Taylor Baird
02:00:15 PM
Hi, everyone! Welcome to the Sewanee Sessions.
Taylor Baird
02:00:38 PM
Please feel free to introduce yourself in the chat! We'll get started shortly.
Maddy
02:00:52 PM
Maddy, from Florida
Fiona
02:00:58 PM
Fiona Kelly from Illinois
Joe
02:01:06 PM
Joseph from St. Louis
Ruthie
02:01:07 PM
Ruthie, DC
Joshua
02:01:08 PM
Joshua, from Cookeville TN
Kostas
02:01:11 PM
Hello guys. I am Kostas from Greece.
Kenya
02:01:11 PM
i'm kenya from nashville tn :)
Hannah
02:01:12 PM
Hi everyone! I'm Hannah from Louisville
Ellen
02:01:13 PM
Ellen Woodward from Lexington. KY
Rachel
02:01:37 PM
Hi! I'm Rachel from Athens TN!!
Maggie
02:01:39 PM
I'm Maggie from North Carolina!
McClain
02:01:39 PM
Hi there. My name is McClain and I am from Alexandria Virginia!
Kyle
02:01:40 PM
Kyle Huey from Maryland
Morgyn
02:01:40 PM
IHi, I'm Morgyn Henson from Murfreesboro, TN
Saanchi
02:01:41 PM
I'm Saanchi from Charlotte, NC
Carly
02:01:42 PM
Heyy I'm Carly from Maryland
Price
02:01:42 PM
Price, from Georgia
Stefen
02:01:53 PM
hey I'm Stefen from maryland
Sarah
02:01:53 PM
Hi I'm Sarah from Fairfax, Virginia
Taylor Baird
02:01:56 PM
Welcome! So glad you all are here.
Caroline
02:02:40 PM
Hi, Missy (Parent) from Charlotte, NC (daughter is at job and I am taking notes)
Lauren
02:02:41 PM
Hello from Lauren and Sandee (Mom) from Dallas, Texas
Taylor Baird
02:03:00 PM
Love it!
Alright, so we can go ahead and get started. Hi everyone, my name is Cheryl Burnett and I am an admission counselor here at Swanee. So welcome to another part of our study sessions, this one today focusing on academic life. A little bit of some classes and we'll hear from student panels today. You know some of their student experience with classes here, but I'll go ahead and invite those. Panelists say go ahead and start to log in. Definitely feel free to use that chat feature.
Evan
02:03:49 PM
Hello! Im Evan from Fairview,TN
As we go throughout the events, we are using a moderated chat. One of my colleagues, Taylor Baird, she's working behind the scenes chatting with you all, so don't worry if you don't see your your question immediately, we're just going to kind of work through them sequentially and we'll also have some time set aside at the end to go through more questions as well, but definitely feel free to put those in as we go throughout. But yeah, I'll go ahead and let both Catherine and Peter.
Hop in and introduce themselves, but if you guys can, just like I said, introduce yourselves tilus your major potential minor, or if you're double majoring and then also just some things that are involved in around campus.
Kamilla
02:04:39 PM
Hi! I'm Kamilla from Odesa, Ukraine
Sure, hi, I'm Catherine. I'm a junior here at Suwannee. I'm majoring in biology with the concentration of ecology and biodiversity. I also have a minor in Italian studies and I'm on the Privett track outside of class. I'm in authority. I am president of our swing dancing Club and I'm also on the Varsity equestrian team.
I'm Peter, I am a math major. I'm a junior from Atlanta, GA outside the classroom. I am involved in Greek life and I'm I plan the football team.
Perfect and just to kind of get us started off and get conversation flowing. Can both. You kind of give just like an account of how you came to decide on your major. Did you always know that you were going to study or did you take some classes and end up falling in love with that and then that put you on that path?
Sure, so I kind of always knew I wanted to be a veterinarian. Wanted to work with animals. I love science and then when I came to Swanee I really wanted to take advantage of our domain and being able to use that as a classroom. So I started taking ecology classes and outdoorsy classes and I just loved it so much I had to work it into my major. So with my eco bio major I get you know Ornithology and ecology and outdoors classes, but I also get the microbiology in the chemistry that.
I'll use for my prereq prerequisite for about school.
I actually did not think I was going to be map major. I came in thinking I was going to do something outdoorsy, something like environmental studies or what not, and that I would take one math class and be done with it forever. But I actually got placed into calc three my friend, my first semester freshman year and I'm just going to use it to get rid of the Gen. Ed's, but I ended up really loving the professor and I got like this really close group with like 6 friends and a lot of them are sophomores and they were. They were math majors and so they were taking two math classes the next semester.
And they convinced me just to take them 'cause I was a freshman and I didn't have any classes. I had to take really. And I then I was already done with the core classes for the math major, but I think it was really just the group of friends I got and then the professors is being so like energetic and encouraging about it.
Awesome, so I'm bringing up another side and I know it's probably a little difficult to see, but this is just kind of like an overview of all of the academic programs that we have here at Swanee, so you can see both the major minors on the left and then on the right hand side a couple of more specialty programs so you see our certificates kind of in the middle, in civic and global leadership, creative writing, watershed science, and also some of the pre professional programs. But Peter, you brought up general education requirements, can kind of walk through what those are like. It's funny, just 'cause they are a little bit different.
Um, Catherine, you can definitely add on to that as well if you if you would like.
Yeah, so uh Swaney has six general education requirements that kind of cover the lower arts education of multiple fields and learning how to write and it's like so you have a intensive writing course that's typically like English 101 or something like that. But then you also have, like the scientific classes, so learning how to graph and whatnot. So I think I took field biology for that and then you have a language requirement that you have to take up to a certain level.
