The nature of my classes differed a little bit from what I expected. Generally, I was most surprised how different each of my classes treated its students. I had one 200 level history course that expected a lot of really in-depth, innovative and creative analysis and discussing. However, at the same time, other classes that initially seemed to be the same difficulty (also 200 level) constantly extended due dates and didn’t even expect consistent attendance. But, to focus on CPSG100, the class differed a bit from what I expected. I knew that we were going to be making our portfolios through coding, but I wasn’t expecting it to be an assignment that continued throughout the semester. I love the final result and I think it's incredibly useful to have, but the coding was usually a bit of a struggle. Wish me luck linking this essay onto the website! Much of what we covered relating to climate, climate change and geology aligned with my expectations, but the days when we covered university honor policy or other non-scientific things were a little unexpected, but still really useful. I think I just didn’t realize that this class also had to cover the classic freshman need-to-know stuff scholars people miss from not taking UNIV100. The structure of the class and the required graded items were communicated as clearly as I expected. I think people try to scare you about college courses in general, but there are so many resources to succeed and they are honestly very similar to the high school classes I took. The days we spent learning about the university policies were unexpected. We haven’t explored as many solutions or future goals to help climate change as I expected, but I assume we will in the upcoming semesters. The New York outside-of-classroom activity was great and it was better than I thought it would be! I am so glad that it is offered as part of the Science and Global Change curriculum. My favorite part was just wandering around the city with friends. I wasn’t expecting for the timing to work out as well as it did, but we got to visit a thrift store, grab coffee, get dinner, buy souvenirs and visit Times Square. The DC metro scavenger hunt was a little different from what I expected because the groups were random–but it was still fun. University life is very different to high school life, but pretty similar to what I expected. The schoolwork is a little easier than I expected because everyone told me it was going to be insanely hard and it's just normal hard. It’s hard to reflect now because everything that initially felt new and different feels very normal. I think when people apply to college they honestly have no idea what they’re applying for–colleges like to present themselves a certain way in advertisements, but it's not reality. But, overall I was hoping to find a great group of friends and I have. My main expectations about university life and college came from the media and my sister. My sister went to American University and she commuted her first year, so it is very different from my current experience living in Centreville. University of Maryland is also such a huge school that the experience is going to be really different regardless. I’m thankful that my experience has been different than what she told me about her experience because I love meeting new people and high school made me scared of being stuck with the same small group of kids for four years. I have a lot of advice for future science and global change students! Honestly, the most important thing is keeping an open mind and talking to a lot of different people. Also, it's so important to do the things you’re interested in and join all the clubs even though it might be a little scary. It's really weird, but college just becomes something you get used to as time goes on even though it's such a different experience. To talk about the academic side, future science and global change students should be fine because they got into the program! But, seriously, attending guided study sessions, going to lectures, seeing your professor in office hours and completing your work on time are vital. Everyone in my classes uses their laptop to text, shop or play games during class which makes it tempting. Unfortunately, we pay a lot of money to go here and it is actually a big deal to waste your class time instead of learning. Even though people don’t want to admit it, that's how bad grades happen–I recommend taking notes the old fashioned way and trying to stay away from technology in class because it's a huge distraction. And you shouldn’t be cheating because it's a much bigger deal in college than it was in high school and completely not worth it. Overall, college is a great time and you will adjust to everything and be so happy to be where you are!