Life as a Vol @thetennesseesophomore - Tumblr Blog

I just saw a photo on the UT website of the spring colors in Knox and I am missing it BADDDDD. There’s currently a blizzard here in Minneapolis.

Also, yall, appreciate college and soak it tf up before you get to the working world. Join clubs and intramurals and get a part time job and meet new people and go to campus events and dorm events and stuff. It’s so much harder to find a community once you’ve graduated. Seize the moment!!

#university of tennessee #knoxville #utk

Hey, I'm actually gonna be a freshman in the fall. I'm in the Pre-Med LLC and I'm probably gonna major in Microbiology with a minor is psychology. I'm super excited to the point where I start blushing when I talk about it. But what I'm wondering is, how hard is your first semester? I know it's different for every major. Does the excitement fade that quickly? Am I gonna be swamped with stuff to do? Am I gonna have time to go to the gym regularly? I'm sorry that I asked so much. Thank you ❤️

Aww hehe that’s good!! Freshman year is so exciting and crazy and new and I really really enjoyed it.

I actually found freshman year academically to be pretty tough, I think because I was mostly taking gen-ed classes that I was required to take and weren’t necessarily what I would have chosen. I’m horrible at math and had to take statistics, things like that. But that being said it wasn’t TOO hard or overwhelming or anything like that, they ease you into it and you can always always go to professor’s office hours or email them if you’re stressing about something!

You definitely get used to it all pretty quickly and it becomes a routine but I don’t think that means the excitement is gone, there’s always new stuff going on and football games in the fall and my floor did a lot of activities together, etc. So always something new to look forward to!

You’ll have time to go to the gym regularly for sure, you really don’t spend THAT much time in actual class like you do in high school so you have a lot more of the day to yourself I found!

you’re very welcome xxx

Hey I'm going to be a transferring in as a junior to UTK this fall, any tips on that in general and how to make friends haha

I would say spend as much time on campus as possible, if you’re not living in the dorms its easy to just come for class and go straight home and not meet anyone. Join a club or an intramural sport or sorority/fraternity and you’ll meet people really easily. If you have time you could also get a part time job on or off campus which I made a lot of friends doing!

Other tips...go to as many football games as you can while you’re a student and its cheap! Go explore the Knoxville area/the smokey mountains whenever you can, don’t ever drive to campus if you can avoid it!

first off, thank you so much for creating this blog. i was accepted to utk last second, and i'm out of state so my nerves are getting the best of me. also, is it better to buy etextbooks or physical books? i was looking around and amazon rental etextbooks are cheaper, but are there any huge disadvantages?

Of course!

It’s totally normal to be nervous! I was nervous for the first day of classes all four years haha. Whenever the etextbooks were available I chose that over buying the physical book, both because its easier to not have to drag around a ton of textbooks and you don’t have to worry about trying to sell them at the end of the year. If you can rent them from amazon over buying them definitely do that as well but don’t forget that they’re rentals and donate them (I literally did this) and had to pay over $200 because I couldn’t send them back!

Another tip, always wait until the first week of class to buy books. I had so many classes where the professor straight up told us not to buy the textbook because we would hardly need it!

Hay, I was wondering what the LGBT community is around there?....

Hi! To be honest, there isn’t much of an LGBT community that I found in Knoxville. I was never harassed on campus with my girlfriend but it definitely isn’t welcoming. There’s a lesbian bar a 15 minute drive from campus and there was an outreach center when I was there but as far as I know that was defunded and possibly shut down?

If you’re looking for an LGBT inclusive university UT is pretty terrible in comparison to most other schools (although that may just be the south and I think the sentiment is definitely changing as people become more open)

I wouldn’t let it deter you from attending but if its something that is really important to you UT probably isn’t the best place.

I was recently deferred from UTK and I really want to go. I was wondering if you know if I should give my hopes up on whether I'll get in or if you think I still have a good chance. How many people get deferred and still end up getting in? Schools by me typically defer students until spring semester but idk if that's the same for a school like UT.

To be honest I’m not too sure! I know that plenty of people are accepted and don’t go, even down to the last few weeks before move in (my freshman roommate dropped out a week before) so there are always spaces opening up! Don’t lose hope, there’s definitely a shot.

Hey!! I'm attending in the fall of 2017 as a freshman and I'm majoring in premed. I am number 2 in my class and I'm super outgoing and fun (and not against ppl who party) but I personally don't really party much. (Don't really care for the vibes at them) so I was wondering where I should room that won't be too loud prob and near (enough) to the rec center? I work out a lot. Thank you so much!! I'm out of state so I have no one on the inside to ask.

In my opinion there wasn’t really one “party dorm” that was more wild than any of the others. The living/learning community floors (I’m not sure which dorms have those, where you live with people in your major) might be good for meeting people who want to actually do a bit of studying as opposed to just partying haha. Anything in Presidential Court is really close to the rec center as is the new Brown dorm and Morrill! Pres court does have a tendency to be really loud on the weekends at night though, so if you’re wanting peace and quiet Clement or Massey can be better!

hey!! i'm from ohio and an incoming freshman and was wondering is it harder to make friends because you're out of state??

Definitely not! Everyone was looking to make friends, even people from Knoxville who came to UT with lots of high school friends.

