(No. 3)

In the Undergraduate Mind: The First-Year Experience from Three Perspectives

Student

My first semester was interesting and very different from any previous four-month period of education that I have experienced. It felt like a whirlwind while it was going on, but in retrospect it seems like a vast expanse of time. I'm sure the changes in social and situational factors had powerfully influential effects on my experience, but those aspects will remain secondary in this analysis. I will focus on academic issues and in particular my experience with the USEM format.
I was interested in all my classes during my first semester. That may not seem like a shocking statement, but it is fairly significant in my mind. In high school, I was not particularly engaged in many of my classes. It was often a real struggle to force myself to complete assignments or do readings. This has not been a big issue at college. I feel that this new ease of self-motivation stems from a few factors. One is simply the difference in the collegiate schedule. I often felt trapped at my high school, like I had no escape; the education became forcible indoctrination. There was so much wasted time when I was just twiddling my thumbs with boredom. Now the education is happening all around me and it is incumbent upon me to get up, get out, and satiate my curiosity. This is made even easier when, like last semester, my classes really interested me. I found myself connecting ideas from different fields and disciplines and being excited by those connections. I would bring up an idea from my psychology class in my USEM, or connect physics with poetry. My education felt more like it belonged to me-it was my own little cohesive ball of exploration and discovery that I could dribble up and down the court as I pleased. This is a truly liberating feeling. I'm much less concerned with grades now than in high school. At the same time I'm much more interested in the process of academic exploration and the actual quality of the material. I find myself questioning everything that does not feel right or seems too easy, whereas in the past I would have simply accepted what I was told and regurgitated it on cue.
The USEM experience was definitely one of the highlights of my first semester. The topic was particularly interesting to me, and the class provided an excellent forum for discussion. The class structure and size were very similar to a typical class at my high school. This measure of familiarity was nice as I eased into college life. It was also nice to be in a class with only first-year students; I felt like we were all in the same boat. Aside from the comforting nature of being among equals, it was also a good opportunity to observe and understand a fairly representative cross section of my Wahoo contemporaries. I must be interested in these people because I have decided to associate myself with them in this academic setting. They are a reflection of me, my goals, my dreams, etc. I get to know them through some social exchanges, but mainly through the ways they approach the material and the discussion. For someone like me who is interested in people and their behavior, this is a fulfilling opportunity. My USEM provided a great atmosphere for getting to know what made these first-year Wahoos tick. We were guided by the texts and the professor shaped the discussion in certain ways, but never to the point where individual thought was hindered. This is very admirable; it must be hard to remain objective and effectively unobtrusive as a professor. My one gripe with the class was that it only met once a week for two hours. I feel like there was a lot more depth to the topic that could have been explored in a three-credit setting. All these factors influenced me to take another USEM the following semester, which was different but fun in its own way.
The USEM was a nice change of pace from the typical, huge, freshman lecture class. I understand that the large lecture classes are sometimes criticized for being impersonal. I think that it can be easy to lose oneself in the back row of one of these lectures, or to not even show up at all. Teaching one of these classes well requires a truly skillful professor. Lucky for me, U.Va. is full of very competent and excited teachers. I learned this first-hand last semester in my huge Psychology lecture. The professor was dynamic and captivating; I felt like he was speaking past the other three hundred heads in the room and directly to me. Consequently, I didn't miss a class and I'm now considering a Psych major. Also, discussion sections for large classes provide opportunities to address individual concerns. I think a mixture of large and small classes is healthy because it shows the student that there are many venues for the pursuit of knowledge.
If a student finds a class unbearable for any number of reasons and is having trouble keeping up attendance then he should ask himself why he's bothered to take the class at all. I feel like many students take classes with only long-term goals in mind: the grade, the diploma, the job, etc. Such goals are not bad by any means, but they can deflate the joy of learning. Higher education should be undertaken for personal reasons rather than perceived obligations. It can be a fun, fulfilling process in and of itself.