Fall 2018 was my first at UF and marked a major milestone in my academic and personal life. It was a time of adjustment and discovery, my first time on my own and my first taste of the real world. Things I had previously taken for granted, parents who would do my laundry, a structured schedule, even an individual room were no longer present and this change, and the freedom it entailed, required some time to get used to. But aside from just the basic aspects of living, from food to clothing to transport, I also had to get used to the new form of school, far different from any which I’d before experienced. Yet despite all the changes, I managed to have a successful and fulfilling semester.

Coming to college was a huge change for me, as I was immediately surrounded by thousands of my peers and largely on my own to take of myself. Being an only child who went to a small school and had very, sometimes too much, involved parents this was far different than anything I’d experienced. Doing my own laundry, getting myself to class, even getting meals independently were all new experiences, and required some time to adjust.

Beyond just the everyday aspects of life which I now had to do on my own, I was also a student and college classes were far different from those in high school. Faster paced, more independent studying and reading, and class sizes often numbering in the hundreds all marked major differences from high school. Developing the study habits to let me succeed took some time and there were some rough patches at the beginning, but utilizing the resources available to me, from office hours to extra practice problems to posted lectures, eventually led me to ending the semester with a good gpa and work of which I could be proud.

In addition to the academics typical for all students entering UF, I was selected to be a part of the University Research Scholars Program, which included me taking an introductory class on general research methods as well as meeting with a peer research mentor. The class was a fun way to learn about research happening at UF, with rotating speakers representing virtually all fields at the university. While I am not personally interested in STEM fields, hearing about the collaboration between those in the field and those in others leading to new, innovative approaches to solving problems and research in all areas was very interesting. And even those speakers whose fields I was not interested had very engrossing stories about both their path to their current position and the methods by which they not only conduct, but discover what they should research. URSP allowed me to see a wide variety of fields and research, not just conducted by faculty, but by my fellow students as well, which was exciting and made me feel more confident in my ability to participate in research in the future.

Ultimately, my first semester at UF was a time of major change but also a time of discovery. I made friends with people from entirely different backgrounds, learned to take care of myself, and adjusted to my new academic life. And the URSP program allowed me to explore the research opportunities at UF more widely and in more depth than I would have thought possible beforehand.