Most freshmen enter college with a false sense of confidence in their own understanding of themselves. They have just written a ton of college-entry essays describing their joys, fears and life goals and have just been accepted to college- YAY! However, many are in for a rude awakening. Once on campus, freshmen realize that they are no longer the top dogs that ruled high school and their futures do not appear as clear cut as they once did.
When I arrived in Austin in August of 2005, I was confident in my major and future. I was in the Business Honors Program and ready to take on the world. But I immediately felt overwhelmed, suddenly unsure of what I wanted to do with my life and searching for answers. Teachers threw out words like resume, career fair, interview and corporate internship. The University of Texas had just accepted me and now I was supposed to start preparing for applications again! Furthermore, other majors begin to interest me, but I was confounded unto which I should follow. I half-filled out applications for countless programs, took a myriad of odd classes and talked endlessly with advisors to discover what exactly I wanted to do with my life. I found myself relating to Alice as she says “I can’t understand it myself, to begin with; and being so many different sizes in a day is very confusing.” One second I was one extreme – interested in anthropology – and another second thinking about applying to the School of Nursing.
A mini Alice.
A large Alice.
Thankfully, I found my path, or a path that legitimately suits my interests and goals. Today I am a double major with a minor. I know that I will never feel 100% complete with my academic choices as I did in high school, but it is almost impossible to pursue each and every interest at a University. I sometimes still contemplate different paths and regret not having pursued other interests but as Carroll describes it “It was so long since [Alice] had been anything near the right size, that it felt quite strange at first; but she got used to it.”
Furthermore, I believe that there is a strong relationship between the freshman class experience and Alice’s experience at court. A first-year student often saunters into his first college class feeling fairly confident. Although it may be their first time in a college class, they recognize the classroom setting, the professor, the blackboard and other students. Older friends and siblings may also have told students about their college experiences. Carroll’s writing seamlessly alludes to this experience through Alice’s in the courtroom: “Alice had never been in a court of justice before, but she had read about them in books, and she was quite pleased to find that she knew the name of nearly everything there.” But many are not ready for the reality check that awaits, such as Alice. Alice was caught off guard by the rabbit’s summons just as many first-year students are caught off guard by those nasty multiple choice tests.
A large university-sized classroom.
Alice’s experiences in the far-off Wonderland are just as scary for her as a freshman’s entry into a large and daunting university. Just as she had to face a new world, so do hundreds of thousands of teenagers each fall.
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