University: insights and expectations

Entering university is something that is experienced in a completely subjective and personal way. Nevertheless, there are elements that may disorient, partly due to not knowing what to expect. Many students fresh out of high school imagine, for instance, a different place from the one they left, where professors are teaching professionals and boring subjects do not exist. It is time, then, to shake up these expectations, while providing some insights that I hope will be helpful.

Well, even in college anything can happen in terms of the seriousness and preparation of the teaching staff. You may find the disorganized professor, the one who does not know, the one who knows but can not explain clearly, the one who writes incomprehensibly on the blackboard, the one who makes you fall asleep, the one you can not understand anything he says, the one who puts up random grades, the one who flunks you on the exam a priori, the one who never responds to emails, the one who records your exam grade after months, the one who does not even show up for the exam (much to the disappointment of students who have come from outside the province to take it), the one who is supposed to be your thesis advisor but is unavailable, the one who is supposed to be your thesis advisor but never reads anything you send her, the one who is supposed to be your thesis advisor but a month before the delivery wakes up telling you that nothing is good and you have to start over, preferably with a different topic. On the contrary, it has to be said that there are also professors who explain so well that you fall in love with their subject, who receive you in their office for four hours straight, who correct your paper down to the last comma, who deliver entire lectures without needing to read a single note, who suggest during their examination, who tell a few jokes to lighten the atmosphere, who ask students to warn them if they are going too fast or too slow, who do research in the evening to help you with your thesis, who encourage and support you in difficult moments.

Relationships with teachers aside, one of the biggest struggles in my university experience was dealing with the first exams. This was mainly because, coming from secondary school, I was used to being told the topic of a test, studying only what was required. In the faculty of mathematics at Udine, it certainly did not work that way. I was doing the exercises and learning theorem statements, but I thought that, as in high school, it went no further. However, after seeing professors formulating questions about the simplest example covered at the beginning of the course as well as the most complex detail of the last proof seen in class, I realized that anything could be asked during an exam. My advice, therefore, is to know what is expected of you. To do this, one way is to talk directly to the lecturers, another is to interact with older students, asking them to pass you texts from previous years and investigating how orals are conducted (each examiner has his or her own style and expects different things), so that you can plan your preparation for an exam in a targeted way. In addition, something I learned to do over time was to collect all my doubts about the program done in class and go to the professor in person for clarification. This allowed me not only to understand and thus remember the material more easily, but also to get to know the professor one-on-one, making me feel more comfortable on the day of the oral.

Another aspect that should be emphasized is the weight of an hour of a college class, which in my opinion is equivalent to three hours of high school class. Hence, starting to study right away, from the first day of college, leaving nothing behind, is a very good idea. The temptation to wait to prepare for an exam is almost irresistible, the time available seems to be infinite, while the truth is that the number of notions to be assimilated and their difficulty could get those who take it too slowly into trouble.

Speaking of time on hand, there are those who manage to accurately and neatly recopy at home all the notes taken in class, but this is generally a very time-consuming process. Many opt to record the audio of each lecture, leaving spaces in their notes at the less clear points, so that they can be retrieved later thanks to the recording. There are also those who supplement this practice by taking pictures of the blackboard with their cell phones.

The mindset to be adopted is therefore very different from high school. My view is that we enter college to become professionals in a certain field. As such, every concept, every example counts. If we can conveniently print out the professor’s notes, it does not mean we have to limit ourselves solely to those. We can also borrow books to delve deeper into an aspect or probe the Internet to elucidate some passage. Of course, we do not have to go crazy, maintaining a balance with extracurricular activities is important, however, let us not fossilize on what is given to us in the classroom. The goal, in my opinion, is not just to pass the exam or get top grades, but to do one’s best to increase one’s professionalism in the field.

Changing faculty is also a normal thing to do. It is of course helpful to know where you want to go, yet, knowledge needs action. There are people who have changed from mathematics to engineering, from biotechnology to physical therapy, from law to enology. If you have started a degree path that at some point you feel is no longer yours, I am sure you are doing all the thinking, wondering whether to continue, change, or leave. Know that you are not alone, that the emotions you are feeling and the situation you are living are perfectly normal.

Finally, if you have a dream and there is a college path that can help you achieve it, do not let any concerns about your current education hold you back. A former classmate of mine came from classical high school, another from eight years of factory work (even starting the first semester a few months late), yet they both became excellent mathematicians. In case you have any doubts, know that university courses are usually open to the public. If you would like to get a more concrete idea of how a particular faculty works, go ahead and consider taking some live classes, experiencing it firsthand.

In conclusion, as with any area of life, the college experience is not all sunshine and roses. Nonetheless, it offers a valuable path to growth, which I hope you can now approach with some extra awareness and realism.

Emanuele