College students throughout the country have been asked to follow a unique set of expectations and requirements equating to seemingly nothing else in recent educational history this past year.
With serious adaptation necessary to adhere to COVID-19 protocols, college students at all levels seemed to pay the price both literally and figuratively, in the sense that each individual’s experience was inevitably hindered in some way this semester and for returning students or graduates the semester prior, as well continuing to pay the full price, of course ludicrous amounts for some schools, for an experience that for many did not feel worth it.
The similar and contrasting approaches and changes that have come acquainted with the altered experience has undoubtedly effected students of all ages, but outside of those set to graduate college in 2021 who have had their senior year stained, it feels the incoming freshman class got the shorter end of the stick in terms of the appeal in attending college.
While the opportunity for vast improvement in the remaining years should be taken into consideration before labeling their experience to be not worthwhile, for the limited and watered-down semester just endured to be their only taste of college life to this point, it should be of no surprise that many students are second-guessing their decisions or waiting out lifting of restrictions.
Students who attended NECC this past semester dodged a serious bullet in comparison to others, as costs associated with the community college is a small fraction lined up next to the price of other state and private schools, thus making transferring to NECC an attractive option to the number of Massachusetts students sent home or never even stepping on a campus as COVID-19 concerns grew.
While some schools have declared themselves optimistic and ambitious enough to open their campuses when students return for next semester, NECC, like many others, has chosen to continue operating over the computer. With these second and third weeks of December requesting final exams and projects, and knowing the semester ahead is likely to be more of the same, three first-year Northern Essex students were asked to reflect on their first college semester.
David Brickley, 19, is a business major in his first year at NECC who had initially hoped to go away for college, but instead chose to enroll at NECC.
“When our school shutdown in March, I was in the process of deciding between a few schools in Mass, then when things started to get more concerning, I hit pause on the decision. At the time I was working at Chick-Fil-A, and it would get so busy so fast. I took on more hours and started building up my savings, so when I came back to my decision, and since questions about how the schoolyear would look started to come up, I felt NECCO was the best choice for me both because it wouldn’t drain the savings I had built up and would allow me to maintain working more hours than I planned to if I were living on campus somewhere,” Brickley said over the phone.
Brickley was then asked to describe his experience of his first semester, stated “I definitely underestimated the workload. I started a new job for more money with UPS, initially the thought of having the computer there, not needing to go to a class, made me assume things would be easier, and at first when everyone was new to this it was, but as time went on my assignments started to take longer and longer. It was hard to get myself to sit at my desk and focus on the computer for hours when I would get back from work, and it definitely required me to do more in each class on my days off”
Brickley was then asked to reflect on his grades, work habits, and name potential improvements he could implement to make next semester better, replying “I was never concerned about failing or anything like that, but my grades definitely weren’t what they were in high school, but knowing I was going to be working as much as, I was mostly focused on keeping everything afloat, and there were some assignments that I just couldn’t get myself to do and had to just take the hit”
Continuing to his work habits, “As time went on they got better, I learned how to budget my time better as the semester went on and the last month or so I started to be on a schedule in terms of how much I would expect to do each day,” he said.
As for methods of improving his experience next semester, Brickley floated the idea of attending classes part-time rather than full-time, referencing the workload that grew to be excessive at times when paired with long hours at UPS.
Aya Kasbi, 19, spent her first semester at NECC majoring in forensic science, and shared a similar experience to that of Brickley’s in relation to her first semester.
“I didn’t really know what to expect, and based on the online work I had been given to finish off senior year, I had gotten my hopes up and convinced myself it would be easy,” she responded via FaceTime
Kasbi expanded on her answer in stating “Things started off slow, for most incoming freshmen this was their first real online course designed to challenge them in the same way a regular schoolyear would, if not more, having to stay on top of and understand everything on your own. The first couple weeks had led me to believe more of the same would continue throughout the semester, but I felt like my classes were getting harder by the week.”
In terms of grades and work habits, Kasbi stated “It was definitely not one of my better years in terms of percentages, but my scores for assignments and quizzes started to go up, during the middle chunk of the semester in October. I was leaving a lot of things till the last minute and some things I just was not in the mindset to do, but I definitely know how to approach my work better now”
Kasbi has not yet made a decision as to whether or not she will return for next semester but when asked to name potential methods of improvement, Kasbi mentioned “Just not to dig myself in a hole at any point, now that I have an idea of what to expect I think I will be able to maintain better grades.”
Tatiana Matrille, 18, was the final NECC student interviewed to reflect on her semester, this being Matrille’s second interview in the past month following up on previous statements regarding her online experience. Matrille had previously mentioned switching her major, spending the past semester majoring in liberal arts and now aiming to major in exercise science.
Asked to elaborate on her semester description, Matrille stated “A lot of the work felt tedious, not just the required classes, but the classes I had elected to take. I didn’t come in with a great understanding of what I wanted to study, and didn’t really want to come in undecided, so I picked something I felt kind of 50/50 about, and once things started moving at a regular pace, I found I just didn’t feel the same about majoring in liberal arts.”
As for her grades and work habits, Matrille said “I worked really hard throughout the semester, and got mostly everything done, even though there were many nights it took a long time for me to get motivated. After a little over a month once things started picking up, I started putting aside a few hours each day, some weeks more than others, and I got myself back on track and stayed caught up once I got there. The work itself wasn’t necessarily hard, but had multiple parts and required more time.”
Asked to include potential methods for improving next semester, also designated to be online, Matrille stated “Picking classes I like and can maintain interest in, and if the ones I take initially don’t fit that description, having the courage to get in contact with advising, I was too shy to try and get in contact with anyone that could change my classes.”
This past semester was far from traditional, and to be an incoming freshman, exposed to your first college experience, it should come to no surprise that this past year was confusing and rather underwhelming for many.
Set to for the most part continue to operate online (outside of a small number of classes in need of equipment only available on campus), NECC students of all ages can reflect on their approach to this past semester, gather explanations as to how some things were successful and others were not, and maintain the perseverance they developed in completing this online semester in the interest of reaching goals for the remastered digital semester.
