University of Wisconsin-Madison sophomore London Hirsch attended Student Orientation, Advising and Registration (SOAR) during the summer of 2025 without her parents, accompanied only by a friend from her hometown. She told the Cardinal the event was boring and bleak.
“SOAR is just so lifeless,” Hirsch said. “They're just going through the motions with you.”
Hirsch picked out her classes for her first semester without understanding what anything meant — from where the classes were located on campus to what they would be like in terms of content or course load. She felt the SOAR leaders didn’t sufficiently prepare her for her first year on campus.
“I think they do a horrible job at explaining everything,” Hirsch said.
After SOAR, Hirsch panicked and called her mom, freaked out and sobbing on the phone. She said she hated the school and could not attend Madison in the fall — heavily considering a gap semester or transferring schools.
Despite her hesitancy, Hirsch chose to buckle down and stay at UW-Madison. Now, she’s just wrapped up her freshman year, happy to be a Badger and excited to return in the fall.
Hirsch, like many other now-sophomores at UW-Madison, wished she could go back and give her freshman-year self advice about the year to come — advice she didn’t get at SOAR.
Instead, she and other UW-Madison sophomores are sharing their first-hand knowledge with the incoming freshmen Class of 2030.
Academics
For incoming freshmen at UW-Madison, adjusting to college-level coursework can be one of the most difficult parts of transitioning out of high school.
Hirsch said incoming freshmen should be prepared for a substantial difficulty jump between high school and college, emphasizing stricter grading standards and hard deadlines.
Cooper Finch, another sophomore, reflected on the “shell shock” going into his first semester.
“I struggled for a little bit,” Finch said. “But the majority of professors at the university are very [good at] adapting to your needs, and I was very lucky with that. I was able to talk to them and then just get back on track.”
While Hirsch said teacher-student relationships in college might not be as close as in high school, especially with larger classes, she still considered her professors valuable resources.
Both Hirsch and Finch said incoming freshmen should avoid studying in their dorm rooms, a sentiment also shared by fellow sophomore Nathan DeCook.
“Find your study spots on campus, as they are everywhere and studying in your dorm, at least in my case, just made me procrastinate,” DeCook said.
Finch also recommended incoming freshmen practice time-management and learn how to section out daily studying to avoid last-minute cramming and better retain information.
“Scheduling is crucial because it's not like high school where you're given your own schedule, and you stick to it. You're your own motivator,” he said.
Housing
Most freshmen will be living in the dorms for their first year, and it can be a dramatic adjustment for students used to living at home with their parents. DeCook spent his freshman year at Waters Residence Hall on Lakeshore.
“Something I wish I had known before attending UW-Madison is that there is a definite disparity between the culture of Lakeshore and Southeast area dorms,” DeCook said.
Finch spent his freshman year at Witte Hall, and said there were stark cultural differences between the traditionally quieter Lakeshore dorms and the noisier Southeast dorms. At the beginning of the year, he said the noise level impacted his sleep and ability to focus while studying in his dorm.
“Southeast, specifically Witte [and] Sellery [are] very, very talkative, and can be very, very loud Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, or even Tuesdays and Wednesdays,” Finch said. “In my case, that was a shell shock for me.”
Hirsch, on the other hand, spent her freshmen year in a Lakeshore dorm. While she had no noise complaints, she struggled with the greater distance of the Lakeshore dorms to downtown campus and many of her classes.
Hirsch often had to rely on campus bus routes to get to her classes, which was especially difficult on weekends or late at night when less buses were running.
“In the dead of winter, I wish I was warned that not only are you far from the center of campus and other students, but you're also far from your classes,” she said.
However, incoming freshmen don’t only need to worry about settling into dorm life their first semester, they’ll also need to start thinking about housing for the following year.
“There was a lot of external pressure to find a place early first semester,” Hirsch said.
Most UW-Madison undergrads, including freshmen, sign leases for the next year by October or November of the previous year, according to a report from the Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture.
“It's a hard market to manage right now, and I was not expecting how quick the turnaround would be,” Finch said, recommending that students find a good group of friends to room with early in the semester.
Hirsch, who didn’t sign a lease until February during her second semester, had a different piece of advice for incoming freshmen.
“Don't feel pressured to sign a lease in your first semester,” she said. “If you haven't found an apartment, you're gonna find a place to live.”
Hirsch recommended freshmen keep an eye on new websites and leasing options opening up in the spring and focus on settling into the college lifestyle during the fall.
Food
Every incoming freshman has heard horror stories about dining hall food, but Madison’s food scene is not limited to the walls of Gordon Hall.
“I got really sick of the dining hall,” Hirsch said, emphasizing that it was difficult to choose from the same rotation of meals every week, especially after home-cooked meals over breaks.
Hirsch learned to utilize the communal kitchen in her dorm as the year went on, making simple dishes like spaghetti. “It still was better than something I've been eating all year long,” she said.
“I did not like Gordon. I think it was definitely overcrowded,” Finch said. “Prepare to deal with a lot of people.”
Finch suggested going to the dining hall earlier before it gets busy for the lunch or dinner rush or even to walk to a less crowded dining hall. He also recommended using meal swipes and dining dollars at the restaurants in the student unions for a change of pace.
“There's also an incredible amount of great restaurants around town, and so definitely check that out,” Finch said.
Social life
At a university that typically takes in more than 8,000 freshmen every year and has a total population of over 50,000 students, incoming students often struggle to find a consistent social group.
“The biggest challenge I faced this year was trying to be social as much as possible,” DeCook said.
He encouraged students to take advantage of the on-campus social scene as “a nice getaway from the stress of classes and assignments, especially on weeknights.”
Both Finch and Hirsch recommended incoming freshmen take advantage of the Student Organization Fair to meet other students and explore club options.
This fall, the fair will be held from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sept. 9 and 10 at the Kohl Center and host over 400 student organizations on campus.
“I would definitely say the most important thing is just try to find your group, put yourself out there,” Finch said. “It definitely can be difficult, but UW-Madison is massive, so you'll find people pretty easily with the same interests as you.”
Hirsch reflected on struggling with the prominence of party culture and Greek life her first semester.
“It's okay to not want to go out every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, like every weekend,” Hirsch said. “I think first semester I had a really hard time with like ‘I don't really want to go out, but everybody else is.’”
While Hirsch didn’t join a sorority or attend football games every week, she utilized campus activities, clubs and more affordable sporting events to meet like-minded Badgers.
“Everybody has a hard first semester,” Hirsch said. “You'll end up finding the right people, even if it takes three weeks or a few semesters.”