Taylor Baird
02:08:01 PM
Here is a helpful overview of curriculum at Sewanee: https://new.sewanee.edu/academics/curriculum-overview/
And you have like a thinking class and art class. They basically cover every field that alerts education. Would want you to be able to do for everything.
Yeah, that was a pretty good overview. Um, one of the classes I'm taking this semester for one of my Gen Eds is a seeking meaning class, so it could be like in philosophy or ethics and I'm taking a bioethics course so it's really applicable to what I hope to go into after college, but it's also challenging me and making me think in different ways that I usually wouldn't Nessa science major.
Taylor Baird
02:08:47 PM
And as Peter mentioned, here are the learning objectives: https://new.sewanee.edu/academics/curriculum-overview/learning-objectives/
Nice and the great thing about this one is that you don't have to choose your major until the second semester sophomore year, and so with all these classes at their describing like you have, you know roughly two years, so we always say in the office like shop around and you know, take some of these classes and find things that suit you, which is really great. So I also pulled. There are some questions submitted through the registration and I'm going to combine that with one of the questions that just came in, but when thinking about like class rigor in class difficulty.
How difficult are spawning classes and then thinking about like time management side? How possible is it to either double major or double minor? Is that doable?
Joe
02:09:12 PM
I have questions about details for a double major or a major/minor.
Well, you can go first here if you want to.
I think in terms I'll start with rigor I guess, and kind of time management there is DEF. I think swimming classes definitely are more academically rigorous than maybe some people expect coming in, and I think that's also just a time management thing. It goes hand in hand that allows one classes give you a lot of work that you have to do and they kind of typically professors and give you the syllabus with the Schedule Day one and so that's kind of.
Up to you to plan everything, but I think we allow people realizes that all your classes lineup altogether at certain points in the semester, and so then if every class is being a little rigorous, has hard work and you have to do readings for it homework for them, read presentations, write papers, it all will pile up on you if you just kind of leave it to the last minute. So I think the best thing that this one is like teaches you do as a student is to prepare wave ahead of time to get your work done ahead of time so it doesn't pile up on you and then it becomes more.
Yeah, I agree, you definitely learn how to not procrastinate too much because you know these professors are trying to challenge you and they are going to make you actually learn the material. So that involves lots of reading and writing and reflections and presentations. And I think for some people it can be a bit of a surprise. I came from a big public school and thankfully I had been taking AP classes, so I was pretty prepared for a rigorous schedule.
Taylor Baird
02:11:14 PM
You can explore majors and minors here: https://new.sewanee.edu/programs-of-study/
But it is a lot, but I think it is possible to double major double minor. I've got my eco bio major and a pre vet prerequisites for that. So those are kind of two different classes that I've managed to get in there and with my Italian minor I had also prepared to study abroad last semester which sadly got cancelled for covid. But I'm still hoping to go this summer, but it was I was possible to move are all my classes around to make a whole semester for you to go abroad. So it's definitely possible.
Also, another really popular question with registration was asking about that transition process. You know what is it like going from?
You know high school classes to like osuani curriculum, and if there was any type of similarities and then I'm also going to combine that with one of the questions that came in with the chat. So think about the transition process. So what is like fyp and pre? If you guys can give some context on that.
Joe
02:11:49 PM
Could Shiro explain FYP compared to PRE?
I think in terms of the transition from high school to Swanee, the biggest difference I notice personally from my high schools when it was a participation, and that's because like a lot of classes, especially your entry level classes, they cap them a certain number soon. So for the intensive writing courses there, all 15 students capped at $0.15, so the daily participation is what is it?
Taylor Baird
02:12:19 PM
Academic support is readily available at Sewanee: https://new.sewanee.edu/sewanee-cares/academic-support/
Becomes a much larger part of your grade. It comes like 15 to 10% your grade, which can actually help you a lot or hurt you a lot. Based on how that goes. But I think you have to get used to be able to go into class completely, ready to participate and so that also makes it so you have to understand what you're doing before hand. If there's any readings you have to do the reading beforehand. If there's homework if make sure the homework beforehand, because I think the biggest difference I noticed.
Yeah, I would second what Peter was saying and part of it too. Is that in high school your schedule is all blocked out for you and so it's pretty easy to make sure you have your homework done for the next class and whatnot, but a college it's much more free form and you have to schedule in when you're going to go to office hours. Are you going to do your homework? Make sure you have time for all of it, so I think that's a bit of an adjustment, but it's a really good skill to have outside of college, so it's good that we learned that here. I'd be happy to talk about pre and fyp I love.
Taylor Baird
02:13:30 PM
FYP: https://new.sewanee.edu/programs-of-study/finding-your-place/
Fyp entry I did fyp my freshman year and then for the past two years I've been a mentor so FIP is a two week pre Orientation program where freshmen will come on to campus two weeks early you'll get two Upperclassmen mentors Anna Professor, so it'll be. You'll start a Class 2 weeks before the rest of the students come on campus and that's beneficial. Lots of ways. One of them is that you get a sense of grounding on campus. You get your feet on the ground. You figure out where everything is before.
Taylor Baird
02:14:07 PM
PRE: https://new.sewanee.edu/campus-life/sewanee-outing-program/pre/
The rush of Upperclassmen. Come back and then you also start a class early. So that means that you finish your class early. So for finals you'll only have 3 finals instead of your regular four 'cause you finished your fyp class already and that gives you a chance to make a great personal connection with the professor and get to know some upperclassmen and also get kind of a core group of freshmen, your peers and get to know them for the rest of the year. They'll have your back for that. So obviously I love Fyp so much but pre is also an incredible program did.
