October - Midterm Exams Approach
The approach of midterm examinations may cause increased stress and anxiety. Adjustment issues may persist, causing some students to compare themselves to others who have made the transition easily. On the other hand, October is a time when many students begin to feel more at home at UK and actively seek friendships and involvement. Issues from previous months continue in October.
- Failure to meet expectations on midterm exams may lead to feelings of failure and loss of self-esteem
- Finding a niche in a large campus environment
- Making friends and joining student organizations
- Social pressures related to dating, drinking, and sexual activity
- Feeling pressured to choose a major
- Juggling the demands of school and creating a social life
What Families Can Do
- Be willing to listen to your student express his or her frustrations with the adjustment process.
- Be sympathetic but careful not to provide too many suggestions on how to fix your student's problems. Convey your confidence in his ability to find his way around this new environment.
- Encourage your student to read the Kentucky Kernel student newspaper or visit the Center for Student Involvement in the Student Center to seek out organizations of interest.
- Remind your student to meet with her academic advisor prior to spring registration.
- Remind your student of previous success in making friends and having relationships so that impulsive actions (such as binge drinking to fit in) are mediated by innate common sense and memories of success before college.
- Encourage your student to visit the Counseling and Testing Center and the Katherine Kemper Career Library to explore possible majors and careers. Remind him that many first-year students are unclear about their majors.
- Encourage use of academic resources, especially if midterm exams did not go as well as she would have liked.
- Encourage your student to get a low-cost flu shot from University Health Service this month. Dates, times, and locations are advertised in the Kentucky Kernel.