By: Valeria IuIeva
As the Spring semester started to knock on many doors recently, and the registration was announced, that’s a good moment to discuss the formats of the courses available at Tri-C. Even if you’re an international student, there are some useful life hacks to make following the academic plan easier.
Let’s start with the chosen major and the academic plan. It’s the most important starting point, and my personal advice is to take your major choice seriously. If hesitating, a better option would be to choose a broader major, and, of course, to have multiple conversations with counseling and transfer departments, making a truly strategic move from scratch, saving money and time (and nerves!).
Two years ago, I was totally new to the course-selection: the words like “prerequisites” or “Ohio Transfer 360” made no sense. I was lost and needed to act fast – I had just one week to figure out my courses, the campus, and get correct and proven information about my placement tests for English and Math. Lifehack #1: If you’re coming from a different continent and / or your study gap is around 10 years (as it was in my case with Math), and you did your TOEFL / IELTS somewhere else in the world, probably you will still have to have both placement tests. But don’t be scared; they’re not really something you can just “fail” and “not pass”, but they will allow the college to assist you better with the starting level of your courses, following your major’s needs. You’ll also have time and opportunity to use ALEKS to prepare for the Math test with the same tasks, topics, and levels I was able to refresh my knowledge, and the test didn’t seem hard. It felt slightly different with the English test, and I remember being totally frustrated with the quote prompt I received for my essay task, even after boosting my language skills getting ready for TOEFL at home for 2+ months. Obvious lifehack: don’t miss time to get prepared.
I can’t overstate enough the importance of the First-Year Success course; it’s an invaluable resource for any college student and helps to get a basic idea of the College’s resources. Lifehack #2: don’t stop there, because many resources are not covered within just this one course. Talk to people, get out of your shell, and ask for help. That’s something I will never forget about Tri-C: how welcome I felt during my first months, how everyone tried to decrease my stress.
Now let’s move to the courses’ formats themselves. Nowadays Tri-C offers (main options):
- On Campus (when you attend all the classes at set meeting times and places, and have a lot of classwork, and usually not so much to do at home). Your tests and written papers will be in class, so it requires a lot of handwriting and active listening to professor. During the 1st-2nd semesters, you may have a lot of collaborative group tasks, especially for English classes, which helps you adapt and find first friends.
- Blend: Campus & Online (good option to have fewer class meetings, for example, if you’re taking a lot of classes at all different campuses. The percentage of Campus part can be understood as “How many times per month are we meeting in class?”. For example, 50% means every other week, and 25% – once a month. Most of the work is done with set deadlines, but at one’s preferred pace. Lifehack #3: use these courses later in your academic journey, when specific, major-related courses may overlap or leave little time to move between campuses. Important: any percentage of “Campus” for these courses works to maintain needed credits’ amount for international students).
- Blend: Virtual Meetings & Online (almost like the previous option, but with set times and dates for meetings held online. May work better if one has difficulties with transportation, and will require even more concentration, being present with the camera turned on during the lectures. Important: will not work for international students for keeping I-20 status!).
- Online/Online Asynchronous (fully online courses with deadlines, and proctored tests and exams. If you’re good with tests, this format may be a hidden gem for you! Also, it doesn’t require any meeting times and allows you to study at your best days and times, even if that’s 3 a.m. and you’re not struggling with insomnia).
Of course, Tri-C offers more options, and some may change or not be available for certain majors. I hope this small guide helps to be less loaded with the courses’ navigation. The final lifehack for today: enjoy your time at Tri-C and look beyond just taking classes, and don’t be scared to ask for help. Tri-C offers many resources to help you become and stay successful!
