Month: April 2011

I just wanted to give a quick update from my last post. I’ve gotten a job at Anthropologie – (Yay!) they have such nice clothes! But the thing is, I’m a little worried about working there because I’ve never worked retail before. I’m not anxious about interacting with customers, but I’ve never used a cash register before (and I’m terrible at math).

PS. I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

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So… I have officially finished my first year of University. On Friday, I finished my last exam (all my exams were in the same week.) YAAHH!!!

In other news, what the heck am I going to do until school starts in September? Since I’m not taking any summer courses, I basically don’t have anything to do. If I don’t have anything to occupy my time I’m probably going to go crazy. I really need to get a job, but I don’t know where to apply.

If you’d like to catch up with me, you can check out my Flickr, or through the comments on this blog.

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PS. If anyone has heard about job openings I would love you forever.

This year I chose to enter the New Media CAP stream at UBC. If anyone reading this is thinking about entering this program (or any like it) from high school next year, these are my personal opinions about the program.

OK, first of all what the heck is CAP? The coordinated arts program at UBC is a first year option where students interested in a certain area of study choose a standardized timetable customized for the entire year. Basically, students choose a theme that is offered that year. Then, students get a standardized timetable for the entire year (but you can choose your electives.) This timetable will be customized to the theme that was chosen – for example, the courses, coursework, readings, and lectures will all focus on that material. For me, Since I had chosen New Media, the courses that were given included Journalism and Visual Arts, the coursework focused on the impact of new media and technology, and the professors all tailored their lectures to this idea.

Pros: What are the benefits to this program?

1. All of the courses have the same people in your stream. This means that you will get to know the 100 people in your stream very well.
2. You get a study room just for CAP/CSP/Arts One/Science One students. TRUST ME. This was the most useful thing the entire year. When exam time comes around and people are jockeying for seats in Ike, you’ll be glad this room is reserved. I studied there every single day for the entire year.
3. The classes are small. Compared to other classes which can have 300 students in one lecture hall, this was really nice. It also felt like the professors cared about their students, which is nice.
4. It is a nice transition from high school because you get to know everyone, and the class schedule is made for you. If you are at all worried about being overwhelmed in Uni, I would recommend something like this. One of the most stressful things is signing up for courses, so this really alleviates some of that stress.
5. Some other programs that are similar to this would be the Coordinated Science Program (CSP), Arts One, and Science One. The science programs would be worth looking into if you are thinking about this type of program but were thinking of entering into Sciences.

Cons: There are some downsides to this program.

1. All the courses have the same people in them. Although this can be a good thing, it also makes it difficult to meet people outside the course. This is especially true because I don’t live on campus and don’t have a chance to meet people in residence.
2. Sometimes the material can get repetitious. Because all of the professors are teaching about the same material, there can be some overlap between courses.
3. If you don’t like a course, you can’t drop it. Since the courses are standardized, dropping one course would mean you’d have to drop all of them. So you’re stuck with all the courses even if you don’t like them.

This doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy this program, I did! It’s just that with everything, there are downsides to this program. I would recommend it to high school students who don’t really know what they want to do in University, but generally know what they are interested in. If you are unsure of some of my points, or have questions about this program, the UBC CAP website is a good place to start.

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I can hardly believe that there is only a week left of school – it seems like I was starting classes yesterday! I guess that studying makes time go more quickly than you think, but at the time it seems like time is standing still.

This year, I think I’ve learned a couple things that I should continue to do, and some things that  I know I should try to improve on in the future. Overall, I’ve made friends, experienced a different type of community and life in University than in high school, and tried to scrape by with a passable average.

Looking back, I know now that I definitely made the right choice by coming to UBC. At first, I was a little apprehensive because I knew I would be getting a different experience than most of my friends. While they would be going off away to school leaving behind family and friends, I decided to stay and live here. I’ll admit that going into classes and not seeing anyone that I recognized was a little daunting, but the fact that no one knew me also made it a little easier. If an old friend from high school had been in my classes with me, I know that I would have stuck to them like glue, and made little effort to get to know new people (what can I say, I’m shy.) This way, I was forced to get to know others in my classes.

Fingers crossed, I’ll be able to survive final exams.

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