As my first year comes to an end, it is important for me to look back on my experiences to learn how far I’ve gone from my first year here as a UMD student. I’ve explored many interests and found some to be worth pursuing and others to not appeal to me anymore. Regardless, I’ve found this year to be more rewarding than meaningless.
I’ve only taken ten courses this entire year but many of which have helped me understand what I should and shouldn’t pursue during my time as a student here at UMD. One such course was my CMSC132 class. Originally, I wanted to major in Immersive Media Design’s computing track from my Letter and Science major because I thought I should do something related to tech. CMSC131 was fine but it didn’t really feel like I was actually consuming the information from the class to the next class. It started with a simple question in my CMSC132 class. What was I studying for? I kept telling myself that I didn’t want to work in front of a screen all day, but I was essentially studying to do that. It wasn’t until I was fully honest with myself and told myself that further pursuing this track just wasn’t for me. As freshmen, it is important to be honest with what you want to do and take courses that satisfy your interests. I was lucky and had most of my GenEds done so I had more leeway to explore my interests, but freshmen should take courses that satisfy their interest and GenEd credits.
Within those classes come the ability to foster relationships with new faculty. Generally it is hard to find ways to connect to professors. Many may seem uninviting which makes it hard to find ways to start conversations. But there are successes. I’ve fostered a connection with my INAG110 professor. I would say it wasn’t too difficult since it was a comm credit class so I had to speak out to an audience. But I would say it was easier to make a connection because of my openness to engage with the class and professor which showed a real impact. It allows your professor to remember who you are because of how you are able to stand out. So I recommend other students to speak out more and be more open to a variety of conversations with your professor because the first step to even fostering a relationship is to make an impression no matter how meaningful it can mean to you. Also, you need to be consistent. Professors need to deal with many students so if you just show up every once in a while or to most office hours, professors will be more inclined to speak to remember you and be more open when speaking to you.
Even though relationships with faculty members are important, it is also important to foster relationships with other students through attending club meetings or participating in student activities. It is hard to actually develop these relationships from classes as many people are there to just learn and there are team building exercises in many of these classes that can help develop relationships, but many times people just want to get the work over with. Which makes it important to attend student-led clubs and activities to get a sense of community and meet new people who can become your newfound friends. Having these new relationships can help you cope with being far from home or even help you with navigating school if they have been in UMD longer than you.
To end things off here, college is a place of work and discovery. There are many times where I felt overwhelmingly underprepared to interact with a new set of people from various backgrounds or times I felt underprepared to even take care of myself with the abundance of freedom given to me. It just takes time to actually get used to as long as you stay open minded and create a strategy in taking life step by step. There are also times I have, or you may, feel where you are underprepared for class. Many other people experience this, but it is important to know there are resources that you must take advantage of. There are office hours and tutoring services aimed to help you succeed so look for those resources and make the most of it.