The first few weeks you’ll end up going to welcome events and stuff with people you’ve just met and everyone kind of attaches to other people because no one wants to go to things alone. I didn’t end up staying in contact with the people I spent time with the first week or two but we still say hi if we see each other around :) Then everyone kind of starts to make friends through classes or from their floor or sports and things so don’t worry about it at all, everyone is in the same boat trying to make friends!

I'm going to be a freshman majoring in Pre-Medicine starting the fall of 2017 and I'm so nervous it's insane. I'm afraid that coming from a small high school is going to prohibit me from doing well at a school so big. I didn't even think I'd get accepted in the first place! Any tips for being less nervous? Any tips for doing well and meeting friendly people?

Everyone feels that way, don’t worry! I came from a big city and a huge high school and I was just as nervous as my friend Alex who came from a town of 1,000 people!

I think the schoolwork will be less stressful than you’re imagining. College was actually easier than high school in my opinion! You don’t have classes all day and you have so much more free time to get stuff done. The professors are all so nice and if you have any issue just go to their office hours and talk to them and they’ll help you. Nothing to worry about.

The social aspect will probably be what surprises you the most, in a school of so many people you can feel a little overwhelmed and anonymous (which can also be nice on days you don’t feel like talking to anyone or are too hungover to function lol). I made my friends in my dorm but if you’re worried about meeting people you can always join an intramural sport or a club or sorority/fraternity as well. Everyone is in the same boat so everyone will be looking for new friends too!

Your blog has been insanely helpful with getting an genuine student view of this school. I'm going to be an Animal Science major at UTK this fall and I've been so worried about moving to a place I have be reference for.

I’m glad its been helpful! I was so nervous going into UT because I knew no one and it was so intimidating but I’ve loved it, after the first week or so everything comes so naturally.

Hey there! I've seen a few questions about out of state costs and I'm going to be a freshman this fall from MD, if you are from certain southeastern states, you can get instate tuition with certain majors through something called Academic Common Market that I recommend looking up! Since no MD public schools have my major, I get instate at UT for that major!

Ooh that’s good to know for other out of state students, thanks! x

I was thinking about going to ut and joining a sorority but I haven't really seen diversity in the sororities. It's just a bunch of white girls.

Yeah, to be honest it really is (from both an outside perspective and from listening to my coworkers talk) exactly what you’d expect a sorority to be like. 99% white, looks are taken highly into account, money matters, etc. Girls love to bitch about their sororities from what I’ve seen but also still love them? Its not my world but some people seem to love it so I guess it just depends on your personality and your interests. It would be nice to see more than skinny white girls in sororities though :/

Hello! I believe I read somewhere that you are from out of state. I am too so I was wondering if you got a personal loan, and if so, which one did you apply for?

hey! I actually did not receive any loans so I probably will not be of much help on that subject! sorry! :)

What's the difference between UT Chattanooga and UT Knoxville? I'm torn and I don't know which to chose.

UTC is definitely smaller, I've never actually been to Chattanooga so I can't tell you much about it other than everyone here considers Knoxville to be the real UT ;) Football is definitely bigger here and I'm sure campus is too but other than that I don't know much about UTC.

Is there a certain residence hall where everyone wishes they lived?

Lately everyone's been talking about Brown because its the newest and nicest but a lot of people like Hess because its closest to classes and fairly close to PCB (dining hall). Clement is the one pretty much everyone is happy they don't live in.

I'm a senior in high school and I'm trying to decide between attending the University of Tennessee and the University of Kentucky. I was wondering if you had any advice on choosing a school.

Have you been to both the campuses yet? I would go and hang out in the library or dining hall or take a tour to see what kind of people go there because academic-wise I think they're pretty similar! I decided against Georgia because when I went to the campus all I saw was white Greek life people and there was no diversity whatsoever, so that was a deal breaker for me. UT is really Greek oriented too which can make it hard if you're not in a frat/sorority (I'm not) but it hasn't been a huge deal. Football is obviously crazy here and if you're not into that it can be irritating, my roommate HATES game days because everything just shuts down and you can't drive anywhere or live your life haha. Another thing is cost, I kind of regret choosing such an expensive school, I think I could have gotten just as good an education at a school in-state....but I'm glad I got the experience of living in a new state and getting a different experience from high school.

Those are just a few things I can think of, let me know if you need a more specific answer!

thetennesseesophomore

Considering I’ve survived 9 months as a freshman at UT, I thought I’d try and write a survival guide for the incoming freshman haha. Here goes!

1. Please do not eat the tuna sandwiches from the POD...

thetennesseesophomore

Update from a now-junior at UT (how terrifying.)

1. It is not a good idea to drink a bottle of wine in one sitting and then chase it with everclear, jack d, hunch punch, and beer. Never ever a good idea.

2. Sophomore year can seem boring since it's not new and fresh like freshman year. Try something new, go somewhere in Knoxville you haven't been before, take up painting, buy a boomerang and go outside (recommendation: kayaking on Norris Dam Lake)

3. If you rent your textbooks from Amazon, don't be an idiot and accidentally sell them to the textbook buyback store for $5. You will end up paying $220 for books you no longer own.

4. Avoid fooling around with friends of friends who you will be required to see on a semi regular basis.

5. If your syllabus says the professor takes off points from the final grade for tardies, take that shit seriously. 5 tardies can drop you from an A to a C.

6. Ijams is an awesome place in Knoxville to run/hang out/get away from campus

7. rhythm and blooms festival in April is definitely worth attending

...to be continued.

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