First Year and Figuring It Out Podcast

Luke Hoffman: From PNW Podcast Studio 119, I’m Luke Hoffman.

Lyndsey Schaap: And I’m Lyndsey Schaap, and this is First Year & Figuring It Out.

Luke: Hey there! Welcome to First Year & Figuring It Out. We’re your survival guide to navigating your first year of college.

Lyndsey: Exactly. We’re here to help make your transition into college a little smoother.

Luke: My name is Luke Hoffman. I’m a senior on the Purdue Northwest hockey team with one semester left before graduation. I’m excited to share some of the things I’ve learned along the way.

Lyndsey: I can’t believe you’re almost done. It goes by so fast.

Luke: It really does.

Lyndsey: Hi everyone, I’m Lyndsey Scab. I oversee First-Year Advising and supervise our first-year advisors, as well as the Tutoring Center. This is our first time doing this podcast, and we’re excited to share resources and tips to help you feel more comfortable starting your first semester.

Luke: There’s a lot of information thrown at new students right away. Hopefully, we can help break things down into manageable pieces and prevent some of that information overload.

Lyndsey: That information overload is definitely real.

Luke: For Episode 1, we’re focusing on Advising 101: Your Guide to Getting Started.

Luke: For a brand-new student, how would you explain what academic advising is and why it matters?

Lyndsey: That’s a great question. Academic advising is very different from what many of you experienced with a high school guidance counselor.

Your advisor’s role is to help guide you through your first year of college. They’re here to answer questions, connect you with resources, and help you navigate everything from registration to campus services.

For example, maybe your advisor told you where to get your textbooks, but a week later you can’t remember. That’s completely normal. You can always reach back out and ask.

Think of your advisor as one of your biggest supporters throughout your first year.

Luke: I definitely became good friends with my first-year advisor, Katie. Big shoutout to her. She helped me with a lot, and it was very different from high school. I probably only saw my high school guidance counselor once.

Lyndsey: I think that’s true for most people. Advisors are much more involved. We check in with you throughout the semester, help connect you to resources, and support you as you adjust to college life.

Starting college is exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. Your advisor is there to help guide you through the process—not just during your first year, but throughout your college journey.

Luke: It’s nice to have someone checking in on you, especially during that first semester when you’re figuring everything out.

Common Advising Mistakes

Luke: What’s one mistake you see new students make when it comes to advising?

Lyndsey: Not asking for help.

College is new, and it’s completely normal not to know everything. We expect questions. That’s why we’re here.

If you’re unsure about something, ask. The more questions you ask, the easier it becomes to navigate college successfully.

Our job is to help you, so don’t feel like you have to figure everything out on your own.

Luke: When you first meet your advisor, you might not have much of a relationship yet. But the more often you connect with them, the stronger that relationship becomes.

A few weeks into the semester, if you’re struggling with something, you’ll already have someone you trust who can help point you in the right direction.

Tools Students Should Use

Luke: What’s one tool or feature students should be using that often gets overlooked?

Lyndsey: Your student email.

Your advisor, Financial Aid, Housing, and other university departments will communicate with you through your student email. Important information will be sent there regularly.

You’ll find it in your student portal through the Office 365 widget. Check it every day. You probably already have messages waiting for you.

Luke: Definitely check your email. In high school, I wasn’t in the habit of doing that, but it’s something you’ll need to get used to quickly.

Another tool I’d recommend is the Brightspace Pulse app. You’ll use Brightspace throughout college, and the calendar feature is especially helpful. Checking it at the beginning of each week can help you stay organized and avoid getting overwhelmed.

Lyndsey: That’s great advice.

Reaching Out to Your Advisor

Luke: Some students feel intimidated about reaching out. What would you say to encourage them to connect with their advisor?

Lyndsey: Remember that your advisor doesn’t see you as just another student. They remember conversations, they remember faces, and they genuinely care about helping you succeed.

We’re not here to be intimidating. We’re here to help.

There really aren’t many questions we haven’t heard before, so don’t worry about asking something that seems obvious or simple. We want you to reach out.

Luke: I don’t think there’s anyone in the First-Year Advising Center who isn’t easy to connect with. Everyone is welcoming and supportive.

And honestly, many advisors keep snacks in their offices. When I was a freshman and sophomore, I’d stop by Katie’s office between classes and grab a Jolly Rancher or some fruit snacks.

Lyndsey: Absolutely. Come grab a snack, coffee, or hot chocolate. We try to create a welcoming space where students feel comfortable stopping by.

We usually have something playing on the TV, and it’s a great place to connect with people.

Luke: They were showing The Mighty Ducks yesterday.

Lyndsey: Such a good movie.

Final Advice

Luke: If you could give every new student one piece of advice about advising, what would it be?

Lyndsey: Use your advisor to the fullest.

While advisors help with course selection, that’s only a small part of what they do. Their real role is helping you personalize your college experience.

Every student’s journey is different. The more open you are about your goals, challenges, and interests, the more your advisor can help create a path that’s right for you.

Luke: I think something that gets overlooked is how much information advisors have.

I switched majors between my first and second semesters. I knew I wanted to study business, but I wasn’t sure which direction to go. Katie helped me explore my options and figure out what made the most sense for me.

Building a relationship with your advisor gives you access to someone who can help guide major decisions throughout your college experience.

Lyndsey: Our advisors are experts at what they do, and I’m grateful that our students have such dedicated people supporting them during their first year.

Closing

Luke: That wraps up Episode 1.

Coming up next is Episode 2: Your Housing Checklist.

Lyndsey: That’s going to be a good one. We get so many questions about housing.

Luke: I lived in housing my freshman year and had a great experience. Some of those roommates are still some of my best friends today.

Thanks for listening, everyone.

Lyndsey: See you next time!

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Announcer: The First Year and Figuring It Out podcast was produced in the Purdue Northwest Communication and Creative Arts Department Broadcasting Concentration, Studio 119.

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Luke Hoffman: From PNW Podcast Studio 119, I’m Luke Hoffman.

Lyndsey Schaap: And I’m Lindsey Schaap, and this is first year and figuring it out.

(upbeat music)

Luke: Hello everyone.

Lyndsey: Hello, hello.

Luke: Episode two, your campus housing checklist. I’m back here, this is Luke and Lindsey.

Lyndsey: Yes.

Luke: Today we’re talking about housing. I lived in housing myself. I had a great time with all my friends staying in there. And I think one thing that’s very important is, our dorms on campus, they’re not your typical college dorm where it’s two people cramped on top of each other in like a 10 by 10 room.

You get a, it’s a quad experience with a kitchen, a living room, other kind of connected. It’s not super big. This is not mansion.

(laughing)

But everyone’s got their, you have your own room, and then you share a bathroom with one other person. Instead of, all four of you using one bathroom or the scary, scary communal bathroom.

Lyndsey: Oh my God, so scary, so scary.

Luke: I could not imagine using that.

(laughing)

But yeah, getting right into it, do you have any questions before we get started?

Lyndsey: What would you say has been the best part of living and housing?

Luke: First of all, you just get to spend so much time with like, I lived with my friends, but I didn’t know them going into it and they became some of my best friends.

Like I still talk to these people almost every day. So that was really important to me.

And then another big thing is just getting that, being alone, like having the opportunity to excel by yourself, you go out, you almost start adulting very early.

Lyndsey: Yes.

Luke: Since we have our own kitchen, I went out and bought my own groceries. I would meal prep. I would do it like, set up these little things for me to do around the house, I’d clean.

It’s just really cool environment and I think it’s really good just to develop on your own. Learn a little bit more about yourself, spend time doing things you love.

Lyndsey: Yeah, I love that. You grow up a little bit.

Luke: Yeah, exactly.

Lyndsey: I love your comment, that’s awesome. I flipped the script on Luke a little bit. He asked questions and I’m kind of throwing him in the hot seat. So I love that. I think that’s great advice.

Luke: Yeah, I loved housing. I love living in our dorms. That’s a great time.

Question one, getting into this campus and housing. For new students, which they know right away about securing housing and living on campus.

Lyndsey: If you are considering living and housing, you should have already had your housing application completed.

So for those of you guys that aren’t aware in order to live in our housing, there is an application process.

So number one, you should have already applied. But good news is, I know that they are still accepting applications and that is done through your student portal, through a widget that is called StarRes.

So it is a separate application than your admissions application. But you need to apply.

Again, if you have questions about it, we can absolutely walk you through how to do it. Or again, any questions that you have do not wait.

We can certainly help you kind of walk you through that process, but housing is going to be the direct contact for any student that has questions about living and housing.

Luke: Let me tell you right now, if you are listening to this podcast and you have not registered for housing, pause it right now.

Lyndsey: Yes.

Luke: And go register.

Lyndsey: Absolutely, pause, get into your student portal. Yes.

Luke: It doesn’t take too long, get it over with and you will be thanking yourself later.

