I think this year is the one year that every student can say every facet of their college experience was very different from what they had always pictured. In terms of classes, a lot of professors had to deviate from how they would normally conduct class to accommodate the challenges of remote learning. The most surprising thing to me was that my weekdays had almost no structure as two of my professors chose to post asynchronous lectures rather than lecture in real time, one of them lectured in real time but posted recordings so attendance was not required, and the other one only lectured on Thursday mornings. I was expecting time management to be the most challenging aspect of college, but I actually found myself with a lot of time on my hands to study and do assignments, which I am pretty thankful for. I know a lot of other students are not as lucky in this department. I was even expecting the level of difficulty of my classes to be higher, but it was really very manageable, which is another pleasant surprise.
I was not expecting to go as deep into the basics of science as a general subject as we did in CPSG100. We spent a lot of time going over the scientific method, structure of scientific papers, and formal fallacies. Additionally, I did not expect to learn as much about HTML as I did! I also feel that we did not cover climate change in the current time period as much as I thought we would, although we sometimes touched on it briefly. We did spend a lot of time talking about the history of global change and climate events of the past, which makes sense as there is a lot to cover about that topic. The out of class activities were obviously very different than expected because they were all online. I was also expecting to do a lot more global change related out of class activities than I did this year. In fact, the out of class activities I did this semester were either very loosely related to science and global change or not related at all (however I still feel that they were very valuable experiences).
Another aspect of college life that turned out to be vastly different what I envisioned is residential life. I live in Centreville and living on campus this year was a very strange experience. I was definitely expecting to live with a roommate, but that did not happen this year because of COVID precautions, and I honestly really like living alone. Mainly, the room is so small that I cannot imagine having to share it with anyone else without getting claustrophobic. Also, I’m used to having my own space at home and it would have taken me a while to adjust to having to live in close quarters with another person. I’m very glad to have the privacy, freedom, and space that comes with living alone. Meeting new people also took more effort on my part than I had previously thought, but I expected that when we found out that all classes would be held online. The good thing is that even though it was somewhat harder, it wasn’t impossible. One facet of living on campus that matches what I envisioned in high school was the amount of freedom you have once you’re on your own. It was weird at first to be able to do literally anything I wanted to do whenever I wanted to do it because it made me feel really old. Also, something I never really thought about before but always think about now is transportation. Having to walk everywhere isn’t so bad, but sometimes I’m just really not in the mood to do so and I miss having a car. But, its bearable. I think the way living on campus ended up panning out was a nice transition into college life as I wasn’t thrown into something completely different than what I was used to. The same goes for the way classes were structured too as I didn’t have to focus so much on the time management aspect of learning, which was something I struggled with a lot in high school.
For future SGC students, I would say to talk to as many people as possible, even if it gets awkward sometimes. The awkwardness is inevitable anyways and, honestly, is not that big of a deal once you get used to the people you are around. Its good to have friends you can count on when you’re transitioning into life as a college student so you don’t have to go through it alone. I would also recommend not worrying so much about classes, at least in your first year, because they aren’t as hard as you would think. Most professors are very accommodating and are always looking out for you, not working against you. You should be diligent when it comes to classwork, but don’t lose sight of your social life because its important to take a break from class and if you’re anything like me and value solitude a little too much, it’s important to take a break from being alone! Socializing can be very refreshing, especially if you’re feeling down. Try to find a balance between school and your social life that works for you. All in all, the first semester of college, while overwhelming and strange at first (especially given the circumstances of this year), is not as difficult as you probably envisioned. Balance is very important, and as along as you find your balance, your first semester will be a very enjoyable and fulfilling experience.