Academic Life At Sewanee

Hello everyone can you hear me?

So welcome to the first Swanee online session this spring were so excited that you all could join us here today. We have 3 lovely student panelists with us and they are really excited to share about going to make life at Swanee and their own journeys and so welcome to all of you who are here. We see a lot of students coming from all over the place, which is so exciting and thank you. To our international students who are waking up at crazy hours to tune into this, this webinar tonight.

So I'm going to have our panelists introduce themselves and then we're going to jump right into some some Swanee questions about academic life and I'll be asking questions off screen like I said. My name is Cassie Martin on one of the counselors and feel free to type in any questions that you might have and will try and get to them throughout the web and R and if not throughout during the end at the end for sure. So Caleb do you want to start since I'm looking at you?

So Hey, everybody, my name is Caleb orders. I'm a junior from Montgomery AL an economics. Major and so just a couple of things. I'm involved in outside the classroom. I'm involved in growing in Grace and calculate Witcher 2. Christian ministries here on campus. I'm also a Co director of the arcadian program, which is kind of the program that has all the tour guides in it, and I'm also tutor at the Center for speaking at list.

Very cool, Hey, all my name is Nelly Fagan. I'm a senior in the college. I'm a double major in religious studies and women and gender studies and some things are involved in on campus. I'm president of the order of the gal which is our academic Honor Society. I'm also chaired the Stream Title IX Committee, which is fairly new here on campus. I'm also involved in perpetual motion, which is a student dance organization that we have here and I work and also it's Chapel as a sacristan.

Hey, I needed things in I'm from Birmingham, AL and I'm a junior chemistry. Major outside of the classroom. I am the Rotaract club president. I am a member of the Swanee Health Profession Society also known as ships. Also, an arcadian and I'm on the pre health. Check yay great. Thank you all for being here tonight and so to start off can you tell me how you arrived at your major kind of what that process was like for you and if you knew about your major coming into Swanee or if you completely changed your mind and kind of how that.

Ernie wet so whoever wants to start go for it. So I can assure you major as I said, and I came to Swanee knowing that I wanted to go into Medison, which let me actually took the Hippocrates Fellowship, which I forgot to mention so if you're interested in pre health. You should definitely be looking to apply for that. I did not anticipate to be a chemistry major but during my sophomore year in organic chemistry. I really connected with my professor and kind of got involved with her.

And really like my love for chemistry started there and I actually do student like on campus research with her now.

Cool, yeah, so I actually came in to Swanee thinking. I was going to be a pre health premed student in major in chemistry. So it's funny to go eat it. But so I came in when I was in perspective student. I was really interested in chemistry and then also in religious studies, which is actually what I landed on as I said, before, but what's great is wanting you take a general education courses, so you get to really be exploring every Department.

And while I really love to be chemistry Department was so really. Honestly, a really great experience for me. I was really enjoying kind of the the conversations that I was having about religion and also social justice, both in religious studies and implement in gender studies so that's how I landed on that double feature but I didn't decide until the end of my sophomore year. So it was kind of a long decision making process for me.

So I came in thinking now in the major in physics and I loves physics. I took the first full year cycle of it or whatever it is, and I loved it, but I just I took a Nikon class kind of in the middle of that and I was like that's really interesting. I will take a few more of those classes. So I took a few more of those, and next thing I knew it was anytime major so a little bit so all three of us kind of went a different direction. A little bit, then kind of what we expected at first.

And that's what song is going to do I mean, especially with our general education with with what she was talking about like you're definitely going to explore your interest and you might just find something that you love.

Yeah, so now in Caleb you both brought up the Swanee General Education curriculum. Could you guys touch on that one describe what it is and then also kind of what your experience has been you know, maybe the language. You've taken and stuff like that. So, your experience with the curriculum that you have to take here.

Up shirt so.

So I took German when I was here. I actually took German in high school I was able to test out of the first semester of it and I took 2 semesters. My first two semesters. Here, as a freshman to fulfill that requirement, but just just in regards to the general education in its entire T it. There's lots of well. They're all called like G1G2, there. All these different like standards sort of that different classes will meet and it basically.

Fans you across all the disciplines that you take an array of them out of all of the different disciplines and then all the majors. Obviously, you have to fill the general education requirements and then you pick a major by the end of your sophomore year and then then you go in that direction. This kind of the design of it. So yeah, like each Gen. Ed kind of has like kills head like a discipline a theme to it. So I remember the last one. I had to do, which was the I finish him up at the end of my sophomore year and one of them was.

Like our our history, but you could be taking courses in theater or music or or history or.

Not it taking kind of more of a hands-on art costs and those classes filled up really quickly and so I ended up in which I mean this cost was fantastic it's not like it was the last choice for me necessarily but I was nervous about this Jeanette 'cause it wasn't something that was really in my wheelhouse.

