Happy New Years/Decade everyone! This is my first post so I’m going to try to recount my first semester in a nutshell.
The People
The people you meet both in Commerce and Queen’s in general here are pretty cool; some people blow you away with their accomplishments (but you won’t find out about those until you’ve known them for a month, of course), while others just put a smile on your face =). The classroom experience is only one aspect of university; the people you interact with on a daily basis are just as, if not, more important. It’s also quite remarkable the city-specific slang you’ll pick up in your first few weeks here.
Residence
I’m in Leggett, but I don’t really think it matters where you end up though unless you voluntarily let that mentality get in the way of you enjoying your time here. Your floor will inevitably bond and to reiterate, it’s Super Smash Brothers the people who’ll shape your experiences, not the inanimate building in which you live.
Food
The cafs actually aren’t too bad. During exam time, they served us the food that the Vancouver 2010 athletes would be eating, which was pretty decent. Plus, Kingston has the highest number of restaurants per capita so there’s certainly no limit to choice in that respect. Talking about meal plans now probably means nothing to you guys, but I keep my mini-fridge fully stocked with water, Arizona Tea, Sprite, orange juice, iced tea and milk without spending a penny.
Sleep
This thing is pretty important. One of my profs talked about how losing sleep is a vicious cycle.
Fall behind -> sacrifice sleep in an attempt to catch up -> unable to pay attention the next day -> fall behind even more.
Time management and prioritization become key at university, especially if you want to continue being involved in extracurriculars, work hard, and play hard(er). There will be weeks when getting 8 hours a night will be easy and then other weeks when you might only get 4-5 on Wednesday and Thursday night (as profs seem to enjoy coordinating assignment due dates…).
Fro$h Orientation Week
The awesomeness of Commerce Frosh can’t possibly be expressed through text. Besides, it wouldn’t be fair for me to say anything about it because the uncertainty only makes it so much better. One thing I’ll say; they give lot$ of prize$. Like, a lot.
Extracurriculars
There’s enough in ComSoc to keep your head spinning for a while. And then you start looking at the general Queen’s Clubs…
Group-work
In Queen’s Commerce, EVERY course will have a group-work component. Yes. You will indeed do math problem sets in groups, no matter how trivial that sounds.
In my high school philosophy class, the teacher talked about group-work and said that there are (1) students who want to do all the work themselves so it’s done their way, and (2) “bear drawers” (the explanation for this term is another story), who are the opposite. The majority of Queen’s Commerce students are type (1) and when you put multiple (1)’s into a group, add some compromise, amity, and humbling, you really get something amazing.
Group-work is the most inefficient component of your grades (in that you’ll spend the most time in group-work, but it counts for the smallest percentage of your final grade), but it is the most valuable learning experience here. Coupled with the fact that everyone is smart and driven, I really can’t say anything bad about my experiences so far.
My Courses
Comm103 – Business Management and Communications
Lots of reading. Interesting lab component. Impossible to fail, but very hard to get an excellent grade.
Comm111 – Intro to Financial Accounting
Fast paced. Advantage of those with 2 years of high school accounting become nearly negligible by midterms. My prof was awesome (he told someone that we needed to bring a red pen to the midterm for negative numbers). Accounting ≠bookkeeping.
Comm161 – Intro to Mathematical Analysis for Management (aka Calc)
Reputed to be the hardest 1st year course (and substantiated quite a bit by upper years during frosh week), but I think it depends on the person and their high school math background. More applications-based as opposed to stressing theory. I learned how to use excel.
Econ110 – Principles of Economics
Mandatory ArtSci course for all commerce students (unless they transfer an IBHL/AP econ credit). It’s really a textbook course. Why did I go to every class in first semester? I don’t know. Perhaps I have a soft spot for “interactive notes” where I fill in blanks as the prof lectures. But I’m sure that will change this semester.
Math126 (Elective) – Differential and Integral Calculus
When people ask why I chose this as my elective, there are two frequent answers:
To classmates (and peers): “Because I’ve already learned the entire syllabus.” This is often followed with a high five because it is the precise reason the questioner has chosen the course.
To an academic superior: “In case I want to take upper-year economics courses.”
I think I only missed one or two classes here, most likely because this course also uses interactive notes, and I for some reason just really enjoy filling in blanks. Oh and I never bought the textbook so it’s probably best I actually go to class.
*Edit* Math126 will be unavailable for Commerce students starting next year; students will have to go into Math121. Relative to Math126, Math121 is a lot tougher. That being said, Math121 was the credit that Queen’s was willing to give me for my IB HL Math transfer (and is probably the case for AP Calc), so I imagine it’ll be manageable, just that it can’t be taken as slightly as Math126.
Goals for the year (Goal setting is important)
1 and 2. Prove both Freshman 15’s wrong.
3. uhhh…
Okay, that wasn’t actually succinct. I think my posts from now on will have a much narrower scope, zoning in on the Queen’s Commerce experience.
