Your semester in reflection

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>So... now that finals are over and we're on our much-deserved break, what does everyone have to say about the first semester of 2007-8?? Especially for the freshmen out there.</p>

<p>For me, I'd say that I'm still not fitting in with the people around me (Temple University). I made an effort all semester but I have 0 more friends than I went in with. But I'm just going to plough through some more core classes next semester and think about transferring in the summer. My ideal school is U. Washington, but I'll probably NEVER get it. Seattle University would be nice too. We'll see.</p>

<p>I had one one-night stand that tried to go somewhere over the next week with a flattering failure!</p>

<p>Academics weren't bad. I probably have about a "B" average and, considering the huge adjustment process, I can accept that fine. </p>

<p>Next semester I want to focus on getting a work-study job and enjoying the time a bit more, even if it's just me alone. Bringing my gaming PC for fun. It's still pretty lonely but I'll make the best of it.</p>

<p>So let's hear your ramblings/predictions/etc!!</p>

2

<p>Overall, the first semester wasn't all that bad. I have a few different groups of friends (smart people from my major, poker buddies, video games buddies, ie different circles) but I don't really have any great friends (at least not compared to mid/high school).</p>

<p>Academics were great. I think I force myself to learn more in a college setting rather than high school, so I'm definitely doing well education-wise. I guess I'll build more and more friendships as time progresses, but it is absolutely great to be home, hang out with the people I grew up with, and have zero stresses about school (not until enxt semester anyways).</p>

3

<p>I'm with you on the friend thing, I obviously know more people now than I did going in but none of them have become real friends, more like just acquaintances I may or may not feel like sitting with in the dining hall or say hello to. </p>

<p>So yeah I gave it my best shot, tried calling some of them to hang out but I get the feeling I'm just not going to have the same relationship I had with my best friend back here (who is leaving very soon for about a year).</p>

<p>Academic-wise I initially had the goal of getting a 4.0 gpa the first semester but I ended up underestimating two of the classes (both Bs at least, I'll know for sure tomorrow) so I'll need to work hard next semester if I'm gonna have a good transcript to transfer outta here sophomore year.</p>

<p>Also, roommate wasn't great. I didn't realize there was that great of a cultural difference in terms of what's rude and what's not (like shouting/laughing on the phone at 4-5 in the morning when I had class at 8, he claimed his family didn't know about the time difference, even though he's literally from the opposite side of the world) considering my parents are foreigners as well (I even thought I had an advantage because of this). But whatever, we already fought about it (I admit I initiated it, but he deserved it, I wasn't going to be a pushover because I was new) and I decided not to move out at the end of the semester because of the hassle and he claims his phone will be off overnight (he still gets calls, I just have ear plugs now).</p>

<p>Next semester I have like 14 credits which should be a big step down from 17 credits this semester, I'll have more free time to work out and sleep. This semester there was always something due when I felt like I should've been studying for some concept I didn't really understand in another class, which resulted in cramming for everything. I don't think I absorbed anything, just felt like I was memorizing for tests...</p>

<p>Yeah, generally not the best semester.</p>

4

<p>Yo cewillm, I left BU first semester. I'm starting at Temple in January :)</p>

5

<p>Cew, that sounds sad. Please, do not give up. I feel like... If a loser like me could find people to have the best time of her life with, anyone can! But I can't say that. I have a personality that is like "ooo, that person seems nice! Let's go say hi and see what happens next!" and I realize that not everyone is like that. But you know, even when I wasn't trying at all, I made some amazing friends. I was studying and this boy was studying with us who was in our class. He introduced himself to us and I figured a guy this nice must be cool. Yes. Or I forgot to bring goggles to chemistry, so a boy helped me out. Again, a guy this nice must be worth getting to know. Yes. And alright, I am a girl. In a less sex-oriented example, I make a lot of friends by being friendly with the friends my friends have. Also, facebook is how I came to college already having friends.</p>

<p>For me (first semester ever), it was interesting</p>

<p>At first, it felt like I was meeting a lot of people and having a lot of "Friends" but I didn't have but one really good friend. I thought "Wow, college will be not as great" but I remained open and gave everyone I met a shot and now I'm... heh... I'm just over whelmed with the amount of friendship and experiences I'm having now. My social life and status is extremely unpredictable and eye opening. I especially love to make friends with boys from outside the US.</p>

<p>I had 18 hours. It was fine because some of the classes were **** easy. I started working out for 2 weeks then stopped. Now, I feel like a fat lard. I still don't understand how one can gain freshman 15 with the amount of WALKING you have to do. No one I know has gained it. The food isn't that great here, but sometimes its nice. I didn't study enough. I mostly spent one or two whole days before an exam to study. Chemistry was the expection. Near the end of the semester, Chemistry started to consume me and I still made a C. So I started out as a pre-med student. I would say "I'm computer science and premed" and they would say "Wow" but I'm dropping the last part for now. I've learned some good study habits and learned how I learn best.</p>