Toy Tech Art survey of art history, too, and it ended up being one of my favorite classes and then my language was Spanish, which I had continued from high school and I ended up studying abroad in Spain and when I study abroad of Spain. I saw some of the paintings in person. I am studied in my art issue course, so I ended up being this really kind of cool.

Kind of continuation of that that study in a course that I wasn't. I think the Gen. Ed requirements are great because even if their courses that that at first you may not be like completely thrilled about they end up being really awesome opportunities to see into other departments and get excited about things that you may have not otherwise studied.

Yeah, I mean, going off of the getting out your Department as a science person. I was pretty nervous about taking English, 101, which is the G1 requirement is Caleb mentioned and it from high school I knew that my strong suit was not writing papers whatsoever. I love to read but writing papers where you lost me doctor. Tucker was my English, 101, Professor and every time we turned in a writing assignment. We actually had to meet with her and her office to read our paper allowed to her and then kind of get into.

Feedback from our assignment like right then and there and of course, like the first time I went in there as a sophomore is the first English Class I was like shaking did not love to do this at all. But as the semester went on, I mean, so one of my favourites money classes and I'm very confident in my writing now and feel a lot better from that, it, I mean, they also gave me a great relationship with Doctor Tucker herself and I baby sit sometimes for Sunday and so that's a lot of fun and just kind of speaks to how Swanee like is a community inside and outside.

Yeah, and kind of that interdisciplinary study you can take things that you learn from from classes in other departments to kind of other other things, yeah, I mean, so and that's the liberal arts experience.

Yeah, just to clarify for all of our listeners to X, one Y you do have to take English, 101 and you also have to take two. Semesters as a lot of a language and so you can continue the language. You were taking in high school or you can pick up a new one once you get here and so the next thing I realized is we didn't explain what you guys are wearing and so all of our panelists are wearing their gowns and so it can one of you all of you talk about talk about his wounds.

Because it's our academic Honor Society and president of that and so once you receive a certain GPA the earliest is after your first year at 20. You could be inducted into the order of the gal which is this really great tradition. We have here and a current member of order or alumni or faculty member will down you at the order of the gallon.

Germany, which we call competition.

And it's just as nice.

Actions like my God, has been in my sorority since its founding, which is just kind of a fun. It's been passed down so at the end of this year. When I graduate. I'll pass it down to someone not something I really love is a lot of gallons stay on the mountain and it's just kind of this fun tradition. We have here, yeah, yeah, same thing my grand father and my uncle and my cousin all wear this gallon so that was a fun tradition kind of for my family as well. And so my grandmother actually came to my convocation to calendar.

And I'm the first person in my family to come this morning so I'm starting I guess my own tradition with this guy, so I mean, I just went out and bought a gallon and so you don't have to be in the Swanee linkage to be a part of this is you can be someone brand new and be hard to great, so my next question for you all is what has your favorite class. That's funny been so it could be within your major or outside your major so maybe it was a great professor or the subject matter was really interesting so.

It's one class you absolutely loved here 20.

So OK.

So there is this class. It's an economics class and it's called game theory and it's a class.

Necessarily familiar with it, but it's the study of strategy and understanding why players in a game players being like people in different situations. Why they do what they do so. It was a really interesting class 'cause you can sort of predict what people will do in certain situations and we started with like really, really simple games like am I going to take an umbrella outside or not too. We were modeling like full blown like poker games like what people are going to do so it was a whole lot of fun to do that.

Yeah, it's hard to pick just one class, I feel like the first one. I think of is the Class I took last semester called the politics of poverty and inequality and it was really cool.

Kind of opportunity to learn about the way in which class effects. Our society and kind of the intersections of my majors and how they play a role in that course and my professor.

Doctor Schneider has just been like an amazing mentor to me and.

Yeah, I just feel like that course has really opened up my eyes, especially as I'm looking towards I'm hoping to go into social work describe so that really has influenced kind of my career goals as well, which I didn't necessarily anticipate by frustrated.

I mean, it really is hard, but the first one, that came to my mind was on the anatomy class that I took last semester, so one of my favorite memories from causes that we were actually learning about the respiratory system in this class also has a lab so my professor actually went out of his way to go down the mountain to go to the butcher shop to get a pair of sheets lungs, he brought them back and we hook them. Up to a tube and we actually got to see the like inflation and deflation process of the lungs and like just how big like.

Your lungs can actually get which is just more than like kind of like a hands-on dissection, but really like the fact that he had really taken the time to go down the mountain like show that does with something that really like stands out to me, so you all too is aswani student could inspect lungs from a bunch of things you didn't know you needed in your life.