Also, freshmen get priority over all of their students when signing up for the dorms. So even if you’re signing up late, you will likely still get a spot unless there’s a million freshmen, but you will definitely get a spot, I guarantee it.

Lyndsey: Yes, and I will say this too, if you’re listening to this after May 31st, let’s say you’re listening to this in July, still apply, right?

Still complete your application, summer is very long. So some student that is thinking about living and housing right now may not be living and housing in August.

So it doesn’t matter when it is, just apply to get that application in. That’s the most important thing.

Luke: Yep, and I went through the housing process this past fall semester, and I didn’t get in right away and then I went and you wait that first two weeks to see who actually moves in, who decides to move out in the first two weeks.

So spots are still opening up, if even if you don’t get in, I would stay on that wait list until at least week three or four, so you truly know what’s going on.

Question two here.

Many students hear about Starras, what is it and what do they actually use it for?

Lyndsey: Yeah, it’s a great question. A lot of times when you say, or when I say Starras to new students, sometimes you get that look, you’re like, what is that?

Okay, so Starras is your housing application. Again, that is a widget that’s located in your MyPNW student portal.

So when you open up your student portal, scroll down kind of towards the bottom and you will see something that says Starras.

If you don’t see that widget that is on the homepage, another way to get to that is again, in your MyPNW student portal, on the left hand side, you’ll see housing, you’ll click on housing, and then once you open kind of that tab up, then you will see Starras in there.

So that is your online application for housing.

Again, I can’t stress this enough that is different from your actual application that you completed to get admitted into the university.

So when you log into Starras, you have to create an account, and then that’s where you go through your entire application process.

And I think, I don’t know, Luke, do you remember when you applied? Like how many? It is longer. I think then the online application.

So I would give yourself, you know, ample time to complete it because it does ask you, I think a lot of different types of questions.

Luke: Oh, it’s a lot.

Lyndsey: Yeah, yeah. So give yourself time to do it, don’t rush through it, but it is located. There’s a couple of different ways that you can get to it in your student portal.

And again, we can always walk you through if you do have any questions about it or again, contact housing directly.

Again, you can find the housing information on the PNW website. Honestly, easiest thing to do in the search icon, go to PNW.edu, type in housing in the search icon and the first link that’s gonna come up is the contact information for housing.

Luke: Yeah, and I know the person who’s in charge of housing, I play hockey here, and it’s actually the D1 hockey coach’s wife and she’s super nice.

You’re very easy to talk to. I’ve gone into her office and talked to her when I was going through my little dorm struggle of trying to get in, very upfront to the point got to, like, was very straightforward with me is what I’m trying to say.

Yeah, I guided me through what I needed to do, guided me through my situation and where I was at.

So that was super, I was super grateful for that. And yeah, it was a great experience.

Lyndsey: Goes back to what we talked about in the first episode, right?

Luke: Yeah.

Lyndsey: Just ask questions. Like if you have questions, just ask.

Luke: Yeah, everyone here is super supportive and ready to talk whenever.

But the next question, how do housing payments work and what deadlines should students be especially aware of?

Lyndsey: So the first deadline to be aware of is the deposit. So every student who is attending to live in housing has a $200 deposit that they will need to pay in order for their application to be processed essentially to move to the next step.

That $200 deposit is actually paid within your bill and payments tab located in your student portal. So that’s also something I feel like new students coming into the university that are expecting to live in housing, do get confused on because the deposit, you do not pay your deposit in Starres.

So you complete your application in Starres and at the bottom it will say like, hey, just a reminder, you have a $200 deposit. But that deposit is actually paid in your bill and payments tab that is located also in your student portal.

I’m actually just walked through a new student that was in our office last week on how to do this. So it is slightly confusing, but just know, again, you have to do those two steps.

But that deposit is so important because if your deposit is not in and you just have an application, then you’re not really considered in the pool to get a room.

Luke: Yeah, you gotta get that $200 in and that’s what really sends it off.

And then leading into our next question, immunization requirements can catch students off guard. What do they need to submit and why is it so important?

Lyndsey: So in your Starres application, there will be a section that talks to you about submitting immunizations.

Do not skip through that, read through that fully. That will give you every piece of information that you need on actually how to submit your immunizations.

And Luke, you went through the immunization process, right? So, I mean, what would be your advice? ‘Cause you’re the expert on this.

Luke: Yeah, going through it myself, I would say, and like a lot of the guys on my hockey team, so we were all talking, we were all in group chats, trying to figure out what we needed to do.

And it truly is, this is a lot of information, like throwing at you, but just stay on top of it. Try to get the immunization things done early. Don’t be rushing to it the week before you move into campus.

Like I remember I took, I had to get a sickle cell test and I did it like two weeks before I got in. And me and my mom were rushing, it was a huge mess, but yeah, just get ’em in.

It’s not that hard, it’s one day you can take care of it.

Lyndsey: Yeah, and I think it’s important for you guys to know as well that once you get that immunization record and you request it, it does take time to get to the university.

So it’s not immediate, right? Like you request it and then it goes directly to housing. It does take time to process, and sometimes that time can honestly be longer than you just going to the doctor’s office and getting the immunization if you need it.

So I totally agree with Luke, like really stay on top of that, because that really could be your make or break between getting your room and not getting one.

Luke: And I think that’s gonna wrap it up for this episode.

Next episode you can look forward to student voices and a little bit of college reality and what that reality check is really gonna be when it hits you.

Lyndsey: Gosh, reality check, yeah, that is true. Like so many people do not realize that reality check goes in really fast.

So again, we’re here to help you through that.

Luke: Yeah, we’ll get you guys through that. I know, I’ll talk about it a lot in my episode, but my reality check hit me pretty hard and it humbled me a lot.

(laughs)

But thank you guys, we’ll catch you on the next one.

Lyndsey: Thanks guys.

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Announcer: The First Year and Figuring It Out podcast was produced in the Purdue Northwest Communication and Creative Arts Department Broadcasting Concentration, Studio 119.

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Luke: From PNW Podcast Studio 119, I’m Luke Hoffman.

Lyndsey: And I’m Lyndsey Schaap, and this is First Year and Figuring It Out.

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Luke: This is something I’ve been excited to talk about. Before we started recording this one, we were joking around about how much this reality check really hits. I’m Luke with Lyndsey.

Lyndsey: Hey, guys.

Luke: I’m just excited to talk about my biggest differences between high school and college.

Lyndsey: I’m excited for you to talk about it too, because like I said, you really are the expert in terms of talking about this. Although I lived it, I lived it like almost 30 years ago.

(Laughing.)

A long time ago.

Luke: Oh, that’s funny.

So starting it off, I think back to your first week. What was the biggest difference between high school and college?

Living on my own. It was a lot different. I remember my first day, I was like, “Wow, I can really sleep in.”

Then my Monday, I think I had a 9:30 class, my first Monday, and I was like, “Oh my gosh, this is just…” I was going to bed late. I think that whole first week I was going to bed at like 2:30, staying up real late.

Yeah.

Lyndsey: That’s a really great point you make because a lot of times one of the biggest differences—and I think we’ll get to this question in a little bit—but one of the biggest differences I see for students, especially when they’re building their schedules, is that in high school somebody makes your schedule for you.

Whereas in college, we give you the classes that you need to take, but you basically make your own schedule.

So many times I see students looking at their schedule and saying, “Oh yeah, I want to take all afternoon classes so I can sleep in. I can do all these things.”

Sometimes that really is the biggest reality check because you get in a habit where you’re like, “Oh, I can sleep in until 12 o’clock.”

Then sometimes it just kind of keeps going, and you’re like, “Oh, I don’t need to go to class today.”

So it really is a huge reality check.

We give advice to students all the time and say, if you’re used to waking up at 8 o’clock for high school, just keep that. Keep that expectation going.

Luke: Oh my gosh, another thing is, yeah, just like that. Starting off in college, I was like, “Yep, I had a 9:30 my first semester.”

Second semester I was like, “Yep, anything past 11, I’ll do.”

Then my last semester I was like, “9:30 every day. I want to be out of school by at least 2 o’clock every day.”

It’s just so nice to have the rest of your day off.

Lyndsey: Sometimes you have those days where you’re taking two classes and you’re done at like 11:30, and then you have the full day to do whatever you want.

Some students go to hockey. You do whatever you want for the rest of the day.

Luke: Go have good times with your buddies.

Lyndsey: Yeah.

Luke: What’s something you thought college would be like that turned out to be totally different?

I’m so far removed from high school, I don’t know what I was thinking before I got into college.

Lyndsey: Yes.

I think one of the biggest things that is different is, you had mentioned it before, you really have to hold yourself accountable.

When you are in high school, those of you guys, new students that are coming in—and Luke, when you were in high school, and even when I was in high school—if I didn’t go to class, what would happen?

Your parent would get a call, right? They’re going to call your mom, they’re going to call your dad, your grandma, your guardian, whoever it is, and they’re going to say, “Luke’s not in class today. Where is he?”

