Some say that the best time of your life is spent in high school, but some also say you have the best time during your first year of university when everything is fresh and exciting. Below are two interviews of Luwan BC graduates who are currently studying at UBC.
Ryan Cheng – Kinesiology
When I wrote this article, it was the end of my first year at UBC, and I was about to start summer school. In my opinion, I think university life is “wider” than my high school in two dimensions. As some of you already know, I spent a lot of time outside of schoolwork participating in the UBCs E-Sport Club, and some of the events organized by the UBC e-sport team. The first thing I want to talk about is schoolwork. I study kinesiology, a faculty that studies anatomy, physiology, and also psychological training. Obviously, you need to learn a lot about the human body, like the names of muscles, bones, and neurons. Some grade 12 content is already difficult to understand and put into words. However, after I suffered through my first year in kinesiology, I realized all that was just too “easy”. So, there is the first dimension I want to talk about: the quantity and difficulty of the content in first-year of university is insane. And I am pretty sure this is not only true for kinesiology, it is true for all faculties.
Let’s throw away schoolwork and talk about clubs and events. Due to the size of our high school, the number and variety of the clubs you can choose are limited. So, when it came to the club day at UBC, I was shocked by the number of clubs we had. Initially, I was thinking about choosing two clubs: Thunderbird Sports Club and E-Sport Club. I truly underrated my laziness though. One quick question: if club attendance is not mandatory at all, would you still go out and do exercise? My answer was no. So, I didn’t even go to the Thunderbird Sports Club once. Instead, I spent all my time off school on the e-sport team. In class, sometimes you would see some strange face only appear during midterms or finals because they never attended class. Some classes record and mark attendance, but other classes don’t. That’s the second dimension: university gives you the freedom on how you spend your time.
Scott Shi – Food and Nutrition
I like university more just because the location and nature of my school are breathtaking. The University of British Columbia sits on the west coast of Vancouver, in BC, Canada. As one of the most desirable provinces in Canada for tourism, BC possesses vast forests and neighbours the Pacific Ocean. There are even silent mountains standing in the far north. UBC campus is a collection of eye-catching nature attractions in BC province. Along three sides of UBC is Wrecked Beach – which allows visitors to watch the sunset land in the sea while the ember of the sun lights up the tips of clouds. Traveling from building to building, as you walk through the campus cherry blossoms fill the April sky; when autumn arrives, the chill wind blows off warm brown oak leaves from their giant lichen-covered bodies, leaving the acorns to squirrels. At the end of the main mall, Rose Garden reveals herself, behind her is a placid bay and mountains embellished by snow. How could one’s heart not be moved by such so pleasant atmosphere!
Ammie Du – Pharmaceutical Science
I think yes! First-year > high school because the learning content in university is harder than in high school. In high school, a “one-night miracle” worked for me when I was in Grade 12 but it did not work in university. The content in high school is less and easier compared to university. Take chemistry 12 and Chem 121 as examples. The test material for chem 12 was 5 chapters in the final exam but for Chem 121, all the material from Chapters 1 to 12 is testable. So, it is a good idea to start reviewing several days in advance. Moreover, the pace of teaching in a university is also faster than in high school. Teachers in high school use your time to ask questions and try to practice questions during class but in university, those actions should be done after class which requires students to spend more time after class. Overall, although the learning content is harder, I still enjoyed it more than Grade 12 because I love learning!
Levi Liu – Applied Science
I think yes! First-year > high school because university not only requires students to understand the course content but also focuses on creative thinking. In university, students need to transfer the knowledge they learned during the lecture to the actual products in real life. For example, students were required to use the knowledge of coding and structure design to produce a claw in the course APSC 100 and 101. In addition, you’ll find that a lot of science is interlinked when you go to university. For instance, students are required to understand the knowledge of derivatives and integration from Math 100 and 101 in order to perform the calculation for PHYS 158. So, it is a good idea to review the knowledge points that have been learned before starting learning new materials. All in all, I love how everything is connected and I think getting hands-on practice is super valuable for me in the future!