is as hard as they say it is.
Now the professors isintimidating, as Mary feels like
they are.
Speaker 6 (26:47):
No, because, like I mean, I'm just there to listen,
like I, like all my professorsthey understand and like I can
email them, I can talk to themif I have any help.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
I would add one thing it is important not just to
listen, it's important to be anactive member of the class.
That's a big transition.
We don't want you to sit thereand be listeners, we want you to
be active participants, and Iwant to know how that's going
for you, mary.
And then I want to hear fromyou over that mental stoop.
Speaker 5 (27:31):
But I don't know, I mean, I just I feel like in a
college class, I'm just there tolearn and I think that might be
some high school mentalitygetting to me I'm just there to
learn.
It's not necessarily acollaborative space.
It's more so like I still havethe mentality that the teachers
are like trying to show theirsuperiority by saying like, oh,
let me teach and let me see howwell you can listen.
No, it's more.
I need to change my mind for itto be like a collaborative,
like I need to learn with myprofessors and I need to be like
(27:53):
participating in class in orderto get the full experience.
But yeah, I feel like I need tobe a little more brave in class
.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
I'm glad you understand that, but it is a
hard jump, isn't it?
Michaela, you want to addressthis issue because I think this
is a really important one, andI've watched Michaela become, in
many ways, the ideal student,and now she's probably an ideal
teacher.
You learn more when youparticipate, right?
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Yeah.
So one thing we like to try toconvey to our students is that
if you have a question,oftentimes everyone else in the
class, or almost everyone elsein the class, has that same
question and they're on the samelevel as you of not really
wanting to speak up and askabout it.
But you're never going to sounddumb or like it's too basic of
a question because, kind ofgoing back to what I was saying
(28:40):
earlier, we want to know whatlevels y'all are at and kind of
how we can best give youresources, and so when you speak
up then we'll know kind of howwe can mold our lessons to help
you best, because we alreadyknow the content as the
professor, as the teacher, right.
So we're not up there saying itjust to be up there and to say
(29:00):
it and to get paid.
We're there to make sure thatyou're learning.
We're there to make sure thatyou're growing and that you're
getting what you need for in thefuture when you have to apply
those skills and that knowledgeto your job.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Yeah, and when you say level, we don't really care
what level you are.
We're not judging you by whatyour level is.
We just need to know what it isso that we can work with you.
I mean, I've got students inthe class that Mary and Dylan
are in.
They're really bright but theyhave some learning disabilities
and I have to spend extra timewith them.
I've got a student in anotherclass who is blind, and so,
while the rest of the class istaking a handwritten quiz, I'm
(29:35):
over there reading her thequestions and she's responding
to me.
But that's okay, because all ofyou all are here.
You made it in, we know you cando the work, but then every one
of you, being a different human, has got different gaps,
different interests, differentskills, different faculties.
The more you tell us, the morewe can help.
Now I'm watching your face,dominic, and you're having a lot
(29:55):
of thoughts.
Do you want to comment on a fewof the things we've just been
talking about?
Speaker 4 (30:00):
I mean the way that I've always learned like the
best is.
You know, I really like to seeexamples and I like to do like
example questions and mostclasses they have a textbook
with some example questions, butsome of those questions they
don't really make much sense andthen the textbooks are kind of
just hard to understand.
It's hard to find, like theresources that I need to learn
(30:24):
the content like to the best ofmy ability.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
So what are you doing to work on that?
Speaker 4 (30:29):
I've contacted a few of my professors.
I've talked to them a littlebit.
I've mostly just introducedmyself to them, just trying to
get a little bit more of apersonal connection, because I
know these people, they want tohelp me.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Well, and if you were to come up to me and say, dr
Ross, this question in thistextbook doesn't make a bit of
sense, I don't understand it.
You think I'm going to look atyou and say, well, you're a big
dummy.
No, I'm going to say.
I'm probably going to say, yeah, I don't exactly understand it
either.
Let's work it out.
Textbooks are just textbooks.
What's really happening in aclassroom is this stuff.
(31:04):
You know what's going on.
Now.
The advising you said you wereadvised late.
Advising is a big issue inuniversities and it's a big
problem because we've got over11,000 students here and each
one of you has got to take fivecourses this semester and five
next semester and 10 for thenext three or four years each.
