Sanskruti Kulkarni

HONORS 100
Quarter 1 Reflection

My first quarter at the University of Washington has been fun and interesting. It feels like
I have been at the UW for a long time, since now I feel like I am fully adjusting to going
to school here and living here on campus. At the same time, it flew by, and with only 11
weeks in a quarter, it seems like we are living here at twice the speed. From my time
being here, I have had many changes in my goals. I have learned that I need to put my
mental health and well being above being as productive as possible. I have realized that
I need to take it easy now that I am in college, and that living alone takes a lot of time
and energy out of the day. This means that I cannot expect myself to do as much as I
used to when I was not living alone, and that I should not feel bad about it. My main
goals for the UW now are to get into my intended majors, and to get more involved on
campus.

Something that surprised me in my first quarter in honors is how much of a benefit it is

to have smaller classes. Taking Intro to Law 100 Honors has been a very fun and
engaging experience, and I am very thankful for it. Being in a discussion based class of
only about 20 people helps me learn and make connections, which is something I am
struggling with in my larger classes. Another thing that surprised me about the UW in
general is the everyone for themselves type mentality. The UW is not as social and
friendly as I expected, and it is hard to make meaningful connections here. This is not a
deal breaker though, it just showed me that I need to put more effort into putting myself
out there and getting involved on campus. I plan on joining more clubs and activities,
and pushing myself to reach out to more people. Everything also closes very early at
the UW, which makes it so late at night is not the best time to be social.

I have met a lot of friends through the honors program, which have been the best new
connections I have made this year. I also have made a good connection with my honors
law professor. I still need to reach out to my advisor, and build a relationship with them
and gain their guidance. I want to further explore clubs, research opportunities, and
many of the classes offered here.

Something I want to achieve through the honors program is one of the study abroad
programs. I think the interdisciplinary opportunities that they describe are very
interesting. I also am excited for the experiential learning opportunities that I am thinking
of. I plan on volunteering for a crisis line as one of my opportunities, and I plan to submit
for that soon so I can get started on it. I also really want to take more honors classes at
the UW since I really value the small class experience and discussion based
environment.

Overall, I am having a good time at the UW, and I am glad that I chose to go here.
Socially, there are many things I need to do to make it more entertaining, but
academically, I am really excited for the opportunities here.