When you’re in college, that doesn’t happen.

You are really expected to, as a college student, make that priority. Go to your classes. Attend your classes.

Because if you don’t attend your classes, you’re going to get attendance points taken off. Your grade is going to plummet. It’s going to hurt you.

That would be, in my opinion, one of the biggest things that we see first-year students struggling with.

You really have to hold yourself accountable to go to class because your instructor is not picking up the phone and saying, “Lyndsey’s not in class today.”

Just go to class. Super easy.

Luke: Just go to class. Get those points.

Especially if people are struggling with their grades, just go to class.

Next, how do classes and expectations in college compare to high school?

Lyndsey: That’s a really good question.

Again, I would echo what we literally just talked about with going to class.

Many of our instructors will give points for attendance. Essentially, those are easy points that you don’t want to miss out on and, again, as Luke said, can really affect your grade.

Luke: Another expectation you guys should be aware of is, I know when I was in high school, for math specifically, I would wait until the last minute.

Sometimes I’d do my math homework in the morning. Sometimes I’d do it in the class before.

Really staying on top of it is super important.

I got to college and I’d be like, “Oh, well, I’m only going to do half the math homework today because I’m going to get half the credit, and the points are going to rack up, and I’ll be fine.”

I ended up almost failing math my first semester in college because of not doing the homework.

Lyndsey: Yeah.

Are you failing your class? I can’t see that.

Luke: I know. It was really bad.

You know who saved me and got me out of that?

Lyndsey: Katie Pryor.

Luke: Oh, there you go.

Lyndsey: That’s a shout-out to Katie.

Luke: Yeah, that’s the start of the whole relationship.

She sent me an email and was like, “Come to my office today.”

She was like, “Yeah, you know this really isn’t good.”

Lyndsey: Yeah.

Luke: I was like, “Oh my gosh.”

Just stay on top of it, guys.

Lyndsey: Yeah.

Luke: Next, how did managing your time change once you got to college?

Lyndsey: Time management, honestly, is something that we talk about a lot in first-year advising, and I think your advisor will talk to you a lot about it.

We have a thing that’s called credit hours.

You’ll learn about this when you speak with your first-year advisor. At this point, you guys are listening to this, all of you have hopefully already spoken with your first-year advisor and registered for classes.

Typically, each one of your courses is what we call three credit hours.

Three credit hours equals one class.

Typically, we say those three credit hours are the study time that you need to spend outside of that class.

So if you’re taking Fundamentals of Speech and it’s a three-credit-hour class, you are expected to study three hours outside of that class in order to be successful.

Pro tip—especially if we’re talking about Speech—if you miss four classes, you immediately fail the class.

That’s how serious our instructors are with you attending class.

If you miss four classes, it is an automatic failure.

We obviously don’t want you to be in that situation.

Luke: I know that goes for just the Comm department with their new rules they set in, but just set that for yourself for every class.

Don’t miss more than four classes.

I was very nervous about taking a Speech class. I’d never taken Speech before.

Lyndsey: That is scary. Speech is scary.

Luke: Speech is a breeze.

Lyndsey: It is a breeze, but it’s scary coming in thinking, “Oh my God, I’m going to speak in front of all these people.”

But it really is not that.

Luke: No, it’s not that at all.

I remember it turned into one of my favorite classes about halfway—or maybe even three to four weeks—into the semester.

You do a lot of fun activities.

A lot of the professors are super cool.

You can talk to them.

Very normal environment.

Lyndsey: Yep.

Luke: Lastly, we’re wrapping up pretty quickly here.

What advice would you give to a high school student who’s nervous about the transition into college?

Lyndsey: I would say it’s okay to feel all the feels.

Feeling nervous is 100% normal and part of the process.

I would also say have courage and really be brave.

Those of you guys that have hopefully met me already—if you’ve come to a group schedule or come into the office—I tell my students this all the time.

Be brave.

You have to be courageous.

It is okay to feel nervous because that’s just a part of life.

But do not let that nervousness overtake what it is that you’re trying to do.

If you’re coming to college, we would hope there would be motivation there.

To say, “Yes, I want to be a sports trainer one day,” or “I want to be an electrical engineer.”

Everybody has those goals, but it takes work.

It’s okay to feel nervous.

It’s totally normal.

Everybody feels nervous on their first day, even maybe throughout their first month.

Sometimes it might take a while for that nervousness to go away.

Everybody underestimates, I think, the first day, going in and sitting next to somebody that you don’t know.

You always have that weird, “Should I say something? Should I not say something?”

Just say it.

When you break the ice, it just makes everybody breathe a little.

Then you’ve met a new friend.

Luke: I remember going into my first class.

Probably the most embarrassing thing I did my freshman year.

I raised my hand and asked my professor if I could go to the bathroom during class.

(Laughing.)

If you don’t know this before you go into college, you are free to leave and just leave class whenever to go to the bathroom on your own time.

There’s nothing holding you in that class.

The professor cannot stop you from getting up and leaving.

You do not need a hall pass or a bathroom pass.

Nothing.

Lyndsey: Well, let me tell you.

The entire room turned and looked at him.

I was so embarrassed.

But that was your moment, and you got through it, right?

You’re super successful, and you’re going to graduate in a year.

You lived through it.

You lived and you learned.

Luke: Yeah.

An actual piece of advice I’d like to give new students, especially about being nervous, is just talk to as many people as you can.

There’s nothing you’re not going to learn from just talking and having conversations with people.

Even people you’re comfortable with—meet new people on campus.

Ask the questions.

It sounds super easy, but it’s hard sometimes.

Lyndsey: Feel it. Live it.

That’s how you grow.

Luke: Exactly.

That’s it for this episode.

The next episode is going to be Campus Glow Up.

Lyndsey: Campus Glow Up?

Oh my gosh, I love that title.

Yeah, that’s really fun.

Luke: Thanks for listening, guys.

(Upbeat music)

The First Year and Figuring It Out podcast was produced in the Purdue Northwest Communication and Creative Arts Department Broadcasting Concentration, Studio 119.

(Upbeat music)

(Upbeat music)

Luke: From PNW Podcast Studio 119, I’m Luke Hoffman.

Lyndsey: And I’m Lyndsey Schaap, and this is First Year and Figuring It Out.

(Upbeat music)

Luke: Episode four.

Lyndsey: Hello, hello.

Luke: The Campus Glow Up.

Lyndsey: I love that title.

Luke: It is so fun.

Lyndsey: The Campus Glow Up.

Luke: We’re back here with Luke and Lyndsey, of course.

Lyndsey: Hey, guys.

Luke: When you hear the sentence, “Make the most of campus,” what does that actually mean to you?

Lyndsey: To me, I think that means having a goal coming in. Everyone’s college journey is different, so having a realistic mindset of saying, “How do I want my college journey to go? What do I want to get out of it?”

There are some students that come in and say, “I want to come in, I want to go to class, I want to get good grades, and I want to graduate,” and that’s totally okay.

Some students say, “I want to come to class, get good grades, but I also want to be in a club, and I also want to go to Welcome Week,” which is amazing.

I will give a shout-out to Welcome Week. Everybody—yes, you guys need to come. It’s an amazing experience on campus.

Like I said, everybody’s journey is different. So I think going into it, kind of thinking, “This is what I want to get out of this experience.”

We do encourage students. Again, I know it’s scary to put yourself out there, to start meeting new people, to talk to people that you don’t know.

Luke: I kind of interpreted it a little bit differently when they say, “Make the most of your campus.”

I thought about all those resources the campus has to offer.

Lyndsey: There you go.

Luke: I’m not going to touch on them all now because we have a question about the resources that I’ll get into, but yeah, that’s kind of how I view it.

Lyndsey: As we’re talking about resources really quick, because we haven’t talked about this, shout-out to the Tutoring Center.

When Luke mentioned there are so many resources that really do get included in your tuition—and you guys should have already learned about this in your appointments—but use the Tutoring Center.

It’s included in your tuition. It’s free for students who are taking classes, and you’re actually working with students who have already excelled in the classes that you need help with.

So shout-out to the Tutoring Center.

Luke: You’d better.

Lyndsey: Preach.

Luke: For new students, what’s the first thing they should do to start getting involved?

Lyndsey: Download the MyPNW Life app.

That is something that, again, you guys should have already downloaded.

One thing that our student workers, as you’ve come into the office, should have encouraged you to download.

MyPNW Life is a great app that you can put on your phone that tells you about every single thing that’s happening on campus, whether it’s a club, an event, a workshop—anything that’s on there.

You can choose to attend as many as you want, or you can choose to attend one or two, or none at all.

Luke: Yeah, I would say it’s very essential.

Lyndsey: Yes.

Luke: I think one of the last events I went to was called Drop It Like It’s Hot.

Lyndsey: Yes.

Luke: It was the drop-your-classes event, and then they had hot wings there for kids that dropped classes.