Peter, did you do one or the other?
Unfortunately, I had to come early for football camp, so I never got to experience it. I would see.
Everybody arriving in kind, especially the fun chaos that happens when pre arrives. I got to witness that.
Yeah yeah so pre is 3 days before orientation happens an it's run by the Swanee outing program, so it's high energy summer camp feel you're outdoors all the time hiking, you know? Canoeing, camping, client, rock climbing. It's alot alot of fun annual in. You're also in a group with some mentors so you'll get to know your peers and you'll get to know some upper class than before.
Classes start an I didn't do pre but my older brother who graduated a few years ago. He ran free one year so we love pre 2.
Nice and then there was a quick question that just came in. Is Prian fyp available for freshmen? So yes, so it's a pre orientation program like right before your first year as a student here. So yeah, so for all incoming freshmen and then like Catherine just mentioned once in subsequent years you can be a leader for either IP or pre usually some of the fyp leaders are also resident life staff.
But it switches from year to year.
Taylor Baird
02:15:52 PM
Registration for these programs will open for deposited students in the next few weeks!
Alright, and then there was another question. This kind of goes slightly back to general education requirements, but can both you describe or just talk about some of your language experiences and Catherine if that had any type of correlation to where you were going to study abroad or anything like that?
Hannah
02:15:59 PM
Could we hear more details about language minors and studying abroad?
Sure, yeah, I came in to Swanee knowing I wanted to study Italian. I hadn't studied it yet, but I really love Italy and Italian culture, so I started with 103. The beginning entry level and then last year I actually lived in the Italian house. So it's one of our theme houses. We have quite a few on campus. I applied and was accepted and the idea is that you speak Italian in the house and throw Italian events in the professors come and you try to immerse yourself in that language in the culture.
Taylor Baird
02:16:41 PM
Finding Your Place (FYP): Aug. 11-20, 2021
PRE: Aug. 18-20, 2021
New Student Orientation: Aug. 21-24, 2021
First Day of Classes: Aug. 25, 2021
We were not super great about only speaking, so it's kinda hard after only having Italian for one year, but it was a really fun experience and definitely led to me wanting to study abroad and I'm still hoping to study abroad this summer. It's not a program through Swanee, but I've gotten it approved by Swanee, so I'll still get course credit for it, which is really awesome and I hope to be abroad in Siena this summer, so yeah.
Lauren
02:17:28 PM
Is Pre and FYP available for freshmen?
Yeah, I I took Latin high school and so when I came to Swanee I decided I wanted a fresh start. New language so I took. I decided to Spanish and I started in the base most basic Spanish class you could which is 103 elementary Spanish one and so then I had to work my way up to the what the time where I thought would be the end of my Spanish. That's why which is the general education requirement. So I think for me that took about four classes to get to like the 200 level class but then by that point I was really again like I had.
Really great connection with my professors who was encouraged me to keep taking Spanish. So since then I've just taken 1 Spanish class per semester and if I get lucky enough and finish in time, I could maybe minor in it, but I've just been. I just decided to take the Spanish classes every semester until I graduate 'cause it's a fun language to learn. I try. I was also kind of Catherine. I was going to try to study abroad.
Taylor Baird
02:18:01 PM
Yes, these programs are specifically for first-year students.
I was actually trying to say about this semester and the Swanee program in Madrid, but that got cancelled again so I don't think maybe I don't have any plans today. Read again, but.
Maddy
02:18:09 PM
and you cannot do both at the same time?
Gotcha, and so there were a few questions that kind of came in simultaneously. Just to answer some quickly, yes. So taking a language is a requirement for Spanish general education, so the idea is that you take it up to like level of fluency, which here this one is up to 300 level, and so if you've taken a language throughout high school, you could take a placement test and theoretically you could place into a 300 level course and you know. Then you take one class and then you're technically done.
Taylor Baird
02:19:01 PM
Maddy, that's correct. Since the dates overlap students will pick one (or neither).
With your with your language requirement or you can start completely from scratch and start. You know right at 103 and work your way up to a 300 level on class, but just to kind of give that global perspective and how we approach a liberal arts with that. But that kind of brings up a good point in terms we mentioned study abroad, so I'm going to skip ahead just a little bit just while we're on that topic, because study abroad is kind of a component of what we call this money pledge.
And these are just kind of a list of guarantees that we offer to all of our first year incoming students, and one of them is that, you know, providing access to a semester long study away program at no additional tuition costs. And So what that means is just whatever you know you pay you and your family pay for a semester Swanee. It's that same exact cause an Spain or in Greece or in Morocco. It's all going to be exactly the same. So a lot of our students actually study abroad. Another one is.
You know Pleasant Hill graduate with at least one major in four consecutive years, so you know us as an institution doing our part to make sure that you get your your education in a timely manner and then that first one. I'm kind of going out of order, I know, but providing funding for summer internship or research opportunities so more hands-on experience. Kind of like a study abroad program as well. But can either of you speak to a potential research opportunity or an internship program if you've already done one? Or if you heard from friends doing?
A great program, or if you're looking to line in the future.
Sarah
02:20:16 PM
is taking a language required?
Taylor Baird
02:20:27 PM
This is a very helpful page for course selection and language placement questions: https://new.sewanee.edu/academics/csp/frequently-asked-questions/
I guess I can go first, I guess, um, I'm currently in the process of applying to internships for the summer and I'm all I'm looking at the I'm only looking at Ace internships, so the internships are available only for swine students, and they were brought to the University either by an alumni or a friend of the University. And so those.
