By: Emma Catarino
There’s no denying that, even for the smartest genius out there, first year is rough on everybody. From disturbing roommates to lecture halls that hold hundreds of students with exams worth 40% of our grades, first year is a massive adjustment from high school. Many students, myself included at one point, genuinely consider dropping out. We get stuck wondering whether any of it gets easier, or if we’ll spend all four years drowning under textbooks and high expectations.
Well, I can tell you that it does get better. No seriously, big UTM isn’t asking me to say this. As someone who used to hate pulling up to campus on the shuttle bus, I now enjoy coming to school. Please bear in mind that I am sharing my experience with you as a 4th year Biology student. Every major will look different, but I hope the general themes will remain the same.
First and most importantly, you gain more control over your courses during your upper years. Most programs will dictate what classes you must take in first and second year (This is how I got stuck taking calculus and plant biology as a hopeful pre-med student). In third and fourth year, one or two classes may be required, but the remaining 3-4 credits are entirely your choice. Despite being a small campus, UTM does have a very wide selection of courses available, which leaves you to decide whichever ones interest you best.
Truthfully, this may just apply to biology and other STEM students, but as you get further into your education, the actual amount of time you spend in class decreases. During first year, I spent 22-25 hours a week inside of classes. Whether it was hours of lecture every week, multiple tutorials, or labs that ran until 9pm, I felt like I never spent any time outside the walls of Davis or IB. As an upper year student, my classes come with fewer labs and tutorials. I now spend only 11-15 hours a week sitting in lectures. Of course, this does have its downsides. Many students enjoy labs and find them to be a nice break from their boring theoretical lectures. Nonetheless, it leaves more time for work, extracurriculars, and, most especially, sleep.
Tying into the point above, upper year classes give less weekly work to be done. As a first year, I’d have weekly assignments, quizzes, lab reports—the list goes on and on. I often found myself so busy getting everything done that it left little time to review the lecture material. In upper years, most grades are tied up in midterms, exams or just a few assignments each semester. This may seem scarier—putting all your egg-grades into one GPA-basket. However, midterms become a lot easier when you have time to actively review material instead of finishing tedious assignments.
Additionally, class sizes decrease as everyone chooses what fits their niche interests. This takes you from being one of the hundreds of nameless faces sitting in a lecture hall, to someone the professor actually recognizes and converses with. Being in a smaller class makes it easier to get participation points for raising your hand, and it makes asking questions during office hours less intimidating. Professors are more likely to be generous with extensions, or write recommendation letters, if they see that you are a student who comes to class and puts effort into learning.
Class averages are also higher in upper years. This isn’t to say that the course load is easier, or that professors are more lenient. However, they do seem to be more concerned with your success. An unwritten “goal” for the university is to cull the herd in the first and second years. This isn’t necessarily evil. Upper year classes only get more specific and niche because they train you to be knowledgeable in your field. If you don’t do well in first year, you need to either quickly identify why and make improvements, or consider entering another program that better suits you.
Being new to the university, a lot of students don’t know about on and off campus resources that can assist in learning. The ways in which you studied in high school don’t always translate to effective studying techniques in university, which is a huge learning curve for most students. For these reasons, many professors expect, or are even proud of the ~60% graded class averages in early years. However in upper years, most of those issues are fixed. Students are more willing to get clarification in office hours, they’ve made friends that can help with studying, and they’ve learned which strategies work best for them. Not to mention, it’s easier to get better grades in a specific class that interests you, rather than a general course that you are forced to take early on. This is why upper year courses often have class averages in the 70’s to early 80’s.
So rest assured, university does get better as the years go on. Everyone’s experience is different, but there is a lot to look forward to. Until then, enjoy your time by making new friends, joining clubs, and work on learning which study method works most effectively for you.