The Freshman Five
Lindsay Chandler
Mr. Langford
English 15- Section 86
18 September 2012
The Freshman Five It’s two in the morning. You’ve been studying for a chemistry test for the last three hours. Although dinner was from a filling all-you-care-to-eat buffet, the meal was eight hours ago, and your stomach is ravenously growling. You miss your parents, and you are on your own for the first time in your eighteen-year life. All you really want is pizza and a soda, from the vending machine downstairs. With stress levels and eating patterns like this—it appears that weight gain for college freshman is inevitable. Do these factors really cause first-year students to pack on the “freshman fifteen,” though? Due to increased health concern among students, the “freshman fifteen” can now be considered a term of the past—a dark wrath that the college freshman no longer has to fear. Fear completely, that is. Weight gain has always been feared by members of American society, in particular, first year college students. In the past, this weight gain was seen as inevitable—something that the poor college freshman could not escape. According to recent studies, college freshman should no longer worry about gaining fifteen pounds in their first year. The term “freshman fifteen” has become a myth now that reputable institutions like Ohio State University have released their findings from studies regarding weight gain in college. The research from these studies indicates that the majority of college freshman don’t gain anywhere near the whopping fifteen pounds that every first-year student seems to fear. The Ohio State University interviewed 7,418 students ranging in age from seventeen to twenty years and found that the average weight gain during the first-year in college was about three pounds (Bakalar). In fact, only about ten percent of college freshman will gain fifteen pounds or more in their first year. Although three pounds is still a significant amount of weight to gain in a one-year
Mr. Langford
English 15- Section 86
18 September 2012
The Freshman Five It’s two in the morning. You’ve been studying for a chemistry test for the last three hours. Although dinner was from a filling all-you-care-to-eat buffet, the meal was eight hours ago, and your stomach is ravenously growling. You miss your parents, and you are on your own for the first time in your eighteen-year life. All you really want is pizza and a soda, from the vending machine downstairs. With stress levels and eating patterns like this—it appears that weight gain for college freshman is inevitable. Do these factors really cause first-year students to pack on the “freshman fifteen,” though? Due to increased health concern among students, the “freshman fifteen” can now be considered a term of the past—a dark wrath that the college freshman no longer has to fear. Fear completely, that is. Weight gain has always been feared by members of American society, in particular, first year college students. In the past, this weight gain was seen as inevitable—something that the poor college freshman could not escape. According to recent studies, college freshman should no longer worry about gaining fifteen pounds in their first year. The term “freshman fifteen” has become a myth now that reputable institutions like Ohio State University have released their findings from studies regarding weight gain in college. The research from these studies indicates that the majority of college freshman don’t gain anywhere near the whopping fifteen pounds that every first-year student seems to fear. The Ohio State University interviewed 7,418 students ranging in age from seventeen to twenty years and found that the average weight gain during the first-year in college was about three pounds (Bakalar). In fact, only about ten percent of college freshman will gain fifteen pounds or more in their first year. Although three pounds is still a significant amount of weight to gain in a one-year