Undergraduate life and experience?

Hi,

I would like to find out how hectic is the life of an undergraduate?

What sort of experiences await someone who has freshly matriculated?

Are they largely memorable? What are the ups and downs one should expect?

Student X 

(The above was posted in a private forum)

You are granted a far greater degree of freedom/autonomy to do your stuff; however this means you must be sufficiently self-disciplined to keep up with the lesson pace in lectures and tutorials. Things get extremely hectic because course modules are compacted into a short semester typically lasting about 4 months or less.In essence, lots of work but very little time. Spoon-feeding and rote learning (which is so commonplace in sec schools and JCs) becomes something of the past as you have to discover and develop your own style of acquiring knowledge efficiently from thick textbooks and stacks of notes. Not to mention you will be consistently "fighting" with others for a slot in the library's photocopying room since you have to complete numerous research projects and presentations.

Strike a comfortable equilibrium between work and play. Participation in CCAs/varsity activities serve to nurture and strengthen your social, leadership and management skills; these would definitely bring an advantage to the negotiating table when being screened by future prospective employers (these days merely being a booksmart nerd won't portray you in a positive light when job-hunting). On the other hand, bear in mind however outstanding your non-academic achievements are, nobody in the right frame of mind will give a second thought about hiring you if a third class honors (or worse still just a pass without honors) is all you can muster after 4 years of university schooling.

Hostels are convenient because you don't have to rise early and make those wearily long trips to/from school day in and out, but from my personal recollections, the irony is that those who stay on campus tend to oversleep and are habitually late for class.

Other factors that will also shape your undergraduate lifestyle come into play, such as boy-girl relationships, taking up side-gigs to earn income among others. In addition, you have so much more technological distractions (as compared to my time 8, 9 years back) such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ etc to contend with.

In a nutshell, this is going to be one helluva ride, but if you hang in there, things will turn out fine at the end of the day. Remember, every bit of effort counts. Enjoy this new phase of your life and good luck. Peace.

Best Regards,

Mr Koh