Alright, folks! Welcome week was cool and exiting in many ways, but it’s time to move forward to the real stuff and initial purpose why we are all here – studying! During the first week of classes I was absorbing all the information about how the teaching process is working here at Drexel to highlight main differences and even surprises that I don’t experience back at my home university in Prague and give some sort of advice and predictions for you guys.
So first of all it is the schedule. This one will be probably the very first thing you hear from abroad coordinators and it is about only 10-week study period + 1 week of all the exams. For those who are experiencing acceleration of time speed with new years of study this can be horrifying news (I’m one of them). Even with 13-week + exam period system in Czech Republic, I’m feeling like time flies as crazy year after year. And here in Drexel they decreased it even more with their quarter system. But disappointing understanding that we’re running out of time faster and faster is not my point here (even though it’s true and mind-blowing). My point here is to be focused from the very first day because there is no time for warming up and you will be asked for results almost immediately. So don’t be stressed but be aware.
And here we can smoothly move to another difference that is connected to what is required for you to succeed. The thing is that back in Europe midterms and finals are the most significant components of your grading in almost every case. I’m experiencing it in Czech Republic along with my friends from different universities in Prague and around Europe. Here at Drexel it works in a different way, the weight of the grade is shifted to homework, presentations, projects and attendance. Meanwhile all test are covering less than half of the grade (if they are even there). On the one hand, it adds up in the amount of work that you should do during the semester. On the other hand, there is not such a big stress and high stake on midterms and finals that will save our nerve cells for years to come. So I would say it’s better to spread your workload over the whole quarter than to sleep 3 hours per night during last 2 weeks.
And some fun for the final today. Firstly, Drexel is not quitting to give us free food and this week we had stomach-saving muffins in the middle of the day. Just look at them!
Another funny story happened in International Trade class where our professor preferred to enjoy the break together with us by playing video game. So if you were looking for a chill course, you just found it!
Okie dokie, folks. That’s it for today. Hope you found it useful and a bit fun to read and see you in a week!
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