As I finish up my first semester at University of Maryland things have gone differently than I originally thought they would go.
Firstly, my classes are a lot different. I expected taking 7 university classes to be really hard, like taking 7 AP classes at once (as AP classes were supposed to emulate college classes). However, I took the hardest AP classes available like AP Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism which isn't really comparable to a general education class like COMM107. Speaking of COMM107 I feel like my first experience with general education courses was great. I thought that general education courses were just these wastes of time that every college student has just so colleges could make more money. While I think this statement is still partially true, I also found great value in the class as I did learn useful things for communicating myself in a professional and personal environment. I did not expect my speech preparations to take me 3 hours however, I was in for a very brutal surprise when I tried to start preparing for a speech at 11PM and finished at 2AM. I feel like my physics class was easier than high school physics. AP Physics C was a behemoth of a course that really taught me how to approach physics. However, I feel like that preparation wasn't super necessary coming into my Physics 3 class as the quizzes/exams are on the simpler content covered in class and thus is enabling the behavior that caused me to do bad in high school physics. I also was surprised that the TA was not in lecture and the professor was not in discussion, but rather they taught those separate class periods. I think that my math class was amazing. I really enjoyed how the professor taught the class. I was expecting a lecture hall, but since I am in a 300-level class it was in a classroom. I also expected to have big assessments and did not expect that we had smaller weekly assessments as well to help our grade. This might be professor based, but I also didn't expect we had days to work in a group to solve problems. While this did help me know some of my classmates, I was still surprised that it was a class size just slightly bigger than my high school class (45, but attendance was optional) but I still didn't know most of my classmates. My coding class went better than expected because it was amazing that I had the ability to code. I didn't expect that coding could be taught this well, I thought it was just something we had to read in a textbook. I thought my introduction to engineering design class would introduce us to engineering design, but I felt I was just thrown into the deep end without all the skills to properly produce a robot. I imagined myself learning how to make something and augmenting my math skills with the actual engineering part of engineering, but that is not what happened.
Secondly, in CPSG100 I didn't expect there to be about 70 some people in SGC. I thought it was going to be a small seminar discussion like class similar to the class size of COMM107. Also, I didn't expect to hear the words "affirming the consequent" in both my math class and in SGC which I found amusing. Finally, I feel like the reason why climate change is denied is one of the few that hasn't been covered in extreme detail. However, I had very low expectations for the class coming in so pretty much everything has been covered and even climate change denial was covered a bit in the pseudoscience lecture. Also the metro scavenger hunt was fun, I thought it was nice to be in Washington D.C. and walk around and look at stuff.
Next, I could've never predicted how life as a college student would have been. I remember my mom was making fun of my unwillingness to try or cook food. My mom asked "Are you just going to live on grilled cheese sandwiches?" a few years ago and that is basically what has happened. I don't have it everyday, but plenty of times I will just resort to having one because of how easy it is. Also, I thought that waking up early would not be a challenge given that I have been waking up before the sunrise to pray the morning Islamic prayer so waking up for a 8 AM class should not be that bad. Just in case, I still decided not to take an 8 AM and took a 9AM class on Wednesdays. I really dread that 9 AM class because if I go to sleep after the prayer then I won't feel like waking up until class time. I always was a proponent of breakfast being important, back when my father prepared my breakfast the day before school, but now I have delayed and even skipped breakfast just so I can stay in bed a little bit longer. Speaking of my father, I underestimated how important he was to my routine. I thought I was getting up on time for my classes on my own, but in reality it was just so my father doesn't force me to get up. I genuinely do enjoy my math class at 10AM, but I don't take into account how long it takes to change out of pajamas, eat breakfast, and walk to class. So I end up waking at 9:50 something AM walking to class in my pajamas without having eaten breakfast usually. I thought that 9 AM would be sleeping in compared to 7:40 AM which it is, but being able to sleep makes me want to sleep more as I usually don't go to sleep at a healthy time. So I do enjoy having more time to sleep, but it has caused me to want to sleep more instead of having a morning routine.
Finally, to future SGC students I would like to say that the program is worth your time. I have benefited from having a mentor, and two amazing professors. I think that the discussion questions aren't too much of a burden to handle. In terms of the class, speak up. Dr. Holtz always says "the worst you can be is wrong." I can't really give any SGC specific advice on how to ease into college. I frequented Dr. Merck's office hours because they fit in my schedule, but just in general not giving up and learning from your mistakes in general will help the rest of college feel easier. It might feel bad in the first 2 weeks, but the experiences in those 2 weeks will help you anchor "at least it was not that bad" from what you learned. It doesn't necessarily have to be that bad, but if it is then it gets easier with time.
I honestly expected the transition from high school to college to be more dramatic, but in terms of the academic aspect I feel like high school emulated college more than I expected. I feel like the academic transition from middle school to high school was bigger than high school to college because of the similar quiz/test structures in college-level classes in high school. In terms of the non-academic life, I feel like there was a letdown that I didn't make friends immediately, but at the same time I don't even know my own definition of 'friends' in the first place so I was comparing something I didn't even know by other people's standards. One benefit of UMD that I did not expect is that not only is there a building for Muslims to pray, there is also a wudu (ablution) room. It has been a little frustrating trying to get swipe access into the building because something keeps going wrong with my application, but it's not like people are trying to gatekeep it anyway and most times there is someone there to let me in. I also felt accepted that when I needed to do wudu in the dorm bathroom that nobody judged or belittled me. Also, I have been happy to share my mathematical ability with the people that I have met. I feel like one of the ways I have been meeting people is sharing my love for math with them. The other way is going down to study lounges in Centreville and doing my work there and talking to the people I meet. I am also surprised that there are many people who also have unhealthy sleep schedules. Overall, I have met some very interesting and amazing people and have experiences of the same nature. While I have not made lifelong friends and connections yet, I am still excited for what the future holds in my remaining semesters at University of Maryland and in SGC.