Your Freshmen Year

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Techmed07

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Everybody summarize your freshmen year.


...this should be intresting.:D
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Fall: Bio, psych, 2-level english, calc 2
Spring: human development, macro econ, 2-level english, italian comp, anthropology

varsity athlete
part time job for the schoo's wellness program
with some volunteering mixed in there
 
i took a bunch of core classes (history, philosophy, etc)

i wasnt pre-med at the time so i didnt care. somehow managed a 3.2 for doing nothing. it's taken me a long time to pull it up to a respectable number.
 
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Bio, Gchem, Psychology, Accounting, Statistics, and some Hume classes.
 
Freshman year was 13 years ago. I was a 17/18, socially-awkward German major who had just moved to the nation's capital from more blue-collar roots. I thought I would be a translator, and took courses in philosophy, English, history, linguistics, and my major. Made Dean's list my first semester but not the second (frikkin' Euro Civ from 1789 class and my apathy towards it...).
 
:eek::laugh:
haha, no thanks, wouldn't want an adcom member to see it!
 
Worked 20 hours/week on-campus. And besides the usual math, physics, humanities, etc., my claim to fame during freshman year was that I took a year of o-chem. 8 am every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Oh, the (bad) memories... :(

But that was 10 years ago.
 
A learning experience, to say the very least.
 
for me, it was one of those experiences where if you went back you know you'd own it haha...but definitely a time to learn and do things 100% on your own. Food's bad. chem sucks worse than i ever thought.
 
wish i hadn't wasted my time pining away for a guy i would ultimately learn was cheating on me.

I would have learned a lot more and made a bunch more friends.
 
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Ah yes, the year I turned into Captain Nerd, the year I decided to apply to medical school.

I wish I tried harder in Gen Chem I and II...woulda saved me time come MCAT studyin' time.
 
didn't decide to study until the MCAT. whoops.

let's see...Gchem lab/lecture, intro english, spanish, intro bio, psych, anthro, calc...maybe something else. there were a lot of "social gatherings"...

/first time away from home
//RA bought us beer all the time
///thought we were cooler than we were
////still think so
 
3.92 Gpa, Lots of Girls, Lots of basketball, and lots of... how the heck did i manage that gpa lol
 
Stayed up till 5 AM every night and slept till 3PM every day. I filled the hours in between with partying, Soul Calibur, and planning my future as a non-traditional med school applicant.
 
SeheePolyps said:
Stayed up till 5 AM every night and slept till 3PM every day. I filled the hours in between with partying, Soul Calibur, and planning my future as a non-traditional med school applicant.
Click to expand...


omg that defines my freshman year experience to a T---yes, even the soul calibur! there were boys on my floor that played it day and night and i got pretty good by the end of first semester
 
Counterstrike and Super Smash Bros, moderate drinking, attended classes less than 10% of the time.

1.9 gpa and academic dismissal.
 
I had bio, chem, math, and english along with sociology added second semester. Met a lot of friends; I went out too much and my freshman grades prove it. I stayed above a 3.2 (phew) and am now recouping my GPA quite nicely. I decided on medical school spring semester of freshman year.
 
I'm a freshman right now...
Gen Chem and lab
Weapons of mass destruction
Precal
freshman enlgish
Next semester
orgo 1
calc
and some other classes...not sure on what:)
 
Sir Buckethead said:
Counterstrike and Super Smash Bros, moderate drinking, attended classes less than 10% of the time.

1.9 gpa and academic dismissal.
Click to expand...

Sorry this made me LOL..I thought you were gonna say all that and you got a 4.0.

Got a 3.84 frosh year. To be honest, I deserved better. Oh well. Life isn't fair.
 
lol sorry. I am not one of those mythical students that does nothing and aces everything. I honestly dont believe they really exist. People just like to pretend they are smart slackers.
 
a mix of supersmash brothers, halo, meeting new people, and the occasional moment of "holy ****, I'm actually in college." I think i joined like 17 groups first week...i got so much spam I had to open up a new email account. Didn't do too badly in school. A pretty good year I must say. Had really really cool roommates.
 
I am in my freshmen year right now I have Bio, Chem, Algebra/trig, English compostition
24-30 hours a week job
starting volunteering at the nursing home friday.
So far only my chem grade suxs
 
My freshman yr being a doctor nowhere near my mind!!!... English, Math, Writing.... Miserably withdrew from every class. I wasted my life, I was EXTREMELY In mature (I graduated about 1.5 yrs before I was supposed to). Received thousands of dollars in loans and financial aid which either went towards my stupid car, friends, girls, or even farther down the drain!!!!....Yes ppl, I've come a VERY LOOOOOONG WAY!!!!!....;)

Sophomore yr switched schools got a job worked too much, started taking online and campus classes in Mechanical Engineering then decided to stop playing games and stay towards the medical path...
 
