The Topic: As you finish up your first semester at the University (and in SGC), it is a time to reflect on the difference between what you expected this to be like and how this experience actually played out. In what ways was life as a college student different than you expected? Specifically address:
From the moment I graduated high school up until my first day of classes, my expectations for college were low at best. Originally I was expecting pages upon pages of homework, restless nights of studying, soul crushing exams, and professors that couldn't care less even if they tried. You know, the stereotypical movie college experience. Instead, I was greeted with reasonable workloads, a few hours in which I studied with friends, balanced and quality exams, and professors that really cared about their content and the efforts students put into their work. Each and every class I took felt like they were put together with the utmost consideration from how lectures and discussions were guided, to the difficulty of homework and exams, to how the grades balanced out with one another. None of my classes felt like I was suffocating and yet, there are resources and support put in place not only to help people who were struggling but also to prevent people from falling behind in the first place. My only real disappointment this semester is I wanted to participate in extracurriculars after I had realized how much free time I had; however, I never got around to it and would like to not only join a few clubs but also join a research team if I get the chance.
One thing I was looking forward to even before college started was the Science and Global Change scholars program that I was invited into. Going off the name alone it was hard to gauge any specific lessons that we would be going over as “science” feels like a vague umbrella term, and “global change” falls into a similar boat. From week 1 up until the final class, we had covered a number of topics that have helped me personally gain a better understanding for what exactly this course is covering. We covered matters such as the issues with pseudoscientific thinking, what classifies something as “science”, how to identify real and artificial claims to science, the impact of humans on the environment, why climate change is an issue, how we are able to research the past, and the 5 extinctions, just to name a few. Although each of these topics have so much depth to them, the out of class work given was little to none. Every week students were just expected to read a few chapters of a book and give their opinion on what they read. Outside of that there were biweekly quizzes that were more or less a review of the lectures and small updates to your e-portfolio every month or so. In all honesty, the largest of your grade is obtained just by showing up to a single hour and a half lecture every week which is about as easy as it sounds.
University life is a lot different from its high-school counterpart. Being in an area two and a half hours away from home makes not only visiting a little tedious but also I felt intimidated by being at such a large university; however, to my luck, I had quickly developed a small group of friends within my major that I would frequently work, talk, and study with throughout the semester. I think the biggest difference is the independence that is required at college. I don’t have someone who wakes me up every morning to make sure I get to school on time and makes dinner for me when I get back. Instead, I have to wake up on time, go to my classes, find time to eat between them, come back to my dorm and work, choose when to grab dinner, and that's just a fraction of it. But even that small change gets me sometimes as I would be lying if I said I never missed or was late to a class because I overslept. All-in-all I think the biggest piece of advice I could give to someone joining not only SGC but also just a college setting is to use every resource available to you. Even though I consider my first semester to be a success there are still things I feel like I missed out on just because I was too afraid to reach out for help. If you truly want the best college experience, understand that the resources available are meant to make your college experience as smooth and easy as possible.