Your First Semester
- Tell us how you have grown from the beginning of the semester to now.
In the beginning of the semester, I struggled with adjusting to the new environment that college was in comparison to high school. I also struggled with managing time to do assignments, homework, and study while at the same time trying to have personal time to myself without having to worry about work. However, over time, I have learned some new things about myself. I have learned that I am unable to adequately do my work in the company of others because I have a tendency to get off track which would later stress me out since I would have a shorter amount of time to get my work done. Now I take multiple days to myself to independently do work without distractions and I have noticed that I’ve been less stressed.
- What were your expectations for this year? Did this semester’s experiences meet your expectations? Explain.
This year I had expected that it would be easy for me to acclimate to my classes since I did so well in high school. Another expectation I had for college is that I would have a lot of fun since the majority of my close friends would join me. Although I was wrong about having an easy time acclimating to the college classes, I have had an amazing time on campus exploring and trying new things with my friends.
- What is something you wish you knew 14 weeks ago?
Something I wish I knew 14 weeks ago is that I should take advantage of more on campus resources like tutoring when I had the time. Although I spent time watching videos for things I didn’t understand, videos don’t have the ability to answer the questions I had.
Study Habits
- How much time do you spend studying for each class now vs. at the beginning of the semester? Since it’s final season I spend about 8 hours a day studying for my classes and also doing work for them. Although I used to study, I more so did work with some review. Currently I am mainly reviewing learned material so I can apply it to the tests.
- How have your study habits changed?
I have changed my study habits by studying independently and I try to reread the notes that I take to retain the information we are learning in class.
- Tell us about a resource that you have used/learned about this semester that will assist you next semester. This semester, I have gone to the student success center to get some help with my chemistry work. It has been very helpful and useful.
- What study habits/techniques will you use going into next semester?
Next semester, I will be changing my study habits by taking advantage of the tutoring resources that ODU offers. I will also be studying independently for the most part then maybe one a week study with friends.
Health Professions Learning Community
- This semester you were enrolled in at least SOC 201S, and HLTH 101. Many of you were also enrolled in CHEM 105N and CHEM 106N, and some of you were enrolled in HIST 104H with Professor White.
- On the surface these classes do not appear to be connected; however this semester each professor was intentional about drawing connections between content, and subjects discussed. Discuss the ways in which these courses are tied together.
The classes that I feel are tied together are my sociology and health 101 class. In health 101 we learn about different types of careers but with that we learn about some of the problems that come with them. For example, when the public health professor came in we learned about what people within public health do. She also mentioned a situation where a little boy passes away from not being able to afford health care which relates to what we learned in sociology when it comes to theories. This situation is an example of conflict theory because it has to do with social inequality.
Parallel Plan
- This semester we had presentations from different majors in the College of Health Sciences as well as from different majors on campus. This was to give you an idea for possible parallel majors to your current intended major.
- Which two other majors would you be most interested in? Why? I think the two other majors I am most interested in are Public health and the dental hygiene major. I chose this because when one of the public health professors was giving a presentation on it, it sounded like it combined sociology with health which sounds very intriguing to me and it would be something that I would enjoy. As for dental hygiene it is very interesting and it has almost the exact same classes except for one. I also know some things about the dental field as well.
- What benefit is there to having a parallel plan (or two) in place?
The benefit of having a parallel plan is when switching your major or moving up you don’t have to worry about accidentally taking classes you don’t need, you also wouldn’t have to go back to college to get the required edits to apply to the other major.
- How could one or both of these two majors benefit your current intended major?
I think that the public health major would help me better understand how to help others by knowing and recommending policies to patients.