School Information
You receive an email from a student at your former high school, asking about life at your college. Read the message below, then write a response.
To: ______
From:
Penny Garzon
Subject: Questions About College Life
Hello _____,
I’m a sophomore at ______ high school, and I’d like to know more about California State University, San Bernardino. You might remember my sister, Marguerite Garzon, who graduated with you. She went to Ohio State University, but I’m looking at other options.
Will you please tell me how you like school and answer a few questions for me:
How difficult is the work? Is the workload much more than what we have in high school? Is it manageable if I also have a part-time job during school?
How accessible are the instructors at your school? Do they have time for you one-on-one?
What’s the social life like at your school? Are fraternities and sororities popular? What do people do for fun?
Does your school have a debate club? I’m on the debate time in high school, and I’d like to join a club in college. What are my options?
Thanks for giving me your perspective. This will help me make a decision about whether to apply to your school.
Penny Garzon
Audience
Remember that you’re writing to a high-school student. For example, when Penny asks about the workload, tell her more than just credit load. Help her understand the difference between high school life and college life by including the hours/week requirements for a typical class load (including lectures, homework, etc.).
Purpose
To help Penny understand college life, be as specific and detailed as possible. Share stories and experiences that will help her gain a better perspective of life at college. For example, if you’ve scheduled an appointment with a Professor during office hours, describe it to Penny. On the other hand, if you don’t have any experience with CSUSB fraternities or sororities (and many students don’t), be sure to explain that.
Structure
Penny’s email included four bullet points in the body of her email. Answer all of her questions. Your response should include at least six paragraphs: introduction, four body paragraphs, conclusion. Your body paragraphs should be in the same order as her questions.
Style
Be personal. Penny is a family friend. Choose a friendly, informal writing style.
Management 306
School Information (Example 1)
To: Penny Garzon
From: Beshoy Salib
Date: January 23, 2018
Subject: RE: Questions About College Life
Hey Penny! How’s auntie and uncle? I hope they’re doing great and of course I remember your sister. Me and her were such great friends in high school! I’m glad she went to Ohio State University, I heard that’s an awesome school! But you wanna know what’s better? CSUSB! I’m so glad that you’re considering CSUSB as your college of choice since it’s such an awesome school. We have a beautiful campus, a great community and some of the best professors a college can offer. In addition to that, we have so many clubs and activities around campus for you to choose from. I’ve been going to CSUSB for almost 4 years now and I loved every moment of it. Of course I had some ups and downs but overall, it’s been an unforgettable experience. I see that you have more questions for me, and I’ll try my best to answer them to the best of my ability.
The keyword here is time management, if your skilled at managing your time, the workload isn’t going to be as bad. When it comes down to the difficulty of the work, it all depends on what major you’re going to choose and how much your interest level is when it comes to that major. I personally think that every major has its easy classes but also its fair share of difficult classes. The workload is going to start off easy at first but then it’ll get more difficult the more you go on towards graduation. The easiest classes are most likely going to be your lower division classes since they’re just the basics of your major. The most difficult classes you’ll take will most likely be your majors’ upper division classes since they’re essentially advanced level classes of your major. Compared to high school, I would say that college work is easier for the most part, due to how flexible you are with classes and time. In high school, you’re stuck there from 8am to 3pm with around 6 classes back to back, which can be very difficult on the brain to handle.
Homework in college is a lot more chill than it is in high school. I would say that the majority of your classes are going to have little to no homework assignments. With college, you’ll have so much time between classes to study and relax before your next class starts. With that flexibility, it makes the workload in college seem a lot simpler than it is in high school. When it comes to managing college and a part-time job, I say that it’s doable, but it could get difficult later. Time management is going to play a huge role when it comes to managing a job and classes. Like I said before, the beauty of college in general is the flexibility of your schedule. Depending on the availability of the classes you want, you can only have classes two days per week, allowing you to have a part time job for the rest of the week. I wouldn’t recommend juggling classes and a part time job, but if you must, it’s definitely possible.
When it comes to how accessible professors are, it all depends. I’ve had some professors that are super busy and some that are free most of the time. I’m actually glad that you asked this question since there’s this thing called office hours that’s located on the syllabus. Every professor has a specific time slot dedicated to students. During those hours, you can just go to your professor’s office and have a one-on-one talk with them just like you want! You’ll sometimes have professors that require you to schedule an appointment with them since they’re so busy and not available at those office hours all the time. I personally haven’t been to any office hours before, but I remember my friends telling me how simple and easy it was for them to just simply go to their professor’s office. So that’s something you’ll definitely not need to worry about, as professors will always have time for a one-on-one chat with you.
Regarding your social question; Here’s a good example of how social CSUSB can be! When I was taking ADMIN 210 in winter quarter, my friends and I were struggling in that class. So I decided to send out an email to all ADMIN 210 students, telling them to meet at the library at a specific location and time. Fast forward towards finals week, and we were reserving a room with a 12-person team, constantly learning from each other. That one email encouraged students to seek help and communicate with others. From my past experience, CSUSB students are very social, and willing to help and seek help whenever they have the time to do so. To answer your fraternities and sororities question, I’ve personally never joined a fraternity, nor do I hear anything about them, giving me the impression that fraternities aren’t so popular. Same goes with sororities since none of my female friends ever talked about joining any, nor have I heard anyone talking about it in general. So in terms of popularity, I would say no to both of them. Now let’s talk about the fun stuff! When it comes to students doing things for fun, there’s so much to do! Starting off with Coyote Fest, one of the most famous festivals on campus. CSUSB brings in carnival games, entertainment by CSUSB ASI students, and so much food! In addition to Coyote fest, we also have fantastic concerts by our music team. We have Guitar concerts, Vocal concerts, and my personal favorite, Jazz concerts! CSUSB has so much to offer when it comes to having fun, and I really do hope you take advantage of everything it has to offer you Penny.
I’m glad that you’re into debate Penny! CSUSB does have a debate team, and it’s called the Forensics Team. The coolest part about them is that they get to travel the world and have debates about real life topics, which sounds like something you would definitely enjoy Penny! CSUSB also offers a class called Comm 180, which is a class that’s all about debating. So hopefully you take advantage of both your options Penny!
CSUSB is an amazing school Penny, and I really do hope you become a coyote one day! Maybe me and you can take the same classes and hang out again, like the old days! Hopefully I answered your questions clearly enough for you to decide if CSUSB is the right school for you! Tell Marguerite to visit me sometime. Take care and have fun college hunting Penny!