It was just yesterday when I found myself moving my things into my dorm room, ready to begin a new chapter of my life. One blink and I find that my freshman year is almost over, which has led me the creation of my freshman time capsule. I learned a lot about about myself in these past months, here are some things I experienced:
A course that came as a great revelation to me was ASTR100, which I took during the fall semester. While I have always been interested in astronomy, actually taking a college-level course that covered topics in the area made me realize how much I enjoyed it, and confirmed me to minor in astronomy. While there was alot of memorization that went along with it, as well as a few confusing concepts, I found that the class was very informative and I am looking forward to taking more classes that go even more in-depth. I discovered ASTR100 because I wanted to get an idea of how a college level astro class would be like, and would advise incoming students to take classes that they find interesting in order to grasp an idea of what they want to do in the future. Sometimes the most unexpected classes might shape such huge decisions about your interests, career, and future.
My greatest success in developing a strong relationship with a faculty member would be through the "Break Through Tech" program at UMD, which aims to encourage and provide opportunities to underrepresented groups in the field of technology. Through this program, I was able to connect with faculty who led the program, as well as gain a winter internship at Ticketmaster. I learned many helpful things through their workshops and felt comfortable asking questions.
At first, it may seem difficult to find these connections given that the university is so huge, with large lecture halls filled with hundreds of students but only one professor. I would recommend incoming students to try to engage with professors after class, in office-hours, or by joining organizations that have faculty you can connect with.
The transition from high school to college is huge. The environment is completely different, and I feel that it can be easy to lose yourself. For me, while college has had its ups and downs so far, I realized that the friends I made throughout all of freshman year have definitely played such a huge role in my university experience. These connections make everything so so so much better. I found myself clicking so well with so many different people, and I couldn't be more grateful to meet them. Difficulties that come with transitioning to University don't seem as bad when you have people you can have fun and spend time with.
Making new friends can seem to be a little intimidating and difficult. Some people might have trouble reaching out or finding time to hang with people. I would suggest future freshman to try to engage with others in your classes, join clubs, and of course, have confidence and don't be afraid to say hi! A lot of times, especially in the beginning, people are looking around to make friends, so it never hurts to reach out and make plans because these connections will help you in the long run and elevate your college experience.
When talking about university academic life, I would say I was least prepared in my method of studying. There is definitely a difference in the workload/content of high school classes vs college. College classes go more in-depth and each class has different structures and ways of releasing content. I would recommend prospective students and incoming freshman to figure out what method of study works best for them (flash cards, rewriting notes, highlighting, etc ) prior to college and try to apply them in class and see what works better with retaining and understanding the information depending on the course.
Overall, I really enjoyed my freshman experience. College is what you make of it, so put yourself out there, work hard, and most importantly have fun and enjoy it!