Coming into university, my mindset was definitely mixed. On one hand I was excited to finally be truly independent, dive deeper into the topics I was passionate about, and truly experience college life. On the other hand, I was nervous for these exact same reasons. What if I couldn’t adapt to living on my own? What if I get burnt out, and the things I once enjoyed become a hassle? However, after finishing my first semester, it is safe to say that there were more positives than negatives, although there were many things I learned along the way.
One major deviation between my expectation and reality of college classes was the workload. I took eighteen credits, so I expected to spend a significant amount of time in class, but in actuality, I spent much less time in class than I did in high school, although I now realize this was because of the classes I chose. Three credits came from marching band and pep band, which, despite being a decent time commitment, I do not consider as being “classes”, and another three came from an entirely asynchronous class. Because of this, I thought that I would end up spending a significant portion of my free time doing homework. Throughout the vast majority of the semester, this was not the case. The only homework assignments that took a lot of time were four speeches, which started off short (1 to 2 minutes) and got progressively harder (8 to 10 minutes plus a Q+A portion), and midterms. It is also important to note that the difficulty of the exams depended greatly on the professor. If the professor is a skilled lecturer who knows the best way to demonstrate the content of the course, the exams tend to be easier, since studying is just a review of the material. However, if the professor doesn’t do as great of a job at teaching, then a lot of the onus is put on the student to learn the material before exams. Overall, though, this semester has been pretty good for me in terms of my courses (albeit with a lot of work during finals season).
One class that I have thoroughly enjoyed and does not have a large course load is CPSG100. When I was selected to join SGC, I did not expect the curriculum to be what it was. The first portion of the semester covered pseudoscience and what science actually is. Although the program is titled “Science and Global Change,” I did not expect so much emphasis on science. The second portion of the course covered the past, including mass extinctions and their causes and effects. Looking back it makes sense that this topic was covered, past global changes and extinctions can give us insight on the modern “sixth extinction.” Coming in, I thought the course material would be more focused on modern causes of climate change and environmental harm and how to combat it. I particularly enjoyed learning about this topic, since it was something completely new to anything I have been taught before. The excursions were also a great addition to the learning experience. They are about what I expected: traveling to local museums or other relevant locations and applying the knowledge we gained there to the course. However, one thing that I did not expect was the use of the metro, which I have now learned is very useful. I’m excited for what the coming semesters of CPSG will bring.
So far, I have enjoyed life as an on-campus student. My biggest worry when I got to the university was finding friends, since I am not the most social person. However, I would say that I have found people I can spend time with, and I found these people thanks to marching band. Because of marching band, I spent the entirety of the week before classes started with the same people, and we were essentially “forced” to become friends. This definitely alleviated a lot of nerves I had going into this semester. In all, my expectations of college life are on par with what I thought coming in.
To future students, my biggest piece of advice is to join a club. I cannot stress how much joining a club helps you acclimate to the new environment you will find yourself in. The club offers a place to meet new people who might be your best friends all throughout college and maybe even your life. Also, the people you meet can help answer any questions you may have, including where things are and what campus resources you may want to utilize.