On Education and Meeting People in Academia

The British academic system differs significantly from the American system.

This was emphasized several times during various orientations. Mostly the fact that the British system expects students to figure out how to study independently instead of issuing homework to force them to learn. I was kind of scared by this. Also, this means that the semester final grade entirely rides on the midterm and the final exams. Mmm. OK, that's it for boring details.

I'm taking 4 math classes here. They each meet twice a week for lecture, and once a week for tutorial. Tutorial is the equivalent of recitation in the US, except they're run more like office hours in the US. Basically, you work on math problems in the classroom and if you're stuck, you raise your hand and either the professor (yes, the professor is present at tutorials!) or one of his TA-like grad students comes over to help you. Because of the nature of tutorials, they're sometimes referred to as examples classes. This is how the math courses roll here. Or should I say "modules"? Yea. Other notes:

• Module = Class/Course
• Course = Major
• Faculty = Department
  

I didn't know what to expect during my first few examples classes. I did not print out the handouts containing the problems, so I showed up to class unprepared (gasp!). I asked the grad student on duty what I should do, and she suggested I could review my notes or leave and go do something else. I then asked, "How about I look on with another [prepared] student?" She looked at me funny but then said OK. Odd. It would've been the first thing I suggested if I were her. So I looked on with another student. Some inferences from this experience: groupwork not explicitly encouraged in the UK.

This actually goes along with another observation: all the students in university housing have single bedrooms(!). Supposedly, this is standard across all universities in the UK. Another American student remarked that this is either the cause or effect of British students not knowing how to deal with other people in their space. I don't recall which, but both are plausible.

So everyone seems to be on their own. Funny, this goes against their beloved John Donne's saying "No man is an island."

Which leads me to the main point of this. It has been a challenge for me to meet British people in my math classes.

Of course, I can't blame it all on the ~(No man is an island) -ism of the British students. Most/all of my reader(s) are aware of my general personality. Therefore, double whammy. Of course, I had to start changing things about my SOP, because that's easier. Besides, I have a wonderful excuse if they look at me funny for striking up conversation during examples classes -- I'm an American, therefore I don't know better. Disturbingly, this increases my confidence. But hey, whatever works.

In case you're wondering, I've made a small handful of friends here, the vast majority of whom are American. As for non-Americans, they are Asians and also study abroad students. So really, I haven't been getting a British perspective on things, unless you count my British flatmates, though I don't see them very often.