Ravanpak 1 Mandana Ravanpak Ms. Kasyanik English 9H 2A September 21, 2014 FRESHMAN EXPECTATIONS: Movies, stereotypical movies, to be precise display high school as a battlefield, which confuses freshmen. Their confusion leads to them setting unrealistic expectations based off all sorts of things such as movies. The fear of starting new makes them forget that simple stuff, like making friends, is not a movie production. Stepping out of their comfort zones leads to them expecting that they have to put mass amounts of thought into everyday experiences such as their academics, social lives, and activities. Hence reality does not meet most of their expectations. \We all know how grades work, but for some reason freshmen suddenly blow things out of proportion and think that it's going to be extremely difficult. They expect to be stressed all the time. They start to think that they won't be able to manage their time and ultimately fail. When in reality the major cause of stress doesn't even come from schoolwork or academics, but rather from pressure to do well at them. This thought, leads to them expecting that qualifications are extremely hard to meet. In some ways the realty of that one is true, but it all depends on their goals how high their standards are. The truth of it is their grades will only fail only if they fail to care. As long as they care they will meet all of their expectations.Ravanpak 2 However freshmen's expectations seem to be even higher when it comes to the all mighty “social” aspect of high school. This is actually one of their expectations that is influenced by what was mentioned before, entertainment. Entertainment such as. movies paint images in their minds, and so freshmen think that things like cliques exist when they don't even matter. High school cliques are about as cliché as it gets, in real life “queen bees’ are not waking the halls running the place. They also expect that making friends is the worst experience they will ever go through. When actually though it may be awkward, there's no other way to meet people. If no one starts a conversation No one will find a common interest, which believe it or not is the key to friendship. It’s also one step closer to facing their fears of being out there which will help them in the long run when they're out in the real world. Academics and social issues aside most freshmen want to join some kind of school activity. Now after school activities vary from sports to chess club, but one thing that they have in common is that they take time. Time and patience are the only way students can manage both school and their activity. However sometimes freshmen underestimate time management and think, “I'll do my homework later” or "I can study for that test after practice’. Their expectations fail them and they fail themselves. Another, thing all activities have in common is that they drain every ounce of energy from students. Freshmen also underestimate this; they forget that they don't run on batteries. Sometimes they stay up to late or just can't keep up, reality is time management allows them to do both school work and activities.Ravanpak 3 Even though most freshmen's expectations do not fit reality somehow freshmen survive it, every generation does. Freshmen learn that their false thoughts don't always end up being reality. They discover their grades are not in fact college exams, but rather just grades. Also that their status on the social pyramid is not the end of the world. And that extracurricular activities are privileges that they have to work for. When freshman have finally gone through the fear of starting new their senses come back and they adapt to life, to reality.