Pre-Semester Reflection

  1. Major/Career
    1. What is your intended major and why did you choose this major? My intended major is nursing. I chose nursing because I want to help people and watch their journey of recovery and be there with them the whole time to make them comfortable. 
    2. What skills or abilities do you possess that make this major/career a good choice for you? I think that this would be a good career choice for me because I am very caring and I like to listen to people and try to figure out ways that I can help them. 
    3. What experience, if any, do you have that relates to your chosen major/career? I do not have any experience; however, I have been in hospitals throughout my life due to some of my health related issues and I saw how caring they are and how comfortable they made me when I felt nervous and I wanted to be one of them. 
    4. In what type of setting would you prefer to work? I would prefer to work in a hospital. 
    5. What are your career goals (in 5 years/in 10 years)?  I am not sure what type of nurse I want to become yet, but I see myself working in a hospital enjoying whatever I am doing whether it is nursing, or something else related to healthcare. 
    6. Complete the MyMajors quiz: https://odu.mymajors.com/quiz/. Provide a screenshot of your results. Of the majors on your top 10 list, which 3 would you like to learn more about? I would like to learn more about public health, dental hygiene, and nuclear medicine technology. 
  2. Transition to college
    1. What do you expect to be the biggest difference between high school and college? I expect the biggest difference to be me becoming more independent and learning better time management skills. In high school, I would go to school, come home and do homework, and repeat the next day so I feel like this will be different. 
    2. What do you expect to be your biggest challenge this semester? I expect my biggest challenge to be coping with stress. I tend to get stressed out very easily when a lot of things are changing in my life. Since we are all online and I am at a new school and starting something very different, I can see myself becoming stressed out very easily. 
    3. If you live on campus: What do you expect to be your biggest challenge with moving away to college? 
    4. OR  If you commute to class: What do you expect to be your biggest challenge with commuting to campus?  I think one of the biggest challenges I am expecting is not being on campus as much as other students. Especially since my classes are mainly online, I feel like it might be harder to connect with my peers due to the fact that I do not live with them in the dorms. 
    5. Do you have a job/ or plan to get a job? If so, where? How many hours will you be working per week?  I do not have a job. 
  3. Study habits
    1. Is there a difference between “studying” and “homework”?  Explain your answer. I think there is because to me, studying is sitting down and reviewing the material whereas doing homework is practicing the concepts that you learned in class. But you can use homework assignments to learn and study from in the future. 
    2. How much time do you plan to spend studying for each class every week? I think at least for 2 hours for each class multiple times a wee, if not, more. 
      1. For which class do you expect to spend the most time studying? I expect chemistry to take up a lot of my study time due to the fact that it is asynchronous and chemistry is one of my weaker subjects. 
      2. For which class (other than HLTH 101) are you expecting to spend the least amount of time studying? I am expecting English to take up the least amount of time. 
    3. Where do you plan to study? I plan to study in my computer room because it is really quiet and I can focus better. 
      1. What potential distractions can you anticipate?  My family coming into the room and trying to talk to me.
      2. How do you plan to avoid these distractions? I plan to tell them that I will be studying in this room and they are not to talk to me unless it is an emergency. 
    4. What time of day is your best time to study and why? I think my best time to study is at night or before I go to bed because I feel like it is a good transition from homework. Also, I like to study at night because when I wake up the next morning, I can do a quick review and recall the information. 
    5. This Fall, you are in online courses, some of which do not meet at a specific time, how do you plan to manage all of your assignments? I have a planner, so I plan to make schedules for myself for when I should do the work for that class. 
    6. Think about all of your commitments i.e. job, family, social life (from a distance and wear your mask! #ReignResponsibly). How do you plan on balancing your various commitments?  I plan on creating a schedule that will prioritize me getting all of my work done and studying first before anything else. 
  4. Learning style
    1. What specific study techniques do you think work best for you?   I really like to use flashcards. I find they are very helpful. I also like to do a “brain dump,” which is where I will write down all the information I know before studying, then study the material, and then write down what I can recall again to see if I could recall anymore information than before I studied. 
    2. Do you use different study techniques for different classes?  Provide examples. I do not use any different study techniques for different classes, my “go-to” technique is flashcards 
  5. Connecting to campus
    1. Name one academic resource at ODU you can use to help you earn “As” this semester.  I think the tutoring centers will be very helpful because if I am struggling, I can make an appointment and they can help me. 
    2. Name one non-academic resource at ODU and how it can help you this semester. I think being involved in an organization or club because it can help me connect with people and I can also ask other people in the group for study tips or to help me with something. 
    3. Name one resource you think you will use this semester. I think I will use the learning center because I may need some help with time management. 
    4. Name one resource at ODU you would like to learn more about, and why.  I would like to learn more about the counseling services. I struggle with anxiety and I feel that I may need to go to them this semester, so it will be nice if I can find out more about them. 
    5. In high school, what clubs, organizations, or activities did you participate in, if any? I participated in marching band, operation smile, National Honors Society, and Music National Honors Society. 
    6. Is there a club or organization you plan to join this semester and what do you expect to gain from this experience?  If not, why not? I am in the marching band and I expect to gain relationships with my peers and maybe develop life long friendships. I think it will also help me to step outside of my comfort zone and allow me to develop better social skills.