Lyndsey: Amazing.

Luke: I was not dropping classes.

I did get the wings.

It was so good.

Lyndsey: That’s awesome.

Maybe we do the Pancake Study Breakfast when finals happen, you know?

Luke: Yeah.

What are some campus resources or opportunities students should not overlook?

Lyndsey: Okay, I’ll shout-out the Tutoring Center again because I think that is so major.

Katie always says a great comment to her students. She says, “The minute you think you need tutoring, it’s almost too late.”

The minute you say, “Oh wow, I’m really struggling in this class,” or, “Oh, I just got an unsuccessful grade on a quiz,” that is too late.

The minute you walk out of a class—or even the first day you walk out of class—and you say, “Wow, I’m not really sure what happened in there. I’m struggling to understand this concept.”

That’s immediately when you should walk over to First-Year Advising and the Tutoring Center and work with either a walk-in tutor or an individual tutor throughout your semester.

I think that’s a huge resource.

The Writing Center is also another one.

Luke: Yeah, I know about my wisdom.

Lyndsey: I always tell students that’s the one subject that we don’t tutor for because we are certainly not the experts in that.

But the Writing Center has amazing tutors to help with composing papers, citing work in papers, or anything like that.

So shout-out to the Writing Center because they are also a really great resource.

Luke: Going from high school to college, I went to the Writing Center for my first few papers just to really hammer in that transition into writing a college essay—what it should have and what is truly important.

The two other resources I think students should take advantage of:

The Career Center is one I’ve taken advantage of a lot.

You might not do it as much your freshman year, but go to the Career Center.

They’ll help you find internships.

They’ll help you work on your résumé.

They’ll help you land jobs.

It’s very important to have those conversations about your future because you’re probably not talking about that with your friends or your professors.

Have those conversations about what you want to do later in your life.

Lyndsey: Absolutely.

Luke: The last resource you guys can all take advantage of is the Fitness Center.

It is a free gym for everyone to attend.

Once you are a student here, you can go to it anytime.

I would say take advantage of it.

Cancel your gym membership.

Lyndsey: Yes.

Luke: You have a free gym you can go to.

Lyndsey: Late Night Madness—that’s another thing I feel like we should talk about.

Luke: Late Night Madness is pretty cool.

Lyndsey: It’s so fun.

Luke: So fun.

Lyndsey: It’s an event put on by—I’m actually part of the SAC Board, the Student Academic Committee.

We put together events like that, and they’re just really cool.

It’s a way for new students to come out, watch the basketball game, there are prizes you can win, there are games you can play.

It really is a great event to connect with students on campus.

Luke: Free food.

Lyndsey: Free food.

That’s part of it.

Luke: Yeah.

Free T-shirt.

Lyndsey: Oh, free T-shirt.

Luke: I do have three of them.

How does being involved on campus actually impact a student’s college experience or future?

Lyndsey: I think there’s so much benefit to, again, getting outside of your comfort zone and really using your college experience to help you prepare for what your next step is going to be after you graduate.

I hear it a lot from students that when they come in, their end goal is to graduate and get a full-time job.

And make a lot of money.

I hear that all the time.

And you will do those things.

But preparing you to do that sometimes, again, is part of the glow-up.

Luke: Yes.

Lyndsey: It’s getting you outside of your comfort zone.

By going outside of your comfort zone, even if it’s just setting a goal and saying, “I’m going to talk to one new person today.”

Small baby steps.

Talk to that one new person.

Over time, that confidence will develop.

So that way, when you go and start interviewing for your full-time job, you’re going to be so confident in talking to people that you don’t know and building those connections.

Luke: I just show up to events because I see them on my MyPNW Life app and I think they’re cool.

I’m in business, so I go to a lot of the business events because you can just drop in and go to any of them.

I feel like being around those events and those experiences has brought me a lot.

The other thing I’d like to touch on is the PNW Career Fair.

Attend great events.

Go out.

Talk to people.

We do get a lot of cool employers.

I know there were people from the Chicago Sky who came, the Chicago Bulls came.

I’m a big sports guy, and those are two organizations that were super exciting to talk to.

Lyndsey: I know I graduated a long time ago, but I do remember I’ve been to several career fairs.

I remember walking in with the apprehension of saying, “Oh my gosh, there are literally a hundred companies here.”

Part of experiencing that is being able to market yourself and go up to somebody and say, “I am the right person for this job because of this.”

Including yourself in those events, workshops, or clubs just makes it that much easier for you to market yourself.

Luke: What’s one simple habit or action students can start this week to get more out of their campus life?

Lyndsey: Check your email every day.

Check your student email every day.

That is so huge.

Those are really important because even if you have the MyPNW Life app downloaded, you’re going to get events, workshops, and information through your email.

So check it every day.

Delete what you don’t want, but keep what you do.

Luke: Well, I don’t think I can top that.

That is probably the best one.

Lyndsey: If I had a mic, I would drop it.

Luke: Yeah, that is the biggest one.

I got to campus today before this and checked my email.

Checked all of them.

That’s so good.

That’s going to wrap it up for this one.

Episode five coming up next is called The Great Major Switch.

Lyndsey: I mean, what about these titles?

Luke: They’re great.

I love them.

I switched my major too, so I can give you a lot of insight on that.

We’ll catch you next time.

Thank you, guys.

Lyndsey: Bye.

(Upbeat music)

The First Year and Figuring It Out podcast was produced in the Purdue Northwest Communication and Creative Arts Department Broadcasting Concentration, Studio 119.

(Upbeat music)

(Upbeat music)

Luke: From PNW Podcast Studio 119, I’m Luke Hoffman.

Lyndsey: And I’m Lyndsey Schaap, and this is First Year and Figuring It Out.

(Upbeat music)

Luke: Welcome back. Episode five here with The Great Major Switch. I’m Luke, and I’m with Lyndsey.

Lyndsey: Hello.

Luke: This is a very exciting one for me to talk about. I went through my own struggles switching my major my freshman year, and a lot of these questions are things I struggled with when deciding my major, what I wanted to switch to, and all of that.

Lyndsey: I have two interesting facts really quick for you that I did not tell you before this, but I think they’re relevant to our conversation.

Do you want to take a guess on how many major changes happened with last year’s new incoming class before they started?

Luke: In total?

I want to say it’s a low number.

Lyndsey: It was about 400. Almost.

Luke: No way.

Lyndsey: Yes.

Going back to how important working with your academic advisor is throughout this entire process, we had almost 400 major changes that happened once new students came in to talk with their advisor because what they thought was one thing was actually something else.

Another fun fact is the greatest number of students who actually change their major once they get into college are students who are sophomores, so within their second year.

Changing a major is really common.

We always tell students that sometimes that first year of college is all about figuring out what you like, what you don’t like, and getting you into the best major that fits your interests.

That’s crazy, right?

Luke: That is a lot.

Does that include students that went from undecided to picking a major?

Lyndsey: No.

Luke: Oh, I was thinking it would be a lot of those where people thought about it and then got back to their advisor.

Lyndsey: No.

That’s crazy, right?

Luke: Yeah.

Why is it actually okay to be undecided?

Lyndsey: Being undecided is not a bad thing.

I think a lot of times there’s pressure from family or friends to choose a major right away.

Being undecided is really a great thing because if you truly are undecided and don’t necessarily have one interest, you can take classes if you have four different interests.

You can take some of those classes to help you explore what those interests are and help you hone in on declaring a major.

So it is okay to be undecided.

I can’t say that enough.

It’s okay.

Use that college experience to really explore and don’t get set on one thing.

Luke: Exactly.

Undecided can mean a lot of different things.

It can mean you’re taking a bunch of different classes in different areas to explore what you want to go into.

Or maybe you know you want to go into engineering, but you don’t know what type of engineering you want to do.

So you take engineering classes that will benefit you no matter which engineering degree you follow.

Lyndsey: Yeah.

If your interests change after you’ve spoken with your advisor, talk to your advisor again.

We don’t want you in a major or taking classes that you’re not interested in.

Luke: I think you’d always go back to talk to your advisor, my friends.

Lyndsey: Yes.

One hundred percent.

Luke: Next, how can students figure out what they’re interested in if they have no idea where to start?

Lyndsey: I think the first thing is to be honest.

Tell your advisor. Tell your family.

It is okay to say, “I literally do not know what I want to do.”

Talk to different people.

Do some research on what they actually do on a daily basis.

I would also say there are really great resources on our website.

I think the Career Center also has something where you can put your interests in and see what comes up.

That’s another really great resource to use.

Luke: Yeah, I think that’s one of those things where you pick all the things that apply to yourself, your skills, and your attributes, and it picks general areas that they think would suit you.

Another thing is: What are your interests?

What do you enjoy doing?

What do you talk about and do with your friends?

Another thing is: What companies or brands do you really like?

You get to look at it like that and work toward working for one of those brands.

That’s what I’ve done.