(31:25):
And you just think about thenumbers going up there in the
air, all the number of peoplethat we've got to advise, and so
it's almost always a bottleneckearly on and one of the best
pieces of advice we can giveother people.
Because you all said advisingwas a problem.
Right, we know it and we try towork hard to fix it.
But you can also always reachout to individual professors for
that, and the best advice forhigh school students probably is
(31:49):
sort it out ahead of time ifyou can.
But if you can't, your coachesalmost always will intervene.
In your case, the dean of theHonors College will help.
In your case, poor old you, youdon't have anybody but us to
help you.
But it sounds like you went toyour professors, right?
Okay, so that's a big stepright there.
So we've talked a little bitabout what surprised you the
(32:09):
most.
It's the amount of work youhave to do outside.
What pleased you the most?
Speaker 4 (32:15):
Just getting to meet new people.
You know I'm in a wholedifferent town.
Most of these people I didn'tmeet until either orientation or
move-in day.
I'm really excited to be ableto meet new people, meet with
professors, people that can giveme future jobs.
That's the thing I'm mostexcited for is just having
connections and having peoplethat I can rely on.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
Your world has gotten a lot wider all of a sudden,
hasn't it?
But it also sounds like you'veresponded to that.
You haven't been afraid of it.
You've sort of reached out andshook hands with us, right?
Speaker 4 (32:46):
Yes, I have.
I always had the idea like, ohyeah, I'm definitely going to go
like reach out to my professors, but honestly it took me.
After the first day I was likeman, there's a lot of people
like in my biology classespecially there's over 100
people in there and then there'sbeen a one professor and I
couldn't do it the first day.
But after that I slowly gotwarmed up to them and, you know,
(33:08):
I was able to like actuallymeet them.
Speaker 7 (33:10):
What about you.
I think that the thing thatpleased me the most was first,
the fact that I understand allof my classes, that I was able
to understand what the teacherswere saying and I also like all
like the support that I havehere.
Like some of my professors havetold me that if I have
questions, that I can go totheir office hours and also to
(33:32):
meet new people.
Like it was so weird becausewhen I came here I didn't know
anyone and now I have like myacquaintances and meet new
people and like that.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
How about you, Dylan?
What surprised you the most?
Speaker 6 (33:46):
To be honest, I thought professors was going
gonna be real hard on likestudents, like real hard, be
like figured out on your own,but they really understanding,
they'll help you if you need it.
And like meeting new peoplebecause like I don't really talk
much, I just stay quiet, butlike I met some people and they
cool.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
What about you, Mary?
Surprised you the most.
Speaker 5 (34:08):
I think what surprised me the most is how
much control over my ownschedule I do have, like
throughout the day.
I mean, especially in highschool I was told, like when to
go to class and I kind of had towork my at-home and
out-of-school schedule aroundschool.
So it was kind of like I had nocontrol there.
But now I get to dictate when Istudy whether that's in the
(34:30):
middle of the night or if Iwanted to sleep in.
Well, of course I still have togo to class, but I have a lot
more control over my wholeschedule and I think that
surprised me the most and alsoit's one of the most pleasing
things.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
What I'm hearing today makes me really happy for
all you guys, but managing timeis a big deal, isn't it Now?
Now for an athlete?
It sounds like for you, paula,the tennis team and practices
really do manage your time foryou, and so you miss out on some
things.
What about you over there inthe track team?
Do you have the same problem?
Speaker 6 (35:01):
no, not really.
Like if you have class, they'lltell you go to class.
Like they take like schoolserious, they make sure like you
get your education.
So if you can't make it topractice because when you need
to study or like you have class,like you'll come like after you
have class and you would justget your workout in.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
This is D2 now, right , division two, and so you all
have scholarships, is that right?
And so to keep them, you got tokeep doing the work, don't you?
Scholarship is meaningful there.
So your schedule, paola, soundslike it's really really
restricted by tennis right now.
Is that going to be the wayit's all year, you think?
Speaker 7 (35:37):
It depends on the semester.
This semester I have practicekind of 9 to 12.
Every day, yeah, 9 to 12.
All the days my mornings arefrom practice.
I have classes in the afternoonevery day.
