A Whole New World

As an incoming freshman, entering college is like entering a whole new world. You are opening the doors towards more freedom, independence, and shorter but slightly harder classes.

In high school, teachers are always complaining about how college is nothing like high school and that you won't make it through if you don't work extra hard. However, this is not completely true. Yes, you as a student need to study and work for a well deserved grade, but high school teachers tend to exaggerate when they speak about college.

“College teachers don't care about you or how you do in their class. You have to prepare to be self-taught."

A teacher once told me just that. She repeated over and over that I needed to teach myself everything. At that point, I told myself "This is truly going to be a drag. Why am I even going to school if I am just teaching myself?" Well, it was nothing like this, and I learned this as soon as I stepped into ENC1102. I was introduced to a whole new perspective in writing and came to learn, that most professors do care.

Expectations of ENC1102

If you took ENC1101 in highschool, just like I did, you are coming with the mindset that ENC1102 is going to be the hardest class ever. You are going to think “Oh no, more essays to deal with.” However, it is nothing like that, it’s much easier in my opinion. This class mostly requires research and group assignments. Essays are definitely not top priority here. You will probably do one essay in the whole course and about 4 group assignments. In this class, working in groups is crucial and collaboration is just as important. Like I said, research is one of the things that is mostly done here. You will learn how to properly build research questions, come up with a topic of your interest, choose sources that are credible and reliable, etc. There is nothing to worry about really, it is simply easier than ENC1101 and I could say this from experience. As the semester goes by, you will become a better writer, student, and collaborator. Which in the end, are all great qualities for future academics and careers.