Before learning about, and doing, the activity...

Please provide your name and email address below. Your inputs will be sent to you immediately after you have submitted your form.

You must also provide your unique 8-digit student number. Everybody will periodically receive PDF progress reports with a record of their journey (many students completing this actvity will also take part in courses and activities during their first-year which address wellbeing-related topics (feeling at home is one such an actiivity)). Your student number will be used to compile these individualized reports for you. These reports will be compiled and distributed at specific times during your journey and instructions will be sent to your Stellenbosch University (SU) email address.

Please be assured that all your responses, will be handled 100% confidentially and your information will not be utilised without your personal involvement and participation.

Your results and/or entries to this activity will be emailed to you directly after you have submitted this form. Keep it (the email) safe for future reference. Your information is safe and it will not be shared.

Please provide your student number. This unique 8-digit number will also be used to compile your individualised progress reports. It will be send to you later in the year via email. Please make sure that your number is correct and exactly 8 digits long.

Dear First-year Student

We are collaborating with students here at Stellenbosch to provide a resource for new incoming first-years about how to successfully navigate the transition from high school to university.

In this activity, we will feature the stories of recent university seniors who will share diverse narratives about their ups and downs, highs and lows, and processes of growth and understanding during their transition to university.

These stories were selected from a larger database of stories. The stories are small excerpts from larger narratives that are designed to convey a particular lesson or nugget of wisdom about the university experience. The students who submitted these stories hope that, by sharing their stories and perspectives, they will be able to help new students like you in their transition to Stellenbosch. While senior students now, these students were once, not too long ago, also first-years, and hope to share their own experiences in order to help others to be successful.

You will now have the chance to view and read these five stories about students’ experiences. These students came from very different backgrounds before arriving at Stellenbosch.

The stories reveal that these differences are part of what make Stellenbosch University such an amazing place to be. When you read and listen to the stories, please consider them carefully and think about whether and how they may be useful to share with new university students.

We would like you to think about how the stories could be helpful and informative to students like you. Please use your experience as an opportunity to learn from other students and also to give back to students in the future. Based on your feedback, we will select stories to possibly feature on the website in the future, and better understand student needs.

Please note that you will be asked for feedback about the stories after you have read / listened to all five of them, so please take care to watch carefully. You are welcome to read them again!

Erica’s Story

My name is Erica.  I am in my second year.

I think my parents definitely had an influence. Both of my parents have elite university educations, either post-graduate or undergraduate degrees. But I’m also really lucky because my parents are supportive no matter what my choices are.

Before coming to Stellenbosch University, I went to a small private school where I felt really comfortable and supported. But, it was definitely a big adjustment for me going into classes with 150, 300 people. It was hard to stand up for myself and get the personal attention and help that I needed from my professors and teaching assistants.

As a first-year, I learned that if you want to take advantage of the opportunities to get the most out of your classes, you really can. All it takes is a little ingenuity to email a professor whose class is hard and ask, "How can I get tutoring support? I really love the subject and want to succeed."

Erica's Video (59 seconds)

Nathan’s Story

I am Nathan, and I am in my final year, hoping to graduate at the end of the year.

Having parents who hadn’t gone to university meant that I didn’t really know much about what university was about. From my understanding as a high school student, university was something that a good student was supposed to do, to support yourself in the future. That was my main motivation.  it was just something a good student was supposed to do, you were supposed to go to university.

I think my family wanted me to go where I was going to be happy. But I think with Stellenbosch University in particular, the big impediment was money, would we be able to afford Stellenbosch compared to other options. We didn’t realize that many students have to take out loans to pay for university. Once we figured that out, and once I got my financial aid, it all worked out, and was no longer such a big deal to my dad.

The fact that Stellenbosch University seemed like such an improbable destination for me, as coming from an average public school, and the fact that I feel like I overcame the odds to be here, really prompted me to work harder, and contribute more to Stellenbosch, now that I’m here. I think for me, because of the tough time I had getting here, I appreciate my experience so much more.

Nathan’s  Video (80 seconds)

Steven’s Story

My name is Steven.  I am in my third year and am enrolled in a four year degree program.

