well more or less, I have a few summer courses but whatever
For all intents and purposes, I have finished first year
As you all probably know (I hope), I've been studying sciences at the University of Victoria.
I learned a whole bunch of things but most importantly now I know how mid-life crises happen because I started out in September, blacked out and then suddenly I'm 8 months older and I can't remember what I was doing 5 minutes ago but I can give an incredibly basic version of quantum theory.
The 8 months spent in class felt like a long time at the time when I was slogging my way through them but now that I'm looking back, it all happened in an incredibly short amount of time.
Don't get me wrong, I had a fantastic time at UVic, met some great people, had some good times and I wouldn't trade it in for anything else (mainly because 'anything else' involves a lot of what if's).
I would've had an even greater time if I wasn't spending a lot of my time worrying about keeping my scholarship (which requires an 'A' average but allows me to pay less to attend UVic than attending Claremont) but whatever #yolo
But let's go over a few things in an interview with myself:
Were there huge parties and did I make millions of friends?
Not quite...
Yeah I did go to a few parties, yeah I made some new friends, but none of that was on the scale of what I told myself it should've been.
I guess I set my expectations too high but it was also due to being introverted and the fact that I was not living on residence and the fact that I had a pretty heavy workload throughout the school year.
Being an introvert, I find it a minor inconvenience talking to people but apparently a lot of people in university are introverts or masquerade as introverts because they tend to keep to themselves when they don't know anyone.
I also feel if I went to a different university and lived in dorms, I'd definitely know more people and have more fun.
What is the workload like?
For those wondering what the workload or what to expect of university, it all depends on your faculty.
In my opinion, here is the hierarchy of work with most work at the top and least work at the bottom:
Engineering
Sciences
Social Sciences / Business (don't actually know where to put business but since they don't have 3 hour labs, I'm putting them below sciences)/Humanities
Fine Arts
Its a very steady workload, almost routine, every week I had 1 physics assignment, labs for each of my science courses, 1 math homework assignment, 1 chem quiz. A lot of work but it was all manageable.
What is the transition from high school to university?
Just because you have an A+ average in high school, doesn't necessarily mean you'll ace through your years of university, you probably will but its not a guarantee.
I've heard stories of people who got all A's in high school and then they come to university and become manically depressed or stressed or both but that was from UVic Confessions so the authenticity of those stories are...debatable to say the least.
In my opinion (again), university lectures aren't too different than high school classes. You sit down and write down notes from slides or the board while your professor talks about it...that's about it...oh yeah and there's like 200 other people in there too, that's all.
What are some important things to keep in mind at university?
Well I'm glad you asked me, me.
Two IMPORTANT things for suceeding in university are a healthy work ethic and the ability to balance school life and social life. If you don't want an A, you pretty much just have to show up to a few classes and show up for the exams/midterms. But if you want to consistently score A's, being able to study and understand the concepts is incredibly crucial. If you don't know how to relax and de-stress, you are going to burn out and stop caring about school. I've experienced it first hand and I was pretty burned out all second semester.
What courses did you take and describe them in 1 sentence/phrase thing
Math 100 - child's play, assuming you have taken Calculus 12
Chem 101 - easy enough theory with a lab portion that tests your ability to decipher accents and follow instructions and most importantly of course, beware the dragon
Computer Science 110 - like learning a dialect of English coupled with a legendary TA (I <3 Sarshad)
Physics 120 - like shooting myself in the foot but its pretty much a do-over of physics 11/12 with calculus
English 135 - THE Andrew Murray (the man, the legend)...that is all
Math 101 - integration, integration and more integration featuring the most entertaining social train wreck that is Haggai (AKA Champ, and I do not mean that too kindly)
Physics 130 - like amputating my foot and I still don't understand wave stuff but Dr. Lefebvre's accent negates that
Astro 150 - pretty dry at first but it gets pree cool near the end and I am now forever imprinted with the fact that Einstein wrote 5 papers in 1905 WHILE working at a Swiss patent office as repeatedly decreed by the leader of Albert Einstein's official fan club, Dr. Bluck
Chem 102 - unfortunately contains environmental chemistry but features the brofessor himself, Dr. Brolo