So I only have afternoons free.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Dominic, I want to ask you a question about your
time and the freedom you have.
How do you manage your time,and is managing time been an
issue for you?
Speaker 4 (36:03):
I really had to force myself when I first got here to
like actually study.
You know, after the first day Irealized how much free time I
actually have and I'm like it'sgreat to have all this free time
, but at the same time it's likewhat can I do to like take
advantage of this?
So I had to force myself tolike go to the library, get my
work done.
(36:23):
And then, you know, in themornings, you know on Tuesdays
and Thursdays, when I don't havemy 8 am I actually go to the
gym before classes?
8 am I actually go to the gymbefore classes?
And so, you know, I takeadvantage of just all the free
time I have to, you know, workon my classes but also work on
myself as a person.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
I'm glad you mentioned that you're going to
the gym, because we got twoathletes here, you don't have to
worry about going to the gym.
But a lot of times they talkabout the freshman 15, the 15
pounds you gain your freshmanyear because you don't do as
much as you used to and there'salways food around and all of
that sort of stuff.
So, mary, have you been able toget physical activity?
Speaker 5 (36:59):
in.
I haven't been to the gym yetbecause it's kind of scary, but
every day I go on a long walk.
That's kind of like my freetime, like usually it's around
two hours a day.
I walk and I get upwards tolike eight to ten miles a day,
but I just walk and I put mymusic in and I kind of just like
daydream and stuff.
But yeah, I feel like that'sthe most physical I get and with
(37:20):
eating and stuff, the Met foodisn't really something that is
such a treat that I just can'thelp but indulge myself every
day.
So I think that's kind ofhelpful.
But definitely with all thefast food like the Subway and
Chick-fil-a being on campus, youhave to be responsible and
that's kind of helpful.
But definitely with all thefast food like the subway and
Chick-fil-a being on campus, youhave to be responsible and
that's where you have to kind ofgrow up and be like oh, I can't
eat Chick-fil-a three times aday, every day, even though it's
super good.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Does the tennis team make you eat certain food?
Do you have to have a specialathletic diet?
Speaker 7 (37:46):
No, the only thing they told us is to eat healthy,
like to know what our body needs, like to be able to get through
the practice and like throughthe whole day, and to make good
decisions at the Met.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
The Met.
By the way, is our dorm foodright.
It's cafeteria.
Speaker 7 (38:02):
Yeah, so you can't eat pizza every day, although
it's there, isn't it?
Yeah, it's there, but you can'teat pizza every day.
So you have to make goodchoices based on what your body
needs and what you need as aperson.
Of course, you can decide toeat pizza once a week, but you
can't eat pizza three times aday, or Chick-fil-A Even though
you have it there.
You have to manage yourdecisions and be aware of the
(38:26):
consequences that will have onyour weight or on your health
have like on your weight or onyour health.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
It's really impressing me that you're saying
all these things, because Iwonder sometimes what kind of
decisions and what kind ofknowledge our students have
about their body and theirhealth, because it's so
important.
And you know, good minds don'tcome from weak bodies or from
malnourished bodies or poorlynourished bodies.
What about you?
Speaker 6 (38:48):
They tell us not all fuel is good fuel.
So like they tell us we need toeat breakfast, but like not
just no heavy breakfast.
Before you come like lift orpractice, they tell us to eat a
couple hours before practice.
They tell us you got to eatsomething before you come.
That's your fuel.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Have you been able to eat well enough?
I mean, have you been able tofind food that you're willing to
eat?
Speaker 6 (39:11):
I mean, I don't really eat breakfast like that,
but like I eat some fruit, I eatthe med food sometimes and then
like I buy some the next day.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
So y'all live in dorms or apartments.
Really, it's a universityapartment, Is that right Dylan?
Speaker 6 (39:26):
Yeah, I like it.
I mean, it's really your ownroom.
You have your own restroom.
You share the kitchen Me and myroommate we cool, we know each
other.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
That's great, that's great.
What about you?
How's the dorm life for youover there, paola?
Speaker 7 (39:41):
My apartment is really nice.
I have two roommates andthey're both on the tennis team,
so we are seeing each otherevery day.
We walk every day together.
