The classes at UMD were very different from how I imagined because In high school you sat at a desk and listened to the teacher talk for 45 minutes then the bell rang and you were off to your next class. But here you may only have 1 or 2 classes one day then 4 or 5 the next so it was very hard to set a schedule when I first got here. Most of my classes are set up to where you have 1 lecture per week and then 2 discussion classes to talk about what we went over in the lecture which is a lot different than having the same class every day and moving on to a new topic every other day. The assignments and grading were also different from what I thought, in high school, we would have a quiz every week so each quiz and test would only end up being a small percentage of our final grade. But in some of my classes at UMD we may only have 3 quizzes per semester which end up totaling 25% of our grade or a midterm and final which make up 35% of our total grade. Also in high school English, we would only have to write 2 maybe 3 essays per year whereas in English at UMD I've had to write 5 essays this semester. These classes were totally different from what I initially expected but since I have started to get used to it.
There were a bunch of things in CPSG100 that I did not expect to learn starting with how fossils are related to climate change, how to write a scientific research paper, space Nazis, and how you can use Sagan’s toolbox to look at new ideas. These lectures were very helpful when learning how others think about certain topics. When I first signed up for this class I thought it would be about modern effects on climate change like gas cars and power plants but that really wasn’t the case at all this class dove a lot deeper than I thought. The outside-the-classroom activities were the most beneficial to me because I am a hands-on learner. So the trip to the aquatic gardens was very beneficial to me because It showed me what types of plants are invasive to this area and how to remove them. It did suck to walk around with wet socks all day but I still had a lot of fun. And the metro scavenger hunt was a good way to make new friends that I can hopefully stay in connection with for the next 4 years. Finally, the field trip to the National Museum of Natural History was helpful because it showed how the world that we know today has changed over the past billion years.
When I graduated high school there wasn’t a worry in my mind because I thought that college would not be any different. I thought that I would just breeze my way through college just like I did in high school but I quickly found out that I was mistaken. The changes set in as soon I got here first with the living arrangements because my dorm room is two times smaller than my room back at home. The next challenge was making friends in high school I knew almost everybody in my school but when I got here I had a hard time making friends at first but that eventually got easier once classes started. I also thought that having a roommate would suck because we weren’t going to agree on much or we weren’t going to have the same interests but I was totally wrong me and my roommate have become great friends and we actually have more in common than I originally thought.
The best piece of advice that I can offer to a future SGC student is to come into college with an open mind and don’t judge other students. Once you set your mind on something it will be harder to change your mind and in college you are introduced to so many different opinions that your mind will eventually change. To get more adjusted to college life I would suggest that you join as many clubs as you can, so you can meet as many people as possible and see what you are interested in. When you go to your classes make a schedule for yourself so you can plan everything out because if you don’t make a plan for yourself you will have a hard time monitoring what you need to get done. And finally, if you have a question make sure you ask a TA, professor, or another student in the class because 9 times out of 10 you will not be able to figure it out by yourself and it never hurts to ask a question.
Reflecting on my First semester at the University of Maryland has made me realize that a lot of things have changed over the past year. The structure and delivery of the courses differed significantly from what I originally envisioned. But the changes that I am talking about are on more of a personal level. I have learned to be independent, I used to rely on my parents for everything like waking me up for school, doing my laundry, reminding me about certain events, and scheduling my doctor appointments. But now they are far away and I only get to see them some weekends, so I had to start learning how to do these things on my own. Eventually, I started to get the hang of things and was able to manage my everyday life so that I could do my best In college.