Welcome to Brigham Young University!
The transition from high school to college can be stressful, but BYU offers a wide range of resources to help students navigate the journey successfully. This includes the Research and Writing Center, the Financial Fitness Center, First-Year Mentoring, tutoring and more.
This will be the second year all freshmen are required to take UNIV 101, a zero credit class meant to help them understand the mission and aims of BYU and align their personal education goals with those aims from the beginning.
UNIV 101 also provides freshmen with a small class setting, giving them the chance to build deeper connections with both classmates and their professor.
Janet Losser, a UNIV 101 professor and director of the Center for Teaching and Learning, said the class is different from what most students are used to. She also said the freshmen will only get out of it what they put into it.
“Some of the readings are life-changing if they will use their agency to absorb the content,” Losser said. “My advice (is) to recognize the value behind the assignments, the reflection, and to really bring it in and make it theirs.”
While in the class, students get to know their peer mentor.
Katie Githuka, peer mentor supervisor, said peer mentors try to make sure none of the new students fall through the cracks. They give students somewhere to go when they don’t know where to go.
Githuka also said the biggest challenge for most freshmen is managing their time and adjusting to a heavier course load. She recommends keeping a calendar to keep track of assignments and responsibilities while also ensuring that students make space for the experiences that make college fulfilling for them.
“We get a lot of freshmen who are the super overachievers and they never breathe and they're just like, 'oh, I need to study 12 hours a day every day’ and you're just like, ‘actually, no, you shouldn't do that,’” Githuka said.
She encourages students to identify their “why” in college — whether their focus is excelling academically and pursuing a competitive career, or earning a degree while enjoying the social opportunities of campus life.
“Make sure you're being true to who you want to be as a college student,” Githuka said.
Recent BYU grad Anna Norman said she learned the value of making time for her social life and religion as she got farther into college.
“The main thing is realizing that being social and taking a break and having friends, I think actually makes you a better student in the long run,” Norman said. “If you're not a well-rounded person and enjoying spiritual things and social things and academic things … then you're actually thinking worse than you would if you incorporated a little bit of everything into your life.”
Finding balance in college becomes much easier when students take advantage of the tools and resources available to them. No one has to navigate the challenges of school alone.
For Norman, one of the most valuable resources was her professors. Though she felt intimidated by them as a freshman, she later found that the connections she built with faculty became some of the most meaningful parts of her BYU experience.
“Getting to know professors gave me opportunities I wouldn't have had otherwise,” Norman said. “My professors were just great mentors. And when I was starting to go to grad school, they were just super spiritually (and academically) invested.”
Professor Losser emphasizes that BYU educators are deeply invested in their students’ success, but they can’t know when students need help unless they take the initiative to ask for it.
“(Students) need to understand that they are worth the time it would take to help them,” Losser said.
She often hears students say they don’t want to bother her or take up her time.
“What I want to say to them is that's my job,” she said. “It's not just my job, it's my passion too. It's my sacred responsibility and a rare opportunity for me to be able to be a part of their lives.”
Professors are often eager to help, serving not only as a resource for classwork but also as mentors who can connect students with opportunities and networks that may lead to career success after graduation.
Still, there are limits to what professors can do. Students must put in the effort themselves to stay on top of coursework.
Norman said one of her best study habits was tackling her most difficult or least enjoyable assignments first.
“Then when you don't have as much energy or motivation, that's when you should do [the] easy stuff,” she said.
The Harold B. Lee Library and Wilkinson Student Center are popular study spots, but students can also find more ideas for outdoor study locations here.
For more information on how to go through the testing center, a video guide is available here.
And for anyone struggling with the transition into college, there are people and resources ready to help. Whether it’s a friend, professor, peer mentor or academic advisor, students never have to figure things out alone. Free counseling sessions are also available through Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS).
Starting college can feel overwhelming, but with the right balance of hard work, community and support, BYU students have everything they need to succeed — not just academically, but socially and spiritually too.