There are times when a student on campus feels the need to be accepted. It is one thing to be accepted academically, but the need for social acceptance is underestimated. From a personal viewpoint, social acceptance is quite difficult to come by because of many factors. This includes the need to achieve good grades and participate in student clubs or activities all while balancing a job, among other personal factors that may prevent one from being accepted in a social sense. A few factors that could prevent social interaction and acceptance are, but are not limited to, having a disability, homelessness, struggling with hunger, transitioning from high school to college, or being pressured to drink alcohol. Because these are factors that many college students have experienced, the University of Massachusetts Boston has become well equipped with services to help these students.
For those who have disabilities, the Ross Center is available to help with testing and special accommodations. For those who are struggling with hunger and with homelessness, there is a program called U-Access, which gives students access to certain tools like a food pantry, resource and information referrals, case management, and helping students out financially.
Of course, students must deal with the transition from high school to university in their own way. For a student to transition successfully, one needs to see how others behave in social settings on their new university campus, make friends before classes begin, see what kind of clubs or organizations there are on campus, and, above all, a student should decide how to plan out their academic and personal goals for what they want during their academic career.
After adjusting to university life for some time, there will be a time when a student wants to be part of a social setting. One result of this need is the pressure to drink alcohol with a group of students who attend the same university. Some students might feel the need to drink while attending a university to receive the most acceptance by other students. In my opinion, this is a very poor decision to make because it is unnecessary and could lead to trouble in many ways. This decision is labeled as binge drinking, and it may lead a student to be socially accepted in one aspect, but this will not help a student do better in school.
The best way to go about gaining social acceptance is to utilize services that are provided on campus and to join a club or organization in order to make friendships or acquaintances. If a student is not able to make friendships, then, they could try finding a group or organization outside of campus, like in their community. It is nice to know that UMass Boston is able to help with certain difficulties, like having a disability or struggling with homelessness or hunger. However, when it comes to dealing with pressure to drink alcohol or transitioning to university life, then one needs to learn how to be aware of his or her own well-being and make good decisions to do well academically, physically, and mentally.