Congrats to all you guys that were able to turn it around! Still, I must say that super smash bros is an honorable pursuit.

My freshman schedule (I'm a sophomore now) was:
Fall - Gen Bio I, Gen Chem I, Calc I, English, 1-credit joke class
Spring - Gen Bio II, Gen Chem II, Calc II, History, Microecon

Dean's list, two honor societies.

Joined premed society, and another premed club for minorities... both of which I've discontinued because the 2-3 hours a week + ~$30 in dues are a waste. I can get all the volunteering/research/etc opportunities on my own, and I can get more information regarding medicine and the admission process from SDN than I ever got from those clubs.

Way too much studying... I should've gone out and made more friends, but I did very well and I guess it's better to do well and regret not going out more than doing poorly and wishing I'd studied more. I'm making up for it this year though by making sure to relax more often and making more friends.
 
GoldShadow said:
Congrats to all you guys that were able to turn it around! Still, I must say that super smash bros is an honorable pursuit.

My freshman schedule (I'm a sophomore now) was:
Fall - Gen Bio I, Gen Chem I, Calc I, English, 1-credit joke class
Spring - Gen Bio II, Gen Chem II, Calc II, History, Microecon

Dean's list, two honor societies.

Joined premed society, and another premed club for minorities... both of which I've discontinued because the 2-3 hours a week + ~$30 in dues are a waste. I can get all the volunteering/research/etc opportunities on my own, and I can get more information regarding medicine and the admission process from SDN than I ever got from those clubs.

Way too much studying... I should've gone out and made more friends, but I did very well and I guess it's better to do well and regret not going out more than doing poorly and wishing I'd studied more. I'm making up for it this year though by making sure to relax more often and making more friends.
Click to expand...



I like your thinking, I am in my freshmen year... I doing fairly well, not great considering the amount a study. I have friends from my highshcool here so we hang out they study considerablly less than I do, and we all share the the same level of social... the only difference is 8am-10pm I cant be found either I am in the lib or in class. And after 10am I am chilling with them while they attempt their hw they put off well into the night.

Trig exam- 10 questions I freak out during test, hopefully I get an A (study)
Chem exam- 2 weeks...study hard this week and next..
Anthro- eh...I have a 90
English not an easy A- A paper due every week and a big paper due every two weeks.


Freshmen yr isnt turning out to be the blurry intoxicated year I thought it would be...for each his own.


Dr. Dini Biology class is what I am really worried about.
 
I spent it at CC getting pre-reqs done for nursing school. Ended up with like a 3.2 or something without even trying. I mean that literally, no studyhing at all outside of class.
 
1st semester: Principles of Econ, Spanish II, Japanese I, Astronomy. GPA: 3.08.:sleep:

2nd semester: Principles of Art (graduation requirement), Japanese II, Statistics, International Politics. GPA: 3.35.:sleep:

Worked 10 hours a week on campus, had a volunteer job (3 hours a week) in the first semester and also volunteered for a Senate reelection campaign, not sure what I did in my 2nd anymore. I didn't have a "horrible" freshman year, but I didn't enjoy it, either - likely because I hate Econ, which was the major my parents had pressured me into.
 
I learned:
1. I didn't need to study nearly as much as I thought (this has changed since I started med school)
2. Making nice with the computer-geeks means someone will fix your computer for free when it breaks
3. Boys really are that immature
4. How to take a negative life experience and find the good
5. Life isn't fair

I also spent time avoiding my schizophrenic roommate, made friends with the kids who did NOT get hammered in their dorm rooms, and napped in weird places all over campus.

Oh, one more thing, 8:30am class M-F...all year...for 2 years. :(
 
Abilene85 said:
I learned:
1. I didn’t need to study nearly as much as I thought (this has changed since I started med school)
2. Making nice with the computer-geeks means someone will fix your computer for free when it breaks
3. Boys really are that immature
4. How to take a negative life experience and find the good
5. Life isn’t fair
Click to expand...
6. Sometimes, above average intelligence, interest in comics, and exceptional computer skills go hand-in-hand with subpar personal hygiene.
 
