My first semester at the University of Maryland has been an amazing experience. I have met so many wonderful people, experienced so many new things, and learned so much in each of my classes. Prior to starting college, I had many expectations of what I thought my life would be like. While many of my expectations of college turned out to be very accurate, some of them were very different from reality.
This semester I took MATH140, BSCI160, BSCI161, ENSP101, CPSG100, and COMM107. Each of these classes taught me so much new information, and I loved them all. The structure of my classes was mostly what I expected them to be. They all followed a textbook, and each lecture followed a different chapter. However, I did not expect my assignments to be so self-paced. For the most part, none of my professors were adamant about reminding me about due dates and exams. Instead, I had to learn how to rely on Canvas and the syllabus for this information. This was very different from my high school experience in which my teachers were always reminding me about assignments.
CPSG100 has been a super interesting class, and I am very excited about my journey through scholars. One thing that we have covered in class that I did not expect was learning how to make an academic e-portfolio using HyperText Markup Language (HTML). I also did not expect to learn about logical fallacies. Prior to this class, I did not know much about this topic, but since learning about them in the lecture, I have begun to notice them everywhere. However, everything that I expected to learn from SGC, we have covered so far. The outside-classroom activities were very fun. They have given me a chance to get to know other SGC students outside of the lecture while also learning a lot of new information that can not be learned in a classroom. The only activities I was able to attend were the Metro-Park Scavenger Hunt and Service Day. I did not expect these activities to be so independent, which I loved because it allowed me to make so many new friends and connections.
Overall, my life as a university student has been very different from what I expected. For one thing, I did not expect to have so much free time. In high school, I would attend school for several hours, participate in extracurricular activities afterward, and then go home and do school work. At college, I have classes scattered throughout the day which allows me to do some work in between or see some friends. After my classes end, I can get dinner with my friends or attend any events/club meetings. This amount of free time was very unexpected and I love being able to fill my time with doing things that I enjoy. However, I did not expect to have to learn how to manage my time so much. Since so much of my time is open, I have had to learn what times I must do work and what times I am able to relax. While this was an adjustment at first, I have been able to figure out what works well for me in order to stay on top of my academics while also maintaining a social life. Another aspect of college life that I did not expect was how much I would miss my family, hometown friends, dog, and life at home. While my experience at college has been amazing, there are times when I would have loved to be able to easily see my parents or sisters.
One piece of advice that I would give to future Science and Global Change scholars is to use your campus resources. The University of Maryland provides so many services to students that can be so helpful. Another piece of advice I would give is to introduce yourself to your professors and go to office hours. This can help you create good bonds and close connections with people who can give you a lot of advice and can help you in your future. Another piece of advice is to try to keep in touch with your peer mentor. Your peer mentor is a great person to get advice from whether it is about scholars or other topics. A final piece of advice is to not be afraid to introduce yourself to new people throughout the year. At college, people are always willing to make new friends, so do not be afraid to talk to new people.
In conclusion, my first semester at the University of Maryland has been so much fun. While it is not exactly what I expected, I would not change a thing. I have loved the first semester of Science and Global Change, and I look forward to continuing the program next semester.