Coming in my freshman year I was really nervous about taking a college level computer science class. But my first semester, I lucked out with an awesome professor who re-designed the intro course and was trying it out for the first time when I took it. When second semester came around, it was on to the big leagues in the second level computer science class. My class was significantly bigger, the new professor had more students to keep track of and he was a lot more strict on both deadlines and excuses.I started out not doing so well in the class and even failed my first test in college which came as a pretty big shock. I then realized I couldn’t just rely on lecture notes to comprehend the new material and had to turn to outside resources, online books, office hours, and study groups. But, after all the chapters I read, hours spent coding with my awesome study group (all productive of course), and thousands of lines of code later, I made it out with an A (!!!!) and was super prepared for my CS class this semester.
As for my favorite class, it would have to be one of my General Education classes. I nicknamed this class my “monkey” class because we leaned about all the features and behaviors of gorillas, chimpanzees, lemurs, and even pygmy marmosets (which are the cutest little creatures ever!!!).
Learning about these (secretly vicious) pygmy marmosets was probably my favorite part of the class! 🙂
I had a very shallow knowledge about the “Origins of Humanity” compared to what I know now, and would have never even considered taking it if we didn’t have general education requirements. I learned everything there is to know about how humans have evolved and a complete description of every type of primate that has been discovered between the original quadrupeds and current human race. My professor had a true love for the subject, spent summers and breaks following around chimpanzees in Africa and parts of East Asia, and taught us in an interesting way. I really liked learning about something completely new and increasing my vocabulary ten-fold. Not to mention how awesome it was to learn from a professor who teaches because he is truly passionate about the subject. Taking this class has broadened my horizons and my knowledge about the world in a subject completely unrelated to my major and I’m so lucky to have gotten the chance to take it.