I learned:
1. I didn’t need to study nearly as much as I thought
2. Making nice with the computer-geeks means someone will fix your computer for free when it breaks
3. Girls really are that immature (no, really)
4. How to take a good life experience and find the negative
5. Life isn’t fair


I also spent time as the schizophrenic roommate who did in fact make friends with the kids who did NOT get hammered in their dorm rooms, and napped in weird places all over campus, including a bay window of a classroom and inside a cubicle.

the sad thing is that this is all true. :oops:
 
Abilene85 said:
Oh, one more thing, 8:30am class M-F...all year...for 2 years. :(
Click to expand...
Ouch. :( I've managed to almost always get Friday off and no classes before 11am. That changed this year though.
 
Calc 3, Differential EQ/Linear Algebra, Gen Chem 1+2, Computer Science, English, Physics, Basic Engineering Intro Class


Meh overall
 
1st Semester:
Gen Chem I - A
Zoology - A
Intro to nursing (I thought I wanted to be a nurse...:thumbdown:) - A
Gen Ed - A
Gen Ed - A
Gen Ed - A

2nd Semester:
Physics I - B
Gen Chem II - B
Comp. Vert. Anatomy - B
Calc I (I LOVE CALCULUS!!!!!:biglove:) - A

I couldn't handle the second semester. My 4.0=>3.72:oops:. YUCK! I'm still trying to recover.

**NOTE: I had 22 credits coming in to my fresh. So, technically, the 2nd semester was the 2nd semester of my sophomore year. wow..I know that's confusing. Sorry.
 
xpinchx said:
Ouch. :( I've managed to almost always get Friday off and no classes before 11am. That changed this year though.
Click to expand...

Yeah so I'm guessing you would hate my two M-Th 7am classes right? ..lol... On top of that my school is about 35 minutes away....:(

So I have to wake up 5:45am get to class before 7am and get to work by 8am (Yes 40+ hrs) Get out at 4:50pm and immediately start a class at 5pm till who knows when.........:sleep:
 
Freshman year i learned the following:

1. There will be a line at the cafeteria when you need to eat quickly.

2. Sometimes food is more important than class. (related to ^)

3. 8 am class should read.. "class you will be unexcusably late for more times than you can imagine".

4. It is all BS. Play the game.

5. Online homework in the sciences must be listed as a form of torture somewhere.

6. Not having online homework answers be correct (therefore being wrong when you are right) is not only cruel but helped reaffirm number 4.

7. Beer. It's not just for breakfast anymore. (Saw that somewhere, but it's applicable)

8.Do not side against women in a class taught by an overweight female feminist professor.

9. Wondering if your druggie roommate's friends are going to od on the floor of your room while your trying to study chemistry is not a fun situation to be in.

10. Messing with druggie roommate's friends is a fun situation to be in.


That is all.
 
TimeResonance said:
10. Messing with druggie roommate's friends is a fun situation to be in.
Click to expand...
This man speaks the truth. I did not have such a roommate, but one of my friends did... it was fun. :thumbup:
 
Did Gen Chem1, Zoology, Biology, English and Drama. Ended up with a 2.2 or somewhere around those lines.

The ironic thing now is that I party more, and I have a muchy higher GPA this semester. Probably around a 3.2-3.8 depending on how well I do in Calculus 2 and O-Chem. And I'm really begining to regret taking O-Chem at Berkeley.
 
Seemingly ENDLESS, easier than I expected.

Attended classes as a dual-enrollee in the spring and then took a 17hr course load over the summer, but they didn't consider me a freshman until this fall for scholarship purposes. :confused:

Course load this semester: chem II, phys I, finite math, programming course, Eng II, Spanish III -- I had thought that it might be too much, that I'd probably wind up dropping something, but I'm doing well.

Next semester: phys II, ochem, psych, calc, programming, art history, maybe one more

Things I've learned, so far -


1. Over study at the beginning of the semester. The first test or exam is important because you learn the profs' testing styles. After that, you can significantly reduce efforts, focusing on what's most important. It's easier to start strong than to come from behind.

2. If you actually bother to learn the material as you go, a do light reviews now and then, you can enjoy a relaxing week and weekend before exams while everyone else is getting a little tense and complaining.

3. Get an early start on long term assignments. Work on them a bit at a time. Turn them in early, if you are allowed. Otherwise, you'll get sick as heck with whatever is going around, your computer will freeze, your pen drive will vanish, the printer will be out of order - the system KNOWS when you are in panic mode. It WILL break down.

