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At first I was nervous about taking New Century
College because I had heard horror stories about how there would be a paper due
on the first day or that the workload was impossible, but I took the change
anyway and I am glad I did. The setup of New Century seems to suit me well,
meaning the small classroom setting rather than be just a number in a lecture
hall of two hundred students. Go to class at ten and done by three, it’s nice.
Now I have completed two units of this program and each had different things to
offer though they still related to each other. NCLC 110 was all about me, while
130 is about us or them. Overall I feel
like I learned more in NCLC 130 than I did 110. This is because 130 taught me
things I did not already know, unlike NCLC 110 where the focus was on my
personal development and for the most part I know me. And no one can teach me
about me better than I can. Honestly, I do not think the focus should be on the
individual in college, but instead on the world because the next step after
college is establishing a place for you in the world; and to be best prepared
to do so you need to know what you are up against.
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My biggest challenge coming into New Century I
knew how much writing I would have to be doing on a weekly basis. Writing has
never been my strong point, but I figured it would be a big part of my college
career so I stepped up to the challenge. In NCLC 110 I had to confront my
tendency to start out a paper strong but end it weakly. I identified this
problem early on but the worst part was kicking the habit, and even now
finishing my first semester I think it is still a problem for me. On the other
hand I was successful in the first class by getting over my reluctance to speak
or have a presence in front of people I do not know so quickly, I credit this
to Hemlock. Then in 130 my greatest obstacle was the readings. Though we had
readings in 110 they were easy to interpret and understand compared to those in
130. What held me back was inclination to read each passage word for word,
which took so long. I did not know that that is not how “college kids” read. I
had to learn to skim though the necessary to get the gist and skip all the
fluff. Doing so also became my greatest achievement in 130. Taken as a whole my
first semester at Mason has been ideal, I love it here and I cannot wait for
what the future has in store for me. |
