Work Hard, Play Hard: The Importance of Socializing

A post about creating an active social life for yourself at college might be the last thing you'd expect to see on an otherwise serious site about exploring colleges and applying for financial aid. The safety and academic risks of partying too much are well-established. But it's also important to not visit the other extreme by becoming a hermit.

This is especially true for first-generation students, who are more likely to feel isolated than their continuing generation peers. You may be planning to make the library your second home, with the hope that devoting yourself to working as much as possible will lead to success. But you may be setting yourself up for disappointment and other negative emotions. It's a well established fact that humans are happier and healthier when they have friends to lean on and decompress with. And this is true of college students as well, including those who are first in their family to attend.

Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels

This report highlights a group of friends from a small Texas town who were all the first members of their family to attend college. Even though theirs was an informal group, they relied on each other as they dealt with the challenges of being first-generation college students. 

More and more schools are acknowledging the importance of student networking, and have put things in place to help first-gen students find adult mentors and connect with peers. 

And this New York Times article talks about how first-gen students are mobilizing at elite colleges, creating organized networks where they can share advice and form friendships with fellow students who share their backgrounds and experiences.