The first semester of college has been filled with a lot of new surprises both good and bad. I have experienced challenges that required me to adapt and overcome my problems as well as new and exciting experiences that I wouldn't trade for the world. I'm extremely grateful for the new friends and new experiences that college has brought me as well as the opportunities it's given me (since you're given a new sense of freedom when living on your own).
The nature of my classes, exclusive of CPSG100, was definitely different than typical college classes would be because they were online. I think before ever entering college I had the vision of large lecture halls with rows upon rows of seats. Instead, I was in a zoom room with rows and rows of boxes. The online nature of classes aside, I think the course content and the structure of many of my classes was similar to what I expected. I am taking a lot of STEM classes, so I anticipated that it would be a lot of information and homework thrown at me mixed with hard exams - I wasn't wrong. However, one thing that did surprise me about the classes was that I found the challenging nature of them to be extremely engaging. Having to sit down and teach myself/review the content was very different from my classes in high school, where usually the information came very easy to me. I think that the difficulty of the classes kept me interested and forced me to dig deeper into the content in order to obtain a deeper understanding of the subject. I did anticipate the workload and the difficulty of the classes, but I did not anticipate how engaging I would find the material of the classes.
CPSG100, on the other hand, was completely different from what I expected it to be, and not in a bad way. In my mind, the phrase "Science and Global Change" translated more into "The Science OF Global Change," and I disregarded the most important part of the original statement: "and". I anticipated that the course would strictly talk about the science of global change and how that works, with the inclusion of the topic of logical fallacies. However, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that we talked about science and the nature of science itself. Being a STEM major, it put science into a completely different perspective that deepened my understanding of the other science classes (biology and chemistry). The one thing that we have yet to explore that I had expected was the solutions to climate change and if there is anything we can do now to stop it, or at least slow it down. I was a little disappointed that courses were online this semester when it came to being in the scholars program. I know that scholars classes in the past had gone on excursions and trips together and that was something I had been looking forward to. Although excursions were still something that were immersed in the course, I hope that in future semesters we will be able to do more group/in-person activities.
So far this semester, I've had a lot of fun and truly fell in love with the college experience. The biggest challenge that I faced was definitely adapting to being completely on my own. It took a little bit of an adjustment period for me to create a productive routine for myself where I could balance out my newfound freedom (and the need to always have fun that accompanies it) as well as my academics. The solution to this challenge was fairly simple as me taking the time to write down my work/plan out my work in a planner and sticking to my rough schedule that I created for myself. By doing this, I was able to manage my time so that I could get all my work done yet still have fun and spend time with friends when I wanted to. I feel like I am on top of my academic and social life and am happy with the way my life is. I feel especially grateful that I was able to live on campus this semester. Although things looked different, I am grateful to have a semi-normal dorm experience where I was able to meet a lot of new people.
My advice that I would give to future SGC students is to take full advantage of the new experience you're about to embark on. You are entering a completely new world filled with completely new people where you are free to be anything you want. So, craft your reputation carefully and become the person that you want to be. Unlike high school, where a lot of people are restricted to their small hometown and are always surrounded by the same people, in college you have the opportunity to grow and reinvent yourself if you so please. Focus less on other people and more on yourself and you will love your college experience. Another important piece of advice I would give to future SGC students is to engage with your professors as much as possible. Especially in online learning, it's hard to form relationships with your professors. So, do your best to go to office hours for your own benefit and make the effort to get to know your professors and have your professors know you. Take advantage of the plethora of professionals presented to you in college, it's a great way to enhance your learning experience.