The Reality of College

Tonight I just joined a worshop hosted by AOP. It was discussed about the reality of the college by a chemistry professor who has taught more than 30 years in Union. I know him through serval converstions during my work-study. The followings are the points he had mentioned in the workshop, and he thought are very important for each college student to know! So I think it may be helpful to share with those students who are preparing to go to college.

1. College is a job. People work about 40 hours per week for jobs. (Yes, it is a job. You get to do all the duties you need for the class. Rember what you miss is what you miss. You get to do your things.)

2. College used to be like drinking from a fire hose. Now, it is like drinking from several fire hoses.

3. Colleges often try to recognize different "learning styles." The real world does not. (He means the professors will use different techniques or tools to teach the class, even you may not like it. But you just have to learn how to deal with it. It is life. In the real world, you may not have the choice to do the thing you like. So college is the time to learn different styles and get used to it.)

4. Teamwork! (He means that the work may be complex in college. So we have to learn how to work with other people. Also when you turn to the real world, you have to know how to work with each other, because a lot of time the things can not be done by one person. It is neccessary to get the help from other people. So teamwork plays very important role.)

5. Never avoid an opportunity to improve your writing skills. (He mentioned that how important is the writing skill in his career as professor. He remembered when he was doing Ph.D, he let his advisor check his thesis paper, which he thought was very good. But it turned out that his advisor did not understand what was his paper about, because some points or knowledge he thought his advisor knew, which made his paper uncleared. His experience told us that even as a scientist, who still needs to have the writing skill and to be able to express the ideas clearly. Also, he mentioned this happens to every career, you will have to write for somebody. When my friend asked him what is best way to improve writing skill, he suggested to take the classes that are intense in writing.)

6. Never avoid an oppotunity to improve your speaking skill. (This point is kind of realated to point #5, he emerged us the importance to learn how to communicate with other people. He is glad that these years Union has improved to provide many opportunities for students to practice their speaking skill, such as doing the presentaiton in American Chemical Society. This skill also has related to our future career. Be able to present your ideas!)

7. Do a senior research thesis. If possible, so an undergraduate research project. (This point touches my heart. It is my passion to do research, because I believe it is the way to learn the knowledge. This also proved in his speaking. He believed it is the way to take the experience outside of the classroom, and it is independent hand-by-hand experience, which tests your ideas and creative. It is like you take the knowldge from books or lecture, then you practice to create your own 'world' that belong to you. I also asked him when it is the best time to look for research. He answered probably after Sophermore year, because you have to get some basic knowlege about the principles. There are many research programs in the campus during the summer. He suggested me to look the board that outside the science departaments for the imformation. Also he said I can go to see what the researches that other professors are doing during the school. I can go to get the permission from the professors to get into his/her lab if I interest it. I think it is great advice."

8. Some lectures are confusing (that's bad). Some lectures are clear (that could be worse). Review, review, review after very class! This is especially true for science classes. (This is the important point, which is about the study skill and involves how to be successful in college. He suggested the students to review the classnotes and lectures after the class as soon as possible. He provided several cases that happened few times over his teaching career. He said that the students seemed to understand the lectures or follow the lectures in class, but what the consequences were they messed up the test. He believed that the problem is that those students did not go over the notes after the class. Even they understood during the class, but that message will disappear if they do not review the not, and write down what that is. That idea or understanding is not going to stay in the mind for long time. He suggested that to write down the things that you understand with, then you will remember forever. Also it saves your time while you are preparing the test, because you have whole bunch of the notes there. Also you have that ideas. He also mentioned why many professors at Union do the review section, which the students will bring some questions to the studying room before the test, he said that they are willing to help the students and students get the reason to study before the test. So he encourages students to go to offiece hourse, and get the answers for the questions as soon as possible, because he said that professors at Union are like to teach and help students. So students should take advantage of all the resources around the campus.)

9. Study aggressively not passively. WRITW! (What he means is that education is not just about following the things on the text. You have to be able to reproduce, in other words is to be your own things. While studying or learning, you should ask yourself "how can I do with these knowldge or how can I use these ideas in the other areas?" It is not enough just understanding or knowing the concept, because it is not about the education. Writing down all possible ideas that you have while studying. That is going to help you in your studying.)

10. The cost of going to a college like Union is mind numbering. Make sure that you get your money's worth. (This is main point of this workshop, which is to warn the students to get as much things as you can during the school years. As you know that attending the private college is very expensive, the tuition is about 46 thousands per year. That is hugh amount of money that we pay for our education. Actually, he said the education worthed more than that, because college is like 'real' world, in which students get experiences and prepare their life. It is not about how we can measure with money, but with your heart. He also mentioned that how faculty members have meeting to discuss about how to make students learn or study more. At first, they think to collect homework regularly, or give more quizes and tests. But what they come out with to do none of them, because they believe it is students' responsibility to take care of their educaiton. We must learn how to be independent and reponse to our learning. What you get is what you get, what you do is what the result is. Think before act. It is all about how you want to do with your life. Again, take responsibility for your OWN EDUCATION.)

Hope these notes from the workshop could provide you good ideas about what is going on in the college. Be more awared of it. It will come to you soon!