Those are given to you to work for eventually, and typically they gives you like a higher level of experience within that internship. Then you might get a non ace internship or Sony connection internship just because they understand the work. That's why students are willing to put in an the experience we bring just from this morning education. So I'm currently looking at internships and as like a youth coordinator for summer programs or as a youth coordinator at a.
School with outdoor learning availability.
Taylor Baird
02:21:35 PM
We will also be hosing a separate session on enrollment forms and the enrollment process in April!
Yeah I I haven't done an internship yet, but my older brother I mentioned earlier did an internship in a centered ship over the summer in NYC working at Botanical Gardens and he absolutely loved it. An amazing opportunity. I've had some opportunities to do research here on campus during the semester, so right now I'm doing some independent research with my academic advisor on two line salamanders like right on campus. I collect them on campus, so that's been a really awesome opportunity and I've helped her with her personal research.
Both on campus and off campus. So I've really loved getting to do that.
Joe
02:22:12 PM
When is the language placement testing?
Awesome and then jumping really quickly back to language. We got a lot of questions about languages here. Just answer one quickly. Language placement tests that happens after you've already made your deposit is part of like the enrollment process in all of the enrollment forms, and so that's something that will be added. So it usually takes place during this summer right before class registration. Then Carla had a question. Is it possible to start fresh in a language even if you've already studied it before? So if you already took.
You know a language in high school? Can you still wanna start?
From the 103 level, if either of you have insight into that.
Carly
02:22:37 PM
Is it possible to start fresh in a language we've already been studying?
I don't know 100% for sure, but I don't think that they'll let you take a lower level than you're proficient in. I don't think they want you to take an easy class. They want you to really learn something. So if you place into a 200 or 300 level, they'll encourage you to take that level first. If it ends up being a real issue and you really do need to go back to the 100 level, that's when you'll talk to your academic advisor and your professor and try to figure something out.
Carly
02:23:00 PM
okay thank you!!
Perfect good answer, and that's also kind of goes into another one. And thinking about, you know class rigor and like difficulty.
How does the work feel like it? Does it feel substantial like just your normal, like day-to-day assignments is? It's actually like you know, pushing towards something like what's your concept of just like general assignments and papers and things like that.
Kenya
02:23:33 PM
does the hard work feel worth it? often as a senior i feel like the work can be just a big waste of time, but do you feel like the workload is well deserved?
I think the work definitely feels like whenever the professor there, whatever their goal may be for you to like what you need to learn. It definitely feels like that daily work is pushing you towards that.
Um, so, for example, in when I took like a 300 level Spanish class we did, we allowed the work was like reading book excerpts or even watching a movie which is really great for homework and watching a movie. But then you had to be able to. The whole goal is to be able to start kind of speaking your thoughts in Spanish and so the whole goal of the homework was to come back with scenes that you had analyzed. Obviously like in your head you can analyze in English, but then be able to portrait.
Speak those thoughts out and analyze it in Spanish. So a lot of the homework you get definitely feels like it's going towards the end goal of the class or whatever the professor really wants you to take out of that class.
Yeah, I would agree with that in my genetics class. Right now we've been reading papers on the coronavirus, which is a really timely and interesting topic, but everything they're talking about are things that we're learning in the class. So like if we've just learned about a specific topic, will read a paper that includes that in real life research that's very timely right now, so it's definitely all connected, and the professors are trying to make you, you know, have you make those connections and understand things?
Awesome gotcha. And so as we wait for a few more questions to come in.
I just want to I put in a couple of slides just to talk about like day to day classes and what that looks like. And so with that I wanted to pull this one just because I know we got a lot of questions in our office of oh like it seems like students like dress up for classes. What is that all about? Soaking guys describe like your perception of class dress and what time?
Yeah, I think I think the main thing is that you have come to class prepared. You know you've woken up, you're awake, you brush your hair, put on some nice nicest clothes. You respect the professor in their time is the main thing. You know that the professor has gone to a lot of effort to, you know, make this lesson for you to make sure you're learning what your they want you to learn and you respect them. You respect their time in class. Dress looks different for everyone. You know. Some people, some girls are well.
Will wear full dresses and heels and do their makeup and her son will have a cute pair of jeans and a sweater on, you know. Just kind of depends on your personality but as long as you put in an effort and you portray that you're respecting the class your professor, their time, I think that's pretty much what class dresses?
Yeah, I think that that pretty much covers it. I think it's just creating the environment of like respect and also the environment where you can actually like engage in academics fully and not kind of zone out 'cause you can put your hood up or just not pay attention.
Taylor Baird
02:26:41 PM
Language placement forms will load to your enrollment checklist (on your Sewanee Applicant Status Page). Based on your responses to the Academic Inventory form, the appropriate placement forms will load for you to complete in early summer.
Sure, so the order of the gown is an academic Honor Society. You have to achieve a certain GPA in order to be inducted. The earliest you can be inducted is fall of your sophomore year. If you achieve that GPA an and it's really fun to see students walking around campus wearing them, professors will wear them and kind of how often you wear it depends on you and your major. Like when I'm in Ornithology and were out bird watching, I'm not going to wear my gallon, but if I have an exam in Italian, I'm going to wear it. You know, it kind of.
Taylor Baird
02:27:40 PM
We'll talk specifically about these forms, orientation, etc. in our April session. More information to come!
