University Courses

After reading for a while and waiting for Lang to finish unpacking, Link went out with him. They first took a walk around campus, with Link acting as a guide. At noon, they had a simple meal together in the school cafeteria before heading to a place near the university that sold used books.

New books were expensive, so many people chose to buy used ones. The school's used bookstores also had a fairly complete selection of textbooks required for courses.

During their conversations over this period, Link came to understand Lang's basic circumstances.

His father was a somewhat well-known designer, while his mother had her own career. His family was unquestionably wealthy.

Lang had two older sisters, and he was the youngest child in the family. Although the preference for sons over daughters had long faded in the United States, as the youngest son, Lang still received more affection and attention.

His family covered his tuition and also gave him a generous monthly allowance. He never had to worry about food or clothing, and his life was completely free of pressure.

Although Lang had not received a full scholarship like Link, anyone who could get into the California Institute of Technology clearly had no issues with intelligence. Though he was a little overweight, he had been a top student in high school as well.

Link had already worked out his course schedule when discussing it with Peggy yesterday. In addition, according to the California Institute of Technology's physical education elective course catalog, students had to take and pass two PE courses during the academic year.

As for which PE activities to choose, baseball was naturally Link's first choice. After giving the second option some thought, he chose the three-kilometer run. It required no training for him; he could probably take the test right away.

The California Institute of Technology had limited campus space and relatively few students. So although it offered a wide range of sports, it could not recruit many talented players even for popular activities such as football, basketball, and baseball.

The California Institute of Technology's baseball team was merely an amateur recreational team with extremely limited strength.

Once registration day had passed, the fall term officially began, and the courses Link had enrolled in for the term also began.

From then on, Link began his life as a college student step by step.

Every morning, he got up at five to run and work out. After returning, he showered, got himself ready, ate breakfast, and prepared for class.

Classes at the California Institute of Technology generally ran from eight in the morning until five in the afternoon, with a two-hour lunch break in between. Usually, there were two classes in the morning and two in the afternoon, with each class lasting around ninety minutes.

The exact class times were all listed on the course schedule. Once students enrolled in a course, they only needed to attend according to its timetable.

Classes at the California Institute of Technology generally used a small-class system, with fewer than twenty students in each class. Of course, there were also large courses with no limit on student numbers.

Whether students chose small classes or large lectures depended entirely on their own arrangements. In any case, they had to earn all the credits for the core courses required by the school during their first two academic years before they could move on to specialized coursework.

In his first term, Link had enrolled in a total of ten courses, averaging around four classes a day. His schedule was practically packed. Most of his remaining time was spent with Peggy in the library, and they usually worked until after midnight.

When professors taught, they did not simply read from the textbook. Instead, they followed the divergent thinking common in Western education, expanding outward from the material.

Keeping up with a professor's pace required far more than studying the textbooks. It also demanded extensive preparation outside of class.

In addition, professors would require students to complete several academic papers during the course. The grades on those papers directly affected the overall course evaluation.

So once classes truly began, aside from the textbooks, Link also had to read many books related to each course according to his professors' requirements. Generally speaking, this took up a great deal of his extracurricular time.

Fortunately, Link's current intelligence of 15.7 greatly improved his learning efficiency. Combined with his physical condition, which far exceeded that of ordinary people, and his shorter need for rest, he was able to keep up with such a tight schedule.

Peggy's learning efficiency was much higher than Link's. Furthermore, she did not need to spend weekends on arrangements like combat training and firearms practice as Link did, so her time even seemed rather plentiful.

Apart from attending class, California Institute of Technology students spent most of their days in libraries and study rooms. This included Link's roommate, Lang.

Of course, Link understood the importance of balancing work and rest. His plan included half a day of relaxation on each weekend day, and he could also unwind a little in the evenings. That Friday afternoon, Link saw an acquaintance in class.

That afternoon's class was a large lecture, and the format of such classes with dozens or even hundreds of students was completely different from the small classes, most of which had only a dozen or so students.

One important difference was that professors teaching large lectures had a dedicated teaching assistant.

The teaching assistants here were not full-time faculty members. They were upperclassmen, making it a work-study position and a characteristic feature of American universities.

As a private research university, the California Institute of Technology employed professors who were experts in their respective fields. Teaching was only one part of their work; conducting their own research was more important.

You could not produce Nobel Prizes, Pulitzer Prizes, and Turing Awards through teaching alone!

Moreover, for internationally renowned professors to personally teach undergraduates was already enough to justify the salary the university paid them. The school could not demand more from them.

Thus, all the miscellaneous work outside of teaching had to be handled with the assistance of teaching assistants.

Teaching assistants had plenty of miscellaneous duties, but their primary responsibility was grading the class papers assigned by professors.

The acquaintance Link encountered in this large lecture was Sophia, the teaching assistant for the course. When Link and Peggy entered the classroom together, Sophia was on the podium preparing for the professor who had yet to arrive.

Seeing Sophia's situation, Link guessed that she was most likely serving as a teaching assistant, and Sophia noticed Link as well.

Once he realized she was the teaching assistant, Link was in a good mood. After all, teaching assistants held the authority to evaluate students' regular academic performance. From their brief exchange of glances just now, Link confirmed that she had a favorable impression of him.

With class about to begin, neither of them spoke. Link and Peggy took seats in the front row.

When the time came, the professor, dressed in professional attire, strode in briskly. After stepping onto the podium, he skipped any pleasantries and began teaching immediately.

The professor's schedule was extremely tight. He arrived exactly on time for class and was the first to leave when it ended. All the pre-class preparations and post-class wrap-up work were handed over to the teaching assistant, which was standard practice for professors teaching large lectures.