ASU, UArizona students create podcast to help others navigate college life

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -- From moving away to meeting new people to managing classes and finances, adjusting to college life can be tricky! Many freshmen feel excitement and nerves as they venture away from home for the first time.

To help in the process, two best friends who go to rival Arizona colleges decided to start a podcast documenting their journeys with advice and tips on dealing with homesickness, managing mental health and college breakups.

“Tackling the College Life” was created by Melanie Murphy, who goes to the University of Arizona with her best friend, Katie Spreitzer, who attends ASU.

“We didn’t realize how impactful this podcast could be, so when we started recording our episodes and sharing them with our friends and family, we were getting positive feedback, so we just decided to continue the podcast because originally it was just a fun activity that we did and we decided to continue it because we knew we could provide support and advice for incoming freshmen and college kids who were dealing with the same issues that we dealt with when we transitioned into the college life,” Spreitzer said.

Murphy says her best advice to freshmen is to find people you click with and don’t worry about trying to make as many friends as possible. She also says, “Call your loved ones regularly. Don’t feel afraid to do that and create a schedule.”

Spreitzer encourages incoming first-year students to branch out and go to events and activities because you never know who you’ll meet. She also says staying organized is essential, and investing in a planner is a good idea, too!

“I think as a freshman you can become really overwhelmed with the amount of events that are available, the amount of people that you see. But just being able to make friends with one individual on your floor or one person in a club can change the trajectory of your life,” Spreitzer added.

So far, the duo has created nearly 70 episodes, with more on the way. If you want to listen or pass it along to the college student in your life, click here.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

Copyright 2023 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.