Leah HennigIf you spend a lot of time on the University of Alberta subreddit, then most likely, you’ve seen or posted something titled “Rate my schedule.” This is where students seek advice or ask people whether they’re done for or not. At this point, it could be the longest-running online trend in the university.
No matter how entertaining it was to look at vastly different realities in the university, all good things must come to an end. We are about to witness the decline of one of the most popular student-led trends as most schedules near finalization.
With the lengthy break most of us had, it must’ve been a long time already for students since they last solved an equation or wrote an essay. Over the summer, it’s a known phenomenon to forget most of what you learned in the previous school year. So when we register for new classes, we naturally forget their rigour and the sheer amount of stress that comes with them. Or, if you are the explorer type, you might even be taking classes in new disciplines.
Nonetheless, we feel shocked when we finally experience four taxing 80-minute classes in a day.
What’s more is that most students are used to just walking across the hallway for their next classes. Or, if they were lucky, they might not have had to switch classrooms at all. It’s a common mistake of freshmen, myself included, to bring this complacency into university. It’s easy to not consider that Tory is not just a two minute walk from the Education building. Or to forget about the foot traffic all over the buildings in between classes. 200 students pouring out of the double-doors, followed by another set of students of the same amount, makes things difficult.
Luckily, students who spend their summers on Reddit notice these schedules. As perpetually online as they might appear to you, they have a lot of wisdom on how to effectively plot classes. They’ve most likely made the same mistakes in the past. There’s also the fact that they might’ve already taken the same classes. This makes them most suited to ask for insight about the workload you’ll deal with.
Some students have miraculously hacked the simulation for their Godsent schedules. Others have unwillingly driven themselves to the gates of hell. Either way, people in similar situations create a sense of belonging. Being miserable is one thing, but knowing that there are others who you’ll suffer with is another.
This trend has subtly turned into an avenue in which there’s a lot of humanity. Whether it be from associating with people to having genuine concern, or those who have packed and complicated arrangement of classes. Just from witnessing these acts of kindness could go a long way. Especially to students who are entering their new chapters in university.
