University life

Reflective Essay While I recognized that leaving high school for Tennessee Tech would be a truly life-changing experience, as I entered Tech and ventured through this semester I experienced tremendous development. In these regards, dealing with the emotionally challenging aspects of living on my own, while facing the challenges associated with the college curriculum challenged my intellectual capacity and I believe made me a better and stronger individual. Perhaps the most enlightening challenge was learning how to balance a college curriculum that requires students to study in large part outside of school. This essay considers my challenges in terms of the course curriculum and the ways it effected my intellectual development. One of the major elements related to my intellectual journey at Tennessee Tech University has been developing my own independence and study schedule. While in high school there was homework assigned, the majority of learning occurred inside the classroom. I found college markedly different as the classes only met a few times a week and as such the majority of learning was accomplished outside the classroom. In these regards, I was forced to utilize my extra free time outside the classroom in productive and well-structured ways. Rather than using the majority of my free time for spending time with friends or messing around on the internet, I learned to structure my day to include studying to an adequate extent. This allowed me to be successful in my classes and deal with the challenges of the college environment. Another aspect of my intellectual development at Tennessee Tech University was dealing with the actual content. While I oftentimes found my high school courses challenging, when dealing with the educational content within these college courses I recognized that it was oftentimes presented in a different way. For instance, in my Art History course, when students arrived for class they were expected to have read and to a great extent understood the various aspects of the lesson and art that were going to be analyzed. In these regards, I found that readings and assigned homework needed to be done before the class time environment. Rather than utilizing classes for learning new material, I came to understand that this was a time to deepen and elucidate my understanding of the material that I myself have researched through course assignments. The final reflective aspect of my time at college has been learning to engage with professors and instructors on a different level. While in high school teachers were oftentimes available after class, and there was much more parent/teacher interaction, in college instructors have set office hours where it’s possible to meet and discuss various course related aspects. In these regards, I learned to save lengthy discussions about the course for the professor’s office hours. This has allowed me to gain in-depth information about course aspects, and aided in my improvement of in the class itself by gaining a better perspective on what is expected of me in the course. In conclusion, my time at Tennessee Tech University has aided my intellectual development in a number of ways. This essay has demonstrated that it has influenced the way I structure my day through incorporating study time. It has shown me that the way I study needs to be altered to better augment the things covered inside the courses. Finally, I have learned how to relate to professors during office hours.