This yeah little bit makes you feel a little fancier, more academic, and it's also fun because they've been passed down a lot, so I have a gown that my brother wore that my dad wore that his dad, you know, war, so it's kind of been passed down and we have all of our initials on the back and it's it's fun to see where everyone got their gowns from and it's it's a really great achievement. So yeah, I love getting to South. Celebrate our friends in that way.
Yeah, I think I I love the gown I'm I'm a little jealous. 'cause I haven't monogrammed my gown yet. I've had it for since I've had since I got it freshman year or sophomore year in the fall and I haven't gotten to it, but I think it's really. It's like my favorite song tradition probably just gets the most visible. Most often because people will wear it everyday. I like kind of like a really big test. I wear it 'cause it does. You feel a little smarter and then and.
But it's also fun 'cause people. They just become really personalized like everybody has a lot of pens on them and all the pens mean something to them. And then it just kind of adds to the whole Swanee atmosphere that really drew me in in the beginning.
Kamilla
02:28:53 PM
On average, how many hours do you think you are spending on homework per day and do you have enough time left to socialize or to have an on campus job?
So and so another question just came through. I'm just going to read it verbatim, but on average, how many hours do you think you're spending on homework per day and do you have enough time left to socialize or have like an on campus job? Or being multiple like organizations in addition to all of that as well?
Joe
02:29:00 PM
I missed the gpa for receiving the gown honor.
Taylor Baird
02:29:16 PM
GPAs are listed here: https://new.sewanee.edu/campus-life/connecting/order-of-the-gown/
For sure I am involved all across campus in probably way too many things and it it does take some work. Being able to schedule my time and figure out where when I can be where. And sometimes that means scheduling in a lunch date with a friend. You know writing it on my Google Calendar, but we definitely make time for social activities. Friends event. I'm a tutor at the Center for speaking and listening, so I have a job too and I'm president of my, you know sorority and I'm president of swing dancing. So like.
Able to be involved in all those things and still do well in my classes. On average. It's so hard for me to make an average time because, you know, during midterms or if I have a big paper too, I'm going to have more work than other times. Like might be a slow week, but I would say like 3 or 4 hours a day. That's like I gotta get my work done. I have quite a bit but I might not have any that day and then I'll get ahead on what I have to do. The rest of the week. You know that kind of thing.
Yeah, I think for me probably minimum about 2 hours a day, but I also I'm currently in two math classes and math classes have a lot of daily homework, so if you're in a history class maybe you just have papers to write over the course of the semester, so it's a lot that takes the stress off of the daily work. But I definitely think there's a. There's a minimum that's a higher than I think people would expect coming in, and that's what might catch you off guard when you first start taking classes.
Definitely alright, so I'm going to transition over to there's a couple of different like academic oriented like leadership opportunities for students and we have them all listed here. But if you guys can describe like some of your familiarity with these programs, I can definitely hop in and give some context as well. But yeah, if you have any like personal affiliation, whether that's through yourself or through friends with any of these programs.
Happy to hear your answer.
I have some personal experience through friends I have. I have a friend who carry fellow and I have and they.
It's always fun to listen to because they get the heat they get. Very fancy summer internships or I think I knew someone who did the semester, an internship and the stories that come out of the Kerry fellows is always really incredible. 'cause typically it's the person has a job by like senior year and they just have to graduate and so those are always fun to hear.
Taylor Baird
02:31:48 PM
https://new.sewanee.edu/academics/babson-center-for-global-commerce/carey-fellows-business-honors-program/
Yeah, one of my good friends graduated a few years ago and she was a carry fellow and she did the whole semester internship and then right after graduation she went and worked for them for a year and now she's gone, gone to grad school. But it was a really great stepping stone for her and I know that she absolutely loved the program. I also have a friend who's a Bonner leader an she works with the Swaney Elementary School 'cause she wants to go into education. And that's a volunteer based if I'm correct and she adores it. Just loves getting to work with the.
Students that's funny elementary. They're not super in person right now because of covid, but I know they've tried really hard to make sure they still get the experience that they know they can.
Taylor Baird
02:32:19 PM
https://new.sewanee.edu/campus-life/engaging/civic-engagement-internships/bonner-leaders-program/
Yeah, yeah yeah. So just to kind of give like a quick rundown like Bonner leaders like having just said, it's kind of partnered with our office of Civic Engagement and so their students on campus. They usually have like a partner, sites in and around the local area. So some maybe campus adjacent some maybe County adjacent and so different.
Taylor Baird
02:32:38 PM
https://new.sewanee.edu/programs-of-study/medical-health-programs/hippocrates-fellowship-program/
Host sites that they go to regularly to do a volunteer projects. Kerry Fellows is a little bit more.
Academically oriented in the sense of it's in partnership with our pre business program. In the back Center for Global Commerce on campus. So it's an honors program that you know students can apply through this interested in studying business on campus and they usually have some type of internship components and then Hippocrates fellowship. These are first students who are interested in.
One of our pre health program so we have a lot of different concentrations within pre health and so if you're interested in one of those is similar to the carry pillows and that you apply, you get advising through the pre health program as well as opportunities to have potential internships in the future and then looking at some questions.
How many hours or I guess credits or classes is a typical minor, but then also will go ahead and stretch that to a major as well. So how can you essentially like chart out? You know how many, how much time it will take to achieve a minor or major things like that.
Joe
02:33:49 PM
How many hours equal a minor?
I don't know off the top my head. I'll just say that first, but we have a program called soda which tracks out how many classes you've taken and what you still need to take to reach your major. Once you've declared it. So that's my checklist of make sure that I'm getting what I need to, but I know from my Italian minor you have to take up to a 300 level language class and then you have to take a culture class in English. Anna culture class in Italian and then a few other cultures.
