Freshman year was a new year, very different from my experiences before. It had its highs and lows, but overall was enjoyable. In this essay, I will discuss different aspects of my freshman year at the university, ranging from successes, challenges, and surprises in classes, to my interactions with professors, to the adjustment to the university.
First, I will discuss university classes in general. One surprise to me was that there was a bit less coursework than I was expecting. It was still a step up from high school, especially in the second semester, but it was less of a jump than I was expecting. However, on the other hand, the pace of classes was faster than I expected. Also, in university classes, almost every class period was utilized fully to cover material or take exams. By contrast, in high school, there were a significant number of class blocks used partially or completely to work on projects, papers, or whatever else we were doing at the time in the class. For how to handle this speed increase, I’m not totally sure what advice I have. While classes were faster, in the end I still found them manageable. My advice is probably to attend every class; I went to every class session, but I could see that a lot of people were not showing up to class, and I know that if I missed a couple classes I’d fall behind and probably get lost very quickly.
Now discussing some specific classes, I was surprised by how English 101 was formatted. I expected more of a literature class, where we read books and write papers about the books. Instead, it was a writing-centered class, where the only book we read was one discussing how to write an academic paper. Overall I think I liked this format less than a literature-based class, and I’m not sure this is the best way to teach someone how to write a paper. However, despite the format of the class, I still found it enjoyable, which I will discuss below.
Discussing English 101, the professor helped make the class an enjoyable one. The class was only 18 or 19 people, meaning it was a relatively small class, and the professor made engagement in the class very easy. Also, I was easily able to talk with the professor after class to discuss the direction I was taking with my papers and I found this to be helpful for my work.
However, there were some difficulties when it came to creating relationships with professors, which were mainly related to class size. In my Math classes, I have had around 150 or more students in the math classes I’ve taken both semesters, and this has made it difficult to be able to build a meaningful relationship with the professor. My best advice for trying to overcome this barrier would probably be for students to go to the professor during office hours and other times in order to be able to meet with the professor more individually.
Now for a general discussion of university life, I have a somewhat unique perspective, as I am a commuter student. This presents its own challenges as well as advantages. The primary challenge is that I am not around other students as much, especially during the times people would primarily meet and make friends, such as in a dorm. My advice to people who are commuters to overcome this would be to try and talk with people in your classes, and also to join a club that you are interested in, which will allow you to meet more people with common interests. However, being a commuter also comes with its own advantages, in that you don't have to go through some of the more drastic life changes. For example, I haven’t needed to learn to live with a roommate who I didn’t know before, and I haven’t needed to learn to live away from home. The advantage of this is that I was able to adjust academically without having to adjust in these ways at the same time, though the disadvantage is essentially that I have probably just postponed this adjustment until later in life.
Overall, I have found college to be quite enjoyable. I have found classes to be less demanding than I expected, though more fast-paced. I found that in smaller classes it was relatively easy to get a good relationship with the professor, though in larger classes this could be very difficult. My experience as a commuter student has given me a different perspective than most on university life, which comes with its upsides and downsides. But overall, this first year has been quite rewarding and I am excited to see what awaits me next year.