Posting for advice from upperclassmen/graduates/parents.
Just finished my first term (you can figure out which school). The experience was supposed to be academically rigorous. Of the six classes I took, they were all gen ed reqs I knew 95% of material in or taught so poorly it was a “learn to do the homework” rather than “learning for the sake of learning” type of situation, with the exception of one advanced class considered “light work” (it was). There aren’t really any interest-focused clubs, mostly disorganized hobby groups and such. Made good friends, no problem with homesickness. Even got a job for the summer. Still, I feel so underwhelmed by the academic / extracurricular experience, and the most memorable parts of term were going to random places with my friends. I don’t feel changed. I don’t feel older or wiser. The only thing I learned was that I know nothing about what I want to do at all, or that I don’t want to do anything in particular.
So, the school has been a disappointment. Not thinking about transferring just yet, and in any case I don’t have a vision for where I’d rather be instead. If it’s just four more years of this, then I’m truly sad I made the college choice I did. I feel like I should do more with my time outside of class in something I’m interested in, but I don’t know what that’d be. Maybe I’ll pick up some research next term, and maybe classes will get better.
Any suggestions for a less disappointing college experience?
It’s not clear to me where you ended up (I see a “Do I go to X or Y or Z?” post from last spring, but no firm “I’ve decided” comment). Regardless of school, though, I didn’t see anything in your question here about professors. Did you connect with / build any relationships with professors this semester? Either from the courses you took or from other disciplines you have more of an academic interest (or previous research) in?
Perhaps…join clubs, volunteer, do research, get a paid job, go to concerts and/or sporting events on campus, support your friends in their activities. What did you do/what are you interested in doing?
I don’t know where you are so can’t help with specifics, but I got terrific advice freshman year from my advisor way back when and I’ll pass it on to you.
DO NOT try to replicate HS. What he meant was- I had a math class (intro statistics in my case), a literature class, a social science (econ), an arts class (the giant survey Art History course), etc. His advice was to step out of my comfort zone. Go through the course catalogue and pick what soundest the coolest, the most bizarre, the most “gosh, I never knew this field existed” kind of class. If I didn’t have the pre-requisite required, go see the professor and tell him/her what I was missing and see if they thought it was worth a try. And sign up for more courses than I needed- and then drop whatever course was going to be boring or not fascinating or whatever.
It was great advice. The only class I didn’t get into was “Kings and Queens of England” which was with a professor widely considered to be one of the best lecturers on campus. I met with him and he said that the two semester survey “History of Europe” was going to provide the context required to fully participate in his course….that it was pointless to do a deep dive on the monarchy without the complete picture. I never did get around to taking his class because I fell in love with so many other things, thanks to my advisor’s suggestion.
So you had your semester of covering off your Gen Eds. Now go wild. Talk to upperclassman to see who are considered the best lecturers on campus. Take a class with them. The best way to be inspired is to get out of your comfort zone!
I went to an Ivy (many years ago). I loved it. And the most memorable parts for me was going to random places with my friends. I think you’ll find this is true for a lot of people. Also, I did not love my first semester there…so I want you to be reassured that things will get better/different at least based on my experience.
One way to spin your feeling about academics is that you were exceptionally well-prepared for college. Can you reframe this experience as a boost to your self-confidence?
I will say some of my least favorite times at college was when a class wasn’t easy for me: so kudos to you for relishing a challenge rather than being glad to excel.
you have to be quite proactive when you’re a freshman who wants to find professors with interest in mentoring you (research lab or something like that) - but the effort is worth it. I really doubt your experience would be different anywhere else. Rare colleges like Williams have the seminar program that would bring you a Socratic style class likely to itch your scratch, but I think that ship may have sailed, as I’m not sure the option would be open to a transfer student.
please consider talking to someone (trusted adult or counselor, short-term therapist, or even a help line) to determine whether there may be a treatable mood disorder contributing to your feelings (these are really common diagnoses, and it doesn’t mean something is “wrong” with you). And please remember that most people who gush about college changing them are (1) talking about that stage in life, and not usually in a way unique to a particular institution) and (2) often talking about exactly the stuff where groups of friends do random stuff, rather than about class and (3) generally don’t have those experiences in their first semester.
Academics and connections to professors and peers tend to improve once you declare a major. You have been doing a lot of gen eds which don’t necessarily represent your future experience. Try not to think about career outcome just yet. Volunteer, intern or work, on or off campus. Friendships build over time too. I would try to envision staying where you are for now because the first semester is often disappointing.
Advice based on both my experience and my child’s recent college experience:
Create a small club as an extra-curricular, in an area you feel passionately about, and engage in philanthropy through it (donation drives, etc). Hit it hard. Make it as big as you can over time. Partner up with larger organizations at the school to build out your efforts. This develops connections for you, gives you a head-start toward internships and other opportunities, looks great on resumes, and can feel extremely gratifying. If you’d like a specific example, feel free to DM me here on CC
The Gen Ed phase is not everyone’s favorite, but I agree you can try to load the dice in your favor by aggressively “shopping” classes to the extent allowed by your college’s curriculum structure. And most of us have stories about classes we took largely because they fit our schedule or such, and ended up being among the classes we really remembered long after.