Classes, so I think it'll round out to like 6 or 7 courses and hopefully I can get some of those done abroad as well, so those will transfer in and count for my minor.
Yeah, I think most majors operate on the level of the core classes that you need to take, typically up to a 300 level and then a certain number of classes above 300 level unit takes. So for my math major, there are five core classes and then after that it's six classes above a 300 level and that's the major.
Yeah, yeah, so that is kind of a difficult question. Just 'cause the short answer is, each major is slightly different. Some especially like languages like Kevin said, like the minor may have a little bit more classes than other minors, but on average usually a major is roughly 10:50. Classes for context for courses is a considered a full course load for each semester. As soon as they can take five in partnership when conversation with their academic advisor.
As well as the registrar, but generally students take about four classes per semester.
And then so just answer that question that just came in the chat. Each class is usually around 4 credits I believe.
Taylor Baird
02:36:03 PM
To earn an undergraduate degree (Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science), a student must complete 32 full academic courses (equal to 128 semester hours). This includes general education coursework and major specific coursework.
So jumping a little ahead so thinking about post graduation right here, here's the slide that just kind of shows some of the class of 2019 there. First destinations both an you know, future education programs as well as careers by sector. But kind of in the stage that you guys are in. Can you describe the types of resources that are available to set students up post graduation? Whether that's both formal or informal?
Morgyn
02:36:32 PM
Do students take more than 4 classes a semester? And how many credit hours are most classes worth
I think the number one resource I've experienced and probably think about 6 pieces, the Career Center they have you can go to them for anything like. I remember when I first became a tour guide, they I had to go meet with him just to go through the process just so I could learn a little bit more about it. And so I met with I met with one who work there and they asked me like when my major was well, I was interested in.
Turn like that and then they would just kind of come up with different careerfield period career path so I could take just based on those things alone. And then as I've gone through school like so, applying for summer internships. And so I had to work on my resume and my cover letters so I've had a couple of meetings with them in the Crusader just to help me fix my resume because it was the first time I'd really fixed it on my own and so they're great. They give you great feedback like you submit it, you can't even you can't even submit it without them checking it first, which is great because they you submit it. Then they go through it, tell you what needs to get fixed, and then they kind of help you.
Just learn how to phrase it. So I've learned how to phrase my job descriptions better. Use the buzzwords that you need to get like career oriented jobs through applications and all that, so that was really helpful for me.
Yeah, I would definitely agree. I went to the Career Center freshman year. You can go first day of classes if you want to just to help you get set up, get ready to go. Another great resource is handshake, an handshake you can link up with the Career Center so you can submit your your resume and I think like Peter was saying that they'll look at it and they'll give you comments and feedback before you even apply to a.
Taylor Baird
02:38:08 PM
Completing a minor at Sewanee would typically include eight additional full courses outside of your primary major. To echo Shiro, this may fluctuate per program of study.
A job that you found there also more of like a nuanced one is your academic advisor. I've been having lots of long chats with my academic advisor about what I'm going to do after Celani grad school. That's cool. I don't know yet, and she has. She went to grad school at UGA, and that's where I'm looking at for about school. So she has connections there as well. So she's telling me all these people I should get in contact with and she has students who are getting their doctorate degree there right now, and I should get in contact with them so.
There's a lot of networking going on that you might not even realize is happening until you have a connection in your emailing the person. So that's a really great resource too.
Awesome, alright. And then Speaking of, just working as far as like on campus positions.
Maddy
02:39:10 PM
are there many places to work around campus (not including work-study)?
Are there lots of opportunities for students to work on campus outside of like potential like research with a professor and you know what does that look like? If you're not getting like a work study position, is that still an opportunity?
Taylor Baird
02:39:28 PM
Explore the Sewanee Career Center here: https://new.sewanee.edu/careers/
Definitely for sure. There are tons of jobs on campus. I have some friends who are in the work study program and they've gotten to choose from a lot of different jobs. And then I. I'm not in the work study program, but I am getting paid to be a tutor so there's always that job. I have friends who work at Sterlings which is our cafe. She gets paid to do that. I don't usually get paid for a research position that's more like experience based in hands-on experience that you get to gain.
That but all over campus. If you can think of it, I'm sure there's a job for it on campus.
I think Catherine covered that. Preferably there's not much else to say on that one.
Lauren
02:40:02 PM
How often do students meet with their academic advisor?
So also, going back a little bit to even academic advisors, how often do students meet with their advisors? I mean, what does that relationship look like?
I think it's it's really how you make it, although I think it also depends on availability on that, but you at least have to meet with them once. I think you have to meet with them once to discuss your course schedule for the next year or the following semester, and to get your pin 'cause you need your advising pin to register. And without that you're just can't do anything. Can't register for classes and that.
Taylor Baird
02:40:44 PM
Federal Work-Study provides part-time jobs for undergraduate students with financial need. If you are eligible for this, it will be included in your comprehensive aid notification.
It's a very, very intense moment in itself, but I think it's really like if you I even before I had my major advisor, I just my advisor. I got coming in as a freshman. She was my English professor and so I would just meet with her. I got very close with her and so I would just kind of go if I was ever just nearby, I would stop by just to talk for like 15 minutes and then we talked about was interested in or it will talk about the class. But then with my academic advisor with last semester, she was very.
Taylor Baird
02:41:14 PM
Otherwise, you can explore campus and community jobs as Catherine mentioned!