Could you will talk about your relationships with your professors and kind of also that that transition from high school from your relationships with your high school teachers and kind of how that blossomed. It's funny and you know, maybe if you think of a distinct Swanee Professor Relation student professor relationship that you have if that makes sense is the questions so I actually I went to a really small boarding school for high school and so all of our over 90% of our faculty actually lived on campus at this boarding school so.

I knew when I was going through my college process that that was something that was really important to me in that was something that I was looking for it till I continue in with my Sony experience and it was something that I notice like right off the bat just from like touring an like staying with friends on campus. But once I got here. I really just like started building relationships with like professors that I had class with and so after my freshman year. I was here for summer school. And while I was here. I actually went to 3 different professors houses and they all had Cook dinner for a group of students.

We're here and so the professor that is my advisor now actually how this doctor house in Huntsville and like she and her husband like grilled out burgers for us. And so you know, not only are you like meeting with them inside the classroom with outside the classroom as well. And so another good thing is that like all the professors doors are open, so you can just kind of pop into whether it be like a question that you have about class or if you just wanted to talk to them like that's just something that they all like love to do and like want to hear from you.

Yeah, I had a kind of a different explode like a similar experience in the closeness of professors, which is kind of a different experience in terms of high school I came from a pretty big public high school I also realized at the beginning, I didn't share them from outside she said. So I'm separating she said, and but that relates to my story. So when I came to Swanee while I was used to having close relationships with my teachers. I definitely was not really used to seeing them around campus or things like that and.

My first semester here, I took a class called the Nobel Prize, which is the humanities corner so that had professors from different departments teaching it and my professor was the Classics Professor Doctor McDonagh, who's from he's from Boston and has lived there.

Before he could just want him so it was, it was nice to kind of find that connection with someone, especially coming here knowing really. No one before, I came here. So it was really nice to connect with him and talk about.

I don't know talk about Boston and that's just a small example. But it was nice, especially in times where maybe I felt a little homesick or is having trouble adjusting to have a professor that knew where I was coming from and that has just kind of continued with every professor here. It's funny, even if we haven't had that connection just opening up their homes to us and always being willing to talk not only about what we're learning within the classroom, which is kind of what's going on in our life, and where we're coming from Yeah.

Add up so my freshman year advisor when we came in you get assigned an advisor in a Department that you were somewhat like interested in and so mine was a math professor and her name is doctor pocket and like the first week that we were here Doctor Buckethead. All of us advise these over to her house and we all went over to her house in like 8 food and she made tacos. New fantastic, but but like that's very that speaks, a lot to what makes my professors are like.

At High School, you, you go into the bathroom, you see your teacher and then you leave and you don't see them again until the next day, but but here you're walking to Mcclurg for dinner and you see your professor walking their dog.

So and so.

So it's a really tight knit.

It's it's pretty special I'd say, yeah.

Great thank you guys could you talk about the transition from a high school schedule over on the topic of high school transitions from? What your high school schedule is like and how it compares to your Swanee schedule and kind of workload comparisons and especially that first semester freshman year if you can remember back that far.

And kind of like how that was like for you, especially coming in from high school.

Yeah, I guess I can speak to that I'm so in high school I was up.

I always like stay busy so of course, like In addition to like the kind of long class day also was dancing at like like late into the evening afterwards and then when I came to Swanee. It was a little bit difficult to then be navigating kind of creating my own schedule, but I.

Jumped into a lot of different activities here and quickly filled up my schedule, which honestly with something that I was really comfortable, doing, but in terms of academic workload. I think it's something that is.

It's not entirely different of course, you might be in class less time than you would be in high school in terms of your workload at my end up being kind of similar in terms of the amount of time that you're dedicating to your classes but I think what's great like we're saying about relationships with your professors is they really kind of help. You navigate that but to me, it didn't feel like it too. Crazy of adjustment. You're just now in charge of your own schedule, which is kind of an exciting opportunity. I don't know. Y'all are closer to it than I have when I felt the same way about.

Meeting.

Get into like clubs on campus and they didn't specially with the Hippocrates Fellowship like that, like very much looks is a lot on like leadership in your freshman year so getting involved on campus was in the harder part. I would say I did have a hard time managing my schedule because I was in a lab class that I just like that. Honestly, like kind of an additional class, although it doesn't count that way. The time management. Wise counts towards that and I also played field hockey for both my freshman and sophomore year so that was another kind of.

Piece that really I had to focus on my time management. I think because of that it made my workload feel harder, but after first.

Semester I really kind of hit the ground running and haven't looked back since it yeah.

Yeah, I'd I'd say, for me it.

From coming from high school because at high school I mean, you go from like 8:00 to 3:30 or something every day.

College I meet you obviously you're only in class. If you have 2 classes that day when you're in class for like 2 hours, 2, 1/2 hours.

