The Topic: Advice for Upcoming UMD
General Chemistry 1 was the one course that had really pushed me to be a better student. If you want to go after your career, you need to work hard for it and you need to love it. There are always going to be other people who are working hard, or even harder than you to achieve the same goals. If you cannot keep up with them or get ahead, then you are already falling behind. Pushing yourself so far past your max that you set a new max does not start when you are in graduate school; it starts now.
As you transition from high school to college, you notice how important connections are more than ever before. There will be times in your undergraduate career where something goes wrong and you have to rely on your professor’s kindness or need them as a future reference. Start introducing yourself on the first day of class, either before or after. Go to office hours regularly, so they can get to know you. Also, I would recommend doing this with a professor from the subject you actually enjoy. It will keep you interested in the topics you are currently learning and can make conversations easier.
My friends have been a good support system for me, especially with those I have the same classes with. We each understood how difficult it was to balance everything and would often help each other out when we could. We have study sessions, we get advice on what professors to take and why, and we can always ask each other for help. Having a range of friends is also important. Different friends can teach you different things and you can grow better as a person that way. Try to have at least one friend that you can study with, at least one friend for quick hangouts, and at least one friend that you can spend a day with. If someone can fit more than one, that is even better! Overtime, as you start getting more comfortable in your study routine, you will have less time to socialize. There will be times where you have to turn down hanging out with friends because of school, but don’t freight. If they are truly your friends, they will understand or be busy themselves. It is not wrong to prioritize why you came to college in the first place.
I would say that I was least prepared for how much I had to study. With my core classes requiring a couple hours of studying consistently, I got burned out very quickly. It also didn’t help that when my study methods stopped working (which can happen), I didn’t have a backup one that I mastered. I would recommend that you figure out your top three study methods and learn to master them before the work starts to pile up. That way you will have a backup plan in case your methods fail. Also, pace yourself by putting yourself on a schedule. Assignments can easily get lost and it is not good if you have to cram your studying into one night. Try to study a little content everyday based on what you learned that day. It’ll make things a lot easier, especially when finals come around.