Psychology at Western University By Julia Mucuceanu

IG: juliamucuceanu

Many people proclaim that university is some of the best years of your life both academically and socially. However, beginning university amidst a pandemic and being completely online has been a challenge and changed many students’ perspectives quite a bit. Nevertheless, this past year has been an interesting adventure for all of us and I personally have experienced a lot in my first foray into university.

Degree and Courses

Currently, I’m working towards a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. In high school, I was unsure of what I wanted to take which is why I like that Western gives me a chance to take different electives to see what I am interested in. For psychology, the mandatory courses are two maths and psych 1000. Western has something called breadth requirements that are mandatory from each category, I recommend getting them out of the way in your first year so you do not have to worry about them later on! For electives I took 1033 which is a web design course and earth sci 1022 which is a science course. All of the courses were online but I found the tutorials engaging because it was a smaller group size, most of us were in the same program and we were able to zoom in with each other. Asking questions and creating bonds with your professors is beneficial and will be helpful to you in the future. I found that each online course was taught differently, with asynchronous and synchronous methods. We were able to do the course at our own pace and our TA (teaching assistant) would answer any of our questions via email.

Residence

I made the decision to go on campus and live in residence. I got placed in the Med-Syd residence which was my second choice. I found residence to be very helpful for creating new connections and getting help on my courses. I was incredibly lucky to be in residence for the first semester and met amazing people. At Western we have the soph program where second years live with you in residence and help ease your transition. The soph tradition truly makes Western special, they're always there for you and can help with courses and emotional support if needed. Orientation week this year was online but it was still fun to meet new people and it was worth attending.

Overall Experience

Although the first year was mostly online, I am glad that I went in person and am grateful that I was able to go in residence. The campus is easy to navigate and worth seeing, there are many libraries and places to study and just wonderful areas to relax in. Even though it was during the pandemic and a lockdown, I am incredibly happy with my program and how my first year went!

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