But then all of that extra time you end up using to prepare for those 2 classes. I mean, I wouldn't say it's all that different with the amount of time that you're spending devoted to academics. It's just it's just now on, you to do it. So it's just so if if yeah, it's just pretty much on you so if you want to do well in your classes, then that's your choice.

And you guys talk about your time management since you only have 2 hours of class today. You know what do you do with all that free time? How do you manage that? How do you make sure you get your work done.

I am obsessed with Google calendar. I mean, just like that's like the first thing I would say so. Just even scheduling in what I'm going to do certain school work. But if that's not for you. That's fine. But that's like my thing and like I said, I dove into a lot. When I first came here and that hasn't really changed so if you're someone that thrives off. NC schedule, which I am like if I only have a little bit of time to get my work done. It's going to get done in that time, but if I have, like a ton of time.

It may not be I may not be as productive so for me. It was best to just come in and kind of fill my schedule and that made it easier for me to manage my time. But it kind of depends on how well you know yourself and What is this? What is best for you but it's something that you learn as you go? I don't think you need to come in knowing.

What you need I guess like without the schedule coast it's the first time you'll be doing it?

Yeah, and also like if you if you know that you can't study in your room get way too distracted. I mean, like we have the library where people go and I mean, they can both attest to this to there's tons of people on the 1st floor. Some of them are studying some of them are just hanging out, but there's plenty of places in the library to go to, if you really need to get work done. You can go somewhere quiet and really pound out like a paper or something. So there's areas that all over campus. You can kind of go to and get away to do stuff but.

But there's also plenty of places to find people to go do work with it. That's how you like to do your work too. So so yeah, so there's there's lots of options. Yeah, I mean, my pro tip, is like take all of your sylvite when you come like the 1st we can just write all of your major assignments down like for all four of your classes and like from there, you can really see like Oh. I know in 2 weeks that I have 3 tests at all fall within one week, so I know that that week before hand like.

I really need to make sure that like I'm sitting down and studying so I also think like planning ahead and also taking both of their tips like you'll be very successful.

Yeah, great, so I want to transition into the Swanee pledge really quick and so just a reminder you know funding for an internship or research opportunity that you're you can go abroad at no additional tuition costs and that you're going to graduate in 4 consecutive years with at least 1 major and so for those of you who have gone abroad or done an internship do you want to talk about that and kind of how you worked with the office of global citizenship or the Career Center and kind of making that happen as part of your academic journey here.

Yeah, so I am one of the Swanee be sure internships. So it stands for Vanderbilt. Swati undergraduate research experience be sure, and that is kind of an acronym that sits under the banner built Summer Science Academy, so that is offered to to rising sophomores from Swanee specifically every year and it is a 2 year internship. So I got to go down to Vanderbilt last summer and it's fully funded through Swanee and you also get a stipend.

They pay for housing at Vanderbilt as well. So it's very nice and I did an 8 week research project and a kidney Cancer Research lab and then a Swanee Alumni Doctor Meryl is actually the chief of staff at Vanderbilt and so we had weekly like lunch meetings with him and if there was somewhere that any of us like wanted to shadow. He would get us set up with the physician in that field and so on Top of like really doing my first hands-on research project. I actually got to shadow I mean?

Total myriad of specialties across the entire Medical Center. I did some oncologix I did some trauma shadowing and did some urology shadowing and I also did some internal Medison so really all over the place and it's really nice that that internship this for 2 years, so I'm excited to go back this summer.

Yeah, so um last night this past fall. But last fall. I studied abroad in Granada, Spain and I knew I wanted to go somewhere where I could be using my Spanish and thought that I also wanted to go somewhere where I could.

App.

Get classes in my religious studies degree and with that I my concentration is.

Looking primarily on Judaism so it's looking somewhere where I could study that and Granada so that's kind of how I found Granada was with its with its history and today. The Judaic Studies offered through the program that I wanted to through IES and I found that the.

The Office of global citizenship really helped me find that program and then I fell in love with Granada. Where is there so it was really amazing opportunity, I would do it again in a second?

And it was a great opportunity to speak Spanish, while also taking courses kind of, but in both of my degrees. It worked out really well so and then in terms of internships last summer. I interned at peace core and DC which is a really amazing opportunity that he was fine. We have ace internships, which you apply for and you're only in competition with other Swanee students. So it's guaranteed. That applies to wind up in that position, so it kind of Condenses, the pool of competition.

So that was really nice. Um we have a ton of internships within that those opportunities and at peace core. I was working in office opposite overseas programming and training support so helping to develop training tools primarily for intercultural competency diversity and inclusion is not full but but yeah, really kind of.

Using my particularly my women gender studies degree, but also religious studies to promote training tools that would be more inclusive for overseas post. It was really cool internship and I lived in DC for the summer, but that's awesome.