Attending university for me is really about creating opportunities for yourself, as well as really getting to know who you are. I feel as if people treat university as an opportunity to get a degree, but it’s also really about the experience of going to university itself. To me, that’s really what it’s all about. And there was also a lot of family motivation. Not that there was peer pressure, but both of my parents are fairly well-educated, and it was just sort of the expectation that I would go to varsity and pursue perhaps a degree beyond that.

The main issue I had in my first year was learning how to be away from my family right after my mom got really sick. I felt like I was really missing out, and not doing my fair share. Luckily her treatment went well. Throughout her treatment, she was also very supportive of me pursuing my own ambitions, and taking full advantage of what Stellenbosch University has to offer.

Steven's Video (57 seconds)

 

Anne’s Story

I am Anne, the first of my family at university.  I am looking forward to completing my degree at the end of this year.

Since my parents didn’t go to university, they didn’t feel that they had room to tell me how to make my decisions, as they had never been in that position. That definitely made things hard, because I would have liked a bit of input from my parents.

One thing that really helps me deal with some of these challenges is to put them into context. I’ve been through a lot of adversity in my life and am sure that I’m not alone in that, but that defines how I think about myself, and how I approach my life. It gave me a much broader perspective that has made Stellenbosch a lot easier to tackle. Semester tests and papers may seem hard, and they are, but at the same time they just seem like another drop in the bucket, and I love that perspective sometimes, even if I occasionally forget to look at the world through it.

There’s always gonna be kids that are more prepared than you, or they had better teachers, they read more books, their parents could let them do more things, they went overseas more times than you. So to me, it’s really about assessing what you have, making the best of the situation, and moving forward from that, instead of looking at what you could’ve done better up to that point. I’ve done really well and have been successful, and this perspective has helped to achieve that.

Anne's Video (89 seconds)

 

Christopher’s Story

I am Christopher, but everyone calls me Chris.  I am in my final year at Stellenbosch, living in a University house.

My parents went to university and they understand the benefits of me taking that path as well. They gave me lots of advice, and talked with me about my interests and some options for future careers from a pretty young age. My family was happy that I decided to choose Stellenbosch University because I’m from Somerset West, so they really liked that I would be close to home, and that I would be able to come home to visit regularly, I wouldn’t be too far if anything happened to me.

But once I got to Stellenbosch University it was kind of a pressure to come home too often. They also expected to know every detail of my life as a university student. It came to the point where my parents and I just had to have a talk, and I told them that I needed to stay at university more than come home, and focus on my school life. Once they realized that their expectations were pulling me away from school, I was able to visit a little less so that I could more fully engage in the experience at Stellenbosch University.

Christopher’s Video (65 seconds)

All Stories – Full Compilation (8 minutes & 23 seconds)

Next, on the upcoming screen, you will have an opportunity to provide your feedback about the stories. You will express yourself via a short writing and reflection activity.  Do your best to make connections between these stories and your own experience.  Please write full sentences... produce something you will be proud of, e.g. when you read it again in a year's time!

Thereafter, you will be asked to answer a set of questions on how you perceived the five stories.  This will provide Stellenbosch University with a lot of insight, and will hopefully also give you some valuable things to think about...

Take your time to do the writing activity and to give us your honest feedback and ratings.  You can take as much time as you like.

We estimate that you should reserve approximately 30 to 45 minutes for the whole activity, including the time to read and listen to the stories.  Enjoy!

Now please take some time to think about the excerpts from the stories that you just read about Stellenbosch University students' diverse experiences. Think about the themes that are similar and different across the stories.

Keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers to our questions. We want to know what you really think or feel, so please do your best to provide honest answers.

Please list three ways in which the lessons shared in these stories could help you navigate Stellenbosch University in the future?

Based on the lessons conveyed in the stories, what are the top three things you would like to share with future incoming students to help them navigate their transition to Stellenbosch University?

Thank you for your effort in reflecting, and providing your thoughts in writing!

Now we would like to know more about how the student stories, as well as the writing activity itself, possibly influenced you: How was your experience? Did the activity make you feel a lot of positive and/or negative emotions?  Do feel a greater sense of belonging at Stellenbosch?  Do you think the university cares about its students and appreciates and accommodates diversity?  What is your view on seeking support and asking for advice?

Please respond to the following brief survey questions, and thank you once again for your time, effort and honest participation!  

This is the final part of the activity.

Thank you for completing the exercise. You can now submit your response.