Kyle Kim "Freshman Time Capusle" Reflection Essay

I think that the course that came as the greatest surprise to me was my ENES100 class. This was due to the fact that making the robot for the class was way harder then I thought it would be but working on a team was fun. Another class that really shocked me was PHYS161. I took physics in high school and didn’t do that well in the class but then when I took it this semester it was way easier. I discovered both of these classes due to me having to take them for my major and you have to take the class. The strategies I would tell future students of ENES100 would be working on your robot as fast as possible and go to most office hours to get your time worth. We fell behind and it became impossible to fully complete the robot in time for my team. My strategy for PHYS161 would be to get a study group to help you with the exams. In that class, I formed a group with people in the class and that really helped me study for the midterms we had in those classes. My greatest success in developing strong relationships with faculty members was when I went to office hours with my ENEE290 TA and got closer to him. I would go to his office hours to help me when struggling with my homework and then by going I got a better relationship with him. I think that the greatest obstacle to achieving this was my own stubbornness to go to office hours. I thought that by going to office hours it would show weakness but in fact it is just a tool to get more help in a class and with out going I wouldn’t get as close to my TA of that class. I would recommend the incoming students to go to the office hours of the teachers or TA if they want to form a relationship with them. This is due to most teachers being way more friendly during office hours and you get one on one time with them if you go to office hours. It makes it easier to form a relationship with the teacher or TA if you go to office hours I think that my relationship with my fellow students really helped me cope with the adjustment to college. I don’t think I would have made it through my first year without my roommate because when I was having breakdowns he was always there for me. Also friend in my class made me feel better being away from home for so long. The greatest obstacle to making friends was that I am sort of a shy person with people I don’t know so sometimes it was hard to make new friends but what really helped me because I joined a club which helped me make a lot of friends. Next year freshmen can make the best use of their connections with their peers by forming study groups or going out to de-stress together. The study group can be the make or break if you pass a class and sometimes college gets too hard so it is good to go out with friends to de-stress. In retrospect, I was least prepared with how fast the class can feel. I felt a lot of times that I would have more time to learn thing or do thing in my class but then the deadline would come up or we would switch topics. I found that especially hard in my coding class as it felt like we would zoom through topics. I was also not least prepared for how much different the class was from high school. In high school, it is more learned by the teacher but in college, a lot of it is to teach yourself. I would recommend prospective students understand that in college you are given more freedom and with that freedom, you have to keep yourself in line as the teacher are not getting paid to make you pass the class. I would also tell them to understand that your classes are half the time that it is in high school so you will be learning topics really fast.

Last modified: 07 May 2024