So I actually haven't had an internship funded through Swanee. Yet so that's kind of what I'm going to process of doing right now, so there's a website is called handshake and that's what our Career Center uses to kind of advertise a lot of internships to us and there's tons of internships like the ace ones that she was talking about where it's just another smart students and tons of other just national ones that are just open to anyone that wants to apply and so they've been a big help with doing that, but it's also really great that they?

Will help fund one internship because I'm also talking to a few of my professors that I might stay here, this summer and do research for them and get funded to do that so.

So yeah, so that's a really awesome thing. That's funny that as far as great. Thank you guys so we had some questions when you guys all filled out the registration form and some of you have clearly done your research 'cause you knew about comprehensive exams.

So now this might be more geared to you. I thought as our senior but can you guys tell us one but a comprehensive exam? Is kind of what they look like and how you go about doing those yeah, so so.

At 20, you take a comprehensive exam, which sounds really daunting, but I honestly think it's a really great another kind of.

Tradition that's funny has it away, but it's great because it kind of encompases depending on the major kind of everything that you've learned and or one big final project that you're doing using kind of the things that you've learned so as a double major. I'm actually going to have to come twice. One of them. I've already done so that was a thesis defense weapon in gender. Studies major but then for religious studies. It's an oral presentation and a written exam and it just kind of depends but honestly I think it's really it was a little bit scary to me at first.

And it really should not be something something that.

Should dissuade you from coming to Swanee 'cause? It is really great practice in terms of your oral presentation skills as well as your.

Reading comprehension and I'm kind of this one final final project for your major to me. It was really nice. We kind of see everything I have learned and really implemented into one file test so and then afterwards when you can't you walk out and all your friends celebrate you and that's a really fun tradition, too. That was one of my most fun kind of traditions that I've had it's funny this far and we'll get together.

Are you self but it's wild to me that some of y'all know what? That is because I didn't know it was until until my freshman year when it was.

So the fact that you have done your research is in great here.

Can I be with you have anything to add and you haven't hit it yet, but of course, you're welcome to.

History cough, which is the nickname for the comprehensive exam, but I just watched all of my senior chemistry. Major friends take it but kind of touching on like it's preparing you for the real world. The chemistry cop is actually 3 parts. So it's a exam written by the professors standardized chemical exam as well as an oral com so the oral comp is kind of the most important part because you're sitting in front of like a panel I guess of all of the chemistry professors.

But it's really like it's meant to prepare you for when you're in Graduate School and you're doing your PhD defense like that's exactly what they're going to be doing it's the same style and so I think that, like especially like for me like wanted to go into medical school like I'm getting ready to take the M cat, so that's just another practice of like yeah. I'm taking like a comprehensive exam of pretty much everything I've learned in my college career. So it's not meant to scare you, it's something that.

You take when like you're ready for it like that. All of your professors have set you up for success so if anything, you should see this another reason to come to Swanee because it really does prepare you for grad school or for for interviewing and things like that. To really be able to show what you've learned and how you're going to apply it to the real world.

What the ecan one so we don't actually don't have it written test we have a thesis that we right over the course of our last semester here because that's kind of what real economists do do research and they write a paper and they publish it and so that's kind of what we do.

And and we actually and a lot of majors have this, but it's called seminar. You have a class that you, you enroll in that literally the entire class is just you doing this paper and.

But I mean, like what they were saying, like you're definitely prepared for it. When you get there and and also spawning wants to make sure that you are an expert in your field like they're giving you a degree in that field so they want to make sure that you're an expert in it. And so, yeah, so it's even more reason to compass. Monicas people know that you're an expert when you come out so.

Yeah, it's great, thanks guys so I'm going to ask you one more question and then I'm going to open it up to our viewers for their questions and so my last 10 Dan final question is can you guys describe what it's like to be in a swanee classroom? Is it more of a lecture do you talk to each other and you talk to your professor an especially across your different disciplines kind of what that looks like in what your experience has been.

So OK.

The.

The classes I took for my agenda heads were definitely different than my major specific classes. Those just because they were a little bit bigger bigger being like 20 people, 25 people just because that like other people had to take it because of the general education kind of stuff. Those I mean, it really depends on the type of class. It was, I mean, English, 101. I mean that's a very discussion based class like you're talking like if you don't talk.

It I like if every single person doesn't talk there's something wrong, like everyone. Everyone talks in those classes versus I mean, some class might like my I took a Roman archaeology class, and well. None of us knew anything about Rome. Today, so that tended to be a little bit more lecture happy, but like my major specific classes in economics, those classes have dwindled down to about.

1015 people in each other and and it kind of depends on the professor and that one. I mean, I've had some that are a little bit more lecture heavy some that a little bit.

More interaction and so I definitely think it. It depends a lot on the professor and just this other matter. Yeah, I would agree with that. I feel like my crosses are discussed discussion based just kind of based on the nature of the topics that I study, but also I've had classes where it meets 3 times a week. Then the first two times. It's going to be lecture based and then like the 3rd day will be just a full class discussion just kind of depending on.

