Academic Life Part I

Academic Life Part I

     My college life is far from the vicinity of the word perfect. Just for a little History 101, let me share you the details of my academic life after high school. 

We all know that I graduated from St. Benedict College. I really wanted to study at De La Salle University Manila. Because of that I only took two entrance examinations, one for DLSU and one for UP. Needless to say, I didn’t make it to the cut off of UP. I hate it when people say that I flunked the examination because I didn’t. I chose a quota course, which is a very stupid thing to do if you really want to be admitted. My third year high school grades were fine but wasn’t sufficient to land me a slot in UP. I didn’t care because I really wanted to go to DLSU. They even said I’m qualified for the scholarship as seen in the result of the examination. I had high hopes but a month before actual enrollment they told me that they disapproved it. I was a broken man after that.

 I thought the world crashed. But the show must go on so I enrolled in SBC CAS without difficulties along with some other batch mates. Some of them were plain lazy but some had the same story like I do. I wasted a year there in terms of academics but I have to admit that my social life had never been so fulfilled as it was during that single year at SBC CAS. I guess that was the sole consolation in sacrificing the quality of education. I did myself a favor and transferred to UP after that under the Journalism program. You already know what happened during my first year there because it was already discussed in last year’s collection. So if you want to know what the events were, just read last year’s collection!

For now let us proceed to the events that were among those corrupted in the diskette. This is the part of my academic life at the latter end of the first semester for second year, the first half of which was already given utmost attention in last year’s collection, and the first half of the second semester for the second year until I filed for Leave of Absence.

I will just discuss how the courses for the first semester of the second year ended. I had six classes then.

My PE class was Sport Climbing and I learned to love that sport. The semester didn’t end with a bang because on the very last day of the session, my body didn’t cooperate and I couldn’t even finish the normal In 2 D Woods wall. Anyway, I got a 1.25 for that and I don’t have the class card until now.

I had two philosophy classes. Let’s start with Philosophy 1. As usual, it was boring until the end of the semester and I actually got a fair grade in the final examination. It wasn’t high and Soberano gave me a 2.0.

Philosophy 10 was good but I had better expectations. The final examination was combined with a project. I along with my group mates made a magazine about Genetic Engineering and the philosophical issues involved in it. Miss Siruno gave me a 1.75. It was a good grade but I was expecting higher. I enjoyed the course nonetheless.

Chemistry 1 was actually one of the surprises for the semester. I got a 1.75, which was actually high enough because I was expecting a low grade for the subject. I actually congratulated myself because I know that I studied hard for the finals and it worked. There was also this incident when I took the finals when my stomach was doing some somersaults but I managed to finish the examination.

Molecular Biology and Biotechnology 1 was the surprise of the century because I got a 1.25. I really don’t like the subject that much because I find it boring and it’s not of interest for me but the grade got me thinking otherwise. I am thankful for it. By the way, I think it was in the latter parts of the subject when a certain Professor Ines gave lectures about Forensics and I really loved the topic and I liked her style of teaching and her personality as well. She was bubbly and chatty and how I wished she were the sole teacher for the subject.

Journalism 102 was the only Journalism subject for the whole semester and I got a 2.25 for it. It was actually a nice save because if I got a .25 lower, I would have been placed under probation. That’s the last thing that should happen because I was smuggling subjects.

Spanish 10 was the smuggled subject and I took it with a breeze. The professor was Spanish and easily had me as his favorite because of my advanced proficiency in the language. I’ve been obsessed with the language ever since January and it showed because I got a flat 1.0.

I never knew that Spanish 11 could be taken as a co requisite for Spanish 10 via the integrated classes so I really missed a big opportunity to shorten the time to complete the required subjects. I will shift to European Languages right? That’s been the plan and I believe it was thoroughly discussed last year so I won’t expound on that.

Anyway, I’ve computed my grades for the first semester and realized that I am still a college scholar. A college scholar is the equivalent of the dean’s list in other schools. University scholar is a higher distinction.

The second semester was quite vague in terms of decision-making and subjects taken. Eighteen units were required but I only took fifteen because of some conflicts with the schedule. I took three Journalism classes and two Spanish classes. Since I’ve been planning to shift to another program, the advisers didn’t seem to care on what I took anymore and it was easier to smuggle subjects.

Journalism 103 was boring but very informative as usual. Prof. Teodoro is really the master in terms of Journalism lectures. He is boring but you will really learn. Journalism 103 is all about Interpretative Writing. The course is divided to three areas mainly: Editorials, News Analyses and Columns. This was the second time that I had Prof. Teodoro as a professor. This class was every Tuesday and Friday at 2:30 – 4:00.

There were really no colorful events in this subject but I particularly liked the political talks of Prof. Teodoro. He didn’t just educate us about Journalism but about modern international politics is well. I think he is one of the major catalysts that made me consider Political Science as an alternative for European Languages. I became interested in politics thanks to him and who knows where it might take me.

Journalism 109 was fine but it was ravaged by holidays. It was a once a week session, every Monday at 10:00 – 1:00. It was entitled Journalism for the Popular Audiences. It’s all about popularizing an article to fit the standards and be a learning tool for the primary audience and to elicit the interest of the secondary audience. I didn’t like it that much and I only got to attend a few meetings because of the no-class days and my early vacation.

We only had a few meetings and I never even got to pass the first requirement because of our untimely departure. Most of the classes were dabbed with social aspects ranging from music to movies. I guess those were present because it needed to be present for popularization.

Journalism 111 was Feature Writing and Prof. Encanto was the professor, second time for me. It was all about features and it was the subject I liked most among the three. It was my favorite but it also was a stressful subject because there were too much work involved like interviews and other stuff. The schedule was Mondays and Thursdays at 2:30 – 4:00.

This subject was mostly made up of lectures. It was boring but not as boring as the other two. As for Journalism, it seems that I’ve already lost interest in it. I’m still into writing but I think taking it, as a profession is not suitable for me. Anyway, many professors already told us that everyone could be a journalist so why take it as a career in college when you can concentrate on another.

Spanish 12 & 13 were the smuggled subjects. I took an integrated subject this time and it was actually risky because I skipped Spanish 11. Anyway, I found it amusing that I got by even better than some of the students who actually took Spanish 11. By the time I filed for Leave of Absence, Spanish 12 was almost finished. I never had the chance to attend Spanish 13 because we already left. This was an integrated subject so we had it every Monday-Tuesday-Thursday-Friday at 1:00 – 2:30. The professor, Señora Conchita Villar is Filipino. She is very attached to her students and she was more of a friend than a mentor even if she was around her sixties already. She didn’t care much about pre requisites so I was able to take the subject without being apprehended for not taking Spanish 11. I really loved the class and I wish to take another session with her when I return.

The subject was fun. I had a classmate who was fluent in Spanish, which I found a little arrogant. One was already a mother and it was obvious from her looks that she was indeed. There were many pretty girls but they remained nameless because they were either busy chatting with each other or just plain quiet. Cristine de Jesus was one name to remember. She is the second de Jesus that I’ve encountered here in UP as a classmate. The last one was Neris last year in English 12. Anyway, she was also quiet and told me that she just transferred to European Languages. There was also this huge gay guy who was always noisy in class and Spanish was also his major.

Those were the basic issues of my academic life for the past year. Those were the subjects taken so now let me bring you to a more complicated topic regarding my dynamic career plans. Yes, I’ll just include that in here. Why should I make a separate article for that if one will do right?