Out of all the courses that I have taken in my freshman year, organic chemistry came as the greatest surprise to me. In my opinion, learning organic chemistry was like learning a whole new language. Before taking that course, I was unaware of so many topics that go into it and it shocked me how much drawing goes into organic chemistry. Also, with organic chemistry you must be able to recognize the smallest details or else your work might be wrong. Organic chemistry was definitely hard, but doable. Strategies that i suggest for incoming students would be to always attend discussions and group study sessions. The course that I surprisingly liked the most was english. I am a STEM major for a reason and I do not like english classes. However, I had the kindest professor in the course and I actually really enjoyed the research projects. I advise incoming students to always try to stay ahead, especially in english. The last thing you want is for a 10 page assignment to sneak up on you during the busiest time of the semester.
When it comes to developing relationships with professors and TAs, I had the most success in smaller classes. For example, I had the most success in my english course. I was able to build a relationship with my professor because it was a 20 person class and the majority of the time is students participating in the discussion. Also, attending office hours and reaching out for help on assignments influenced the mentoring relationship. The greatest obstacle when it comes to trying to develop relationships with professors would be the large number of students in the course. Professors have hundreds of students in each course and tend to teach several courses. As a result, professors cannot learn every single person. When trying to develop a relationship with a faculty member, I recommend office hours and asking questions during lectures. In order for them to learn who you are, they need to be able to recognize your name to your face.
At college I have many friends from high school and earlier attending as well. I also had the chance to become friends with people on my floor. WIth adjusting to college, having friends help with dealing with the stress that comes from being in a new environment, especially with taking college courses for the first time. When it comes to making friends, It is easier to do so over the summer or at the beginning of the year while other students are also trying to meet people. Through social media, lots of people meet each other and form friendships before they even get to college. My advice would be to check out the social media pages for UMD and your class year as well as groups or clubs at UMD. Also, when you get to college don’t be afraid of reaching out to peers. Everyone is always trying to make a new friend.
After the first few weeks of college, I realized that I was not as prepared for how much information you learn in such a small period of time. Many of my freshman courses teach information in the one semester that high school would have taught over the course of one year. I recommend incoming students who might go through the same situation to always try to stay on top of everything. The second you feel like you do not grasp the content well enough, reach out to your professor, TA, or others in order to prevent falling behind.