Very busy so I didn't get with me with her as much, but against saying like if I ever wanted just to stop by for her door was open I would just kind of pop my head in and just say hi and then we have the more in-depth talks when we can finally like plan something and we need to and that's typically again like how is the major going and then like what classes am I going to keep taking from there and how it looks for like if I'm on track to complete the major.
Yeah, definitely. I would agree with that. Um, I have. So I have my major advisor and then I also have my Privett advisor, so my prevented by Sir. I just meet with her one semester to make sure I'm still on the right track. Still getting the right classes and she's very busy lady. But then my major advisor. I'm doing my research with her so we meet once a week and just chat about life horses. She also rides and we chat about that and then we talk about research and am I getting the right classes in order to go to grad school and that kind of thing and.
We've gotten really close over the years, and I've done research with her where we've had to travel together, and it's been really fun to build that relationship.
Taylor Baird
02:42:09 PM
Learn more about our Advising structure here: https://new.sewanee.edu/offices/the-college-of-arts-sciences-offices/dean-of-the-college/integrated-advising/
Awesome and then following up to that you guys talk about how you got your first advisor. So coming in as a first year student and then also how you made the decision to choose your major advisor after that.
Dinah
02:42:28 PM
How are academic advisors assigned?
So your freshman year advisor is assigned to you and it's not very. It's not like randomly assigned, but so I was assigned my fyp professor, but then I know half my class got a different professor from that, and Peter, it sounds like yours with your English professor. Yeah, so that's kind of someone you know already.
But my FB professor was not in any Department that I wanted to go into. So then I met Doctor Cicala, who's my advisor. Now I took an ecology class with her, and then I actually went and did a program called the Island Ecology Program over the summer with her where we were on Saint Catherines Island. And we were studying and doing research there, so I got to know her really well. Well then, and I thought, you know what? She's really great. I really like her. We get along well.
And I'm really interested in what she's doing. Her research was really fascinating to me, so I asked her to be my advisor and she thankfully said yes. I think most professors are really excited to get that relationship with you, so rarely will they say no, and then you fill out a form, send it into the registrar, and then she's linked to you and your choose your advisor so.
I had a. I had a little less stress when I was choosing my advisor just because the math Department does. They assign an entire grade or class year two in advisor, so my entire class has a certain professor as our advisor, so that was like they're like. OK, Congrats, your class of 22. Here's your guys are, but it is great. I love her, she's great, but then also the I think what's nice about the math Department is they they say everybody is your advisor, so you can. You can go to anyone in the Department and that's true for most departments, especially once you get to know more professors as you.
Take all their classes so when that if you ever have a question about anything and maybe your advisor is not available, you just go to the other, the next best or the next available professor and they'll be happy to help you.
Perfect, so think about like rounding outs.
Your Swan experience. So something that you guys are leading up to.
Can we talk a little bit about cops and what that looks like? I know every major has a different process and things like that, but just one like what is comes. What's the purpose of it? And then what does it look like in preparation for it?
Taylor Baird
02:44:45 PM
You will typically choose your academic advisor in your fourth semester, once you've declared a major.
Morgyn
02:44:51 PM
If I double major, will I have two advisors?
Yeah, so comps stands for comprehensive exams. It happens your senior year usually second semester, and it's pretty much testing your knowledge of everything you've learned in your major. So if you took your major classes like Peter was taking math classes freshman year, it might test you over that. So hopefully you took notes on that and remember that, but you know they're coming. So you've been preparing for it. You I kept all of my notebooks from my ecology classes, anile.
Be able to study the senior year. Like Shiro said, every major looks a little different. So my friend is a history major and she's going to write a paper and I'll sit down and have an actual exam for biology and I think it'll look different for everyone. But it's a it's a daunting thing, but I think that it's really satisfying because you've worked really hard and you've learned so much and you get to show it. You know, you get to prove that you actually done well, and that you've learned everything. And then after you finish your comp, we have a big celebration in your friends. Celebrate you and it's really incredible.
You just feel this sense of relief. I can imagine hopefully, and so it's really a super cool thing that Suwannee still does.
Taylor Baird
02:45:57 PM
Yes, Morgyn! You would have the option to have an advisor in each department. The same goes for pre-professional advising, such as pre-vet as Catherine mentioned.
It's definitely a looming topic. When you get into the major. Math has math three comps, so I put myself into that situation knowingly. And so I the first comp is a written comp that comes after you complete the core classes. So I actually was lucky enough that because I complete the core classes so early I took the written comp the spring semester of my sophomore year.
'cause it's, which is typically you're supposed to take a junior, but I got. I was able to push forward a little bit, so that was a very odd experience comping as a sophomore, but it was just it was a 2 hour written exam, but then I'm done. Luckily that's one weight off my shoulder and then the two others are a presentation on like a very high level math topic that you can apply and then we just like to see. We basically just calling senior talks and then it's also an oral comp where same as the written comp. It covers the six 300 level classes.
Ann, you sit down with a bunch of professors and they ask you questions and you have to explain the questions. So it's definitely keep your notebooks.
Taylor Baird
02:47:18 PM
comps (pl. noun)
comprehensive examinations usually given in the spring to all senior majors by their departments; “to comp” is to take one’s comprehensive examinations; “comping” is in the process of taking comps, e.g., “I can’t go out this week, I’m comping.”
Run off from my friends who are seniors currently. It's definitely like a cow. Even saying, you know, you prepare way, way ahead of time. You kind of just go through your notes and find what the most important things are from each class and you just compile all that information and then you just study it until you until the last day.
