I almost transferred out of Colgate University last year. When I applied to Colgate for the same generic list as everyone else: the beautiful campus, the size of the student population, the small classes, and the great professors. However, once I got on campus, I realized that the culture at Colgate can be less-than-perfect.
I felt like classmates were only classmates and that no one cared about school once they walked out of an academic building. I felt like classes were just a buffer in-between weekends, where I saw the same people at the same parties that played the same music weekend after weekend. I felt like people at Colgate were cliquey and that I wasn’t meeting everyone that I wanted to.
I had great friends. I had great classes. I loved my professors. I was involved on campus. Somehow, though, I felt like I was missing something.
When I heard about the Sophomore Residential Seminars, I knew that I wanted to apply. They were advertised as living-learning communities. A bunch of passionate students from diverse backgrounds would take a class, live together, and travel together. I immediately knew I wanted to apply to a class taught by professor Meika Loe and Dean Christina Khan, “San Francisco: Immigrant and Sexual Cultures.” I was interested in the subject, but there was a lot I didn’t know– I wanted to learn more about it. I wanted to live with people who had the same interest.
As soon as I knew that I was accepted in to the class, I became nervous. I didn’t know a lot of the people who were also accepted. Our ice-breakers were awkward and our housing meeting was even worse– we had to meet people and decide to live with them all within twenty or so minutes. I was worried that my friends from freshman year would all have a great time living together in sophomore housing while I was stuck with random roommates. I was worried about the high expectations that the professors would have for us in class. I was worried that the class wouldn’t be what I had hoped for.
Fast forward a few months and we were all back on campus for SRS orientation. We attempted to bond with our professors and classmates through activities like ropes courses, tie-dye parties, and white water rafting in freezing cold rivers. We reunited with the roommates who we barely knew, trying to decide how to decorate our new spaces without stepping on each others’ toes. We quickly settled in, learning about each other, our backgrounds, and our stories.
Class had a new energy. We had a lot of reading and the same high expectations that I previously feared, but our professors valued dialogue above everything else. We were able to bring our personal experiences in to the classroom, something that I didn’t have in a lot of other classes. Our class was more than regurgitation. It was interpretation, questioning, and understanding course materials in relation to our own experiences and perspectives. We were able to disagree with each other, learn from each other, and support each other in our learning and in our lives.
After a semester of participating in SRS, I finally feel like I have taken my Colgate experience in to my own hands. I’ve met peers that I never would have without participating in the program. I’ve become more confident in the classroom and outside of it. I’m not afraid to speak up when I disagree with a peer, ask for clarification, or add something to the conversation off the cuff. I’m more willing to reach out to new people and strike up more meaningful conversations. I’ve made meaningful relationships with my professors. SRS in one of the only classes where I would go in to office hours about an essay topic and leave having talked about family, friends, campus climate and everything in between.
If you’re a first-year reading this article, you should apply to SRS. If you want to live in some of the best dorms on campus, you should apply to SRS. If you want to go on an amazing, paid-for trip over winter break, you should apply to SRS. If you love Colgate, you should apply to SRS. If you hate Colgate, you should apply to SRS. Most of all, if you want a deeper connection to your classes, your peers, and your professors, you should apply to SRS.
Applications are due by 1am on February 1, 2016. Here’s the link, you can thank me later.
