It's been a few months since thousands of young people started university. The vast majority come from secondary schools where they studied ESO and Baccalaureate near their homes. There, they had a very enriching proximity and familiarity between colleagues and teaching staff that in practically all cases marked an important value for the development of educational activity.
Now, with the experience that these first months have given them, many of them value how the adaptation has been and what is the main difference they find between their old institutes and the university when it comes to carrying out their daily teaching.
The Uni has contacted three first-year students from the UB, UAB and UPC to find out what is the most discordant factor between their previous experience and their recent entry into university, where they will have to spend the next years of their lives.
And it is precisely the nostalgia for that closeness that existed in secondary schools that is one of the great absences that the three students highlight from these first classes in the classrooms. For Hanna Escrigas, a student of the Environmental Engineering degree at the UPC, “I was very surprised to go from being in a class where the teacher knows who you are and that you also have the warmth of your friends and classmates to a new place where no one It is looking out for you and you have to be independent,” he says.
A similar feeling is shared by Albert Plana, a first-year student of Communication and Cultural Industries at the University of Barcelona, who recognizes that at the university the role of colleagues and not so much that of friends among the students themselves is developed more. “You find yourself in a place where you don't know anyone and in the same way that you don't know anything about the teacher or your classmates, they don't know anything about you either; We are all strangers,” he explains.
From his experience, Plana highlights the coldness with which the DNI number practically replaces the first name and one's own identity when it comes to marking exams and any other task where there used to be a closer relationship and where "teachers do it." “They knew everything about you,” adds Albert.
Another similar example is the one given by Daniela Bayarri, a first-year veterinary student at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, who is still surprised when she has to send an email - with the formalities that this represents - to her professor to resolve any questions. related to the subject. “I find it very strange to do it,” she insists.
Classmates are perhaps another of the differentiating points in the faculty after going through secondary school. “There, many of us knew each other since primary school and we were a big family, now everything costs much more and, even with the intention of making friends, expanding friendships is more difficult than before, although little by little it is being achieved,” explains Albert .
In relation to this, Daniela agrees with the Communication student. And she considers it lucky to have a “godmother”; a figure created by the second-year students themselves to advise and resolve questions and doubts of newcomers. Daniela took advantage of the opportunity and the trust of her godmother to consult aspects related to the exams and find out which first year subjects require the most dedication and hours of study.
All new students also know that the work and study methodology is different and they will have to adapt it so that the subjects are taught as the project progresses. The three of them are clear that they must maintain a constant, although each one knows that finding their rhythm will only depend on each person and their priorities. In this sense, some university students decide to renounce anything that could interfere with their obligations. Daniela is aware that if she wants to maintain her veterinary career, she will have to give up the possibility of spending hours of her free time to earn money, like many other young people do during their time at university. “I don't rule out giving private classes from time to time, but I want to focus my attention as much as possible on my studies,” argues the UAB student, “but even so I will try to combine my little free time with my love of athletics and everything that It involves hours of training and competitions,” he adds.
Like Daniela, Hanna also shows her concern about the time she can absorb, doing anything other than studying, although she recognizes that some private classes will give her some financial freedom. On the other hand, Albert is the one who claims the opposite. She believes that the schedules he now has at the university allow him to do things that he couldn't do before in high school. “The university has encouraged my time and with a little management it allows me to do even more things; In fact, I am acting as a monitor in two “esplais”. And he remembers that, in high school, because of the schedules, he couldn't do it,” she explains.