I wanted to work for Red Bull forever, so I got into marketing and tried to get there.

Super fun.

How important is it for students to take different classes and get involved in activities before deciding?

Lyndsey: I think that’s really important because it goes back to the experience.

If you think you might want to do marketing or accounting, take a class because it’s likely in your first semester that, depending on the class you take, it might count for a free elective or a general elective if you do end up changing your major.

Taking those classes is a really key indicator of whether you enjoy the classes, whether you’re successful in them, and whether you like taking them.

Sometimes that really is the truest indicator that you’re going to be successful and that you could see yourself doing it for your career.

Luke: I think this is a good time to tell you about my major switch.

I started in cybersecurity with the College of Technology.

Rather than those classes showing me what I was interested in, they showed me what I didn’t want to do.

Lyndsey: Yes.

Luke: I think that’s the opposite side of it.

You can learn, “I can’t see myself doing this.”

I’d be sitting there coding and working on things like that, and I’d think, “I don’t think I could do this.”

I don’t think I could spend my days sitting in this chair stressing about writing code perfectly.

I know with repetition I would get better at it.

But I found that I get so much joy out of communicating and talking to other people.

Through that, I think it’s best that I go into business and be able to have those conversations.

It’s done nothing but benefit me.

Lyndsey: That’s a great point.

Luke: How can students deal with pressure from family, friends, or even themselves about picking a major quickly?

Lyndsey: It’s so hard.

I’ll tell you a little bit about my personal experience.

I come from a family of elementary education teachers.

My mom’s a teacher, my mother-in-law’s a teacher, my sister-in-law’s a teacher, my aunt’s a teacher.

Fun fact about me: my husband and I are high school sweethearts, so I actually knew my mother-in-law when we were in high school.

I thought, “All these people around me are teachers. I see they have their summers off. I see they’re home at four o’clock every day. I want to be a teacher.”

I wouldn’t say I necessarily got a lot of outside pressure, but I think it was just the environment I was in.

It seemed cool, right?

Luke: Yeah.

Lyndsey: So I took my first Introduction to Education class—literally the first class of my first semester.

I remember thinking the same thing.

“I’m not going to do this. I don’t want to be a teacher.”

I thought I wanted to do it, but I didn’t.

So what did I do?

I walked right into my advisor’s office and said, “I want to change my major.”

Luke: Exactly.

Lyndsey: Because I knew I wasn’t going to be successful.

In terms of pressure, families want to be supportive.

I’m a mom as well, so you want the best for your kids.

You want them to be successful.

At the end of the day, it really boils down to this:

If you’re trying to do a program or pursue a job for someone else and you truly don’t like it, the odds of you being successful and graduating decrease.

You really feel that pressure every day coming into a cybersecurity class and saying, “I hate this. I don’t want to do this. How am I going to be successful?”

Unfortunately, we’ve seen that too many times in First-Year Advising where there is a lot of pressure from family.

Luke: Rather than learning, it feels more like a chore.

Lyndsey: Absolutely.

Luke: It feels more and more every day.

Even if there isn’t pressure from your family, if you’re undecided and don’t know what to do, you almost feel the obligation to do what they did.

Or do what the people around you are doing.

Whether that’s family or friends.

Do you hear your friends talking about becoming a nurse all the time, and then you’re like, “Oh my gosh, I want to do that because my friends are doing that.”

Lyndsey: Yeah, absolutely.

Going back to what we talked about in an earlier episode about having courage and being brave, sometimes it takes a lot of courage to go to your family member—or whoever—and say, “Hey, I really don’t think I love this. I really think I want to do this instead.”

That takes courage.

Luke: Do what you want to do.

Don’t be afraid to switch.

Lyndsey: Yes.

Absolutely.

Luke: There were 400 students who switched before you.

They’re doing great.

That’s going to wrap it up for this one.

Our next episode is going to be The First Semester Formula.

Lyndsey: Love that.

Luke: All right.

That’s going to wrap it up for this one.

Thank you, guys.

Lyndsey: See you guys.

(Upbeat music)

The First Year and Figuring It Out podcast was produced in the Purdue Northwest Communication and Creative Arts Department Broadcasting Concentration, Studio 119.

(Upbeat music)

(Upbeat music)

Luke: From PNW Podcast Studio 119, I’m Luke Hoffman.

Lyndsey: And I’m Lyndsay Schaap, and this is First Year and Figuring It Out.

(Upbeat music)

Luke: Welcome back guys, this is episode six, back here with Luke and Lyndsey.

Lyndsey: Hello.

Luke: This is gonna be The First Semester Formula.

To start with, when you think about a successful first semester, what are the most important foundations students should focus on?

Lyndsey: Keep it simple, right?

I think that’s the first thing.

I know we’ve talked about going to class, right? That’s like expectation number one.

I also think building that connection with an instructor.

Here at PNW, we have a really great student-faculty ratio, so you may have 30 students in your class, or you may have six people in your class depending on what class you’re taking.

So your instructor is gonna know if you’re in class or not.

So build that relationship with the instructor.

Luke: And then one thing I say is, I think this is pretty obvious, but just balance.

Don’t be out with your friends too much, don’t be focusing on school too much.

Make sure it’s a balance because if you do either of them too much, you’re gonna just really struggle.

Lyndsey: Yeah, absolutely. That’s a great point.

Luke: Next, how does the pyramid of success connect with student experiences in their first semester of college?

Lyndsey: So if you attended a group scheduling lab, you would have seen me kind of go through and heard me talk about the Pyramid of Success.

And really, the Pyramid of Success is something I think that is really key and essential in discovering who you are as a student and what is expected of you.

So as a student, you are expected to do certain things in order to be successful.

If you don’t go to class in high school, it is likely that your instructor will find time for you and say, “Oh, just use your study hall period or come down to my classroom and I’ll give you time to make it up and review it with you.”

Your instructors have so many more students that they are also teaching.

So it is very unlikely that your instructor is going to say, “Hey, I’m gonna carve out time to go through this concept with you.”

So you’re really missing a lot of key instruction when you don’t attend class because the class is gonna move on whether you’re there or not.

I think also when we think about the Pyramid of Success and what it takes to be successful in terms of student expectations, we’ve talked a lot about contacting your advisor and asking questions.

Ask those questions.

Ensure that you have the resources that you need to be successful, and that includes having your book.

If you don’t have your book and you don’t know how to access it, talk to your advisor.

They will show you how to access the book.

And like I said, you have to hold yourself accountable.

We are not asking you to do something that you cannot handle.

Come to class, work with your instructor, talk to your advisor, ensure you have your book.

Luke: And read the textbook.

Lyndsey: Read the textbook, read, absolutely.

You have to read.

It goes back to email, right?

You have to read these things in order to do well on your homework and assignments.

If you don’t read, you’re really missing a lot of key information they’re trying to give you.

Luke: Yeah, and I think another resource we might have missed earlier is when you sign up for a class and look at your syllabus, it’s going to have your professor’s office hours in there.

And those office hours are times you can go meet with them during the week.

So say you miss class or you’re confused, you can email them or talk to them in class and say, “Can we meet Tuesday?” and set a time in their office.

And it goes back to that missing class thing.

If you have a good rapport with your professor, they’re going to be more than willing to meet with you.

Lyndsey: Yes, absolutely.

Luke: If I was a professor and my student missed the last four classes with no reason and wanted to meet, I’d almost put another student first.

Lyndsey: Sure, yeah, absolutely.

Luke: Next, how can students create a structure in their weeks so they don’t feel overwhelmed?

Lyndsey: I have seen students be successful in their first semester when they have a planner.

Honestly, it sounds really simple, but physically writing in a planner, putting pen or pencil to paper and saying, “Here’s what I need to do,” and crossing things off once they’re done helps tremendously.

Or if you’re not a paper person, setting alarms on your phone can also help students hold themselves accountable.

They’re thinking proactively: “At the beginning of the day I have this, this, and this to do.”

And then at the end of the day, you feel really accomplished when you’ve done everything you needed to do.

Luke: We all have smartphones.

I’m a reminder person, so I set reminders during the day.

Another thing that I guess can be seen as pretty intense is that my freshman and sophomore year I wasn’t very organized.

My girlfriend put me onto this—when you get your classes and syllabus right away, look at the assignment list, write down all the due dates, and put everything in your calendar, color-coded by class.

That helps me stay on top of everything because I can see what’s due each week.

Lyndsey: I’m learning so much about you.

The organization piece—that’s great.

Luke: I know, it was bad.

Lyndsey: It’s awesome.

Luke: Next, what does doing well academically really look like in the first semester—not just grades, but behaviors?

Lyndsey: As long as you’re learning and understanding concepts—and going back to why attending class is so important—you don’t want to miss those things.

Success can come in a lot of different ways.

Yes, A’s and B’s are amazing, and GPA is essential for progressing through your program.

But building a connection with your instructor and with tutors are also key points of success, not only in the first semester but as you move forward.

