When I was applying to colleges, my expectations for my freshman year of college were far different than how it actually turned out. During the application process, I had expected to live in the dorms on campus, have the opportunity to make new friends, and figure out which career path I would eventually want to take. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, my first college semester was far different from what I had pictured.
My classes, apart from Scholars, have been pretty much what I expected. While my classes this semester have been much more self paced than my high school classes, this did not surprise me. One surprising part was how much of my classes were asynchronous in the online model. I had expected all of my classes to meet on Zoom at the designated time that I had signed up for in August. I had not anticipated that the majority of my chemistry and biology classes were going to be asynchronous (after realizing that I had accidentally registered for the asynchronous chemistry section I quickly switched, knowing that having a scheduled time for the class would help me succeed as a student.) In high school, I never had to worry about making my own schedule for classes or homework, so the high proportion of asynchronous classes forced me to quickly develop stronger time management skills than I had before. During the first few weeks, I had some trouble fitting in time to complete all of my assignments (especially my asynchronous chemistry lab) and would spend hours of my weekends finishing up my work. However, once I figured out a routine, my class assignments became more manageable, and I found myself with more time to relax and focus on maintaining my mental health. In terms of actual class content, nothing was surprising. I felt that my high school classes had well prepared me for my classes this semester (especially in my math and chemistry classes). My math class and chemistry class both ended up covering similar topics that I had studied previously, which helped to give me a very smooth college transition. The biggest surprise in my classes, however, is that in both my biology and math classes, one of the midterms is dropped from the final grade. In high school, none of my classes dropped an assignment, so this was a big surprise in college.
In Scholars, I was surprised that we spent most of the first semester discussing science in general, rather than starting on climate change. While we discussed the climate throughout the semester, the majority of the reading and discussion was about analyzing scientific sources, and our own thinking. While this was a surprise, learning to analyze a source before believing everything it states is an important skill, not just for science classes, but for analyzing any article (political, scientific, etc.). The outside of class activities were not, at all, what I had expected them to be. However, due to the current Covid-19 pandemic, that was not a surprise. I did not have any real expectations for what the excursion or service opportunities would look like during the pandemic, but I knew they would be far different than the opportunities from past years. I am excited to go on an in-person excursion with Scholars next fall (should the vaccine be effective, and in person classes can be an option again).
Many aspects of university life this semester were far different from what I had been anticipating back in high school. First off, in high school, I had been planning to live on campus, most likely in Centerville with the rest of the SGC Scholars. Due to the pandemic, I decided to live at home for this year, especially since all of my classes were going to be online anyway. Living at home has definitely made it harder for me to make friends this semester, but overall made the college transition feel a little bit less extreme. However, since most undergraduate classes are online this year anyway, meeting people and making friends would have most likely been equally difficult on campus as at home. As a member of the Mighty Sound of Maryland marching band, I have had that opportunity to socialize and meet new people. Even by participating in band completely virtually, I am lucky to have had the opportunity to meet the people in my section and have that time to meet some new people.
My advice to future SGC students is to be grateful for whatever opportunities they are given (whether being able to live on campus and attend in person classes, or having a chance to get to know new people over Zoom) and to learn time management early. Making a schedule for yourself and clearly writing down deadlines will help make the workload seem less extreme, and more manageable. By spreading the work out throughout the week, rather than rushing to finish everything Sunday night, the stress level of college classes will decrease significantly. Finally, it is smart to start preparing for tests early. By studying a little bit each night the week before, and avoiding cramming the night before, not only will this help reduce stress and anxiety, but the test score itself will be much higher.