Reflect on the Fall semester and the overall experience of your first semester at college.

First Semester

            How I have grown from the beginning of the semester to now is I have figured out how to balance my assignments for my classes and work at the same time. I got to meet new people that have the same major. I found a group of people that I could study with, and we help each other on assignments. 

            My expectations for this year were having to spend more time studying than you would in high school. Having to keep track of the assignments that are due without having the professor reminding you like the teachers did in high school. This semester’s experience met my expectations because I spent a lot of time studying for classes like chemistry and sociology when I had free time because of a quiz or an exam that was coming up. Something I wish I knew 14 weeks ago was knowing how fast the semester will be and the deadlines for the assignments. Knowing that you have assignments due in 2 weeks, it is better to get that assignment done sooner rather than later because you don’t have to stress later on about it and having to rush the assignment and not having it be your best work. I also wish I knew how much you have to study for each class.

Study Habits

            I spent about 6 hours a week studying for classes like sociology and chemistry. At the beginning of the semester, I didn’t’ spend a lot of time studying. I would probably study for about 30 minutes a day for my classes. How I have changed my study habits was making note cards for certain topics to memorize the terms. I have studied with some people that were in the same classes to help each other before a chemistry exam or quiz. Some resources that I have learned about this semester that will help next semester is the different tutoring sessions for classes like chemistry or math classes. 

            The study habits/techniques that I will use next semester is if I am struggling in a class is to attend tutoring sessions or the professor’s office hours. I will spend more time studying for the classes that I know that I might be having a harder time in to have a better understanding of that class. 

Health Professions Learning Community

            Sociology and History had several connections between the content and subjects that were discussed. The way that they tied together was in sociology we would learn about different sociological theories or different terms. Then in history we would learn about different topics like the civil rights act, and it would tie in with sociology. 

Parallel Plan 

            Two majors that I would be most interested was the recreational therapy because what you do in the job was interesting and how you help the patients and come up with the different ways to help them. You still get to work along the nurses and doctors. The other major that I would be interested in was speech pathology because you get to work closely with the children and help them overcome with their speech, which helps them improve their social skills and quality of like. These two majors can help benefit my current intended major, nursing because you are able to develop the knowledge and skills of a different field.