How do I stop feeling stressed and homesick?

A reader writes:

"I have just moved to a new town. It is not far away from were i used to live, but all my extended family live there. Sometimes at night i just want to be back their with all my cousins and my Grandparents and everyone. Starting a new school is so hard, and it makes it worse that this is my first time moving schools. Now, at a different school i feel more stressed than ever with: finding new friends, fitting in school work, doing tests and just fitting in with a new and much bigger school!! how do i stop feeling stressed and homesick?"

You are dealing with issues plenty of first generation and low income college students face. In fact, these are both issues we've talked about before, so check out these older posts for some guidance:

How can I stop feeling homesick?
Dealing with stress

Also, it sounds like your homesickness and stress are feeding off of each other, like when you feel more homesick you also feel more stressed out and vise versa. Try to think of them as two different issues, that you will address in different ways. Eventually, as one lessens, the other will too.

You can also try thinking about the ways you would relive stress when you were at home with your family and see if you can incorporate some of those things into your school life away from your family. For example, if you used to play sports with your cousins to relieve stress, try joining an intramural or informal sports team on campus.

You should also to talk to your family about your homesickness and making a transition to a new school. Getting your family on board and making sure they understand what you are going through will help ease the transition. And don't forget to ask them about their transition with you away from home too!

I hope you can feel better and less stressed away from home. Take care.

Got questions? Please feel free to ask The Advisor about it.

Finding your first internship

This is a guest post by Nate Whiston, a first generation college graduate and Vice President of marketing for InternMatch, an online internship database and career-building resource based in Mountain View, CA.

Internships have become a staple for gaining professional experience as a first generation or low income student. Most employers expect you to have at least one internship in your portfolio—and sometimes they want two or more internships. (Ask an Advisor note: The Advisor recommends you have at least three career-related experiences by the time you graduate from college!)

The big question though, is how do you land your first internship? Here's how:

Build your network. Get to know your professors, parents’ friends, friends’ parents, mentor, and other professionals in the industry you are interested in. Learn where they work and don’t be afraid to reach out to them. Build meaningful relationships with people by asking them deep, professional questions (not just for help). Ask how they climbed to their current position, what challenges they faced, and keep the conversation friendly. Meaningful dialog will get them to want to help and eventually recommend you for internships.

You can also connect with professionals through your local Chamber of Commerce and sites like Meetup.com. Students that go to professional events stand out, which is exactly what you should be striving to do.

Shameless self-promotion. Networking means having to market yourself. Get acquainted with LinkedIn and connect with everyone you know and meet. An effective tip is making all of your online profile pictures the same. Creating a brand for yourself makes it much easier for people to remember you. Furthermore, small things really make you stand out in the recruitment process. Get business cards and always carry them because you never know who is going to walk into the elevator with you.

Don’t be afraid to apply. Applying to 10-15 internships is average right now, though not all have to be focused in your field. In fact, reaching into other business settings can sometimes benefit you more. For example, working with a start-up company or small business allows you to see the bones of the operation and learn multiple facets of every day work. To find more opportunities to apply to you should visit your career center about posted positions or search through InternMatch’s vast internship database.

Stand out in the crowd. One of the biggest questions InternMatch gets is how to stand out if you have no prior experience. Depending on your field, you can use projects outside of school to demonstrate your passion and knowledge of a field. For example if you want to be a marketer or journalist, start a blog on Wordpress. Or if you want to be a programmer, write code and publish it on GitHub. Do something that shows you are passionate and dedicated to a field. Include this experience on your resume and the passion in your cover letter.

Ultimately, finding an internship isn’t always easy but the preparation process helps teach valuable interviewing and self-branding skills and gives you other professional experience which you will use for the rest of your life.

Remember to enjoy the process. For more information on getting your first internship, check out InternMatch’s 40+ ways to find your first internship.

If you have questions about finding your first internship or InternMatch, you can email Nate Whiston directly. Got other questions? Please feel free to ask The Advisor about it.

Calling all TRiO alumni!

I have been fortunate enough to work for two federal TRiO programs to support first generation and low income college students succeed in college.

The federal TRiO programs include Upward Bound, Upward Bound Math/Science, Talent Search, Student Support Services (SSS), Educational Opportunity Centers, Veterans Upward Bound, and Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program.

All of these programs do amazing work with first generation and low income college hopeful and current students. If you are an alumni of a TRiO program, please support the National TRIO Alumni Association (NTAA) by following them on Twitter or liking them on Facebook.

Photo credit: https://www.trioalumni.us/

The NTAA will strive to build an association that will assist in the fight to advance and defend equal educational opportunity in higher education--and you can be a part of that fight! 

Got questions? Please feel free to ask The Advisor about it.