As my first semester here at UMD comes to a close, there are many aspects of college life to reflect on. Whether it be classwork, exams, extracurriculars, or social events, this semester has been quite eventful, and there's no better time than now to take a look back on how I have changed over the past few months. As I expected, the beginning of the semester was both exciting and scary as I adapted to life on campus. Now that I feel fully adjusted, I can reflect on how my expectations for college academics and campus life compare to my actual experiences.
My first college semester was fairly rigorous and definitely subverted my expectations of coursework and class difficulty in many ways. I started my college experience with a challenging semester, as I ended up taking both Calculus III and Organic Chemistry I. Coming into these classes, I expected to be challenged, though I soon discovered that I would need to put in a lot more time outside of class than I initially thought. One of the biggest differences between college and high school classes is the pace at which content is covered. I didn't expect to learn as much as we did in such a small amount of time. A good example of this was my Organic Chemistry I class, where over the past two months, we have covered at least 30 reactions where we needed to memorize reagents, products, and mechanisms. I ended up needing to spend quite a lot of time outside of class studying this material in order to be able to retain it. I also wasn’t expecting that the grades for the large lecture courses I was taking would consist almost entirely of exams. I learned that I would need to ensure that I got good grades on my midterm exams in order to secure a good overall grade in the class. This was certainly a big change from high school, where I could boost my grade with classwork or homework assignments. Overall, I found that my college courses were significantly more challenging than my high school courses and that I needed to invest quite a bit of time and effort to succeed.
One class that was a highlight this semester was my Science and Global Change colloquium, CPSG100. My experience with Scholars was likely different than most, as I am involved in the Mighty Sound of Maryland Marching Band (MSOM). This led to my not being able to participate in the beginning of the semester Scholars activities, like Scholars Under the Lights and Service Day. Despite not being able to experience these events, I still feel like I got quite a lot out of my Scholars experience over the semester. I quite enjoyed attending class this semester as we discussed quite a lot of things that I am interested in, such as environmental and climate science. I definitely wasn't expecting us to go as in-depth into topics such as logical fallacies and climatology topics like thermohaline circulation and the global ocean conveyor system. Despite not expecting them to be covered, they became some of the most intriguing topics we learned about this semester, and got me even more interested in how our world works and how we communicate that as scientists. I was expecting us to cover how we can address the issues of climate change and how they affect communities across the globe, but it seems like these topics will be covered in later colloquium classes, which I certainly look forward to. Despite missing out on certain activities, I do feel like SGC has enhanced my first semester experience academically. If I were to advise future SGC students, I would tell them to take advantage of all opportunities to connect with other SGC students. As someone who wasn't involved in every SGC event, I feel like I may not have connected with as many people as I could have. Thankfully, I have connections through high school and through MSOM, but I can imagine that for other SGC students that these opportunities give them a chance to meet new friends and make long-lasting connections.
Beyond academics, I also got to see how my expectations about campus life compare to the reality of this semester. I have enjoyed living in Centreville, as it is in a very central location compared to the STEM buildings and the Clarice Performing Arts Center, and it has air conditioning. When it comes to my social life, I only thought I was going to make a few new friends, but I believe I have far surpassed this expectation. MSOM has allowed me to connect with so many amazing people that I know I will remain friends with for the rest of my life. It was a little daunting at first, but I feel like I have really settled in well into this wonderful community. I certainly haven’t had as much free time as I initially expected this semester, but I did pack my schedule pretty tight, and it does seem like I will have plenty more free time next semester. Overall, I am very happy with how I was able to fit into a wonderful community in the band and adapt to campus life.
To conclude, I feel that even though I was academically challenged this semester, I was able to rise to the challenge and find a routine that helped me succeed. I also found a wonderful community in the band that helped me grow as a person and helped me meet so many new people. I also think that my time thus far in SGC has been quite enjoyable and has not only supported my academics but also helped me grow comfortable on campus. I am looking forward to another great semester this coming Spring and hoping that I can continue to grow academically and personally.