As the semester draws to a close, I can look back and reflect on the ways university has surprised me, and the ways it was exactly as I predicted. The exact structure of my classes were quite similar to what I was expecting from college. After graduation, and from my senior year teachers, many people told me how different college would be from high school, and instead of being assignment heavy, it would be lecture heavy and exams would be the main weight of your grade. Therefore, I went into college expecting, and somewhat dreading this, and it turned out to be accurate. Many of my classes do not have homework, and it is simply expected that you are studying daily to prepare for either weekly quizzes, a couple exams, or both. There are a few papers and assignments at certain intervals in the semester, but for the most part these are not as stressful, and in my opinion, do not occupy as much nerves as the exams do. While exams can put a lot of pressure on students, myself included, there are multiple resources to be utilized including office hours, tutoring, and a plethora of study spots around campus. After lots of trial and error I figured out my favorite study spots on campus, and that I prefer a whiteboard to help me study.
As I never really studied in high school, learning how to study has been one of the difficulties of the semester. My MATH141 (calculus II) class has been the most challenging, and after a disappointing exam 2 grade, I realized I needed to find a better way to study. This was how I figured out writing things on a whiteboard, and doing practice problems really helps me. I also had to figure out how to study for a class like my criminology class as it is less of practice problems, and more learning the material.
For the CPSG100 class we covered many things about climate and weather which didn’t surprise me, but the lecture on Carl Sagan’s scientific toolbox did surprise me. This is simply because it doesn’t relate fully to global change, but it did go hand in hand with the book we were reading. One thing I was expecting to go over but was never covered is the specific way the environment is being impacted by human activity and what we can do to fix it. I’m sure this will be covered in later lectures, but it was something I was expecting to learn. The out of classroom activities involved with science and global change scholars were a little different than I was expecting but still involved fun and rewarding experiences. I didn’t expect the service activity to be hands-on, but that was a welcome surprise as that's how I like to do community service. I also wasn’t expecting to be given so much freedom with, for example, the trip to dc. It was nice to be trusted and be given fun assignments. As a student living in the dorm communities (Cumberland to be exact), I have enjoyed my newfound freedom and have adjusted to all the differences from high school.
Going into college I was hoping to make new friends, join multiple clubs, and keep my grades up for the first semester. I accomplished all of those things and am going into finals week with confidence in my studying skills. I also had to adjust to life doing tasks for myself and having to plan all my activities. For example, doing my laundry and keeping my room clean are things that I already did before, but was slightly different in college as there were no reminders to do any chores. Finally, it was hard finding a routine of things because friends would ask to hangout at the very last minute, which was fun, but sometimes studying or the gym would take a back burner.
I joined a professional service fraternity which occupied a lot of my time this semester, and forced me to learn how to balance a social life with an academic life. I had to get 16 hours of service, as well as multiple other little things as a pledge to the fraternity. It was a busy time for me, but I really enjoyed doing things with the other pledges and I am so glad I went to the very first meeting. The fraternity also helped me become aware of various community events around campus that I never would have learned had I not joined. For example, doing food recovery for the campus was an enjoyable experience for me as I actually saw where my hard work was going.
My advice to future SGC students would be to find what works for them studying wise. Many students have to learn how to study as they didn’t do much of that in high school. The transition can be a little rough, but if you dedicate at least an hour every school day to learning what habits work for you, it would be very beneficial to your academic career in the future. For example, I once copied down all the important information for an exam, and I didn’t do as well as I would have liked. Instead of the next one, I acted like I was teaching it to little children and I did a lot better on the next exam. It will take trial and error, but knowing how you learn best, as well as in what environments you flourish in is an essential piece of information to know for college.