The course that surprised me the most was GEOG330, which I took last semester for general education requirements. My friend found the class on the list of courses to fulfill scholars credits, and I signed up as well to take it with him. I initially had a cynical view about gened classes because they felt like random classes that were limiting me from taking major related courses which I was more interested in. However, GEOG330 ended up being pretty interesting to me. As a 300 level course, the instruction was more handsoff with the most required participation being showing up to discussions. Additionally, the course load was very manageable and I found the topics ended up being engaging. I would recommend coordinating classes with other people because it makes the class more enjoyable and provides support in the class if needed.
I ended up building a strong connection with two of the teaching fellows from the intro engineering course, ENES100. I also had a similar experience of connecting with aerospace faculty during the aerospace version last semester, ENAE100. The benefit of both of these classes were that they involved working together on a long term project, where relationships first formed over a mutual goal and then later from similarities that were found during the process of working together. Without classes such as these, it can be somewhat difficult to cold approach someone to form a relationship. Having a class, research, or something common to work together on certainly makes it easier to take the first step to building a bond. I would recommend reaching out and asking for help in classes that encourage discussion or asking someone in an interesting field of research if there is an opportunity to collaborate.
Attending a state school as an in-state student, I knew a decent number of people from earlier before coming to college. However, most of my friends chose to pursue majors other than engineering. Having relationships with people outside of classes to do other activities with is important. As much as class and work should take a considerable amount of time, there is also a lot of time outside of both that is better spent with other people and doing fun activities with them. Additionally, forming bonds with other regularly seen in classes helps with work, comfort, and generally having a familiar friendly face to see every week. It can be awkward to try to turn classroom connections into relationships outside of it, but trying to do so is important since friends who will always be there are all the more valuable.
The aspect of academic life that I had to adjust to the most was accounting for each professor’s individual teaching style. Teaching is less structured than before and even within the same class, professors can have wildly different styles which can make or break the instruction. Reading former reviews and checking professors who will be teaching each section is very important since it provides a sense of how the class style will likely be. Additionally, I learned that after the first week or two of a class, I could decide whether or not it was better to rely more on the lecture or on work outside of class to learn the material. There are always enough resources online to learn content on your own, as long as enough effort is put into it. After identifying a teaching style that suits you best, try to pick sections that are set up in the same way or are taught by the same professors.