College life has always been a challenge for freshman students. For many students it is their first time being away from home and also their first time being independent.

Other students have experienced some freedom and independence during the course of their high school days. Some first year students can adjust pretty quickly, whereas some take a little bit longer to develop the adequate skills and emotional stability that’s needed in order to make it.

Not to mention freshmen athletes. What many people do not know is that college athletics is no joke. Not only is college athletics time consuming but it is also physically demanding. All of the training that goes along with trying to become a successful program can be pretty strenuous.

DU’s freshmen basketball athletes can attest to the fact that college athletics and academics brings about a challenge to them all.

Neal Songy, a freshman from Edgard, La. said that his college and athletic experience so far has been different because it is a lot more demanding than it was in high school. "The coaches expect more from you because it’s a different level of competition,” Songy said.

Sandra Nweke, of Houston, Texas said that time management is one of the things that has to be dealt with in order to survive. "You have a lot more freedom here in college than in high school," Nweke said.

After talking to nearly all of the freshmen athletes they had similar views on the way college is different from high school but one thing that really stood out was the fact that time management is an overall important factor when playing sports and going to school.

Student-athletes cannot just play sports without doing well academically or else they would not be elgible to play any longer. So anybody that aspires to be a student-athlete in college should not think that they can just get by without qualifying academically.

Kael Saloy, of New Orleans said he never had to do so many essays in his life.

Chris Desdunes, also from New Orleans pointed out that how come in college students say that they don’t have enough time when we don’t even go to the same class every day. Most classes meet only three times a week compared to five times a week in high school.

A lot of freshmen here at Dillard, including Everett Jones, Marcellus Ross, Auty Williams, Janica Arterberry, Patricia Millner, Ashley Gorum and Nasira Johnson, had a tough time making the transition from high school to college but they all have adjusted pretty well for first-timers.