At the end of high school, I started to imagine what my life in college would consist of. I imagined myself going to the library at least every other day, going out with my friends to eat dinner together outside, and taking pretty notes in each of my lectures. I also imagined stressful times, working intensely on my projects and other work due within a few days. Although some of the things I imagined were true, there were some things that occurred differently, whether it be good or bad.
As for the overall nature of my classes, I thought that the overall structure of all classes was expected, however, some did feel easier than others. For my INAG110 class, the classes overall felt like one of my high school classes as there were only 19 of us in the class. My professor did know everyone and the lectures felt more personal because the professor was able to directly address us during his lectures and class activities. The graded items for this course were much fewer than those in related high school classes, as the mainly graded items were only the quizzes and speeches we presented. This also meant that my grade heavily relied on these, while in high school, my grade was heavily dependent on in-class assignments. However, I did expect this to occur knowing this is a communications class so it was no surprise to me. For my CMSC131 class, the lecture room seemed quite intimidating at first, especially since there were more people than I expected. However, over time, it became a lecture hall I knew well. The overall schedule of the class scared me at first because before entering the class, I heard that it was a weed-out class, and I felt that since I didn’t know much about computer science before that I would struggle quite a bit. Although I did struggle, the course was much more doable than I had expected before. As for my MATH140 class, hearing about this class beforehand also scared me because I heard that it was also a weed-out class. However, I felt less scared about this class than CMSC131 because I had taken calculus before and felt more confident about my skills in the subject than computer science. I didn’t hear much about my professor beforehand besides that he was good, so I was a little concerned about how it would go. But then, he turned out to be one of my favorite professors so far. For my JOUR175 class, I expected there to be readings and projects related to digital media and media literacy and it was exactly as I thought it would be, in fact possibly even easier just because I expected more work from it.
In CPSG100, some topics take we discussed in class that I didn’t necessarily expect included dinosaurs and geology. When I heard the name “Science and Global Change”, I initially thought the program would circle more around biology and biology-related topics, then discuss general environmental aspects and their impact on climate change. However, it seems that we discussed more topics related to historical science in a sense and its relation to today. As for the outside-of-classroom activities, they were generally what I expected from the class. I knew that readings from class-related books would be the main assignment done outside of class, including the related discussions. However, the creation of our personal web pages was the least expected assignment. I never expected to be needing to use HTML and CSS in this class, but it was nice because I personally love using HTML and CSS so it was a nice way to learn more about these languages while relating them to the program.
In high school, I thought my college life would mainly consist of living off of coffee while I go study in the library and blasting Lo-Fi music while I write my papers and work on my coding projects. Although there are a few aspects of this vision that are accurate, it was overall inaccurate as my vision of college was mainly based on movies and TV shows I had seen. I do get coffee every once in a while, but not as much as I expected which was around at least once every week. I expected to study in the library yet I have not stepped foot in McKeldin library. Instead, I found myself studying in ESJ and my dorm much more. While I mainly listen to Lo-Fi music when studying, I occasionally listen to songs we dance to in my dance team. As for hanging out with friends, I think it is generally what I had imagined. I imagined hanging out with my friends in their dorm and going out to eat together occasionally. As for coursework, it is generally what I expected as well because I knew it would be difficult but also that some of it would be much easier.
Overall, although college wasn’t exactly how I imagined it would be, in any case, I would think that how it went for me so far is exactly how I would want it to be. To future SGC students: don’t stress too much over not being able to join all the clubs you want and how you aren’t taking as many hard classes as your peers. Make sure to make your college experience your own and remember to enjoy it. Even though I didn’t get accepted into the acapella team I wanted, I tried out for a dance team and now I am in it and have more people to call family. It may not go exactly as you thought it out in your head but don’t worry because it’ll be better than you expect it.