{"id":4962,"date":"2019-12-19T12:11:04","date_gmt":"2019-12-19T12:11:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/?p=4962"},"modified":"2019-12-22T10:55:05","modified_gmt":"2019-12-22T10:55:05","slug":"imperial-horizons-from-my-perspective-theres-a-lot-more-than-just-languages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/2019\/12\/19\/imperial-horizons-from-my-perspective-theres-a-lot-more-than-just-languages\/","title":{"rendered":"Imperial Horizons from my perspective: there\u2019s a lot more than just languages"},"content":{"rendered":"

I guess many of you<\/span> came across <\/span>Imperial Horizons when d<\/span>oing research about our university. For those who didn\u2019t: it\u2019s free classes <\/span>(held once a week <\/span>at 4-6 PM<\/span>) <\/span>which give you a chance to learn something outside of your main course and get it indicated in your final transcript. <\/span>T<\/span>here is a really wide range of topics available for every student and <\/span>once chosen wisely <\/b><\/span>(read on!)<\/b><\/span>, it\u2019s a great way to jump away from your everyday lectures and labs! <\/span>H<\/span>orizons i<\/span>s<\/span>n\u2019t<\/span> only about languages:<\/span> <\/b>t<\/span>he picture shows what modules I could pick <\/span>for<\/span> this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"2019<\/p>\n

\u00a0You can also see this list by yourself: https:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/horizons\/module-options\/2nd-year-undergraduates<\/a><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

First years don\u2019t need to worry about choosing a Horizons <\/span>course<\/span> until <\/span>late September \/ early October<\/span>. However, <\/span>things are different for n<\/span>on-freshers<\/span>.<\/span> I had to <\/span>fill in the enrolment form <\/span>by <\/span>the beginning of July <\/span>at latest<\/span> to be considered for classes starting in October. <\/span>As <\/span>I didn\u2019t want to do any language this time, I opted for the following preferences:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    Advances in Modern Psychology<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    Revolutions & the Making of the Modern World<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  3. \n

    Science Communication<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    My heart was set on psychology <\/span>since<\/span> this<\/span> intersection<\/span> of science and humanities <\/span>w<\/span>as <\/span>most exciting<\/span> for me <\/span>(and <\/span>still<\/span> outside of my main subject). <\/span>However, I was <\/span>initially<\/span> allocated to the second choice, because <\/span>my first one <\/span>was oversubscribed \ud83d\ude41<\/span><\/p>\n

    I <\/span>signed up to the waiting list<\/span> though, because I already knew from experience that <\/span>people tend to <\/span>withdraw from Horizons. <\/span>And a week before the first class, I got an e-mail <\/span>asking if I was still interested in psychology as<\/span> free space had become available. <\/span>I think you can guess my answer \ud83d\ude42
    \n<\/span><\/p>\n

    I\u2019<\/span>ve already been through one term of <\/span>the course<\/span> now: i<\/span>t\u2019s my first Horizons module <\/span>I haven\u2019t dropped so far<\/span> where I attended so many classes<\/span>. The lecturer is a<\/span>n expert in the field since she is a<\/span> psychologist and researcher herself. <\/span>The classes are engaging, t<\/span>he topics covered are <\/span>fascinating<\/span> and I can definitely relate them to the real world and myself. Also, assessments and weekly preparation exercises are intellectually rewarding, even though they <\/span>aren\u2019t <\/span>always easy. <\/span>Reading actual research papers and writing one based on an in-class experiment speak for themselves!<\/span><\/p>\n

    Although I’m happy<\/span> about the module I picked now,<\/span> I attended two Horizons courses <\/span>before<\/span> (<\/span>in my first year<\/span>)<\/span> and the experience wasn\u2019t as g<\/span>ood<\/span> unfortunately. The most prominent example is Entrepreneurship, where the main assessment was group-based. I found the course interesting and useful as well, but this feeling perished when a team I was supposed to complete the assessment with broke up in the middle of classes. Why? People dropped out <\/span>of the module <\/span>(t<\/span>here are many valid reasons for withdrawing, so I’m not suggesting this is bad). Because of that, I was allocated to a new group (created from all teams fallen apart), but it was difficult for me to catch up with <\/span>new members<\/span> and vice versa. <\/span>Therefore, I effectively couldn\u2019t finish the assessment. As this situation already costed me a lot of stress, I ended up…withdrawing.<\/span><\/p>\n

    What\u2019s the lesson? <\/span>Either c<\/b><\/span>hoose students you want to team up with carefully <\/b><\/span>or avoid modules with <\/b><\/span>long-term <\/b><\/span>group exercises as their main assessment method<\/b><\/span>.<\/b><\/span> Otherwise, <\/span>you may <\/span>struggle to finish Horizons without your fault!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I guess many of you came across Imperial Horizons when doing research about our university. For those who didn\u2019t: it\u2019s free classes (held once a week at 4-6 PM) which give you a chance to learn something outside of your main course and get it indicated in your final transcript. There is a really wide […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1412,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[272456,91920,12094,97962],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-272456","category-horizons","category-tips","category-year-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1412"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4962"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4986,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4962\/revisions\/4986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}