What the course topic is like Arab said, but I think it kind of similarly to what you said like the kind of 100 level courses that you might be taking earlier on in your major will be much larger, but then like for me. I'm not taking seminars in religious studies that have been as small as 5 people, but probably at the most they're going to be 15. So it's a pretty intimate group and those things on my most favorite classes because we're really diving deep into thinking and.

And you're talking the whole time because it's it's a 3 hour seminar and there, only 5 years, so you're really. But those are great in that, like what a great way to build a close relationship with professor too. And with the people in your class so but of course, it kind of depends on again. Your learning style 'cause you can find classes are not going to find very large classes here. 'cause even your labs are going to be smaller. So even if you have a large lecture for perhaps an interest science will talk about this, but you're going to.

Always have kind of that small classroom now that even like even if there is a lecture of into it. I mean, scientists, obviously more lecture based with organic chemistry is probably my biggest science class at and that was 26 or 27 people and so obviously it's more of like a lecture in class but you really get that hands-on learning experience and lab, but more recently. I was in an upper level Commission class and it actually happened to be just. Coincidentally, 6, like female students.

Um so that was just kind of a really fun like dynamic because I feel like that never happened. Here, uhm, but even though you think of science classes being lectures because that class was so small like if one of us had a question it would kind of lead more into a discussion about like you know what we could use this technique for just like really we kind of got to drive where the class went there were certain points of the lecture that we did have to cover but aside from that, like it actually turned into more of a discussion based class.

It's awesome. Thank you OK, so like I said, We're not gonna open it up to our questions coming in from our our viewers, so for the first one. We have is from Maya and so she asks can you tell her a little bit more about academic advising and do you work with your advisors to pick classes and how do you go about that so whoever wants to start so your freshman year you're assigned an advisor like Caleb was talking about earlier and so typically that's in a field that you have listed like interest in.

And so you work with them your freshman year, you actually put in classes by your advisor based off of what you said. You're interested in but then. After that, you get to work on picking classes. So obviously you have to like look at like kind of the logistics of that, like the timing. But once you declare your major that's when you pick an advisor in your major and from there. I really kind of feel like at this point in time I know what I have to take to fill my major requirements an?

How I fill my other classes is really kind of odd to me and then my advisor just you know looks at everything like make sure I'm on track and like we go from there.

Yes.

Great OK, so our next question is coming from Ainsley and she is asking.

So I imagine into your coming from a larger high school and so her question is Sonali. This might be a question, Caleb I don't remember how big your high school was.

OK medium size, so for those coming from larger schools? How did you adjust to the smaller class sizes at Spawn Dino 'cause If you're in a really large high school you might have a class like double if not more the size of your classes here, So what was that transition like for you.

Uhm yeah, so I went to like I mean, I do could huge high school I went to high school like the size in Swanee. But in terms of classes live class size was much smaller and to me. It was great because I got to talk more and be kind of more engaged and have a closer relationship with my professor my past professor knew who I was. I feel like I remember in high school, having to really kind of remind my teacher. My name, a few times and that doesn't really happen here, so they learn. We are like right away at least it's about experience and then I remember you.

Yeah, so I just feel like I really love my teachers in high school I I just think that that that relationship just takes it like one step further here and.

Class is really are.

Smaller even if even even though this guy when she was probably of comparable size just money in terms of numbers but.

Yeah, you're just going to be expected to speak more. I bring more to the table because it's a smaller. It's a smaller class but that's exciting because you are going to have more opportunity to really engage in the classroom and not.

Not be consciousness this one person had to see if people I guess.

My High School, it, we had about the same class size that we have here so I don't really know if I could really offer anything that would help a whole lot. But other than like in my high school. They all knew. My name and here they all in my name is just the differences are professors are always here. So so great. Thank you guys so our next.

Question well, we just have alot rolling in these are all those questions. Everyone so our next question is coming from Georgia, so she asks? What are some of the classes people generally take as a freshman and what did you all personally take if we're you know, thinking back to freshman year if you can remember. That's OK but if not just talk about some general freshman horses.

OK, I remember my for my 4 houses that they have been so I was in I said. Thank you was gonna be pretty mad. I was in the chemistry and then in interest account or not know calculus. 2. Sorry. The language is different account, too, and then I was in American religious history and then that Nobel Prize course that I mentioned before so it was great, so I had kind of two, that if I were to continue on the premed track would have really contributed to that, so I expressed that. Interest was grateful for those and then kind of that, interest in religious studies.

And then the Humanities Course, which is very interesting disciplinary and each of those actually covered a Gen. Ed right off the bat, so that was because I was getting a lab and I was in a math course.