<p>Roommate was great. She was nice and friendly and so was I. It was thanks to me she has the friends she has. I made friends with someone, we learned (or rather I learned) we weren't so compatible and he and the rest became better friends wit my roommate while I was out meeting everyone on the face of the planet. We watch movies together and cooperate great. She helps decorate the room all colourful.
Next semester, I'll be competing for an RA position and taking 16 credit hours. I am in a higher level philosophy class along with an intro level philosophy class. Can't wait to see how that works out.</p>

<p>Generally, this semester was full of first time experiences, meeting of foreign people, understanding people, understanding myself... it really had little to do with academics. I am not going to remember my first semester classes except for how crappy Chemistry was.</p>

<p>ALSO! I kept in touch with my good friends from high school so those days when I felt like I was all alone and at a place I didn't belong, I still had some good friends to talk to and sometimes go visit. :) My roommate, as well. She kept in contact with friends from back home and doing that just makes you happy no matter what.</p>

6

<p>My finals aren't over yet (one more), but this semester was BY FAR the hardest I've taken. Bio + bio lab + thermo/E&M + materials science + fascism class + research = one overworked kid.</p>

<p>On that note, it was still a relatively fun semester =P</p>

7

<p>Overall, I would say my first semester has been decent, though I am quite certain that I wish to transfer elsewhere for next year, as I've noted elsewhere here.</p>

<p>Academically, the first semester has been somewhat weak, as I worked mostly to fulfill general education requirements, assuming I would stay here. Since I'm not, that wasn't quite helpful, and didn't make for the most fulfilling academic experience. Next semester though, I've picked some really excellent upper level classes, traditionally only taken by seniors, in the social sciences and the humanities. So that should be better. And its nice that my largest class will be 31, down from around 90 this semester. Smallest falls from 7 to 6.</p>

<p>Socially, I'm not all that pleased. Part of that is my fault. When rush week started, I visited AEPi the first night, because their event was later at night, and thus more convenient. Wasn't too impressed, but I figured I'd go to one more event before I wrote them off and started rushing elsewhere. Turns out, my impressions changed and I went to the rest of the rush events. I then pledged, and spent most of my time hanging out with the brothers. Only, I realized that I wanted to be elsewhere next year, and that the way the administration treated Greeks here made joining questionable, so I withdrew one day before initiations. While I still hang out with a few of them, and met my closest college friend there, I feel like it cut me off socially, and then I never really got a chance to know other non-Greeks that well. But there's always next semester I supposed.</p>

<p>I also wish I had joined Model UN. In high school, I loved it. But because it conflicted with debate here, I didn't bother joining. But, after a few weeks of practice, I soon discovered how exceptionally lame formal debate is. So, rather than spend three hours every Wednesday practicing, so that I could attend a few tournaments as part of the traveling team, I quit. By then, the MUN club was focused on upcoming conferences, and it was too late to join. I can probably get involved next semster, but will likely have to miss out on some of the major tournaments. </p>

<p>Other than that, not much to say. Dorms and food were mediocre at best, but that is true at most colleges. I've had some exceptionally fun times, and a few great opportunities that I otherwise wouldn't have had. But overall, I feel there is alot of room for improvement even here. So, until I can transfer out, I plan to work on fixing the above in the upcoming semester.</p>

8

<p>Overall, it was okay.</p>

<p>First of all, when they give you a choice of which orientation to go to, GO TO THE EARLIEST ONE. I went to the last orientation for NYU and I got screwed out of all the best classes, not to mention times. Even if you have to spend extra money, I suggest going to an earlier orientation, because you WILL make friends there and it just makes it much easier. </p>

<p>Academically, I sucked. I'm not going to lie: I didn't try hard enough. It's just the whole process of familiarizing myself with NYC, trying to focus with so many things to do just outside my doorstep, and what not, and I frankly didn't try. I didn't do the readings, I didn't review the lectures, and I wasn't quite as invested in my studies as I was in high school, but that's probably a product of my having to take random stupid gen ed classes that I frankly didn't have that much of an interest in. Next semester shoudl be better because I'm taking classes that I'm interested in instead of stupid gen ed classes and I also have a much more palatable schedule. All in all, I'm looking at about a 3.4 GPA for the semester with 18 credits, which I guess isn't too bad, but disappointing, given the fact that I COULD have done much better. I'm also trying to graduate in 3 years and go to law school on top of that, so when people ask for my major, I say econ and prelaw (the prelaw part was added when I got here and decided I'd rather be a lawyer than a banker).</p>

