One at a Time

My name is Sarah Samberi and I am a transfer student from a community college. As of today, I am a rising senior eager to see what next semester has in line for me. It is an exciting experience, however, there are a lot of things I have not figure out yet. I am not going to sugar coat the life as a student here at the University of Michigan, but no matter how stressful things get, always take things one thing at a time; this is something I wish people told me about sooner.

My first few weeks as a transfer student were isolating. I fit neither as a freshman because I went to a community college previously nor as a junior because I did not have a full UofM’s experience. As a junior, people expected me to know my way around the works of the school such as: which classes to take or not to take, how to get involved in research, how to get a summer internship, and how to get a job. I didn’t have anything on the list. My classmates around me had those marked off already, and here I am, feeling clueless and overwhelmed.

With the outstanding pressure, I tried to do everything all at once.  I joined three clubs, applied to several psychology research labs and several  internships, looked for possible topics for my honors thesis and while trying to figure out whether I should do a double major or minor in something, all while struggling to keep up with my academics. I had all these plans but none of them worked out. I could not keep up with my attendance for my clubs, hence I quit one of them. I did not get into any research labs, despite applying to them for two semesters. My internship application got rejected. Double major or minor? That seemed like an absurd idea! At that moment, I was suffocating and I felt extremely alone, discouraged, and abandoned. I just watched the people and days passed by without being mentally present; it was a difficult process. I feared this cycle may continue and there was no way of stopping it--I was clouded by worries and it seemed to me at that moment, there was no way out. Or so I thought.

To break the ongoing cycle is to make it stop. I learned that instead of doing all those things at once, I tried to divide them by semesters, taking one thing at a time and making them my end goals for each semester. Believe it or not, I did not achieve any of my goals at the end of my first semester. I was so occupied with familiarizing myself with the grading system here and the reading materials that I had to read for every class, that thinking of matters other than academics was robust and unworthy. I remembered having to submit three 8-10 pages of paper in the same week and I admit, my time management skills are not the best. Nevertheless, these experiences have taught me that there is no gain if one has no pain. It took me almost a year to decode a simple formula to face overwhelmness and I hope you will not go through the same process as me in finding the similar solution: take one step at a time. It may sound easy and unbelievable, but after going through various pitfalls, I know what I am saying. Let my simple solution be accessible in the back of your mind, so you can always refer to it whenever you need it. Once again, let it sink in.

As of today, I am part of the creative team in the Malaysian Student Association, an Alto in my choir club (or known as Arts Chorale), doing a minor in Asian Language and Culture (Mandarin), a member of the Michigan Neurogenetics and Developmental Psychopathology (MiND) Lab, and maintaining a satisfactory CGPA.  There is still a long way for me to go, even though I only have a year left of my undergrad education. It is essential for you, my readers, to know that taking things one at a time does not make your pace slower. What it does instead is making you stop and think about the decisions that you are going to make, consciously. If things start to seem overwhelming, take a break. Have a coffee, watch a TV show, or even take a nap. Come back to the problem with a fresh mind and you will see a different perspective to it, hence a solution. Be it a math or chemistry problem, or which labs to apply for, you find your own pace in controlling the matter, and never let the matter control your pace.

Written by Sarah Samberi
Summer Orientation Peer Advisor
Undergraduate Student
Malaysia