And Religious Studies covers look like the G3 or whatever and then I was in a Humanities Course, which I think helps with like close reading and so.

That those were all really great and I was in uh in courses in all different departments. I would do it again. If I had like if I had to. I didn't really know that you could come in and switch out of course, is so I just kind of took the schedule. Basically 'cause I just didn't. I was used to having a sign schedule like in high school so I came in.

Not really realizing I could have changed it, which if I had gone back, I might have not taken math since I wasn't sure I was going to be pretty mad. 'cause now I have. I have I had a math quote from high schools and I have 2 crows? Which is kind of funny but that professor was great. It was a good experience so I actually really would do it again.

It took some thinking but I

Chemistry an entry level biology, both of which are pretty much if you say you're interested in like the pre health track like they do their their best to like put you in those your first semester freshman year. I was in a politics class called multiculturalism inequality never would have picked that but ended up loving. It just was totally something out of my comfort zone and then my 4th class was a Latin class, which I hadn't taken Latin sophomore year of high school.

But I'd taken the placement exam and had ended up an upper level course in just had decided to test my test. My gears and see if I could dust the cobwebs off I was pretty reluctant about it at first, but I'm really happy that, like I stuck with it and like I probably took me the first like 2 weeks to really get back in the gear things but I'm glad that I did that.

Yes, I was in a physics class. It's like I can run this call in a physics lab.

I was in German I was in discrete mathematical structures, which is a math class, where you learn how to write proofs. It's kind of the foundational class to be in a math major 'cause. I was considering being a math major that's why I'm not a math major and and the last one was.

Well, I had it but I forgot Roman Archeology and what school 2 years before you can just money they have you like break like like look through courses and kind of rank like? What might be potential major courses and then also like courses that we're really not your comfort zone, but you would be really interested. I remember that category and so they're going to kind of.

Really try to get you into those courses that might apply to what your potential major is but also of course, many people come here, having no idea so they will just list. You get to list kind of the things that are most interesting to you and they do really good job. I think overall. People are really happy with their first semester schedule, and then after that, it's up to you.

That's awesome. Thank you so we have a few questions that I think are all asking the same thing. So I'm going to kind of condense them sorry to anyone who had messed up your question so I believe kind of a general question might be how much stuff in classes are you doing outside the classroom. So there was a specific in the Environmental Science World. You question, but you know are you doing, hands-on field work or hands-on experiments and you know, do you usually do things outside or inside the classroom? Yeah, so I'm?

In an environmental studies class this semester, which I kind of feel like it's a must it's funny with a 30,000 acres of the domain. But for Class 2 weeks ago. We actually got to go to the Swanee Utilities District. So it's up here on the mountain. It's actually wear like the water and sewage is like purified and so they are our water supplier and we had been doing a lot about like water policy in my environmental class as well as just kind of like a general like what happens with specific types of pollution.

But when we were there, I actually realized that it was more like chemistry inclined? Which of course I thought was awesome because I was kind of combining like both of these passions, but to be a little more specific like for a hard science lab like biology or chemistry urine like the classroom lab, but like for like environmental like classes or geology or ecology. They're all pretty much like outside on the domain both of which are doing hands-on stuff but there.

A little bit different.

Yeah, I guess just speak to you not the environment, Environmental Science aside. But even though if you do come and study environmental science here. It's like the best place to do it, but also to were just like a 10 minute drive from the Highlander folk school here in 20, which actually right now in our Gallery. We have an exhibit with that. But if you're not familiar with what it is. It's where Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Junior studied for time about like.

Like becoming Optimist is just like a condensed version of what it is, but I took out of the shadows. Women of the civil rights movement class and I got to go there and really see that space, which was amazing to kind of see that history and also for my politician poverty and inequality class we went to the equal justice is too.

Space well, while studying that within the classroom, so not only will you get outside and do labs outside they were also just in a really great space in terms of?

History and being able to see even though it seems like we're just on a mountain. There's really a lot going on around here, so yeah, and like my intro. Physics class side, so the lab was combined onto the class time so we went there 3 days a week for 2 hours and so we would have class for the first 15 minutes and then the last Internet sometimes work on something or or he would lecture. The entire time. And then the next time you come in and do an experiment the entire time.

Just speaking from like an economics professor perspective.

Is not really necessarily like lab so you can do I mean? You kind of just look at? What economists have like their research. You kind of look at it. I mean, one of my classes. That's a good labor economics class, which we just studied the labor market entire semester at the end of it. We wrote a literature review of a topic that we wanted to talk about so I talked about the college investment decision like who is it for who is it worth, and is it worth it worth it for everyone.

And so like I got to read a ton of papers from a lot of very famous economists that have done a whole lot of research on this and I had to kind of compile all that together put all that together. So so that's I mean, I guess that's hands-on is. Show me you're doing a lot of research but.

