As a first generation college student, the adversity you face shapes your journey into college starting from the day you receive your acceptance letter.
Once you realize you are about to embark on the journey of your entire life in an unfamiliar place, with no prior knowledge on how the whole college thing works, everything hits you.
You start to realize what it really means to be a college student, and then the questions start. Who am I going to ask for advice on how to pick classes? Where am I going to attain the knowledge I need about the do’s and don'ts of college?
Sure you can look online at what not to do your first year, or the right clubs to join. You can ask your friends for advice, but how do you really know?
As a first generation college student, you don’t. It’s easy to feel isolated from the people around you that are legacies, with a whole family of UNC alumni. With an abundance of people like that all around you it can become discouraging, and you can start to feel like you don’t belong.
For me, I even started to question my place at UNC, and if I was really meant to call this place home for the next four years.
But here’s the thing, being a first generation student is nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to question, nothing to feel even a hint of uncertainty about.
It’s something to be proud of, and something that people admire.
As a first generation college student, you are the beginning of your own legacy. You are making a name for yourself, and you are beating the odds.
Know your place at UNC, because you are here for a reason.
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