Davidson College seniors shared their experiences with Davidson Day School students recently. They are (from left): Bryan Droll, Rayna McKenzie, Boyce Whitesides and Betsy Lyles.

By KAREN CIMINO WILSON
DavidsonNews.net

Four Davidson College seniors fielded questions about dorm rooms, study habits and what to expect from the food from high school students at Davidson Day during the private school’s second “College Life 101″ presentation last week.

The 45-minute forum focused on transitioning from high school to college. Davidson College students included Betsy Lyles, who grew up in Davidson and is an English major at the local college. She was joined: Bryan Droll, a psychology major from Duluth, Ga.; Rayna McKenzie, a philosophy major from New York City; and Boyce Whitesides, a religion major from Wilmington, N.C.

“The purpose of College Life 101 is to help our students become more prepared to adjust to college,” said Stacy Allen, Davidson Day’s college counselor. “They hear a lot from us but it’s different when what they’re hearing comes from a college student who is actually living the college experience.”

All students in the 9th through the 12th grades at Davidson Day participated in the event. Their first question for the college seniors was what their biggest adjustment was when they started college.

“Being from Davidson, it’s my my hometown, and I kind of had to get used to living on campus with people who didn’t grow up in Davidson,” Ms. Lyles said.

“The biggest transition for me was not being in class all day,” Mr. Whitesides said.

Ms. McKenzie said she had a similar issue with time management in the early days of college.

“I like to take naps,” she said. “I had to realize that I couldn’t take naps all the time.”

Mr. Droll said he had to learn quickly how to plan ahead.

SOCIAL LIFE? YES, BUT WORK TOO

Davidson Day students wanted to know how much of a social life students had and how much time they spent studying.

“Social life was really important to me in choosing a school,” Ms. Lyles said. “I did not want to be at a suitcase school. At Davidson, you really want to be on campus because it’s really fun.”

Ms. Lyles told students one change between high school and college is that in addition to finishing homework, she spends about three hours each morning preparing for the classes she has that day.

“You’ll never be done studying. There’s always more that can be done unfortunately,” she said.

Ms. McKenzie said she spends about two hours each night doing homework and studying. She takes Fridays off and then spends three hours Saturday and four hours Sunday studying.

Sumner

One Davidson Day student asked what the college students wished they had learned before entering college.

“I wish I’d learned how to read faster,” Mr. Whitesides said.

Droll said he recommends that students learn how to make a great study guide.

Davidson Day junior Caroline Sumner, 17, of Mooresville, said she learned a lot from the college students.

“The benefit of this is gtting a gyst of what it really is like,” she said. “It kind of scares me a little bit.”

Davidson Day freshman Johnny McLean, 14, of Charlotte also attended the College Life 101 session. He said he was interested in learning about what college social life is like.

McLean

“I wanted to know about the social life of the Davidson students. I have been considering going to Davidson,” he said, adding that he was surprised to hear how much time the students spend preparing for class in addition to homework and other assignments.

“I thought this was very informative,” he said. “It was interesting to hear the students and hear their perspective as opposed to just a representative of the college.”