Or something you guys, so I think we have time for about 2 ish more questions. So I'm going to try and condense a couple of these questions viewers, so this is going to be a condensed kind of question. But so it's besides your general education requirements in your major? How many other elective credits do you have I don't know if you know the number but kind of feel that out, you know, and then also how and when do you register for classes and you know, do you see a lot of classes really filling up?

This makes sense this questions, yeah, yeah that's alive.

Check.

In terms of like your requirements. In addition to your major. I think a lot of them do apply to your majors, depending but then also too. I can't think of a number. I feel like it can people think it depends on what major you're in because all of the majors have different requirements. Of course, is as well as if you have a minor 2 minors or a double major but I didn't find I guess what I would say is I didn't find it difficult to double major it was, it was.

And I studied abroad and I didn't declare my double major until second semester software after thinking for a year, thinking it's going to be pretty bad so I just would say you can take a lot of courses out of your out of your major and still potentially be able to double major so that is just how I would answer it. I don't have a number.

Second part of the question do you do courses tend to fill up and how and when do you register so when you register your given a time and so it is earlier kind of Azure class, you're going to like seniors will register 1st and then the first year students will register lost an but I find that certain classes will fill up.

Pretty quickly but the way that you do it, too, is there, it's over the course of 4 days. So everyone will register for one course. One day so it's not like seniors or registering for all their classes, 1st and then juniors and then sophomores and freshmen are left with nothing. I find that that's not the case. I feel like my freshman year is able to get into the process. I want to especially down when I was providing taking pretty competitive process to get it. I mean, I gotta or go and took it and so, but then also too now like with classes that are.

Uh.

I fill up quickly, you can I find them to be doable and you'll get through TJ Cove kind of which one that you'll sign up for first you might be able to speak better. Today, though 'cause my major sectors so he can't make the harder it. Yeah.

Approver at like all the lower level, econ stuff, they can be a little bit more difficult to get into but once you get through so there's entered a micro into macro and then micro theory. Macro theory and then you're kind of just let out to take any elective economy, like that, you wanted to take 4 or something.

Then it's a whole lot easier to get into it because that's when everyone kind of splits off into what they're interested in.

But I also just wanted to say so coming in as freshmen. There are a lot of classes, especially that are GED classes that have like half the classes like reserved for fresh so you have as a freshman. Lots of seats reserved so you don't have to worry as much that certain classes are going to fill up like all you do is just compete with other freshmen. For those seats, so they help out with that, so that.

Senior software engineers don't just fill out classes that freshman need to be in so yeah, I would really take for me like I initially started out with two minors. So have a biology minor and then I am 2 classes away from my math minor, but I realized that I was more interested in taking like elective courses. They were all different in like didn't fall into like one specific minor category and so I decided to not.

Finish the math minor and right now, I'm in the Vice Chancellor Civil War Reconstruction in the South Carolina Sea Islands class and I like. I love not being in science class. I love how it's like up this class was like very specific to one area and not something that I don't think I would have gotten to experience if I was like dead set on like getting an extra minor.

Yeah, absolutely thank you. Ann just to touch on what you just said the Vice Chancellor is our University president.

Just for those of you who have been confused so we're going to take one more question. And so I'm sorry that we didn't get to all of them you. Guys have such good questions here. So I put our lovely panelists, emails in the chat so definitely email them. They're happy to talk to you so I see for I think of the same questions and so came along and turn this one over to you 'cause. They're asking about a business minor and you are correct, a business. Minor yes, so could you please elaborate on that one.

I forgot to mention I'm a business minor in math.

But yeah, so this is minor is actually pretty easy minor to get here. I think it's only like 4 or 5 classes for the entire thing. But you take that and there's just a few classes that you take corporate finance investments and there's also 3 different tracks that you can go on. I'm on the managerial track and there's one. It's like the international track and then one other one. I can't remember right now, but but you just take kind of like different like specific courses based on whatever.

Specific business my let you pick.

But yeah, definitely suggest it. It's pretty interesting that is something that you can add onto a lot of different majors. I mean, even a religious studies. Major you can add out of business minor pretty easily in a lively goal.

Lawyers when they say that, like that's a nice little touch and stuff like that. So we just added a finance major too, yeah, so yeah, the finance major actually is I think that sophomores right now can be finance majors. So yeah, so our finance Department is getting larger as we only have like 2 professors in it right now, so I think they're working on hiring more and assessment. We have a bigger thing.

Great also well. Thank you all, so much for giving up your Wednesday night and coming to hang out with us. Any final words for all our viewers. Uhm you don't have to have a final word just one just wanted to make sure.

See you in the fall.

These guys.

Hey perfect final words. Yeah.

But seriously you know if you have any questions.

Also.

Yeah, seriously feel free to reach out if you have any questions and.