<p>Socially, it was disappointing. I could have done better as well. I had a lot of friends that also came to NYU and came to schools around New York City, and I hung out with them a lot. I also missed the first night socializing events on move-in day because I had left something back at the hotel and had to go get it. I usually made my friends mostly in my classes, and in my residence hall. I chose not to rush. I frankly should have been much more proactive about making friends and such, although I have to thank my residence hall's erratic fire drills, because I ended up meeting people who were equally angry about having to evacuate the building at random hours of the day as I was. We ended up hanging out in the hallway, going out for muffins in West Village, and had a good time. I also wanted to go out and see other places in the Northeast including Canada: it didn't happen. I suppose I'll have to do that some other time. I've never been to Chicago, I think I'll go there when I have time.</p>

<p>As for extracurriculars, I got involved with the undergrad prelaw society here, and the prelaw program in general. I also joined a sort of real estate special interest group, although I kind of abandoned that because it conflicted with my classes. I might take it up again though next semester, it seems like they're changing their meeting times and they might actually fit into my schedule. Anyway, I definitely think I should have joined Amnesty International and mock trial, particularly because I did Amnesty in high school and kind of enjoyed it, and mock trial because I could, um, how shall I put it, further my interests in the law. I also did law school shadowing, which is basically you sit in on a law school class one week, and that was pretty enlightening. </p>

<p>Dorms were surprisingly big as far as space at NYC goes, food was pretty good, and plentiful. But going to NYU is EXPENSIVE. Not only the tuition, room and board that tends to crater bank accounts but just the cost of living here. I suppose this applies to any school in a big city. No matter how much you planned on for living expenses, plan on going over budget. Period. Although I would never trade it for anything else. There's a lot of room for improvement, namely ACTUALLY DOING THE READING for classes and trying harder and what not. We'll see what happens next semester.</p>

9

<p>I just finished my finals yesterday, so it's a good time to reflect as any.</p>

<p>Overall, I'm happy with my experience over the past semester. Even though I haven't exactly found any people that I can say that I'm as close with as I was with my High School friends, I've definitely found people that I can relate to and I've gain closeness with a good number of people. I can honestly say I've never had as many good friends anywhere else, including high school, though that doesn't say much given my feeble social life all throughout high school and middle school.</p>

<p>Academically, I slacked off a bit though I still got good grades because 4/5 of my classes were a joke. I took Economics and Calculus in high school, writing seminar and ethics were both a joke. The only class that I did only "ok" in was my Perspectives class which was a philosophy/theology class. Unfortunately I found most of those readings dry though I will try next semester to do better (the class lasts both semesters).</p>

<p>Overall, I think the experience has been positive, even though I find the weekends at my school quite ridiculous to say the least. For the first month there were ambulances near the freshman dorms at least once each weekend.</p>

10

<p>It was the same at BU, jets. I saw like 5 the first semester and saw a girl get carted down when I was in one of the other dorms. Some of the kids are pretty damn stupid. Some girl I met fell off the balcony at a party because she was too drunk to function. Luckily for her, she just got bruised up and mightve broken a leg. There's always 3 or so kids a year who die from falling from balconies.</p>

11

<p>
[quote]
I had one one-night stand that tried to go somewhere over the next week with a flattering failure!

[/quote]
</p>

<p>It's called a one-night stand for a reason...</p>

12

<p>Emerson College has a lot of eccentric kids. I mostly made friends through basketball and by going to parties at other schools.</p>

<p>Academics- A-, B+, B, D</p>

<p>Not....so bad.</p>

13

<p>I basically stopped caring as much becasue I had somewhat of a epiphany one day and figured out what I really wanted to do and my current path had nothing to do with it so I have been trying to get on that path.</p>

<p>WIth that said, my grades werent as good as previous semesters after I had worked hard to get them up.</p>

<p>My final grades werent spectacular but didnt change anything drastically. So now I spend a majority of my time doing what I love to do and have kind of put school second reason why Im only taking 2 classes for Spring.</p>

<p>All-in-all, its been a pretty life-changing smester. :)</p>

14

<p>good for you flakkid111, for knowing what you want. very few people know what they really want in college (with the exception of sex and drugs)</p>

15

<p>Well, I'll try to sum this up as best as I can.</p>

<p>I just completed my first quarter in college, and I have come away with a lot of good memories, as well as great new friends. I'll start with the social aspect. I came into college willing to meet new people. The first couple days I met new people, but chose to hang out with my old High School friends. I realized that I should probably start hanging out with new people, so I've done so ever since. The parties have been fun, probably could have gone to more of them, but I'm not complaining. I must admit, I have put on a few lbs, and this is coming from someone who is pretty athletic, I guess I just haven't had time to go to the gym =). </p>

