Before I came to University, I expected that many of the classes would have a lot of people in a lecture. This turned out to be true, considering that many of the lecture halls look like auditoriums and have about 200 people. I previously predicted that the pace of a lot of the classes would be faster and that it may be a little more difficult to grasp the information than it was in my previous academic experiences. This also ended up being true, especially since some of the lectures have so many people. I also correctly predicted aspects of the graded assignments. I previously had taken college classes at a community college, so I was already expecting the discussion boards, projects/essays, and the exams which are usually worth most of the final grade. One thing that was different from my original expectation was how the classes were set up. Going off of my previous experience with college classes, I expected that courses would only have lectures (except for the classes that have labs) and was surprised by the fact that almost all the classes have a separate discussion. The discussions further helped me understand the information that was presented in the lecture.

Most of the things that we went over in this class I was not expecting. In particular, I did not think we were going to go over the actual definition of science, the scientific method, hypotheses, logical fallacies, scientific research papers, etc. I thought we would spend the semester learning more about the causes of climate change, its effects, and ways to help alleviate the issue. I did not think we were going to discuss more fundamental ideas before jumping into the topic of global change. I did not know what to expect beforehand for the outside-of-class assignments, such as service day and the metro scavenger hunt. I do know that I did not think service day was going so hot and tiring. I also did not think that my group would finish the metro scavenger hunt as fast as we did.
Before I moved into college, I did not know much of what to expect for how college life would be. The only thing I was expecting was that I would gain a whole new level of independence. I do think this expectation was correct. Since starting the semester and moving into the dorms, I have been in charge of basically everything I do, even more so than in high school. I am always on campus and constantly have to choose when or what I'm going to eat, I have to walk to my classes and other places on and off-campus, I have had to plan out times when I can study, and I have had to choose to involve myself in events on campus. Overall I've had to do things on my own time.
My advice for future SGC scholars as a way to help ease them into college is that you (future SGC college student) should not worry or dwell too much about how college is going to be or how you will assimilate because most likely everything will fall into place for you socially and academically. You will make friends and find your people, as there are so many chances to do so on such a big campus. And if you are worried about the size of the campus (in area and population), this is something that you and most people will adapt to within the first few weeks. Academic-wise, you need to study, stay on top of your work, and go to all or most of your classes because if you do not, it will come back to get you at the end of the semester. But if you do what you are supposed to academic-wise, you will be fine, and you should be able to adapt smoothly to everything.

Makenzie Downey's "Expectation vs. Reality" Reflection Essay