02/13: Expectation v.s. Reality

Two weeks into school already! Seriously, where does the time go?

As a nod to research methods, I am going to do a self-report measure and create a baseline for my first year at UBC—a pre-survey of sorts. It’s a bit long (clearly I talk too much, even when I’m not, err, talking) but I’m going presume that at some point to some person, this will become useful when trying to figure out what to expect from these courses—even if that person is me, at the end of this semester, crying into a carton of ice cream, mumbling “If only I knew!!”.

Just kidding. That’s horribly negative.

So, without further ado, first edition of Expectation vs Reality:

Let’s start with the event that kicked it all off…

Imagine Day

Expectations: I’d heard a lot of things about imagine day before actually going to imagine day—mostly from my jaded, twenty-something 3rd and 4th year friends who claimed it was pretty much the last place they wanted to be at 10AM on September the 4th. I was forewarned: lots of naive 17 year olds, cheesy UBC optimism, school pride and rampant consumerism.

Reality: Unlike those downers, I actually love the cheesy UBC optimism and school pride. And yes, there was lots of that. If I had to choose a word to describe imagine day, it would be “surreal”. There was a lot of naive 17 years olds and rampant consumerism, yes (although I never gave the latter any thought until it was brought to my attention later), but the one thing I loved the most was the school and faculty pride. The pep rally was so much fun (nothing like yelling your faculty cheer while wearing war paint in your faculty’s colors and waving your faculty’s towel! – see here if that last part totally lost you.) The speeches could have had a bit more depth. The whole experience was just fascinating, really. Pep rallies? Sororities? Fraternities? Sports Mascots? Cheerleaders? These things actually exist at a Canadian university? Indeed they do.

Some photos from Imagine Day:

My purple Arts nails for Imagine Day!

Me and my friend Sandra (also a 3rd yr transfer) with our faculty war paint. I met her in FREN 1115 on my first day of college – 2 years later we’re still friends!

Our MUG group – Squad 22 – for transfer students.

Me and Sandra at the pep rally.

MATH 184: Differential Calculus for Social Science and Commerce

Expectations: I was definitely most worried for this class, and by ‘worried’ I mean DOWNRIGHT TERRIFIED. There is one degree of separation between me and four other smart people who actually failed this class. You have to do math without a calculator and I don’t even know my multiplication tables by heart! There is a workshop where you have to WORK OUT PROBLEMS on the BLACKBOARD and get graded on your PARTICIPATION! Panic mode!!!1!

Reality: Surprise, surprise: It’s not nearly as bad as I thought it would be—so far. I won’t go as far as to say that it’s been easy, because it hasn’t been, but I think after the stressfully overwhelming experience that was the first week of CHEM 233 this past summer, I was actually underwhelmed by the amount of information I was expected to know in the first two weeks of calculus. Thank God. On the other hand, I feel like I’m being lulled into a fall sense of security because everything makes sense and I’m actually able to do the problems…

PSYC 319: Applied Developmental Psychology

Expectations: I’ll be honest: This was my “filler” class this semester. It wasn’t my first choice, mostly because it’s outside the area of psychology that I am generally interested in. I didn’t really have any great expectations for this class—mostly, I hadn’t really given it much thought at all.

Reality: It was a slow start, but we’re finally getting into the “meat” of the textbook (instead of all the preliminary stuff) and this is where it is starting to get interesting for me. The prof is funny and relatable, which is a huge bonus. All in all, an optimistic start!

PSYC 304: Brain and Behaviour (Biopsychology)

Expectations: I didn’t really know what to expect from this class, other than knowing that it was a subject I would be interested in (the more biology-based psychology classes usually are to me).

Reality: The first couple classes have totally blown me away. The prof seems well-balanced, very approachable and understanding to students, as well as conscientious and a critical thinker. As we went through the subjects that would be covered in this course, I was pretty much on the edge of my seat. All of the subjects were ones I’d read about in my own spare time, just for kicks. The first “real” class used multimedia (video clips, including one TED talk and other relevant images) in way that really enhanced the learning experience.

PSYC 300A: Behaviour Disorders

Expectations: I have always been fascinated by deviations from the norm (good or bad, and most especially concerning areas of personality) so I knew beforehand I’d automatically find this class interesting. I also vividly remember being fascinating by this area when it was covered in intro psych, way back when.

Reality: So far, my expectations have been right on. It is definitely very, very interesting. The prof is actually not a faculty professor, but an actual clinical psychologist, which is a huge plus for me. (I really like the idea of learning from someone is isn’t just taught to teach this stuff, but works with it on a daily basis!) She’s very clear about what will be on exams v.s. what won’t be when she presents her lectures and has me captivated for the entire 2.5 hours! Also, the textbook is actually a Canadian edition which, surprisingly, makes a difference in terms of how relevant the info is to Canadians (like mental health care approaches in Canada, for example.)

CHEM 235: Laboratory Techniques in Organic Chemistry

Expectations: Labs always make me nervous, even when they’re really easy. That, and CHEM 233 (The course this lab is for) was a killer. On the flip side, I’ve had many people tell me this was a fun and (comparatively) easy lab course.

Reality: We haven’t had our first lab yet, so there isn’t much to say yet. We did have our orientation, however, where I spent 5 minutes trying to figure out how a combination lock worked. (Thank god there were directions in the lab manual…) The TAs seem cool, which is important since they’ll be grading us every lab. Dana (the lab instructor) seems rather strict, but I’m not really phased by this because my last two lab instructors also had the persona of being downright terrifying, and both were actually quite helpful and friendly if you weren’t that dumbass who never came prepared and almost set yourself on fire every lab. So here’s to hoping she’s something like that!

Well, that’s a wrap. Now onto Week 3!