Recently, I had a nice discussion with a colleague about the mindset of undergraduate physics freshmen (i.e., first-year) students. This conversation has inspired today's blogpost on the very same topic.
Many things are different at a university as compared to high schools. Physics students oftentimes feel overwhelmed during their first semesters at college. Professors are rushing through the course material, homework is due every week in multiple classes, and a major part of the fellow students appear to be geniuses. They seem to grasp even complex contents very quickly, do not need to spend much time on their homework and ask a lot of smart questions during the lectures. One might get the impression that they do not need to work hard to pass exams and achieve their goals. These are only a few examples of the mindset that many students tend to develop. I would like to argue that such thoughts are largely unfounded and are making life unnecessarily harder for many students.
At the beginning of my time as an undergraduate student I had similar thoughts. However, over time I came to realize that my peers also need to work hard to understand the subject matter. My assessment of fellow students and the whole situation was just wrong. Clearly, most of them were not geniuses, exceptionally gifted or much smarter than me. I just misjudged the situation and developed self-doubts due to a negative mindset. By communicating more and more with other students, I noticed that they are also (with all due respect) mere mortals and the percentage of real geniuses is in fact pretty low. I learned that some people were just giving me the impression to be smarter than me, be it consciously or unconsciously.
And, by the way, even geniuses need to work hard to make scientific discoveries, write papers, give presentations, set up and maintain experimental equipment, read books and attend meetings. Hard work is the key to becoming a successful scientist, whereas the role of talent is highly overrated in our society. In some cases, this is even used as an excuse -- e.g., "I have no talent, so I will never be good at physics."
A further misconception is that if you were not good at physics or mathematics at high school, you do not have a chance to catch up with the fundamental concepts and understand them thoroughly at a later point in time. You are never too old. In fact, it has been shown that neuroplasticity, the ability of the brain to change and develop, is still possible as we age. No matter what background you have, no matter how talented you are.
One of the most important strategies for me as an undergraduate students was to work in groups. I found several good friends among my fellow students, and solving problem sheets quickly became much more enjoyable (and effective!) as soon as I started collaborating with them instead of trying to tackle the exercises just on my own. Fellow students should be your friends, not your enemies. The same is true for professors. They are also just human beings, though they are pretty smart and experienced in their respective fields, of course. Most of them want their students to succeed and not to fail, so please do ask them questions, talk to them about your issues and go to their office hours. For me, it took quite a long time until I have become more comfortable in speaking to professors, but I quickly realized that it is very important.
The aforementioned strategies and a positive mindset are key factors to graduate in physics. I am not saying that this is the only possible way -- I am sure that there are quite a few people out there who are great physicists and have never worked in groups on their problem sheets or asked professors a lot of questions. However, I believe that the points that I have made in this post significantly increase the odds of being successful as a student and young scientist. I also think that teachers and instructors typically do not communicate these insights very clearly to students. Due to the difficult transition from high school to college life, I think that it is of uttermost importance that we as educators equip young learners with a toolbox of strategies and approaches to study effectively.
Please reach out to me if you have further advice for our next-generation physicists or should you have any questions or comments regarding this blogpost. Thanks for reading and have a good one!
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