Second Semester Reflections

by Emma Giesbrecht | May 3, 2018 | Year 1

My second semester at Capilano University came after a successful first one and I remember mentally planning how I could improve my previous organization and work styles to perform at my best. I had chosen my courses in the previous semester, taking most of the other required business courses to put first year behind me once it was completed. The courses I took were as follows:

CMNS 220 – Advanced Business Writing and Editing (Business Writing)

BFIN 141 – Financial Accounting I (Accounting)

ECON 111 – Principles of Microeconomic Theory (Economics)

BMKT 161 – Marketing

BADM 101 – Management

Advanced Business Writing and Editing had the greatest impact on my experiences at Capilano University. Not only has my writing improved, but my future opportunities and experiences have expanded. As can be seen in my CMNS 220 folder, I wrote an individual report based on an interview about ePortfolios, and their use and development. This project led me to be a participant in an explanatory video about the ePortfolios (not yet released) and has encouraged me to apply to become an ePortfolio ambassador. This course also had two required presentations and a group assignment, all of which helped improve my confidence in those areas. This was my most valued and appreciated course I have taken in university.

Financial Accounting I was entirely new content for me. The course relied heavily on the previous accounting course I had taken, which was expected with it being a prerequisite. I began the semester incredibly strong in this course, but gradually lost my flow and began to struggle with managing the workload I had in my courses. With my strong understanding of accounting I was quick to decide I would be able to succeed with the least time being put into this course and I was mistaken. Part of my understanding had come from my love of accounting and desire to do all the work I could to spend more time on it and without this practice I began to struggle more than I had previously. I still did well in the class, but I learned the most important lessons of university through it: everything is of equal importance and no matter how quickly you can pick something up you still need to give yourself time to practice.

My Principles of Microeconomic Theory course was another one that I would like to have spent more time on. At the time, I was choosing between courses and therefore neglecting to spend a desirable amount of time on all five. This was by far my worst decision yet, but I am simply going to use it as a reminder in the future that not putting in the time and work required will leave the result unsatisfying no matter how nice the letter is. The course itself covered a large variety of information that did all flow together well, but I struggled with remembering the differences between similar terms and how to find the associated numbers from charts and graphs. In the beginning the work was simple and straight forward, but as the course went on and topics began to link with each other they all blurred into one mess of terms and lines. Spending the extra time may have allowed me to decipher between them all better, however, so I will have to live with that choice and improve my work habits next semester.

Marketing was a course that ate up a lot of my time. We had large projects and lots of reading to do and that became a key focus as I fought to keep myself at my desired letter grade. I was successful in the end, but I could have split my time better between my courses. Our group project was a success (it can be viewed in my BMKT 161 folder), which greatly increased my grade and my confidence. We spent many hours researching, writing, editing, and presenting our paper; this contributed to the uneven distribution of my time, but was necessary for our group to get a mark we would be satisfied with. I was not unhappy with this course and its result, and I wish I could have put the same energy and time into all of my courses.

Management was, unfortunately, my least favourite course. While I enjoyed being in the class environment, the topic was quite drab and felt like a repeat of information I already had from other classes. Some extra vocabulary terms were added, but I had learned significant portions of the content from Law and Marketing. This frustrated me because the answers from one class would not translate directly to another despite being correct, as answers had to be from the class specifically. This led me to neglect creating as detailed summary sheets, which in turn likely led me to have a lower mark than I could have received. This is also a factor that may have led to our group’s struggles with the final project. The work was divided as evenly as possible between all members, but not all of it was done correctly. Review sheets would have allowed us to find the information we needed much quicker and we may have been able to avoid incorrectly completing a section of the assignment. We worked together in the end to correct the error to the best of our abilities with the professor’s knowledge, but still could have done better.

First Semester Reflections

by Emma Giesbrecht | Apr 3, 2018 | Year 1

My first semester at university came after a relaxing summer spent celebrating high school graduation and vacationing. I remember being nervous and excited and apprehensive all at the same time, dreaming of success but too aware of the chance of failure. I decided to begin my university experiences with subjects I had faith I would do well in; my final course list was as follows:

ENG 100 – University Writing Strategies (English)

BADM 102 – Quantitative Methods (Math)

BADM 107 – Business Law (Law)

BFIN 141 – Introductory Accounting I (Accounting)

I had taken English Literature, Accounting 11, Law 12, and Pre-Calculus 12 in my final year of high school and was feeling confident in taking similar courses. They seemed like a nice introduction to the expected upcoming struggle, relying on my skills with numbers and writing as opposed to my weaker presentation and participation skills (I was just beginning to grow beyond my childhood shyness). 

English was a mandatory course for all new students and it was quite similar to work I had done previously in high school. This was nice in that it removed a lot of pressure from the classwork, but it was quick to feel monotonous again after over a year and a half of a similar experience. The writing topics were new and interesting, however, and I decided to pursue my love of fashion throughout the course. We began by writing some smaller pieces on our sites and one in class to prepare for our final paper. My initial thoughts can be seen under the ENG 100 tab at the top, as well as the final essay for that class that those helped shape.

Quantitative Methods was not at all what I had been expecting when I entered class on the first day. The course focused on ratios and interest, two topics that I had covered extensively throughout high school. I was pleasantly surprised with how quickly I picked up the work and completed assignments. I did better than I was expecting in a math course and felt much more confident with my abilities. I believe this class has been my highest grade at university based on the mark I received.

I was very concerned about Business Law at first, as I have never been strong with memorization and details. Despite my high school level course experience, I was sure there would be significantly more content and work to be done (I was certainly right about that!) and that I would struggle with the change. The course became one of my favourites quickly, including more practical work than direct memorization. While I did spend many hours memorizing the contents of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Human Rights Code, I also spent time considering how laws could apply in certain situations and looking at how the law works. The class inspired me to consider becoming a lawyer after attaining my degree.

Introductory Accounting I was the class I was most excited to enter and it certainly lived up to my hopes and expectations. I had learned the content of the first three chapters, adding up to the first midterm, in my previous course, which allowed me to adapt to the new learning environment before expanding my knowledge. We learned triple the amount of content in less than a third of the time I had in high school, but the speed kept me engaged and working hard on the assignments. I had lots of questions to work through to practice new ideas, which is how I learn best, and overall felt I thrived in the environment of that class.

My three business related classes were quite closely linked. I was glad to have followed the school’s advice and taken Math at the same time as Accounting as the content taught was exactly what I needed to succeed in the later units. Key concepts in both included calculating interest and partial payments, which was made easier to understand by having it explained in two ways at similar times in different circumstances. Accounting and Law both discussed the different types of ownership (sole proprietorship, partnership, and corporation) in depth from the separate perspectives. Both courses explained the differences, advantages, and disadvantages in unique ways to each method, as well as how it affects the business in different areas.

My first semester at Capilano University was a success and I am proud of my accomplishments and the work I put into my courses. I did not get a chance to explore extracurriculars during the semester, being focused on my classes and grades, but I gathered information to look into for my second semester and year. I was disappointed to discover many of the events hosted by Capilano were only for students nineteen and over due to alcohol as an eighteen-year-old just finished high school, but opportunities will hopefully arise in the upcoming years.