<p>I’m trying to decide whether or not to do Terrascope, and I have some questions I couldn’t find answers to on the Terrascope website.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Is Mission 2015 a scheduled class? Is there some classroom/lecture component to it, or is it all group work? If the latter, does the group have pre-scheduled meeting times or do members just decide as they go? Basically, how do the 9 units break down?</p></li>
<li><p>Is 9 units accurate, and how much additional strain do they put on a first-semester freshman? I’m a bit worried that taking Mission 2015 would make it impossible/painfully difficult to both keep up in my regular classes and adjust to living in a college environment. Do Terrascope students spend enough time in the Terrascope group that it keeps them from developing strong bonds in their living groups?</p></li>
<li><p>How does Terrascope/Mission 2015 compare to a regular advising seminar in terms of time expenditure and value of experience?</p></li>
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<p>Any thoughts on Terrascope will be appreciated. Thanks 
:)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>You’ll start out with a couple of lectures, but it quickly becomes group work. I believe it is at a scheduled time, though.</p></li>
<li><p>From my understanding, Terrascope tends to be under 9 units for the most part, but takes a lot of time and energy at the end of the term when you’re finishing your project. How you balance your time with Terrascope is up to you, but I’ve seen people love Terrascope and still adjust quite well to their living groups :)</p></li>
<li><p>Can’t really answer here, unfortunately :P</p></li>
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<p>My basic thought is, though, that you will come to campus and find so many more clubs and activities here than you can imagine 
If you are super stoked about Terrascope, do it! But otherwise, don’t decide now to take time away from opportunities you don’t even know exist yet.</p>
<p>Just my two cents, as someone who started in Terrascope and decided that, while awesome, it wasn’t quite my thing :)</p>
<p>^cool, thanks!! One more thing, if you don’t mind: you said you started in Terrascope and then left the program…Were the terrascope people ok with that or did they give you a hard time about it?</p>
<p>thanks again…that was super helpful.</p>
<p>Eh, my adviser was a bit disappointed. Our group projects hadn’t started up yet, though, so there were no problems. People drop classes, it happens I would just make sure you do so before getting deep into a project and thus dropping the ball on your classmates.</p>
<p>How much time you spend on it really depends on how much initiative you take. If you are the kind of person who will step up when other are not doing what they should be, it can be a huge time sink. My closest friend first semester was exactly the type I described and I saw her progressively less as the term went on. Sometimes she would sleep at the Terrascope room for days. I’m not saying this to discourage you, but to enjoy something like this you have to be really, really passionate about it. Also, there’s no harm in trying it. Plenty of people drop things especially freshman year, see Piper’s advice above.</p>