A course that really came with a lot of surprises to me was Enes100, Introduction to Engineering Design, which really broadened my understanding of how much engineering is involved with everything around us. Before taking the class, I really only thought about engineering in the context of moving machinery and building things like cars, but the class really opened my eyes to all the vast challenges engineers work with, and how the engineering design process can be applied in so many contexts.
While I have been able to somewhat build relationships with some professors, I really have struggled to connect with any faculty members. In some classes with a small amount of students, I have been able to connect with professors by consistently attending classes and asking questions, like in my Intro to CAD class, but in almost all of my classes, lectures have about 100 students and it is really a challenge to build a connection. I have found it easier to build connections with TAs however, by attending discussion sections and bringing questions to review sections. I was able to be closer with my Lab mentor in physics just by asking any questions I had during workshops. I would recommend that students looking to build connections with professors come to class with questions and try and show that you are genuinely interested in understanding the material, not just trying to get an A in the class.
I have been able to build many relationships with other students and it has been crucial to my adjustment into the university. In my first semester, I was able to make a good many friends in one of my smaller engineering classes that had many group projects, and by keeping up with my group members, I was able to find many which had some of the same classes as me in the spring. Having someone to talk to outside of class and study together with has been so helpful, as it is really helpful to ask another student questions if you are stuck instead of only having a teacher, who may not be as accessible to ask questions. The greatest obstacles to pursuing these relationships, especially online, has been finding things to talk about outside of school work to build the relationship. For my relationships, I found some video games that me and others played to find fun activities to do for fun. It is also important to sometimes just talk about how school life in general is going with others, so it does not just feel like the relationship is only to help get a better grade in a class. Hopefully next years freshman will not have to deal with so many remote-learning generated obstacles, but I would recommend finding things to talk about/do with others outside of just school work if you want to build a deeper relationship.
I was least prepared for the greater focus on exams over other work. I still feel like, even after two semesters, I find myself getting too comfortable with my grades right before an exam, and studying less than I should. While it is important to take pride in getting good grades on things like classworks and quizzes, it is more important to not get comfortable with your grade and to relax your studying, which will worsen your grades on the much more impactful exams. I recommend that prospective students make sure that they are preparing for exams in the time between them, instead of just working to get all the assignments and quizzes done. Make sure that you are understanding the concepts as you go, and not just forgetting about old topics as soon as the next one comes around.