Freshman Time Capsule
5/8/2026
As my freshman year of college comes to an end, I have a lot of thoughts about it. Overall, I would say that this year was a success! I have heard that many students will “mess up” their first year in college by not taking it seriously or letting themselves go now that they are away from their parents. While this semester has definitely had its rough momentum, especially right around spring break, I can proudly say that I was able to.
Adjusting to college life can definitely be pretty tough. When I first started this year, I only knew a couple of people from my high school. I am generally not an extremely extroverted person, I enjoy talking to people but I have a lot of trouble reaching out to people I don’t already know. However, even through that, there were a ton of very friendly people here who were willing to reach out. One big thing to remember is that people come from places all over the country (and world for that matter) to UMD, and they all also don’t have a group. I can guarantee, if you are struggling to make friends, there are other people in the exact same boat as you. Sit at a table at the dining hall with someone who is eating alone, you might make a friend there. Worst case, you never see each other again. I will admit that this is easier said than done, I almost never talk to people I don’t know unprompted. I know that a lot of people at UMD make friends by going to big parties, however I have never been interested in going to any of those. It is also ok to latch on to old friends too, that's pretty much what I’ve done all semester and I’ve been loving it. Actually, my closest friend right now doesn’t even go to UMD, but we are always able to make time for each other by coordinating calls. In other words, I promise you, you have options, and you will find opportunities to make friends at some point in your freshman year.
This semester, the most impactful class I took was definitely my ENEE200 class. ENEE200, otherwise known as, “Technology and Consequences: Engineering, Ethics, and Humanity,” was by far my favorite class this year. Contrary to what you might believe about me considering I am an engineering major, I have always been interested in topics such as psychology and ethics. When I was given the opportunity to take a class that would talk about engineering in the world of ethics, I jumped at the opportunity. One of my favorite lectures in that class was when we discussed the Ford Pinto case. Essentially the car company, Ford, manufactured a compact car called the Ford Pinto that they knew had issues. The company was aware that there were issues with the fuel tank, where it was likely to rupture even in low speed collisions, causing extreme injuries to drivers. To determine if they should fix this safety hazard, Ford conducted a cost-benefit analysis, where they explicitly put a monetary value on human life/injury and compared it to the cost of fixing the fuel tank. The monetary difference was not even close, it was far more profitable for the company to just leave the issue as is and fork over money to pay for deaths and injuries. What I found so fascinating about this case is how easily using a numeric calculation was able to obscure the proper ethical procedure to Ford, and that case really exemplified why it is so important to consider the context behind the numbers.
Moving away from academics, the aspect of college life that I was probably least prepared for was having to keep better track of what was going on on a day to day basis. I would recommend using google calendar or some other app to help you remember when classes are and when important events are going on. It can be easy to lose track of time, so having your phone send a reminder when something is about to happen can be very useful for not showing up late.