4. If there is extra credit - do it, even if you don't think you need it. You never know if it will come in handy.

5. Take initiative. If you're told something can't be done, it may only be that particular employee doesn't have the authority. Find out who does, and state your case respectfully. Sometimes they enjoy having the authority to make good things happen. The 'impossible' can happen.

6. Remember to say thank you. Let them know it worked out well.

7. Do practice problems. Don't just memorize steps. Understand the formula. Solution manuals are great learning tools. Buy them.

8. Take a light load the first semester. You can take heavier ones after you've acclimated.

9. There will ALWAYS be at least two classes that you really want, or really need, that have time conflicts. Which leads to ....

10. No matter how well I plan, I will probably always wind up having to take an 8AM class, and/or an evening lab, and/or at least one Friday class.

11. Most important of all - Believe RateMyProfessor. If almost everyone says an instructor is an impossible jerk, chances are s/he is. Those one or two glowing reports were probably written by the poor instructors, themselves.

12. Never take yourself too seriously. Know how to laugh at yourself. Know how to relax.

Last of all, #9+#10=probably eventually getting stuck w/at least 1 of #11, thereby zapping a 4.0. Realize that nobody else is ever really going to care about that, and neither should you. Just roll with it.

You guys already covered most of the light-hearted, interesting stuff. So, I covered my dull, but practical lessons.

Oh, two other major lessons -
Try to schedule chem lab last. Some days you will leave the lab permeated with eau de experiment du jour.

Caffeine IS an essential food group.
 
Let's see:

A) Had an inferiority complex coming from a small town's crappy high school so I gunned to get a high grade to compete with the big city kids with all their AP who thought the intro classes were "so much review" (They tended to bomb)

B) Toughed out a long distance relationship. (still together)

C) Played a lot of videogames.
 
HumidBeing said:
Seemingly ENDLESS, easier than I expected.

Attended classes as a dual-enrollee in the spring and then took a 17hr course load over the summer, but they didn't consider me a freshman until this fall for scholarship purposes. :confused:

Course load this semester: chem II, phys I, finite math, programming course, Eng II, Spanish III -- I had thought that it might be too much, that I'd probably wind up dropping something, but I'm doing well.

Next semester: phys II, ochem, psych, calc, programming, art history, maybe one more

Things I've learned, so far -


1. Over study at the beginning of the semester. The first test or exam is important because you learn the profs' testing styles. After that, you can significantly reduce efforts, focusing on what's most important. It's easier to start strong than to come from behind.

2. If you actually bother to learn the material as you go, a do light reviews now and then, you can enjoy a relaxing week and weekend before exams while everyone else is getting a little tense and complaining.

3. Get an early start on long term assignments. Work on them a bit at a time. Turn them in early, if you are allowed. Otherwise, you'll get sick as heck with whatever is going around, your computer will freeze, your pen drive will vanish, the printer will be out of order - the system KNOWS when you are in panic mode. It WILL break down.

4. If there is extra credit - do it, even if you don't think you need it. You never know if it will come in handy.

5. Take initiative. If you're told something can't be done, it may only be that particular employee doesn't have the authority. Find out who does, and state your case respectfully. Sometimes they enjoy having the authority to make good things happen. The 'impossible' can happen.

6. Remember to say thank you. Let them know it worked out well.

7. Do practice problems. Don't just memorize steps. Understand the formula. Solution manuals are great learning tools. Buy them.

8. Take a light load the first semester. You can take heavier ones after you've acclimated.

9. There will ALWAYS be at least two classes that you really want, or really need, that have time conflicts. Which leads to ....

10. No matter how well I plan, I will probably always wind up having to take an 8AM class, and/or an evening lab, and/or at least one Friday class.

11. Most important of all - Believe RateMyProfessor. If almost everyone says an instructor is an impossible jerk, chances are s/he is. Those one or two glowing reports were probably written by the poor instructors, themselves.

12. Never take yourself too seriously. Know how to laugh at yourself. Know how to relax.

Last of all, #9+#10=probably eventually getting stuck w/at least 1 of #11, thereby zapping a 4.0. Realize that nobody else is ever really going to care about that, and neither should you. Just roll with it.

You guys already covered most of the light-hearted, interesting stuff. So, I covered my dull, but practical lessons.

Oh, two other major lessons -
Try to schedule chem lab last. Some days you will leave the lab permeated with eau de experiment du jour.

Caffeine IS an essential food group.
Click to expand...
So true. So true.
 
