The end of each school year inevitably brings numerous expectations for the next. This is especially true as senior year comes to an end and many students begin to create expectations of what the next huge part of their life will look like. However, these expectations are not always the reality, particularly when it comes to college classes and university life.
After accepting my offer from the University of Maryland, I knew that I would be a chemistry major and thus would be taking several science courses. I expected these courses to consist mainly of lectures given by a professor to a class of fifty to a hundred students. I believed that the work for the class would include exams as well as other assignments. As I started attending my classes, I quickly realized that not all of my expectations became reality. A big difference I soon learned about my classes would be the delivery of them. Instead of sitting in a classroom surrounded by students and listening to a professor lecture, I was sitting on my bed all alone listening to my professor over a Zoom call. This was definitely an odd experience, but perhaps even more unexpected, two of my classes were completely asynchronous. This meant I was learning from videos my professors had recorded ahead of time. Aside from the delivery being different, having a mix of synchronous and asynchronous classes was also unexpected. I really enjoy having a definite structure to my day, so this type of learning was definitely an adjustment. As far as the work assigned to me, I was very surprised to find most of my classes had weekly quizzes. Although I was not expecting this, I found the quizzes helpful in keeping me on track as well as boosting my grade. Overall I found many differences in what I expected my college courses to be and the reality of the classes.
When I accepted my offer from UMD, I also accepted my offer from College Park Scholars to be a part of its Science and Global Change program. I expected this program to be centered around climate change and how we, as humans, are affecting Earth. It turns out that we focused on much more than just the climate of the Earth. One of my favorite parts of the class that was completely unexpected was learning about logical fallacies. Crafting an argument is perhaps one of my favorite things to do because I always want to have a strong rationale behind what I believe. Thus, I really enjoyed learning about all the different types of logical fallacies and how people have used them in the past, especially when it came to ideas involving science. Although I enjoyed this, I was expecting to learn more about the solutions to the climate issues we discussed. I am very happy that we will be looking at these solutions in future CPSG courses. When I became part of CPSG, I knew that the program also involved outside-of-classroom activities and I was very excited to take part in these activities. However, due to the ongoing pandemic these activities were not able to take place. Although this is very disappointing, I am hopeful that in the future these activities will be possible. The expectations I had for CPSG were not quite fulfilled, but I am optimistic that in the future these expectations will become reality.
Even though the reality of college classes did not quite meet my expectations, the differences between my expectation of university life and the reality were far greater. As a freshman in high school, I pictured myself living with a roommate in a small dorm room and eating food made from a microwave. However, this turned out to be far from the reality. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, I chose to live at home this semester and commute for the one in-person class I had. This of course meant that instead of living in a dorm, I was living in my family home. Fortunately, my parents agreed to turning the office into a bedroom for me so that I could have my own space. This allowed me to feel the independence I expected to have in college. I also expected to feel overwhelmed sometimes, which definitely happened at least once during this semester. Although I am not a social butterfly, I did expect to meet new people and make some friends. Unfortunately with most of my courses being online, I was not really able to meet anyone new. However, I am hopeful that next year will be different and it is only a matter of time. Overall, like most student this semester, my college life has definitely not lived up to the expectations I had in high school.
If I could give advice to future SGC students, I would tell them that everything is not going to go how you had once hoped and that is perfectly okay. This past year, like many others, I have experienced a lot of twists, turns, and dead ends. I definitely expected more out of my first semester in college, but the reality is no one knows with a hundred percent certainty what will happen the next day. Expectations are fine to have, but just relax and enjoy life because you will adapt to anything that comes your way.