Luke: Yeah, just building those relationships and comprehension of the material.

Something I say to myself is, if I can teach it to someone else, like a classmate or roommate, then I truly understand it.

Lyndsey: Such a great point.

Luke: And the last one: if you could give one key to success for students in their first semester, what would it be?

Lyndsey: You have to build that connection with your instructor.

I think that’s key.

Go up to your instructor, introduce yourself, look them in the eye, shake their hand.

That goes back to being brave and getting outside your comfort zone if that’s not something you’re used to.

Your instructor really is there to help you through this.

I’ve seen so many times where an instructor reaches out to an advisor and says, “Hey, this student hasn’t been in class in two weeks and I’m worried.”

They really do care about students as people, not just numbers.

You’re not in a huge lecture hall where your instructor doesn’t notice you’re missing.

They know who you are.

Luke: I would say my key to success is find a couple people in your major that you want to be like.

People you want to work as hard as, get the same grades as, or even just talk to about what you’re doing.

It goes back to teaching—if you can teach it to someone else—but also talking to them about assignments, deadlines, and understanding material.

I had someone like that my sophomore year who helped me with my resume.

We actually went to a job interview together for a marketing position.

We were both local students and they were going to hire one student full time after graduation.

We both interviewed, and I felt really good about it.

They told me to email my resume.

Weeks went by—nothing.

Then I asked her if she heard back, and she said she got the offer.

I didn’t.

At first I was frustrated, but it motivated me.

I started working on my LinkedIn, connecting with people she knew, and improving my professional skills.

That ended up helping me a lot.

Lyndsey: And now you’re friends.

Luke: Yeah, we’re friends now.

Lyndsey: We’re friends.

And I would vouch that I have a really good resume and would help anyone out there with theirs.

Luke: So Luke is volunteering to help you with your resume.

Lyndsey: Of course.

Luke: I think that’s going to wrap up this episode.

Next episode is very important: A Backpack for Day One and the Essential List of School Supplies.

Lyndsey: It’s so good.

Luke: All right, thank you guys.

We’ll see you next time.

Lyndsey: See you guys.

(Upbeat music)

The First Year and Figuring It Out podcast was produced in the Purdue Northwest Communication and Creative Arts Department Broadcasting Concentration, Studio 119.

(Upbeat music)

(Upbeat music)

Luke: From PNW Podcast Studio 119, I’m Luke Hoffman.

Lyndsey: And I’m Lindsay Schaap, and this is First Year and Figuring It Out.

(Upbeat music)

Luke: All right guys, we’re back here. I’m Luke with Lyndsey.

Lyndsey: Hey guys.

Luke: Is this episode seven?

Wow.

It’s so crazy when you’re having fun.

Lyndsey: Yeah, and we’re just having a blast.

Luke: Yeah.

This is Backpack Day One Essentials: Your School Supply List.

Lyndsey: Did you get as excited as I did going school supply shopping?

I mean, I was in middle school a long time ago, but I remember getting so excited going for school supplies, getting my new backpack, getting my lunch box.

Luke: I did really enjoy picking out a backpack and going to the store and all of that.

But I feel like I would always have that looming feeling that school is around the corner and summer is almost over.

And I’d hate that.

Lyndsey: I know.

Luke: But I remember always wanting the cool markers.

I want the crayon box that has the sharpener on it.

Lyndsey: Oh yeah, absolutely.

That’s still the case.

But sometimes it is so sad because I think about my kids—they get all of their supplies provided for them.

Luke: Really?

Lyndsey: Yeah.

There are still some supplies you need to be successful here other than books and things we provide.

But I’m excited to go through this episode so you guys feel confident starting classes.

Luke: When you think about day one essentials, what are the most important things students should actually have ready before class starts?

Lyndsey: So number one, the day before classes start—or even the day of—is log into your concise schedule, which is a widget in your student portal.

Look to see what room your class is in.

A lot of times classrooms can change.

So double check and make sure you know where you’re going on the first day.

And even if you don’t know where the classroom is, just come in and ask us—we will point you in the right direction.

I would say that’s so clutch in being prepared.

Luke: Yeah, that’s a really good one.

As much as it may seem weird, I would always take a screenshot of my schedule and make it my lock screen so I could easily check it the day before or day of and make sure there are no changes.

Then you’re ready to go.

Another thing is bring your computer charger.

The computer is important, but if you can’t charge it, that’s terrible.

Lyndsey: Yes.

Luke: And I think those are all very important.

Lyndsey: Yes.

Luke: If you had to pack a backpack for the very first day of college, what are the absolute must-have items?

Lyndsey: A pen and a pencil.

That is super important.

A lot of people come into our office asking if we have a pencil or an eraser.

So even though we do a lot on computers now, have a pen and a pencil.

Those always come in handy.

A charger for your laptop and your phone is also key.

People come in all the time asking if we have a charger because their phone is about to die.

A notebook—something to write on—is important.

We talked about having a planner.

If you’re a pen-to-paper person, a planner is so key.

You will not have physical books for the most part, so I can’t tell you to pack books because everything is usually e-books through courses.

Those are the key things to have in your backpack.

Luke: I can run you guys through mine briefly.

Mine hasn’t changed since my freshman year.

I keep three notebooks: a school one, a professional one for jobs, and a personal one.

Headphones, both chargers, my laptop, and my glasses.

I keep a lot of pens—at least five.

And I also keep two granola bars so I don’t have to go to the café all the time.

And I bring water.

Also, I want to plug something—admissions does a preview day before classes start.

It’s usually the Sunday before classes begin.

You can come walk your schedule and find your classrooms.

I remember doing that because I didn’t want to be late.

Nobody wants to walk in after class starts.

That is still a thing, and it’s a great tip.

We are also open all summer, so you can come walk your schedule anytime.

If you’re in first-year experience or a similar class, sometimes you’ll do a scavenger hunt around campus.

I remember once seeing a family lost in the hallway and helping them find the right building.

So just ask anyone—we’ll help you.

Lyndsey: Absolutely.

Luke: What role does technology play in staying organized, and what tools or apps do you recommend?

Lyndsey: Brightspace is a really important tool.

It’s a widget in your student portal where all your classes are housed.

Take time to go through it.

Download the Pulse app on your phone.

That is the Brightspace app.

It gives you access to your classes and helps you stay organized.

It also sends notifications for grades and announcements.

I remember getting a notification about a room change before classes even started.

It also has a calendar showing assignment due dates.

That would be a huge app for success in your first day of classes.

Luke: And it does two things really well.

It gives notifications when grades are posted or announcements are made, like social media alerts.

It also has a calendar for assignments.

That’s been essential for me.

Other apps I recommend are CamScanner for scanning documents if needed.

And obviously Microsoft Office apps—especially email.

Put your student email on your phone and turn notifications on.

Lyndsey: Yes.

Make sure you’re checking your email.

Luke: And I think that’s going to do it for this one.

Lyndsey: I always remember that first day of class or back-to-school shopping—it was so exciting.

And it really is as simple as being comfortable with what you bring in your backpack.

Keep it simple: pen, paper, pencil, laptop, chargers.

Think about what you need to succeed.

Luke: And that’s going to wrap it up for this episode.

Already—it goes by fast.

We’ll catch you guys next week.

Lyndsey: See you guys.

Our next episode is Seal the Deal.

Luke: Seal the deal—that sounds so official.

Lyndsey: Bye guys.

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The First Year and Figuring It Out podcast was produced in the Purdue Northwest Communication and Creative Arts Department Broadcasting Concentration, Studio 119.

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Luke: From PNW Podcast Studio 119, I’m Luke Hoffman.

Lyndsey: And I’m Lyndsay Schaap, and this is First Year and Figuring It Out.

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Luke: Hey there guys, welcome back. This is Episode 8 back here with Luke and Lyndsey.

Lyndsey: Hello.

Luke: This episode is Seal the Deal, Final Transcripts and Test Scores.

Lyndsey: So important.

Luke: Probably one of our most important episodes. If you’re going to pick one to listen to, listen to all of them.

Lyndsey: Yes, yes.

Luke: So starting it off, as a student’s wrap-up admissions, why are the Final Transcripts and Test Scores so important at this stage?

Lyndsey: Yes, this is such a good question, and one that I can’t emphasize enough. So two things here.

Your official transcript is needed. And by official transcript, let’s talk about high school first.

So your official high school transcript basically means that it has the day that you graduated on the transcript.

So what you submitted when you applied was basically an unofficial high school transcript because you were still in high school and haven’t graduated.

So you will need, once you graduate, such an exciting time, once you walk across that stage, you’re done like you’re not going back to high school.

But we need your official transcript. And again, the official transcript shows the date that you actually graduate in.

If for some reason that you do not send that to our admissions team, what’s going to happen is you’re going to get a hold on your account and you’re not going to be able to register for the next semester.

So we don’t want that to happen.

The second thing is how it can affect.

