Reflecting on my post-grad fall term

Hello!

I am writing today because I officially got all my marks back on the student website for this college that I am currently attending for post-grad (GBC). You're looking at a 4.0 student!!! I got an A+ on 5/6 of my courses, but got an A in my HRM class in particular because my final mark was actually an 89%. I found that a bit funny since it's the overall intro course to the whole program and all of HR's different fields and departments lol.

I was surprised at one mark in particular because my professor did not release my final exam or assignment marks back last night, but I was happy to see them released this morning!! This school goes by letter grades on the student transcript which kind of stinks because I prefer UofT's way of doing it, where the percentage grade and letter grade AND course average is side by side. I did not see a course average feature for this school which is interesting! I guess it prevents students from comparing themselves with their classmates. Well, even during the term, I noticed that a lot of my professors did not release averages on tests or assignments unless students requested it. I feel a bit indifferent towards course averages because it seems like they don't play much of a role here at GBC. Back in UofT, averages on assignments and tests literally play a role on how the TA or prof would mark it, as well as the difficulty level of the future assessments. Not like I agree to that practice. I remember getting a bit scared when one GBC prof wrote an email saying how the average for a test was really high lol. Overall really happy to see that doesn't exist at this college (or maybe it's because its a post-grad program???).

So reflecting back on this program so far, I think I enjoyed my time here. The courses were surprisingly more interesting than I thought it would be. I remember initially thinking that my fall term courses looked boring in comparison to my winter term...but now I may take that back. Loved some of my professors! Some of the classmates that I got to work with in group projects were pretty awesome and I am grateful to have met good ones. Most of my group projects went really well. I hope that my group mates had similar positive views as I did towards them. I sometimes felt like I was lacking in terms of verbal output.

In terms of workload, it was pretty heavy honestly but I am thankful that I'm pretty good with time management lmao. My agenda will always play a large role in organizing my stuff. I highly recommend getting an agenda!!! Kind of glad that they forced students to have agendas starting from grade 1 all the way to highschool because I used it all of my life and cannot imagine my life without it. I found it REALLY useful for this school because of the 6 courses and all those varying deadlines. At UofT, my agenda was helpful mainly as a stress reliever or diary since I remembered most of the deadlines for each of my classes (there were few assessments in the first place). Thankfully, no tears were shed for GBC so far because the content itself isn't difficult. The most difficult thing I did here was for this HRM group project where me and my partner were in charge of the literature review portion. Now that was pretty stressful. I dropped so many hours on that section only to find out that I did it all wrong LOL. Hope to never encounter that ever again.

Overall, I am pretty proud of myself for managing the grades that I did. I entered post-grad thinking that I'd have the same experience as I did at UofT but no...in some ways, it is much better. Makes me question yet again if UofT was the one for me, but then again, I am grateful for how UofT shaped me as a person and the people I met there.

I was also surprised to see that I transitioned well to the online world with our BB collaborate sessions and Microsoft Team group meetings. I actually prefer it over the possibility of transiting to the campus itself...I live about 1 hour 10 mins if I use the bus and subway. Classes starting at 8am would have felt more torturous and ending at 3pm is bad too because of those rush hour times...

Since I have my transcript ready, I can actually apply to the positions that require my transcript lol. Lowkey dread having to write all these cover letters but I really do hope my job search for my co-op goes well!! Like everyone else, I want to work for a well-known company that has a strong HR department already in place. It's sad to think that I'm basically competing with my classmates for these positions but I guess that is just part of life.

I also really appreciate the companies that specifically state when their co-op period starts because I wasted my time on some companies that posted their job ads really late into the fall term, only to find out at the end of the interview that they wanted me to start in January 2021 lol (which I cannot do).

Another thing I realized is that there are so many companies out there who want free labour! I obviously will try to avoid those companies because I don't agree with them expecting full-time work from students for 4 months but not pay them money for that work. Might as well call it volunteer work but whatever. Then again, volunteer is too generous of a term because if given the choice, students wouldn't work at those companies for free anyways. It's also extremely unfair for the students who cannot afford to work for free full-time and will highly likely have to basically work two+ jobs just to survive. Wishing myself and all my classmates the best in terms of avoiding these companies.

Until then!! I just wanted it to be a brief reflection. Wishing you all a warm holidays with your friends and family.