We live in Building 12, sowe're really far away, but like
it's really nice to have yourown room, your own restroom, and
like it makes you feel more athome because you live in an
apartment like at a house.
(40:01):
You share the kitchen with yourroommates, but like you have
your own space.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
That's kind of different from home, isn't it?
Speaker 7 (40:09):
And it's a good different yeah at least I don't
share my room with anotherperson, but I have my own space.
I can be there if I want or Ican go, like, to their sharing
space, like that.
So it's different, but it'sgood to have your own space.
Yeah, I'm glad to hear that.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
What about you, Dominic?
I really like my dorm so you'rein a dorm, not an apartment
situation.
Speaker 4 (40:33):
Yeah, but I'm in one of the triple rooms so I have
two roommates.
I do have my own personal space.
I mean I don't have to share aroom with someone exactly, but
it's not like a huge space and Idon't really spend much time in
there anyways.
You know, I enjoy it, but Ithink the hardest part is not
having like a kitchen.
I like to actually cook stuffand it's kind of not easy to do
(40:56):
in those rooms.
There is a community kitchen,but it's not the same.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
So these two athletes with their apartments are
making you kind of jealous,aren't they?
Speaker 4 (41:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
Well, you know what to shoot for next round.
Huh, how about you, Mary?
How's the dormitory situation?
Speaker 5 (41:10):
Yeah, I too live in the three-bedroom dorm and I
didn't cook much at home, so theabsence of a kitchen is not as
surprising to me.
But the thing that is kind ofgetting to me is I live with RA.
She's a junior now and RA is aresidential assistant, so she's
kind of like not necessarily thedorm police, but she's the dorm
(41:31):
mom.
The one thing that I have beenstruggling with is like getting
to know my roommates, becausewith the three-suite dorm we get
to close our own rooms and wecan seclude ourselves easily.
Especially when we were gettinginto it and we first moved in,
everyone wanted to like havealone time and it was kind of
hard to reach out.
But yesterday in fact was myRA's birthday, so me and my
(41:52):
other roommate we went to theDollar Tree and we decorated her
room and got her some presentsand stuff.
That was kind of like one ofthe first moments we had like
all three together, likerealizing okay, like we live
together, we can be besties too.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
Having a bad roommate situation, especially first
year, can be really traumatic.
Everybody lucked out and youdidn't not luck out, mary, you
just took a little while to getit developed, huh.
So now we're going to talkabout what is your best advice
to maybe friends back in Midlandwho want to go off to college.
What would you tell them?
What are two or three thingseach of you would tell a student
(42:25):
coming up to look out for, orbe sure you do, or be sure you
don't do.
Speaker 4 (42:31):
I'd tell them to just try and get ahead early.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
With their academics.
Speaker 4 (42:36):
Yeah, like get ahead early with academics, get
advised early, get registeredfor housing early, like get
everything done that you knowyou need to get done, so that
way you don't have to end uplike some people One of my
friends actually.
He ended up in one of thedouble rooms, but there's three
people in there.
You know it's just not great.
And so my biggest piece ofadvice is get things done early
(42:58):
so that way you don't struggle.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
And, of course, a lot of times they don't know what
the things are.
Do they Advising dorm rooms,getting your ID, all the stuff
that you have to do?
Okay, mary.
Speaker 5 (43:13):
A piece of advice I would give to incoming freshmen
would definitely be giveyourself some grace.
Especially for me, I thoughtcollege was supposed to be a lot
easier than home life, becauseyou get to look by yourself and
you get to dictate everythingyou do on your own.
But it's definitely hard to nowhave to think oh, I need to
make sure I eat three times aday and I have to make sure I
allow myself enough time tosleep and take care of myself
(43:33):
without the presence of parentsor people looking over you all
the time.
So definitely I would say giveyourself some grace and realize
that you're doing a big thingand you should be proud of
yourself, no matter if you thinkyou fail or not.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
Oh, I think that's such a good way.
You are doing a big thing.
It's so much more social andemotional development that's
happening for you all right now.
It's a huge leap.
I'm so glad you calledattention to that, Mary.
Thank you, Okay, Dylan.
What's your best advice to kidsback at your school?
Speaker 6 (44:01):
I'd say not to procrastinate on anything,
especially work-wise.
You can't procrastinate because, like, if you get behind, like
it's kind of hard to catch backup.