So a lot of times we see students come in that are taking dual credit classes in high school and dual credit.

If you’re taking it, you hopefully know that you’re taking them or same thing with AP classes.

But those are credits that you were college level courses that you took in high school.

So if you are in the situation and you’re taking those classes and if you talk to your advisor about this, your advisor would have said, and at this point you know that we need another transcript.

So typically we see a lot of kids take classes from or dual credit classes from like Ivy Tech or IUN or Ball State, then sends, right?

So we need that official copy in order for us to say you’ve taken these classes and now you’re going to get credit at PNW.

So we can’t take those off of your official high school transcript.

So having those two in, you know, really do affect the classes that we’re having you register for.

Luke: Yeah, and I think it is very important to keep track of your APs, especially like when it can be so busy of you applying for several colleges. I know it kind of overwhelmed me. I hated the applying for college process, but making sure you have those APs and see what you’ve already done so you don’t need to take it in college saves some of the time and money.

Lyndsey: Absolutely. Yeah, I’ve honestly, unfortunately I have also seen it all too much where, you know, we always tell the students and guys hear this. It is up to you to get these transcripts in. So it is not up to your first year advisor. It’s not up to admissions. It’s up to you as the student to get these transcripts to us.

So too many times we’ve seen students that don’t get us those transcripts and that they’re taking classes that they essentially already have credit for, which basically means that they just took a class for no reason, right?

Luke: Yeah, which we don’t want.

Lyndsey: Absolutely.

Luke: How do students typically send their final transcripts and what should they watch out for in that process?

Lyndsey: Yes. Okay, so sending final transcripts, there are many different ways, essentially, that a student can send them. The most popular ways that we see this through is parchment. It’s a website that you would just go to again, it’s just parchment.com.

It’s a transcript ordering website where you create a profile and you have your transcripts or your transcripts be sent to whichever, you know, PNW. So that would be where you would want to send it to is admissions@pnw.edu.

Common problems, sometimes that we see on these are sometimes students have the transcript sent to their email address and not PNW admissions. And at that point, it’s considered unofficial. Like we essentially don’t accept it because it’s not considered an official transcript because it wasn’t sent to us.

Luke: No, no.

Lyndsey: Yes. So we don’t want, and these, you know, typically a transcript from parchment costs $15. So we don’t want you to waste $15, send it to yourself, open it, and then for us to say, oh, sorry. We need to, we need to spend another $15, right? Which we don’t want that to happen. It’s just a mess.

Luke: Yes.

Lyndsey: And I think you touched on this a little bit earlier, but how do AP and dual credit scores factor into the college credit once they’re submitted?

If you are taking an AP class and you take the test and you end up getting, typically, if you get a three, you get credit for something. If you get four on your test, you get something, if you get five on your test, you get something.

Those classes are kind of evaluated based on your score report.

So knowing how to get into your College Board account is a big thing because that’s where you send your score report.

So you have to ensure, you know, by the time that you leave high school that you remember how to get into your College Board account, or sometimes the high school that you’re taking the AP classes at will automatically send your score to whatever college you’re attending to.

So that’s where you get the AP and W.

Again, we don’t want you taking classes that you would have already received credit for. That’s essentially a waste of your time. It’s a waste of your money and it ends up you being in college for longer, which we do not want.

But again, going back to the pyramid of success that we talked about in student expectations.

And again, it is really important for you all to understand that it is your responsibility as a student to get these transcripts for us. We do not request these transcripts on your behalf.

Now I’ve also seen where, okay, doing college level coursework in high school can be difficult. So sometimes students take college level coursework and they are not successful in a class. And you don’t have to, it’s not a requirement to submit dual credit transcripts.

So we’ve seen many students that have come in and said, I actually didn’t do so well in, you know, that math class that I took and I don’t want to submit that transcript. That’s totally okay, right? That’s up to you.

If you’re taking dual credit classes or even with AP, but the official transcript from high school is the one that is absolutely needed in order for that hold not to be put on your record for next semester.

Luke: And then what happens if these items are late?

Lyndsey: Oh, it’s not good. Bad news. It’s really bad news if they’re late.

Yeah. So you will receive, honestly, I feel like sometimes we’re that like annoying person. A lot of times that will like send you so many text messages that says, don’t, don’t forget like we need your dual credit, like we need your AP knock, knock, knock.

And I think that sometimes students probably look at those text messages and they’re like, yeah, I know, like I know I need to get this to you, but then life happens and they forget.

And so I promise you, we will be reminding you that you need to get those in. But again, if you don’t get those in on time and if they are late, that really does, you know, affect the courses that you could have had credit for already.

Now you’re paying for a course that you don’t need because you turned those transcripts in late.

And when in doubt, again, if you don’t know if you’ve taken dual credit or if you don’t know if you’ve taken an AP class, you know, ask your parent, you know, contact your high school to see if that is something that you did take because honestly, sometimes you’d be surprised with how many students actually don’t know that they’re actually in a college level course while they’re in high school because sometimes they take it, I know.

So sometimes they take it in on their in their high school, right? Or they we have a teacher that is certified to teach, you know, in their high school. So sometimes it could be a little confusing.

Luke: Yeah, I feel like it’s very a lot more obvious with APs.

Lyndsey: Yes.

Luke: You’re like, oh, okay, it’s AP class. Yes.

Lyndsey: Yeah, I need to take this test like I need to, you know, get a certain score in order to see if this could get me college level coursework.

Luke: And then next, what are some common issues or delays students run into when submitting transcripts or scores?

Lyndsey: This is a really good question because a lot of times early on in the summer, we meet with students that might have courses still in progress.

So for example, I’m taking a dual credit course through Ivy Tech and my course is still in progress. Like I don’t have a final grade yet.

So summer slips away sometimes and they get their final grade, but they don’t remember to turn in that official transcript.

So we might have that one copy that says they’re in progress and then we might never receive the official, which means that again, your advisor is going to be recommending courses for you that we know of right now.

So I think setting an alarm, right? Like reminding yourself. A lot of times students also don’t know that like if you’re taking a dual credit class through Ivy Tech, you actually have an Ivy Tech student portal, right? That you can log into and that you can also look at your grade and that you can, you know, see kind of how you’re progressing in where you’re at.

Luke: That makes a lot of sense.

And then lastly, if a student realizes something is missing or sent incorrectly, what should they do first?

Lyndsey: Contact admissions. That is the biggest thing. I would say contact admissions 219-989-2213. You know, or like I said, email them. That’s just admissions@pnw.edu.

When you email that department or when you call them, you can also, if you’re going to email, you can also copy your advisor on. You know, if you don’t feel comfortable contacting admissions, contact your advisor.

Let someone know that you are having difficulties with getting these transcripts.

Again, we have student workers that work in the office. Admissions typically is in our office also throughout the summer to kind of help with that process.

But if you’re having problems, do not wait to tell somebody.

Let me tell you this. I know a lot of people think that, oh my gosh, this is on me. My problems are horrible. Like I can’t believe I did this.

If you were running into these problems, it is almost 99% positive someone else went through the exact same thing or is going through the exact same thing.

Luke: Yes.

Lyndsey: So I wouldn’t stress about it, but make sure you are on top of it and do what you can to correct something if you messed it.

Luke: Absolutely.

And then, are we talking about the Alex placement test?

Lyndsey: Yeah, I think the Alex is important. If you have met with your advisor already, which everybody should have already done and registered for classes, some of you guys will need to take the math placement test.

Again, it’s called the Alex, which is a proctor test on either the Hammond or the Westville campus.

That Alex test is so important in terms of being able to place in a specific math class for your major.

So I always tell students, the Alex is not something to stress about, but it is something to prepare for.

It is free for you to take. If for summer you don’t pass it, you could take it up to two more times.

There are study modules that happen also in between each test. So you have to do three hours of study materials before you go in.

Pro tip, I will say if you’re taking the Alex for the first time or if you’re getting ready to take it, make sure you study fractions, everything to do with fractions, adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing.

And we will have a tutor that’s available in the summer for individual appointments that can help with preparing you for the Alex if you feel like you need some extra help.

Luke: Just study.

Lyndsey: Just study. That’s all you have to do. It’s not going to be fun. But you’re going to help yourself and you’re going to feel better about studying.

Luke: And that’s going to wrap it up for this episode. Seal the deal, guys.

Lyndsey: Seal the deal.

Luke: Next episode is Say Hi First, making friends on day one.

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Lyndsey: The first year in figuring it out podcast was produced in the Purdue Northwest Communication and Creative Arts Department Broadcasting Concentration, Studio 119.

(Upbeat music)

(Upbeat music)

Luke: From PNW Podcast Studio 119, I’m Luke Hoffman.

Lyndsey: And I’m Lyndsey Schaap, and this is First Year and Figuring It Out.

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Luke: Episode 9.

Lyndsey: Hello, hello.

Luke: This is Say Hi first, making friends on day one.

