My classes were primarily lecture-based with homework, exams, and the occasional graded attendance. Whether you passed or failed was wholly dependent on you. Because there was less work, every assignment was worth more. I had limited expectations for college classes, but what surprised me the most was the lack of busy work. In high school, my teachers would assign swathes of work to kill time, in college, the opposite is true. In fact, when studying for exams, I often find myself wishing my teachers had assigned more work or there was optional extra work I could do to further my understanding of the content.
You get what you put into your classes. The more effort you put into learning, the more you will benefit from your classes. Elective classes can provide you with research opportunities or the teachers may write you letters of recommendation. A friend of mine is being considered for a abroad internship because of an elective we took together.
In Scholars, I had low expectations as well. The course was one credit and based on climate change, a concept I’ve been familiar with for years. Service day blew my expectations out of the water. I spent around four or five hours shoveling plants out of ponds and moving dirt around in 90 degree heat. As much as I joke about the torture I went thought that day, there’s a a high probability I would do it again. I made friends and have a cool story to tell my family back at home. We also had to take a trip to D.C. to visit the museums. I learned to use the Metro and how to navigate D.C. with my classmates. Learning about scientific theory, specifically life in space, was not something I expected from this class. However, I am disappointed in the lack of discussions about plants. I thought because this is a class focused on climate change, there would be more discussions based on plants and their extinction rates.
When thinking of college, I thought about freedom from authority, both my parents and teachers. While I did achieve this, I found myself missing home. I originally planned to go to college across the country, where I would be a 12-hour plane flight away. Instead, I ended up at UMD, where I am a 45 minute drive away from home. I was able to visit home for my sister’s birthday. My parents drove up to watch my rugby games. I got to see my dog on my brother’s birthday. Speaking of my brother, he lives on campus and I expected to see him a lot more than I do. He lives on the south side of campus and I live on the north side of campus. So, unless I actively seek him out, I do not see him. Even when we have loose plans to meet up on weekends, more often than not we end up barely missing each other.
On a campus of over 30 thousand students, popularity doesn’t exist in the same way that it does in high school. You have to pick your friends and maintain your relationships. Unless you live on the same floor as someone or are in a small class with them, you have no obligation to interact with them. I met almost all of my friends through pure coincidence. In fact, one of my closest friends and I met because we were both looking for a dining hall that was open at the beginning of the semester.
Less people judge you based on appearance. In fact, less people judge you, period. As long as you do not personally inconvenience anyone, very few people are going to pay attention to you. Let’s take for example dying my hair. When I was a sophomore in high school, I decided to dye my hair bright red. Based on the reactions of my friends and peers you would have thought that I killed someone. I hadn’t, but my hair at the time did match the color of blood, so maybe they were onto something. In college, I shaved my head, bleached my hair, and dyed it bright green. The biggest reaction I got from my friends was one of them calling me a Sierra-Mist wannabe. Which was creative, but not mean-spirited.
Advice for incoming students. For the love of god stay away from 8 am classes. I had no choice but to pick one and let me tell you, it was hell. I say this as someone who used to go to sleep at 10 pm and wake up at 6 am naturally, as someone who was working the opening shift of a coffee shop and was up at 3 am. DO NOT TAKE AN 8 AM!!! You are not built differently, you are not the exception, and even if you might be, do not try to find out. I foolishly brought a 12-pack of energy drinks, thinking they would last me the entire semester. I ended up buying two more 12-packs. With finals around the corner, I have unfortunately run out and must make the long trek to Target to buy more. Invest in a few good pairs of shoes. You will be walking a lot and trust me, you do not want your feet to hurt every night. Take advantage of the free resources. You have a gym, a library, and more that you can access simply because you’re a student.