By: Lydia Miller, Contributing Writer

As the halfway point in the semester, midterms signify a lot of things for freshmen: the first major test in a lot of classes, how quickly the semester seems to be going and a lot of the shine that was the idea of “college” has worn away into spending many hours in the library instead of constantly hanging out with friends.

We caught up with two freshmen, Tanner Roach and Sheridan Kate Murray, about their transitions in these past few months.

“It was easy to stand out in high school, but [at Wofford], they took all of the people that stood out and put them in one extremely competitive environment,” Roach says on the difficulty of academic transitions from high school to college.

On the other hand, Murray has found that the transition was more personal.

“I am really close with my parents, and I am used to asking them for advice on every aspect of my life. Without them here, it has been hard to adjust to deciding things for myself and weighing the possible consequences on my own.”

Despite some of their concerns, both Roach and Murray think they’re doing a good job of handling this first semester.

“[I] understand that I am going through a huge transition, and I’m not going to get it perfect on my first go round,” Roach explains. “Nothing really shocked me. I could tell from my tours that the students revolve themselves around school, so when I came here and was forced to do the same, I wasn’t surprised.”

While Murray agrees, she didn’t expect it to be such an involved process.

“I definitely did not expect it to be such an emotional rollercoaster. You miss your parents, you miss your friends and you miss your old life. Add the stress of difficult classes, and it can be really hard sometimes,” Murray says. “But overall, I think I am handling college pretty well.”

While every freshman transitions into college life at a different pace, it seems that for Roach and Murray, the “transition” part of freshman year has begun to end, and the “real work” has truly begun.