Due Date: May 11, 2023
High school classes are certainly much different than college lectures. However, it is safe for me to say the class that came as the greatest surprise to me was my MATH135 (Discrete Mathematics for Lifr Sciences) lecture. The contents of the course were fairly straight forward, and I will more than likely finish with an A. The part of the class that made it so difficult was not the topics, but rather the speed of my professor during lecture. In my AP Calculus class the senior year of high school, we were given guided notes, and took the time to go over each definition, example and solution. In my MATH135 class, the professor started writing on the chalkboard and it was up to you to keep up with him. I felt as if I would look down at my notes for a second to write the steps to a problem down, but when I looked back up, the problem was already gone. As my first college math class, this certainly was hard to adjust to. In addition to the speed, I am very particular about my notes, so I would stress about making sure my notes were neat, causing me to fall behind in writing the content down. This was a recipe for disaster. After a few weeks into the semester, I picked up a routine that I continued to follow in every lecture. To incoming students, this is the best way to approach college math. First off, it is more important to get the information down rather than make it look neat. There is always time to go back and make your notes look pretty, but there is not time to miss out on crucial steps in solving a difficult problem. Second, if I felt myself falling behind, I would take pictures of the chalk board to use for finsihing up my notes at a later time. Finally, and most importantly, reaching out is the most crucial aspect to any college class, not just math. If you feel you missed notes, don't be afraid to ask your classmates if they were able to keep up, and have parts you may have missed. If you had the proper notes but don't understand the content, go to your professors or TA's office hours. They are there to help you. Ultimately, college classes are difficult, but finding what works best for you is the key to success.
College professors are more "scary" than high school teachers. Although some professors can be condescending, there are professors that deeply care about the success and well being of their students. The most intimidating part of establishing a relationship with any faculty member is reaching out for the first time. Everytime I would initially go to a professor's office hours, I would be nervous. However, professors appreciate the students that take time to learn and ask for help outside of lecture. Between emailing my professors and attending their office hours, they eventually learned and remembered my name in a class with over 150 people. Especially in hard classes, having a solid relationship with the professor makes asking clarifying questions easier and less nerve wracking. Overall, I always recommend reaching out to professors and introducing yourself, whether over email or during office hours. From personal experience, I know having a positive experience with a professor makes a class much more enjoyable.
Since coming to college, I have made amazing friends. Having close friends to help distract from stressful situations, go to dinner with, laugh with and make memories with is crucial to having a positive experience. However, reality is, the friends I have now are not the friends I had at the beginning of the semester. The hardest part of establishing relationships for me was accepting that you won't always connect with everyone, and that is fine. Not everyone is meant to be your best friend, but when you come to college knowing no one, this can be a hard thing to process. Sometimes people feel lonely during college, and that is completely normal. The best advice I can give is to talk to as many people as you can at the beginning of the year and to not lock onto one friend group. Keeping an open mind to new friendships could lead you to your next life long best friend. It is also important to remember that you can be friendly with people without being friends. Just be nice to everyone you meet, and remember to be patient, good friends will come with time. My friends now are some of my favorite people, and although it took me my whole freshman year to find them, the wait was absolutely worth it and college is now even more awesome.
Overall, the aspect of college academics I was least prepared for was studying. I did not realize the amount of time that needs to be dedicated to studying, even just for midterms. Especially for my chemistry classes, I would study for a minimum of 7 hours before each midterm. For finals, I had to start studying a whole week before my tests. Coming into college, I was not used to this intensity, causing me to not do as well on my exams. In my opnion, for midterms, students should start studying 3-4 days before the day of the exam, and find videos on youtube to assist them. For finals, I would recommend starting to study around a week or a week and a half before the exam. Cramming the night before is the worst possible thing one could do both for their grades and for their mental health. By starting to study early on, the material can be spread out more, allowing for the brain to have some "down time" to process all the information. Also, it is important to have a solid meal before studying because your body needs fuel to work hard. If you think something on your exam will just be "common sense," think again.