Hello everyone,
So, I recently transferred to pretty obscure, private liberal arts college in the USA, from a top 25 university in the UK. I have always been used to the UK style of learning and gave my GCSEs, A-Levels and did an year and a half of university in the UK.
However, my family decided to move to the USA. I would have stayed in the UK and lived in halls, but unfortunately I have severe Autism, ADHD and social anxiety and thus have never been away from my parents. I got admitted to the nearest college I could find to my parent's house.
Unfortunately, I am having an EXTREMELY hard time adjusting to the ''American'' system of university. I am doing a humanities degree and we hardly have to write any essays. Most of our work consists of tests and quizzes and short answers. The professor would give a quiz asking us the names of the characters in a particular book and multiple choice questions over a storyline of a particular book. This is literally completely opposite of what I learnt in the UK where everything consisted of analytical essays. Writing is my strong point and I have always done extremely well and got a 4.0 in my English Literature first year of university in the UK.
I am having an extremely hard time adjusting to the weird quizzes and class prep papers instead of writing deep, analytical essays. We have to submit a class prep paper everyday where we write short answers to questions that the teachers assigns. I feel that all of this is not challenging me enough and I am horrible at memorizing and multiple choice stuff when all I have done in the past is writing essays.
I know I cannot live without my parents so moving to the UK or a much prestigious university here in the USA (do prestigious universities have these random quizzes and tests instead of essays too?!) is out of question.
Is there anything I can do to adjust to the American system of college? I am a junior (third year) is that matters.
1: I don't know about the UK, but there are a LOT of US universities that take accommodations very very seriously, and do all they can to help students out. Please make sure to reach out to your university about any possible accommodations. (but if it is a small school, that may not be the case :( )
2: If you are a first-year student, it will seem like a step backwards compared to your previous year in high school. They do go back to basics and "re-teach" how to write to some extent. But you say you are a junior - are they making you retake freshman courses? If not, I would be VERY suspicious that this school is the best place for you.
3: If you are not being challenged, is there a chance that you should have aimed higher and just made sure that you would have accommodations available? But I know you said you need to stay with your mum and dad.
4: You are explaining yourself very well especially for someone on the spectrum. It is FAR FAR FAR more likely that this school is a bad fit for you, and as you said, you feel trapped to some extent.
Here is some advice (pshew, finally!):
If money is not a major issue, could you take some courses online instead of in person? Either extra or instead of in-person classes.
If money is an issue, and you state the courses you are taking are too easy, have you considered a MOOC? There is a free online course system that includes MIT and other big universities. If you can’t address your love of learning where you go now, maybe you can get some knowledge and real school work for free?
Make a list of the next five closest colleges. You can even consider a college where you could come home every weekend but live on campus during the week. Do you think you could handle a single room? Or a room off-campus?
Addressing the social anxiety and so on. You are doing GREAT online apparently. There should be DVR (Division of Vocational Rehabilitation) services available in your state, and one of the things they can do is provide mentors to help work with you. It would not be counseling per se, but for example if you are not familiar with the US public transportation system, you can get someone to help you navigate it. Or, if you haven’t had to handle a checkbook or your own credit card before, they can train you to do it. There are amazing resources for kids and adults on the spectrum, and many of them are free.
Good luck, and I would suggest reaching out to your parents ASAP about what you can change, not what you can’t. Do you think you could put up with school, if you knew you were pursuing options (such as free or pay online classes, or colleges near but not as near) to move on to bigger and better things?
All I can do is assure you that that is not how the humanities are done at most American colleges. I mean, I’m still in high school and we already are writing analytical essays all the time. A multiple choice questionnaire about a book would be unheard of, and I’d be really suspicious if I came across that at college, especially in my junior year. Maybe the solution is just to find a different school. Can you tell us what state you’re in? We might be able to recommend places you could transfer to where you could still be close to your parents.
I have to second lalalemma’s post. Most humanities classes at the college level in the US have analytical paper assignments, not quizzes or multiple choice questions. This is the kind of work I associate with lower level high school classes (i.e. not AP or Honors). So I agree that looking for a college that is more ambitious (and really just more typical!) would be a better fit for you. But I do not know how to solve the problem of your already being in your junior year. Transferring credits may set you back a bit.
I do not have advice to offer but my kids are in honors/AP classes in high school and they DO get quizzes like the OP mentions so I know very well what he is talking about. I call them “trivia” quizzes the kind that I never had to take while in high school in Europe. Actually, I never had to take any multiple choice quiz/test in a literature class. So at least I understand a bit where the OP comes from. I hope he/she gets good advice by other posters.
Top 25 UK university status in the UK is pretty vague, basically did you transfer to an equiv school? What did you transfer as? Soph or jr? Your UK degree was 3 yr or 4? How does your academic background compare to the common data set of your current school?
First, talk to the chair of the department where you’re currently studying. Be honest, and say that you’re not being challenged in your current classes, and that you’re looking for a serious literature program where you’re expected to write long, insightful papers. Ask which courses and instructors she/he would recommend at your school. Explore the possibility of doing independent study with a professor, or a semester exchange at another college/university for a change of academic pace.
All these measures could make your final two years better and more academically satisfying.
If, after speaking with the chair (or possibly the dean of students?) you don’t think your needs will be met at your current school, then maybe it’s time to consider a transfer.
The good thing is that you know what you want and need academically, and part of your transfer challenge will be to research (and possibly meet/discuss) academic standards at more selective schools with higher academic standards.
Sorry you’re going through this. But I agree with you: in literature classes, quizzes and multiple choice tests check only whether you’ve done the reading or have at least a cursury understanding of the work. It’s a very poor measure of a nuanced reading of the text. And it’s indicative of a lazy approach to teaching, IMO.
My younger daughter is a philosophy major and few other minors at a top 20 schools in the US. She doesn’t get quizzes, she writes a lot of in-depth essays. She study abroad at a top Uni in London and she found her classes there to be a lot easier than her classes back home. I think you need to find a different school in the US.
When you transferred, did you have your previous transcripts formally evaluated? It looks to me like you have not been placed into the upper-level courses that you should have been placed into. You need to meet with your advisor, and go over your records from your previous university, and find out what classes you should be taking at the new one.
Truly, there is no need for you to be studying right now. Getting used to a new country is hard enough. You may want to consider just taking a semester off and doing something else entirely while you and your family settle in here.
Sorry that I missed that you are a junior. Your parents couldn’t possibly have just upped and moved to the USA on a whim, this takes considerable time to organise. so talk with them, consider your options. If this is how a course is run in jr year you really do have a case to discuss. What state are you living in?
No, this isn’t how things are supposed to be done, except in some community colleges (definitely not all!) and in remedial classes. Did they not understand you have Alevels AND specialized literature classes under your belt? What college is this? You need to find a “real” college.
Can you say what city is nearby or at least the state, so we can tell you what the reputable colleges in that state are?
If not, there are reputable online programs (Penn State world campus, for instance) if you need to stay at home. Otherwise, you’d have priority for a single, if you were able to stay on campus at a college, and come home on weekends - that could probably broaden the number of colleges that you can attend.