<p>The social aspect of college is amazing. Sure, back in High School you had your close friends, but in college, they become more like your family, as you live with them, usually in the same hall. Going to someones room whenever your bored is great, and if you want to be alone, you can choose to do that too! As far as my roommate, he is exactly what I wanted. Someone who I can trust not to steal my stuff. We don't talk too much, as he is a year older, but he is friendly and goes home on the weekends so I usually get to have the whole room to myself on weekends unless people are sleeping over. I could go on and on...</p>

<p>Now for the academic aspect. I finished my first quarter with a 3.01. I must admit, I could have worked a lot harder, but I also wanted to have fun, next quarter I'm definately working on this. I really need to take advantage of some of the resources we have, like the tutoring center. One thing I would like to make clear however is that High School and College are quite different in terms of classes. What has become almost cliche is that you don't have to go to MOST of your classes. My English teacher required that we show up. There is no one getting on you to do your work (unless you have friends in the same classes) and there is no punishment for not doing your work (other than AP). If I can offer any sort of advice to any future students it would be to not get in the habit of skipping class. That also doesn't mean that you have to show up to every single lecture, because there are times when they can get a little borind and redudant. After my first midterm, I literally skipped every single lecture after that, luckily I made it out of that class with a B, but I'm almost certain I could have received a better grade if I would have gone to class.</p>

<p>All in all, it was been an awesome first quarter, probably could have been better in some aspects, but hey, I'm not complaining. I'm looking forward to second quarter both academically and socially.</p>

16

<p>I'm really pleased by how I did this semester. I just got my final grades: 5 As, 1 A- for a 3.945 GPA! What made the difference was choosing courses I really loved (to stay up late for) and interesting professors.</p>

<p>I also applied to 5 highly selective schools for transfer and got into my first choice, Northwestern. That process was soooo stressful on top of 6 writing-intensive courses.</p>

<p>However, I did get rejected by my roommate who's upset that I'm not jealous of his bf (what can I do? I like the guy, and I'm genuinely happy for him. Plus, I hate drama). I did find another guy, though, with whom I connect deeply. Life goes on.</p>

17

<p>I loved my first semester. I found a group of people I click extremely well with, did excellent academically, and overall probably had the best 4 months of my life thus far. The only problem was that I didn't like 3/5 of my classes. I'm definitely looking forward to all of my classes next semester though. Coming here (Georgia Tech) is probably the best choice I've ever made.</p>

<p>I'm already wishing I was back. The next couple of weeks before school starts again are going to suck.</p>

18

<p>You know that one semester, or period in college, where the excitement of being in a new place, a new chapter in life, ceases for a bit? Well, that was me this past semester, the start of my second year in college. When you come back after the summer following your first year in college, you get hit with the realization that you're going to be in college for awhile, and you might stop caring about grades and life in general for a bit.</p>

<p>But it wasn't just me. During our meteoric ascent to the top of the polls during football season, a lot of people on campus dropped out of classwork, me included. Add-in some wild times in this new place I'm living in, outside of the dorms for the first time, and it got really wild. Sex and drugs, a roommate who took coke and acid, and a really crazy girlfriend, literally, crashed my semester into the ground for awhile. However, my schedule overall was pretty easy; I tend to take the minimum amount of units during the fall and then overload the spring. Except for a political theory course, nothing was hard at all, and a 3.5 GPA is decent for a Cal political science major. I do wish I studied much more though, but the grades really can't much better than they already are.</p>

19

<p>^^sophmore slump</p>

<p>I know a lot of people that fell into that. </p>

<p>I also completed the first semester of my sophmore year. The freshman at my school mainly live in doubles, but as sophmores we all moved into suites of six people. For the most part, this led to a ton of partying because everybody chose to live with their good friends from freshman year. Alot of us became completely distracted from our schoolwork- alcohol and drugs definitely took over a bit, although i'm sure this affected a much smaller portion of students than at Berkeley, like strykur said.</p>

<p>I focused much less on my studies this semester than i did as a freshman. This was probably a bad idea, especially for Ochem. Anyways, I managed to study my ____ off for my final exams and pull a great GPA.</p>

<p>Overall, the past few months managed to be the hardest, and best time of my life at the same time.</p>

20

<p>I think there are alot of people who go through what you guys went through. I'm a junior this year, but I had a similar fall semester last year during my soph. year. This semester I wasn't taking too hard of a schedule, I just had to get back in the paper-writing swing because I took world lit this sem. and I haven't had an english class since freshman year, so I hadn't written any papers in over a year (I also changed my major, from a lab/studio-oriented major to a humanities major, which also required writing more papers). But I pulled it out and managed 2 A's and 2 B's which I was plenty happy about.</p>