During my first semester in college, there were many unfamiliar things to me. Not only did I move to a new school, but a new environment as well. In my classes, there are both unexpected challenges and easy things.
Prior to coming to college, I expected it to be harder than high school, but as a freshman retaking multiple classes, I also expected a more relaxed schedule. At the start of the semester, it was what I expected, where I knew a lot of the things we were going over in class because I had already learned that material in AP classes in high school, but as we went on in the semester and the pace started picking up, it was getting harder for me to pick up. There was also a much larger amount of self study than I expected, as I was more used to getting all my information in class and only practicing outside of class from high school. On the other hand, since college classes only have lectures 1-3 times a week, I only get the basics in class, and have to dive deeper outside of class. Now, I need to watch videos on the class material, along with doing a lot more practice. Another unexpected aspect of college for me was how fast the pacing was, because we had to learn the same amount of material as in high school, but with about half the class time. This made each lecture more important than each class in high school. Although I expected faster pacing, I did not expect how important a lecture was. If I missed a lecture, I would be very behind in the class. With both of these different aspects, I had to have a lot more discipline and self control in college. With college life introducing new things and more freedom, I had to control myself more and make sure my work was being done. Also, with lectures not taking attendance, it was much more tempting to skip my early morning classes, as I am not a morning person.
In SGC, I expected the things we learned about and the service we did, but I did not expect having to make an HTML website. After learning to do it, I believe it is a useful skill for me to have, and I anticipate I will be using this skill more in the future.
The college grading system was also a lot different than what I was used to in high school. My college classes have a lot less assignments, but are based on a curve, whereas my high school classes had lots of assignments, but no curve. Although I expected this for college, I did not think the curve would be the deciding factor of my final grade. A lot of my big classes only have about 10 homeworks along with my exams, and at the end of the semester the professor decides the curve based on the distribution. This makes it harder for me to gauge how I am doing throughout the semester, only having an idea based on what my classmate’s grades are.
My high school vision of college life did include lots of studying and going out, but now that I am on campus, my high school self underestimated how social I would be in college. I expected to stay friends with my home friends and not make many friends, as I was already content with my friend group, who have been together since we were little. With so many new opportunities on campus, I have made many new connections and tried different organizations. A club I wanted to join while doing my research during high school was Terrapin Racing, but I ended up not joining it because of the time commitment. On the other hand, I ended up joining and getting a junior officer role in a club that I didn't even know about until some of my friends dragged me out to one of their general meetings. Now in college, I hang out with a lot of people who don't live close to my area at all, and I never would have met them if not for college.
My advice to future SGC students would be to try to practice self control and discipline while you are in high school, because it will help you find a good work life balance and adjust to college much faster. I would also advise them to try to find what time of day they are most productive, and leave that space free of classes, because studying and doing homework during that time would be the most beneficial. Also, I would advise incoming students to try as many things as they can within their first month or two of college, because during that time, everyone coming on campus is new, and later on in the semester, everyone needs to worry more about exams and such, and everyone is more situated, so it is harder to try new things and meet new people. It is best to branch out and explore when you have time at the beginning of the semester.
In conclusion, my college experience has had aspects that aligned with my expectations and unforeseen challenges and circumstances, but I have adjusted pretty well to the new college life, and am still learning ways to make the most of my time at the University of Maryland.