Because, like, if you getbehind, like it's kind of hard
to catch back up, and like, whenyou get here, like, be social,
you want to meet new people andyou want to get to know new
people because you never know,they might help you or might be
like a long-term friend.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
You know they say a lot of people meet their future
partner in school or they comeand join them a year or two
later.
Never can tell what about you.
Speaker 7 (44:33):
What's your best advice?
My best advice is to beprepared, kind of prepared to be
by yourself and like get thingsdone by yourself, like not
having other person, liketelling you what to do, and like
prepared to sometimes feellonely or feel like you miss
your home and like that.
Also be prepared for theclasses so they won't take you
(44:56):
by surprise or you won't be likesurprised on the first day.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
Yeah, so college is the real deal, but it sounds
like all four of you arehandling it.
Anything else you want to addto this conversation or anything
you thought of as a teacher butalso a former student here?
Speaker 3 (45:14):
Maybe I'll just add also like my advice for first
year college students.
So I would just say, once youdo get here, also trying to find
all of the resources that youcan because, like we talked
about earlier, professors are abig resource, but then the
university, not just professorsbut career centers and the
(45:35):
library and the writing centers,and there's so many other
resources as well asorganizations that you can get
involved with that will help youto kind of acclimate to campus
a little bit better, as well asacclimate to your academics a
little bit better.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
Yeah, the librarians, for example.
You've had your meeting with MsDubry now, and you've had yours
too.
How did that go?
Tell folks about that researchlibrarian.
Speaker 6 (46:00):
I'll say Ms Dubry is a big help Having to do projects
writing papers.
She'll guide you through likehow to get information from the
web and all that and using thelibrary database.
Speaker 2 (46:13):
It's like a teacher that's not your teacher, right?
Yeah, she's great.
Yeah, what about you, mary?
Speaker 5 (46:19):
My meeting with her was so insightful as to, like
you think a librarian doesn't domuch.
Oh, they just sit around with alot of books, but she showed me
how to navigate the onlinedatabases and how much like I
didn't know and how much effortis put into actual research.
So I feel like it was just soinsightful, like meeting with
her, and definitely I'm going tobe in contact with her a lot
more as I go throughout college.
Speaker 2 (46:41):
And she will stay with you throughout your time,
especially because she's the litlang person.
So she's going to be yourspecialty.
I use Ms Dubree in my ownresearch.
In fact, my first book isdedicated partly to her, because
if it hadn't been some thingsthat she helped me find that I
could have never found, Icouldn't have gotten through
with that book.
So, yeah, there's libraries.
I'm so glad you brought upresources.
And here's the other thing tooyou pay for it.
(47:03):
It's part of the deal, so youuse it as much as you can.
We also have counselingservices and we have the career
center is really good.
Did you know?
We have a career closet?
You can get career clothes.
You can get fancy clothes ifyou want to go on a job
interview.
(47:23):
I want to tell you all that.
Y'all made me smile about 18times this afternoon, and I know
it's a Friday afternoon.
You want to get out of here.
But most of all, I hope youtake the wisdom that you've
shared with us back to your dormor to your fancy apartment or
to your team, and I just want tocompliment you on making you're
making the transition.
You're doing the thing.
There's these two fancyprofessors called Chickering and
Reiser.
(47:43):
They talk about the sevenvectors of college student
development, and only one ofthem has to do with studying.
All the others have to do withinterpersonal relations.
They have to do with learninghow to be alone, but also how to
reach out and how, ultimately,to find who you are, what your
ethics and your identity are,and those are things that I
(48:05):
think you're all already workingon, and I'm real happy that you
all are here at UT Tyler.
So thank you for being a partof our conversation so well.
That was pretty interesting.
I enjoyed that.
I guess that's a wrap, ashley.
Speaker 8 (48:18):
Yes, ma'am, this has been the Ask Dr Ross podcast.
Thank you so much for listeningin with us today, and if you
have questions about collegelife or any of the topics that
we were talking about today,please send us your questions to
ADR questions at gmailcom.
We'd love to hear from you.
In the meanwhile, we'll see youin the next episode.
Thank you very much.
This is Ashley Wirtle signingoff.
(48:40):
Bye-bye.
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