Tag: Academics

Last Saturday I was inducted into NC-State’s oldest honor society. The Golden Chain Society was founded in 1926. Every year 12 rising seniors are inducted. Some links in the Golden Chain society include former Gov. James B. Hunt Jr., legendary basketball coach Everett Case, UNC System President Emeritus William C. Friday, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Henry Hugh Shelton and NC State’s Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Coach Kay Yow. While at the ceremony, I was informed that acceptance into the Golden Chain Society is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a rising senior at NC-State University.

I was ecstatic to find out that I was accepted into such a prestigious honor society. To date, there are 1,069 links in the Golden Chain Society, and with my last name being York, I am currently the last link added; link number 1,069 lol. After receiving my link, I was able to reflect on these last couple of years at NC-State, and see how my hard work has paid off.

Coming in as a freshman, I never would have guessed that I would be inducted into such a society, but through God’s grace, hard work, and motivation from others, I am now link number 1,069. When coming to college,  make sure to stay focused on why you’re here. Have fun, Work hard, get involved, and find people who believe in you. Allow these people to feed into your life, and I guarantee that it will pay off down the road. You will accomplish things that you never thought were possible.

So I am wrapping up my first semester at NCSU by entering what they call Dead Week. Dead Week is the week before exams when all projects are turned in and no homework is assigned so we can study…so of course I pick this time to write to you guys…because this type of procrastination at least seems studious.

This seemed like a good time to wrap up the semester and tell you guys some things that I learned about State that I would have liked to know.  Looking back on when I was signing up for classes there are three main things I think I would have liked to have known.  The first is that I really enjoy 50 minute classes more than 2 hour classes.  I say this because those are the two main types of classes, lots of short meetings or a few long ones.  Something they don’t tell you though is that those everyday 50 minute classes usually give you one day off.  It is really a personal decision though.

The second thing is lecture vs. small classes.  Lectures are really alot more about you, your computer, and the few people around you in the massive 200 person room.  You meet alot of people who can help you but you don’t have a real connection to the teacher unless you go to office hours. Small classes give you the option of establishing a good form of communication with the teacher and gives more of an opportunity to ask questions, but less people to meet.  It seems lectures are for people who are going to try to go for it on their own and classes are for people who want a connection with their teachers.

The final thing is GRADE DISTRIBUTIONS. You can see how easy or hard a teacher has graded in the past by checking out the grade distributions through MyPack Portal.  The other thing I want to talk about is the freshman repeat. It is something here at NCSU that allows students to make up some of the courses they take their first year. I let my grade in English 101 get away from me and was really worried about it until I found out about this. We get two and basically it is a redo, like Monopoly you’re getting out of jail free but just not receiving the 200 dollars when you pass go.  If you do bad in a class you tell your advisor about it when you sign up for your next semester and you retake the class and your new grade replaces your old one. The only sign left afterwards is a little R beside the class on your transcript.

I am now going to go back to trying to study for Dead Week. Hope these few academic insights from my first semester will help you guys out. Oh and one more thing I learned…procrastination DOES NOT FEEL GOOD AT THE END!!!!