From VUW to College life ...

Almost a year ago, when I first decided to apply to Penn State, and since my acceptance I have spent hours googling University Park and re-reading course descriptions trying to imagine myself rushing between classes on the beautiful campus. This week all that came to an end and my daydreams became everyday life as I started class at Penn State !

I was definitely overwhelmed throughout the week – the campus is huge and brimming with thousands of students. I have to admit I got lost on several occasions, but the help of google maps and some very helpful Americans I managed to make it to all my classes.

There is a surprising number of differences between my university at home and college in the States. We’ll start by talking about classes.

Classes at Penn State can be scheduled anytime between eight in the morning and eight at night, making for some very very long days on campus.  Most domestic students take six or more classes a semester ( about 16 credits), however VUW will only allow me to take 12 credits abroad – which equates to four classes. 

I’m taking :

·      History 446 – American history between the wars

Despite being a senior level class, this doesn’t seem any more difficult than the second year history classes I have taken at home. The course focuses around American society between WWI and WWII. The class takes place in a classroom in which we all sit at individual desks – throwing me back to high school and participation is expected, contributing to 20% of your final mark. 

·      Political Science 425 – Government and Politics of the American States

Lecturer is amazing, but the course seems to be quite a lot of work in which we have to carry out a research project based on statistics.  I am slightly worried about this course as I know very little about state politics in the US, putting me significantly behind my classmates before the lectures even began.

·      Political Science 001 – Introduction to American National Government

This is a first year paper, but most people in the class seem to be taking it as a “gen ed” or general education paper to fufill their degree requirements.  The course appears to mainly based on tests, with the only written assignments optional.  This is very different to New Zealand where essay writing is a big part of all arts based courses, even at a first year level. 

·      French 202 – Grammar and Composition

My favourite class so far ! Everyone in the class is very friendly and we spent a lot of time in the class having conversations in French with our neighbours. Furthermore the class is taken entirely in French – even the course outline is written in French ..

·      Econ 433 – Advanced International Trade

I went to one lecture and decided this course was far too advanced, and have since dropped it ! The lecturer began ‘revising’ microeconomic models we had not covered in intermediate microeconomics at VUW. The boy to girl ratio seen in NZ economic classes was reflected here at PSU, with about three girls for about sixty boys taking this class …

Timetables

Classes timetabled for Monday, Wednesday and Friday are 50 minutes long and will generally have three lectures a week. Whereas classes on Tuesday and Thursday are 75 minutes long but will only take place twice a week.  Personally I have found the 75 minute lectures difficult to get through as the professors do not have allow students to have a break as they do at VUW.

Due to the size of the campus there is 15 minute breaks between classes in order for everyone to get around. 

Tutorials ( or lack there of)

Yes, that’s right there are no tutorials for any of my classes ! Although this is somewhat of a relief there is a much greater expectation that you will partipate in lectures and cover a significant amount of material at home.  Most classes also set and check homework as well. 

Although most people do participate in class, they seem to do so to get participation marks rather than because they actually have something noteworthy to say.  One girl in my class thought it was valuable that everyone know how shocked she was that Italian immigrants spoke Italian and not English at home … I think partipating in lectures is going to be the most challenging part of studying at Penn State for me as I would never ever do so at home.  However, the lecturers seem pretty content for you to say just about anything mildly related to the topic. 

People

I’m not sure what I was expecting but mot students here either generally ignore people they don’t know (as they would VUW too ) and don’t really make an effort to talk to people in class or they are very keen to hear more about New Zealand.  So far, whenever I have participated in lectures the entire class has stared at me which is both nice but kind of terrifying.

Generally people want to know why I have come to Pennsylvania of all places ( as they view Penn State as being in the middle of no where) or the differences between New Zealand and America .  Hopefully as the semester goes on I will have made some more friends in my classes.