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Letter to the UCC Freshman

Your eyes kept alternating from the crest at the top corner to the name at the mid section of the envelope. It’s okay!! You have the admission. Looking at it a thousand times doesn’t re-admit you.

Pack your bags and let get going. Its probably your first time coming to the Central region and you would see all these farms on your way. Subconciously, you will think farm produce is going to be cheap in school. Herhh,go back home and ask for more money. Or you take your phone and call for reinforcement in your bank account.

Do you know Amamoma women? Do you know Science market? Listen!,this terrain isnt the ‘Original Memory Card,Pendrive’ gimmick at Kantamanto, the vendors in UCC are sharper than the Actuaries at the Central bank. Once you get to campus like this as freshmen, they would recoup all the monies they missed out on during the vacation.

There are six halls and you being a freshman, you would not just be affiliated to one of them on paper, you would actually get to reside in one of them. Now as usual, these six halls try as much as possible to prove superiority over one another. Dont bother to join. Every hall is unique, but ofcourse Casely Hayford Hall stands out. That one di33,i must tell you.

A certain Atlantic Hall would never accept that. That’s just how it is in this school. You have Valco Hall, touted to be the noisiest. You have Kwame Nkrumah Hall, well, you could call it a modern Valco. Then if you are sent to Old site(because the place is truly old), you are likely to be in Oguaa hall, or Adehye Hall.(but bear in mind,if you are a guy and your admission letter says you should be in Adehye hall,then your village people are doing you papa). We also have the blue nation; Atlantic Hall.

When you arrive on campus and you being taken to your rooms, the Junior Common Room executives would harvest a little from you. You would pay for strange things. But don’t worry okay, take heart, pay up. You said you wanted to come to university. First night in the hall, you would acquaint yourself with your roomates(that only God knows where they came from) and your neighbours probably. Its such a nice feeling, so savour it while it lasts. Savour it, because soon, when the period of serendipity is over, real school business begins.

I dont know how your registration would be like. In my time, people would go and queue at midnight. Thats just you frustrating yourself. When you get to second, third and fourth years, you will sit in your hostel and expect the VC to come and register you. You would feel too lazy to simply go register. You this freshman reading this would see the next batch of freshmen and laugh at them in your head. Yes!, before I forget, as you walk along the road from new site halls to science, you would come across a certain restaurant,it starts with S and ends wth an A. If you go there like five times, you will go back home early papa.

The reason UCC is considered such a ”difficult” school is because of the pace of academic work. Don’t be afraid at all. It’s just two quizes for each course and an exam at the end of the semester. Even if you ‘bomb’ the first quiz, you can always make amends in the second.

That brings me to your relationship with the lecturers. You must be tactful. Use all the sense you have acquired. Some lecturers would smile and crack jokes with you in class. You will feel you are in a stand up comedy. If I were you,I will start crying. Usually,only a few of such lecturers are forgiving in the academic field oo. Get an E, he or she would give you E…with a smiling face ofcourse.

For the quizes, you will write it at ANY time. I remember the 4:30 am and 5:00am quizes I wrote. The lecturer said he wanted to travel and he needed to leave early. My colleagues and I paid for it by cutting short our sweet sleep. Thats why its called the University of Choice. Legon was there, Tech was there, you said its UCC you like.

As you read this, maybe you dont know what 4.0 is. Ok, lets say it’s a trophy for being a perfect student every semester. Just a few students receive that accolade. During your orientation, you will be told that you already have 4.0. The only issue is you must defend it. I hope you are able to.

Now I want to discuss a very important aspect of university life wth you…GRABBING! Let me first tell you this story. Before I begin however, if you are a lady reading this letter, kindly skip this paragraph,ok? (I am assuming the ladies have skipped). Now my guy,I remember in one of my very first lectures, there was this beautiful lady sitting by me. She had a Valco hall wristband on but an Nkrumah hall exercise book. I therefore just wanted to seek clarification ( whether she belonged to Valco or Nkrumah). ”Are you in…”, I was abt asking. She cut in and said,” YES,I AM IN A RELATIONSHIP”. Hmm. To say i was embarrassed is certainly an understatement. And thats how it is oo, my guy. When you come fresh like this your female colleagues would intimidate you, telling you their guys have travelled abroad. Second year,they will say their guys are in Tech. Then in third year, they will be calling you to come to their hostel. Fourth year,well, am still in level 300.

(Ladies can now resume reading. Guys skip). Ladies, I know your mothers must have told you to bring a ‘human being’ home, u cant deny it. (Pls,if she hasn’t told you, go back home for clarification.). But just relax. Take your time. Campus love is very different from the one in the world. There are a lot of guys you would want to be with once you are here. Some, very funny and cute but be careful. Dont rush into anything silly, otherwise if he gets what he wants, all that nice boy ns3ms3m would vanish. And he will be replaced by his evil twin. Be warned! Relationships can make and unmake you. Let God guide you as you choose your ‘human being’.Dont ask me if I am dating. I Jonathan Adjetey Mensa, I wont tell you da!

You have really chosen the best school, trust me. Yeah,sometimes the SRC people would annoy you small p3, but just take it. They are human. But this school, it’s worth it. I had my doubts coming to this school, but I have never regretted. (of course I regret buying that koko at the chief’s palace area. It was tooooo thick la).

There would be times you would be confused. There would be times you would be at Science and say you are going to Science. I would advice you take God seriously. Personally, I attend Pentefel. You can come join me.

Otherwise, you could find a good place to worship your God. You wont get anywhere without God on this campus. There’s a lot I wish to tell. I would probably never finsh telling you everything. But I want to welcome you to this university;The University of CapeCoast.

Soon, I trust you would also sit down and write a letter to the freshmen when you are in third year. I love you. When you see me, call me. My name is Jonathan Adjetey Mensah. God bless you.