Maddie Kupinsky
CPSG100
December 12, 2020
Expectations vs Reality
In my first semester of college at the University of Maryland, my experience was quite different from what I had expected as a high school student. It took some adjusting and growth to adapt to college life and work.
I lived in Centreville hall this past semester. I was fortunate to have a wonderful hall where I met many of my new friends and am looking forward to meeting more people after the vaccine is distributed. It was scary to socialize too much due to the fear of contacting Covid-19. I actually ended up moving home for the second half of the first semester when the Covid-19 cases were too high for my comfort. This was the right choice in my situation but I am looking forward to coming back to college when we can be mask free and have in person classes!
I underestimated the amount of freedom I would have living by myself. Some fun parts were choosing where I wanted to go whenever I wanted. It was nice to only worry about how my choices affected only me and not my family. Some things that I took for granted when living at home was how my mom would buy groceries and always having my parents there if I was stuck on a subject in school. When I ran out of food in my minifridge, having to find the grocery store and figure out what I was going to buy was a reality check.
For the incoming freshman in fall 2021, some of the out of the ordinary things I had that I found super useful in my dorm were a rolling laundry basket, a mini vacuum, and a wall calendar. It was so handy to be able to roll my basket to the laundry room when I needed to do laundry instead of carrying a heavy basket, especially down the stairs when the elevator broke. As well, a mini vacuum was handy for keeping my dorm clean and a wall calendar was always in your face so you couldn’t forget assignment due dates. Overall, adjustment to living in a dorm was fairly easy and it will be fun to decorate your dorm!
My classes were much more difficult than I expected. Some of the classes I found the material difficult and others I struggled in keeping up with the workload. Organization is so important in college and some type of calendar or agenda is necessary. I cannot emphasis enough how important staying on top of your work by working days ahead is. It took me about a month to feel like I was not drowning in work every week. Once I developed start of the week plans and more efficient study methods, I started to adjust. My professors were very supportive, yet still challenged us to push ourselves every week.
In speaking about professors, I had some lovely ones. My ANSC101 professor was one of the smartest people I have met. She had high expectations for us, and I felt motivated to not disappoint her. The class was structured with zoom meetings three days a week which were held lecture style. We would then work through a set of three corresponding modules per week. Our tests were essay style in meaning we would respond to a few questions using research, evidence, and reasoning. Another one of my classes was my in-person lab, ANSC103. I loved this class and was able to work on the farm every week in this class. We worked with horses, pigs, cattle, sheep, and chickens. This class had one final exam at the end and weekly quizzes throughout the semester.
My CPSG100 class surprised me with how much coding work we did. I had no expectations of making our own website, but it was neat to see put together at the end. It took me a long time figuring out how to do each assignment for the website because I am notoriously bad with technology. It was a learning experience. I am keen to explore more about how climate change is affecting animals and their habitat. As an animal science major, I love animals and want to learn about ways to preserve biodiversity. Through exploring the warming temperatures over time due to anthropogenic activity, we learned about the different eras and their corresponding extinctions and struggles. I am looking forward to applying this knowledge to help the current the wild animals on our earth and not repeat history’s mistakes. The CPSG zooms were presented in conversational style. This was a nice break from the typical lecture style of college. I enjoyed getting to know my classmates and work on in class assignments together.
Overall, my college experience has been positive so far and I am beyond excited for when college life returns to “normal”. Diving deeper into my major and progressing through the Science and Global Change Scholars Program is an experience that I am prepared for now. My first semester took some adjusting but has given me an idea of what to expect over my next few years at the University of Maryland.