Lyndsey: I think both of us are very social people.

Luke: Yeah.

Lyndsey: I really enjoy meeting new people and making new friends.

Luke: I do too.

Luke: Question one, what do you think is the hardest part about making friends on the first day of colleges?

Lyndsey: I think walking into it, there’s a lot of unknowns on your first day. So you don’t know anybody, you don’t know the school, right? You don’t know the location. A lot of times you may have walked your schedule, hopefully. But there may be a classroom that has changed. So you weren’t prepared for that. There’s a lot of unknowns going into your first day. And I think, again, the biggest unknown is not knowing anybody in those classes to be able to share that experience with. So I think you had mentioned in one of our other podcasts, you were talking about Lynn, right? Sharing that experience with Lynn and with your interview and kind of being that person that she was for you to talk about experiences and even though you were battling out for the same job, like you guys are still best friends, right? And that comes from, at some point, you and Lynn didn’t know each other.

Luke: No, exactly.

Luke: One other thing I think is important too. And one of the reasons why I, again, encourage you guys just to visit the first year of And the students that I’ve seen build relation, like true friendships, are people that honestly, outside of college, you might not expect would ever be friends. And that’s the thing that is so cool about just the college experience and putting yourself out there and making friends is you will make friends with people that you maybe would not ordinarily make friends with or even think about approaching outside of college.

Lyndsey: Exactly. I remember, one of my best friends now, I’m driving to Texas with him on Friday.

Luke: Okay, Alex Brochek, who is a tutor.

Lyndsey: Broche, yeah.

Luke: Yeah, oh my gosh.

Lyndsey: He’s one of my best friends. And before college, the only thing we had in common was hockey. Like different movies, we are from two different parts of the world. And we came together, he tutored me and we’d hang out in my dorm and we play Xbox. And it bonded this, created this relationship that was still up to this day.

Luke: And next, a lot of students feel nervous or shy. What would you say to someone who’s afraid to put themselves out there?

Lyndsey: The more you practice it, the easier it’s going to be, right? Like it’s just like anything. It’s just like practicing for the Alex or studying, talking, coming into our office to practice a speech. Like literally the more, even if you don’t want to practice in front of anybody, like the more you just say out loud, even if there’s no one around, hey, my name’s Lyndsey. You know, I honestly think that’s like so key because the more you say it, the more comfortable you’re going to be. And it sounds so corny, I know. And again, I feel like it is such a mom thing to say.

Luke: It might be a mom thing.

Lyndsey: But I do think it’s so important. Like sometimes it is really hard, again, just to speak like those three or four words. Practice it, you know?

Luke: Go to the events. And see people that are doing the same thing as you, they’re at the same tables, or go see a club that you like, you’d be interested in.

Lyndsey: That’s just great advice. Like we talked about finding the commonalities.

Luke: Yeah. Find the commonalities of other people that are interested in the things that you are. You know? Again, not everybody’s going to love you’re going to take classes in your college journey that you have to take because they are required. Not because you necessarily are super interested in it or love to take. Those are called general education classes. Everybody has to take them.

Lyndsey: Yes.

Luke: So, you know, there may be times where you sit in a class and, you know, neither you are the person that’s sitting next to you who loves history or love speech. And maybe that’s a way to start that conversation, you know? Like, are you dreading this class like I am? You know?

Lyndsey: I made a lot of friends in my speech class just by asking people what they’re giving their speech on.

Luke: Oh, that’s a great advice.

Lyndsey: Yeah, great advice. And they’re pumping up their speech, you know? Like, wow, I don’t know anything about that.

Luke: Yes, great advice. And then it was great time. I loved speech and I got a lot out of it. I gave some horrible speeches. Let me tell you, but I enjoyed it. I enjoyed a lot of the friends I made in there.

Lyndsey: Yeah.

Luke: I guess we kind of talked on this, but where are the best places on campus to naturally meet new people in day one?

Lyndsey: I would say going back to what you talked about with interest, right? So I’m just thinking about, we have this awesome. A lot of people like to come in and the students that we talk to, a lot of them like to play video games, right? They’re big, like eSports people. I have seen so many friendships build through the eSports lounge at the Hammond campus. There’s also an eSports lounge or an area that is kind of reserved for that in Westville also, but that is a great place to meet new people because, again, you’re sharing the same interest. And anybody can use that. You don’t have to be a member of our eSports team. If you like playing video games, you can use that at any time. And they’re actually expanding, I don’t know if you knew this, but you know that they’re expanding that. They’re making that bigger.

Luke: Really?

Lyndsey: Yeah, so they’re expanding because of the amount of people that go and hang out in there, which is awesome.

Luke: Have you ever been there?

Lyndsey: I have. It’s never been.

Luke: It’s actually really cool. You should go there.

Lyndsey: And what’s the cool experience?

Luke: We walked by there probably all the time.

Lyndsey: I should go see Adam in there, but I was always in there.

Luke: Yeah, so it’s a really cool space. They are expanding it. First year, the first year, we’re in the office in Tutoring Center. Again, that’s another great place to go on campus because there’s so many people that are there. I hate to admit this, but sometimes it does get kind of loud in there because people are having such a good time that sometimes I do have to say like, hey, people are studying in here, like they’re getting tutoring, like calm down a little bit.

Lyndsey: When she has definitely made comments.

Luke: I have, yes.

Lyndsey: With all the mock, yes.

Luke: Yes, yes. But that’s another really great space around campus. The cafeteria is another really good one.

Lyndsey: That is close to the cafe.

Luke: If you live in housing, I know we did an episode on housing, they use housing, user arrays, they have events in housing all the time.

Lyndsey: The housing events are pretty fun, too.

Luke: Yeah, yeah. I was just going to say the cafe.

Lyndsey: Yeah.

Luke: Go sit down with someone at lunch.

Lyndsey: Yeah, absolutely.

Luke: Yeah, it would be so fun. I remember, I think back, I think getting the cafeteria probably three times a week, I think there’s been three times in college where someone has sat down and talked to me while I was in there. Two of them were students and one was a staff member. He ever talked to me.

Lyndsey: Okay. I feel like that’s it.

Luke: Yeah. People don’t do that.

Lyndsey: Yeah.

Luke: Well, everyone’s in there doing their own thing.

Lyndsey: I know.

Luke: And I feel like it is kind of like come and go as your own pace.

Lyndsey: Yeah.

Luke: So it is like…

Lyndsey: My daughter came home a couple weeks ago actually and told me that there was a student, and again, she’s in sixth grade, that was sitting at the lunch table by themselves. I don’t know if it was a new student or whatever. But my daughter and her friend went up to that student and was like, hey, do you want to sit with us? And that was such a proud moment. And I really do challenge everybody that is listening to this to be that person, right? Because there’s not a lot of people that have that. So be that person if you see somebody that is by themselves. And read the room, right? Maybe they want—

Luke: Exactly.

Lyndsey: It goes back to everybody’s college experience is different, right? If you feel you’re kind of sensing like they’re in their vibe, they’re working on their laptop, like maybe you don’t need to go up to that person, right? But I don’t know, I would really challenge everybody to do that. Like I think it’s really important to create that campus community and build those friendships. Again, it takes courage.

Luke: It does take a lot of courage. If you could give one piece of advice to help someone make a real connection on day one, what would it be? Besides being brave, I think we’ve said that a million times.

Lyndsey: I know, but it’s so important—some people really need to hear that. I would say don’t let your assumptions kind of overpower what’s going on in your brain. I think a lot of people assume, hey, that person doesn’t want to talk to anybody, or maybe that person doesn’t want to talk to me, or maybe I won’t get the outcome that I want in this conversation. Don’t assume. I think that’s if that’s a one piece of advice I could give, don’t assume the negative that could happen. Think about the positive that could happen. You could build a lifelong friend just by not assuming.

Luke: I like that. I think I would say understand the situation you’re in. There’s so many other people going to the exact same situation you are that are trying to make friends that are looking for people to connect with.

Lyndsey: Yeah.

Luke: Well, that is episode nine, guys. I have enjoyed recording these, and we’re going to have one more episode with some more students that give their perspective.

Lyndsey: Yes, absolutely. I think that’s another really important one, just to hear. We’ll have different students that work in their office. I’ve been through first year advising, but I’ve had such a good time on this. This has been awesome. This is the first time we’ve done this, so we’re hoping to be able to record many more to come. Hopefully you guys think that this is helpful.

Luke: Yeah, I hope you guys find it effective.

Lyndsey: Yeah.

Luke: Maybe we’ll make one next year too.

Lyndsey: Yeah, absolutely. We’re doing it. I’m calling it.

Luke: It’s happening again.

Lyndsey: Yes, it’s happening.

Luke: Well, thank you guys.

Lyndsey: Bye, guys.

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Luke: The First Year and Figuring It Out podcast was produced in the Purdue Northwest Communication and Creative Arts Department Broadcasting Concentration. Studio 119.

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