Yeah, and even though it's a big daunting thing like the professors want you to pass, you know you have to pass to graduate and everyone's cheering you on. So some of the comps are kind of early in the spring semester, so if unfortunately you don't fail the first time, you can take it again. You can take it maybe up to three times in order to pass. And really, like all the professors are cheering for you, they really want you to pass. So it does sound scary, but I think it's really a good thing.
And as an alarm aswani just to kind of quickly throw in my experience with comps, what Kevin is saying is definitely just, you know, professors. They want you to succeed. The purpose of a comp isn't necessarily to put you through this random trial for no reason. It's just when you go into the world that you know essentially what your degree says that you know. And so I was an anthropology major. And so you know, entering into that realm, you know, I know the basic tenets of anthropology and so.
Is daunting, but it's also an incredibly like fun experience that a lot of people like. In my major. We looked forward to campaign just to kind of go through that process that we knew our friends from previous years had also gone through.
Candles are quick question that I feel like you could answer just in general, just can you give a quick overview or just general perception of swannies approach to ecology and then also any particular insight into like what the Watershed science program looks like.
Joe
02:48:53 PM
I'm curious abou the Island Ecology program and the Watershed Science program?
Oh yeah, sure. So we have been blessed with the domain, which is an incredible asset. That's what he has. So all of my classes that have been more ecology focused. We go outside, and if we're learning about the water cycle, will go and look at a stream and will really look at how the trees move the water or.
Free um Ornithology, which I'm in right now, that's why I'm referencing it so much. You know, we learned about ducks yesterday, so now for lab, we're going to go out and go look at the ducks that we have on the domain. So it's really an incredible opportunity. And for my ecology class, I took it freshman year, but we were outside all the time. Going through, you know what we were learning and seeing how all the ecosystems interacted and figuring out reach different research projects we could do to ask different questions about the ecology of this place.
Pacific Lee Ann and I think I think that that is a big tenant of our biology and or outdoor classes is it's very place oriented and learning about what swannies and I have really, really enjoyed that and I think the watershed program. I don't know a whole lot about it, but it sounds super cool getting to learn about how our watershed works and how it affects other watersheds. And we have the Swanee Utility District which filters are water and you can go and.
We learn all about that process, and I've gone in multiple classes over on a field trip to that place, so that's really cool to learn what our water is doing and how we're being an upstream upstream neighbor to those downstream of us.
Taylor Baird
02:50:23 PM
More about the program here: https://new.sewanee.edu/academics/integrated-program-in-the-environment/environmental-study-away/sewanee-s-island-ecology-program/
Awesome, thanks and so as we start to like wrap up key guys offer up like your your personal insight into just Swanee academics like how how did Swanee academically stand out when maybe you were doing your own college search process and then how is that original perception held out to like your current experience now? Has it lived up to? It has surpassed it? Hasn't altered it just what is your general perception of? You know classes and that preparation?
I think when I was in my college search, the biggest thing I was looking for in terms of academic sites one it was a close relationship with my professors, which I think Sony has exceeded that surpassed that because no matter like no matter what Department I've been in, the professors always like the presser always knows me and I still see them around campus today and they'll still say hi to me even though I took their class three years ago and freshman year. But every single class I've been in, I've developed a really close relation about predator.
And they always encourage me to do well and often times I had before I thought I was going to be forced to minor at one point. And so I was taking forestry classes and that professor was encouraged me to be a force for minor all the time, like every every time I handed in a test he would say maybe you should you think about being a minor yet. And so I think those relationships I've made in my favorite part. And that's obviously what made me become my major.
Yeah, I would definitely agree with that. When I came to visit Swanee, I sat in on a class and it was a herpetology class and I at the time didn't really care about salamanders or frogs. But this class, they sit down for, you know, ready for their lecture and then the professor says, OK, what did you bring to class and they start pulling out zip lock Baggies filled with frogs and tadpoles and salamanders that they had collected. It was like this is amazing.
They had gone out as their homework to go and find a herb to bring back to herpetology class. And so I I started finding myself asking questions at other universities. They were like, well, what's your hands on experience you know, can you go out and learn what you're learning in the classroom, outside and all the other colleges were like no like you can't do that anywhere. And I was like, well, at Sony. They did do that and so that's kind of how I figured out that Sony was for me, because that was really what I was looking for. Even without knowing it.
And the crazy thing is, was that herpetology professor is now Doctor Cicala, my academic advisor, and I'm doing research with her salamanders now. So it really kind of, you know, stairstep me into Suwannee before I even knew that's what I was looking for.
Awesome awesome. Well thank you both for joining on today offering up your student perspective. I'm going to switch this slide here so everyone on the call if you guys have more questions, definitely feel free to take a screenshot. That first link is we have like a student messaging platform so definitely feel free to reach out to students. They each have like little bio so you can find one that matches your interests. See more about a particular program. I also have our visit link.
Right there in the middle and then my email address right underneath it, but once again thank you both for joining on today. If you guys everyone else on the call. If you guys have more questions I'll hang out for a little bit and try to power through a few of those. But definitely thank you all again for joining and have a good rest of the night.
Taylor Baird
02:54:18 PM
Visit options here: https://new.sewanee.edu/admission-aid/virtual-visit-options/
Lauren
02:54:24 PM
Thank you!
Carly
02:54:26 PM
thank you so much!!
Joe
02:54:28 PM
Thanks for the program.
Taylor Baird
02:54:38 PM
And chat with current students here: https://sewaneeambassadors.com/#/
Hannah
02:54:39 PM
Thank you!
Taylor Baird
02:54:53 PM
Have a great afternoon!
Caroline
02:54:57 PM
Thanks! This was a great overview!