As the semester comes to a close, I’m grateful to say that I’ve learned a lot over this 14 week course. Over the summer, my thoughts on college were extremely different from the reality of college, ultimately teaching many valuable lessons and ways to live my life. I expected college to be not too different from my high school experience, except with maybe a little more work, and I was excited for what was to come in August. But as I started college and continued throughout the semester, I came to the realization that college is not what I thought it was, and often struggled with this fact. Fortunately, though, after experiencing my first semester, I believe that I am ready to take on my second semester as I am more comfortable with the college lifestyle and environment.
Firstly, the nature of my classes was one which I struggled with a little. Coming into college, I knew that my college courses would not be as easy as my high school courses, but I did think that I would be able to do well in them with little effort. I was horribly wrong in this fact. College level courses are much harder than the AP courses which I took in high school, something which I should have realized at the beginning of the year. Although my classes only meet a couple times each week as opposed to every single day like they would in high school, each course felt so much more draining than my high school courses. I used to come back to my dorm tired from just going to class and doing nothing else. Additionally, if you need help in the class, you have to go looking for it. You can’t expect people or resources to just come and help you without asking, which is something that happened in high school for me. I was struggling in my math class for a while and I never seeked tutoring help, mostly because nothing was ever explicitly offered to me. It was only after a few weeks that I pushed myself to go, and this was a big step for me. Along with this, the course load itself is rigorous. Due to the fact that classes only meet a select amount of times per week, professors often cram lots of material into one class session, and you often have to self-teach yourself in order to properly understand the material. Classes in college are ultimately harder than high school courses, as they require you to put in more resources to get help if needed and understand the material.
Coming into college and already being in an academic program, I knew that the Science and Global Change Scholars Program would be a little challenging as it revolves around important topics in our world today, such as how humans contribute to climate change and the deeper meaning of science in society. I’ll admit though, this class was not really what I was expecting. I was expecting more science out of this class, but I was surprised that it wasn’t just strictly pure science. In class, we covered how science can be mis-spread, and how fallacies are extremely common within the world of science, which is something which really interested me. On similar notes, we talked about fabrication of stories and how individuals will easily believe things which are told either on the internet or by word of mouth, often with no evidence. In the future, I hope to learn more about how the earth first started to change and what events helped to shape our environment to what it is today. The workload for this class is very straightforward, which is actually what I expected, and can easily be done if you are a dedicated student. Although sometimes things might be confusing, there is always help if you need it. The biggest change for me, however, was living on campus. I am very privileged in the fact that I live about 30-45 minutes away from campus, meaning that I can go home frequently, but even with that opportunity the college life was a big change for me. I was excited to share a space with someone, and I am still excited to come home to my roommate and talk about how our days were or if anything interesting happened, I often miss the long periods of privacy which I had in my childhood bedroom. At the beginning of the semester, both of us were not engaging in many extracurriculars, making the time for privacy very short. Now that the semester is at a close, we are heavily engaged, but I’m still not completely used to the fact that I can’t have the room to myself for extended periods of time. Along with this, I thought using the communal bathrooms would be hard for me to get adjusted to, but in actuality I got adjusted very easily. It might seem awkward at first, sharing a bathroom with others, but you get used to it over time, sometimes waving hello to people as you're brushing your teeth. Taking care of yourself is also something which I changed during my first semester in college. I learned how to get into a routine, wake myself up early for class, manage all of my activities for the day, and manage to do all of this over and over again. I’ll say, though, that it took a lot of practice, as I was used to my parents and others helping me out with this.
Overall, as a freshman in college, I feel like every incoming freshman should listen to these key pieces of advice. The first one is that if you’re ever feeling overwhelmed, it’s ok to take a step back, breath, and slowly make your way back to starting. Yes, college is hard, but there are so many people and resources to help you when you feel like you need it. Second, find a way to relieve any anxiety or stress that you might be experiencing, because you’ll be experiencing a lot of it. Being a college student on top of being a student in the SGC program will make things a little challenging in terms of coursework, in addition to other things you may be involved with. It’s always good to have an outlet where you can just let go for a second and take your mind off of things. Finally, try and make the most out of your time as a freshman. This is the year for you to explore what you want to do and what you're interested in, and that’s not to say that you can’t do that in the future, but it’s a whole lot easier now. Take everything with a grain of salt, don’t have high expectations, and make sure to take advantage of every opportunity given to you.