Beef with University Stuff

So I was beginning to write this blog yesterday, but then my computer crashed on me, and then I went to this seminar I talked about in yesterday’s blog, and I decided to write about instead. Then I am eating dinner tonight, look at yesterday’s newspaper, and there is an article written about what I was going to write about. But I’ll put my views to it myself.

So it’s middle of June now, and it’s the time of the year when High school ends, a whole herd of crazed High school students are let out of school, and some of those are out for good. So the topic is about graduation from High school. This is the time of the year when students accept/reject University/College offers. The pressure is so deep, I remember when I was anxiously waiting for my letters in the mail, thinking, “Big Envelopes are good, they mean it includes packages like course books and stuff.” It was such a stressful time for me, and when I finally got the first letter, a little bit of weight was let off my shoulders. But still, the ONE I really wanted still did not come, and I knew it usually came late, but still I was nervous.

Then came June, and the letter finally came. It was a normal sized letter, enough for one sheet folded to be inside. That was not a good sign. So I opened it, and I was happy to see that I was accepted to University of Toronto for Electrical Engineering. I had been to the campus, know about it, know what’s ahead for me there, knew my future was to be there. I thanked God for what He gave me.

So here is my beef. The University acceptance wait is such a difficult time, and stress builds enormously (at least in my case). So I know some people who actually know what they want, know where they want to go, but yet, have never visited this University before. I knew some people who either wanted to go to Queens or accepted Queens, but never even went to Kingston before. Have no idea what the University is like. I think this is so dumb. I mean your gonna spend the next 4 years of your life there, don’t you think you should see where that place is?

I don’t think some people understand what it’s like to go away from home and not be able to see your parents for long periods of time. I have this friend, we’ll call her k1, that I’ve known for a long time. Throughout her whole life she wanted to get away from home. As far as she could go. She wanted out of the house and away from her parents. Everytime I talked to her, and if she tells me about her relationship with her parents, I always tell he to you know, try to talk with them, and deal with the situation. So anyways, she ends up going to, we’ll call the University U1. She lives in residence there, and then a few months pass, I talk to her again while she is at res, and she tells me how much she misses home and her parents. So I decided I’d rub it in her face a little, reminding her of what she used to think. I was shocked myself of her saying this. So for all you out there who are moving away, you’ll miss home I tell you.

I think University is overrated. I mean it’s basically them taking money and giving you a degree. It’s a lot of hard work, and time, with many (not all) professors who don’t care about you. I mean what do we do in University. Many people sleep more, especially if you live in residence. Some of us go to the lectures, and even then some people there sleep. Many people in the lectures don’t understand they the professor is talking about, I fall into most of the above categories but sleep more. But you know, the material they teach in the lecture is not understandable a lot of the times. So that is wasted time. So I have to end up reading the textbook over and over until I understand what they are trying to say.

What pisses me off most are some tests/exams. I was in one of my exams last April, and I went through the exam, looking at it, was thinking to myself, “Am I in the right exam?” Some exams are like written either so obscurely, or about stuff you are not studying for. It’s like they (profs) purposely ask questions you don’t know. It’s like, this is not a test about the material. That really pisses me off. But I had no time to be pissed off, had to study for the next one, which was next day. I still did poorly on both.

The one thing you should expect when going to University is to not expect to be “on top of class” (if you were before) when you get there. By this I don’t just mean marks. I was talking to a friend about a month ago, let’s call her a2. So a2 is in art at U2 University. She was one of the best artists back in high school, she liked it a lot, and it was where her dreams lied. So then she went off to U2 and suddenly there are like tons of people with the same talent as she, an even better, and she feels inferior. So I was telling her, of course there are going to be people with same skills and gifts as you. I mean you enroll in a program that is in art, of course they all have talents. And you should not go in thinking your going to be great there, because, you should always think, there is always someone better than you. Otherwise, no improvement. So for those of you out there, not to discredit your achievements, but you know, whatever you enroll in, everybody else wants to be there too. They all have reasons for being there, mostly because of marks and desire. So they all have probably many talents you do too that got you where you are. Everyone deal with it.

Oh, the last beef I have is what people accept. Many people accept offers and go to programs because they can get in. I know for Engineering, that is the case for many people. I’d say Engineering is on of harder programs to get into, in general. And some people with good marks, they think, wow, I worked so hard to get these great marks, so I better use it to my advantage, and apply to this program that requires a high acceptance mark. I think that’s totally the wrong attitude. I’ve talked to many students in Engineering, and I know that is the case, that that go into it because they can. That is especially true in the Engineering Science program at UT. I mean perfect example, anybody every watch Felicity on tv? Well, to put a long story short, this girl goes off to University, an she wants medicine, she get’s into pre-med I think. Then she finds out, her true love is in Art. So decided while already in school, to switch. So everybody out there, do what you want, not what you can get into.

Alright, that’s it for now. I think to myself now it’s nothing like the article I read in the newspaper. So I’ll write about that tomorrow.

Currents Events Today: (Source; Yahoo News and Toronto Star)

- Billy Joel enters rehab
- Evacuation at the White House because a plane flew too close to the building.
- Economy Roaring ahead, says Manley. Canada’s economy has rebounded from last years.