On ECs, you can do a couple different things (possibly both). If there is something you want to do but there is not an existing club suitable for it, try making it yourself! But also, as the year progresses you can see what friends and acquaintances are doing that they enjoy, and just try it out for yourself. Many people are very surprised about what they end up loving to do for ECs, including many things they never imagined liking when in HS.
In terms of personal growth, we don’t always recognize what is happening while it is early in the process. Certainly one term is not much time. But I do believe if you adopt an exploratory mindset for now, then focus later on the things that you end up particularly liking, eventually you will look back positively on that sort of process.
Take classes you have no knowledge of. Beyond writing, gen Ed’s come in all sorts of subjects.
Go to office hours. Meet your profs. Challenge them to challenge you. They typically love inquisitive students. Think extra work. Problems. And yes clubs are hobby like st times but as you get more senior, you get more join a culture club or robotics where they tinker get out of your comfort zone.
It goes to show, you listed three top schools but your family was only for two so I’ll assume it’s one of the Cs.
Too many confuse rank or rep with rigor. It’s not the case. Doesn’t surprise me because I’ve heard this before - and had a personal connection to Wharton that described this in their MBA while I worked my tail off at a no name.
But you got a job after first year. Was that, in part, due to where you attend ?
Many parents would call that a win !! There’s tons of students on here who busted tail per the parents and cant find work.
My guess is that you are at Columbia and don’t care for the core curriculum.
Your complaints appear to be poor teaching, redundant material from high school, no ecs of interest to you, and lack of a definite career goal. Maybe your expectations were too high.
My only suggestion is that maybe you should have considered a school with an open curriculum. Difficult to offer more suggestions based on the scant information shared in this thread.
Guess we can’t But OP, it’s out there for you to grab it !! Just ask and research yes, but don’t forget you are a first year - it’s not going to be as high end as you think. And as you get into major classes, it’s likely to get more rigorous. You got into Cal Tech so you are likely ahead of many but - don’t just complain, do something about it. Start a club - mine did. That alone will provide you a challenge and marketable skills - recruitment, marketing and more.
One issue for first semester students in university: It is entirely likely that incoming freshmen do not all have exactly the same knowledge of various subjects. The professors need to deal with the fact that some students might not be quite as well prepared as others. This may indeed cause some of your classes to cover material that you already learned in high school.
However, next semester you will be taking classes that have this semester’s classes as prerequisites. Next year you will be taking classes that have this year’s classes as prerequisites. Professors will be able to count on the fact that you have learned whatever was taught already at your university and in specific classes that are listed as prerequisites.
Also, as you go to upper year classes, you are likely to have smaller classes where the professors will have a better grasp of how much each student in the class already knows.
It was a long time ago, but my recollection is that I found freshman year classes even at MIT to be relatively easy. They got more difficult as I got into upper year classes.
I think that you will similarly find that you will get more out of upper year classes. As other comments have mentioned as you get out of general education requirements and into major-specific classes again things are likely to get better.
At some point you most likely will want to be looking for research and/or internship opportunities. This is also likely to make your four years in university more interesting.
There is another possibility. This might sound weird, but if you think about it, it might be a good idea. For classes that you do not like much, just do not worry about the lack of challenge. For classes in subjects that you find particularly interesting, you really can ask the professor for more work. You might show up at office hours, express interest in the subject, and see what more you can do. This might result in more homework, but also might result in your learning more about the subject. Depending upon how it goes, this could in some rare cases lead to research or internship options. Depending upon how this goes and what school you are at, this might even earn you a plus sign after your A in the course. However, if you do this, then do it because you are interested in the subject (ie for the right reason).
Thank you for the advice! The catalog is extremely limited here and so is the flexibility for taking classes, until maybe senior year. This is what I’m most frustrated about, as some people who have less gen eds to cover are taking more advanced classes and seeming to have more fun. Maybe it’s just a game of waiting.
It’s actually the opposite. I always kind of knew I’d feel more restricted at a small school by the range of opportunities available, and my friends at UCs basically got all their gen eds out of the way with APs and seem to be taking much more interesting classes. And joining more interesting clubs.
Thanks for the advice! I will try to go to see profs / attend hours more often. I do find that it’s very difficult to reach profs directly here, at least in the larger core classes. I was never the type of person to have motivation beyond what was taught in class, so maybe it’s time to fix that. Plus getting back to building some personal projects.
Thank you! I do think I should just wait another year-ish to see if it’s just a problem with the first year experience. I do think my feelings stem from boredom / dissatisfaction from comparing my experience with my friends at other colleges, and I’m handling everything just fine, but thank you for the concern.
Thank you! This is very reassuring. It was just that everyone gave me the impression that this school would be very challenging and it hasn’t lived up to that.
But OP, it’s out there for you to grab it !! Just ask and research yes, but don’t forget you are a first year - it’s not going to be as high end as you think. And as you get into major classes, it’s likely to get more rigorous. You got into Cal Tech so you are likely ahead of many but - don’t just complain, do something about it. Start a club - mine did. That alone will provide you a challenge and marketable skills - recruitment, marketing and more.