Congrats to all you guys that were able to turn it around! Still, I must say that super smash bros is an honorable pursuit.
Click to expand...

Not melee though, it's gotta be the original 64 version. The gameplay and tight controls just cant be beat. Melee felt so sloppy in comparison.
 
HumidBeing said:
1. Over study at the beginning of the semester. The first test or exam is important because you learn the profs' testing styles. After that, you can significantly reduce efforts, focusing on what's most important. It's easier to start strong than to come from behind.

3. Get an early start on long term assignments...
Click to expand...
While all HumidBeing's tips were great advice, I think these two are among the most important! Doing well at the beginning of a class (ie after first test) is a great confidence boost as well. And #3... just do it. No ifs, ands, buts, just do long term assignments ahead of time. Will make your life so much easier.

Sir Buckethead said:
Not melee though, it's gotta be the original 64 version. The gameplay and tight controls just cant be beat. Melee felt so sloppy in comparison.
Click to expand...
Ah you think so? I like melee much better, I felt it was a lot more fluid and fast paced. SSBM is among my top 3 favorite games of all time!
 
I was an elementary/special education major in the honors program at my school. After one BS education class during my second semester, I began questioning my major and started to think that I wanted to change it to something else and minor in Spanish. Then I had an emergency cholecystectomy 5 days before my first final exam during the second semester, which was a little rough.
 
java programming, calc based physics, calculus I, intro to engineering (comp sci / electrical engineering major - loved it)

financial accounting, macroeconomics, business statistics, modern world governments, leadership discussion class, and a class on diseases. (accounting major)

aka 99% of stuff i hated, never went to class, never studied, and had a crappy GPA :)
 
HumidBeing said:
Seemingly ENDLESS, easier than I expected.

Attended classes as a dual-enrollee in the spring and then took a 17hr course load over the summer, but they didn't consider me a freshman until this fall for scholarship purposes. :confused:

Course load this semester: chem II, phys I, finite math, programming course, Eng II, Spanish III -- I had thought that it might be too much, that I'd probably wind up dropping something, but I'm doing well.

Next semester: phys II, ochem, psych, calc, programming, art history, maybe one more

Things I've learned, so far -


1. Over study at the beginning of the semester. The first test or exam is important because you learn the profs' testing styles. After that, you can significantly reduce efforts, focusing on what's most important. It's easier to start strong than to come from behind.

2. If you actually bother to learn the material as you go, a do light reviews now and then, you can enjoy a relaxing week and weekend before exams while everyone else is getting a little tense and complaining.

3. Get an early start on long term assignments. Work on them a bit at a time. Turn them in early, if you are allowed. Otherwise, you'll get sick as heck with whatever is going around, your computer will freeze, your pen drive will vanish, the printer will be out of order - the system KNOWS when you are in panic mode. It WILL break down.

4. If there is extra credit - do it, even if you don't think you need it. You never know if it will come in handy.

5. Take initiative. If you're told something can't be done, it may only be that particular employee doesn't have the authority. Find out who does, and state your case respectfully. Sometimes they enjoy having the authority to make good things happen. The 'impossible' can happen.

6. Remember to say thank you. Let them know it worked out well.

7. Do practice problems. Don't just memorize steps. Understand the formula. Solution manuals are great learning tools. Buy them.

8. Take a light load the first semester. You can take heavier ones after you've acclimated.

9. There will ALWAYS be at least two classes that you really want, or really need, that have time conflicts. Which leads to ....

10. No matter how well I plan, I will probably always wind up having to take an 8AM class, and/or an evening lab, and/or at least one Friday class.

11. Most important of all - Believe RateMyProfessor. If almost everyone says an instructor is an impossible jerk, chances are s/he is. Those one or two glowing reports were probably written by the poor instructors, themselves.

12. Never take yourself too seriously. Know how to laugh at yourself. Know how to relax.

Last of all, #9+#10=probably eventually getting stuck w/at least 1 of #11, thereby zapping a 4.0. Realize that nobody else is ever really going to care about that, and neither should you. Just roll with it.

You guys already covered most of the light-hearted, interesting stuff. So, I covered my dull, but practical lessons.

Oh, two other major lessons -
Try to schedule chem lab last. Some days you will leave the lab permeated with eau de experiment du jour.

Caffeine IS an essential food group.
Click to expand...



Intresting, A book I read and practice its' applications concerning undergrad years is "How to Become a Striaght A Student" By Cal Newport offers tons of advice similar to yours.


All need is advice how to curve my SDN additcion.
 
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