Nia Lewis (’25) is a Communication major studying at the University of Aberdeen for Fall 2024.
At the University of Aberdeen, the class structure and grading systems are both similar and different from what traditional American universities offer. The grading system here technically has 23 grades. The grading scale ranges from 20 (the highest) down to 0 (the lowest). Within that scale there are four tiers, First Class Honors, Second Class Honors (Division 1), Second Class Honors (Division 2) and Third Class Honors. Each class has specific levels, First Class (A1-A5) is the American equivalent of an A, Second Class (Division 1, B1-B3) is the American Equivalent of a B+, Second Class Honors (Division 2, C1-C3) is the American equivalent of a B and Third Class Honors (D1-G3) ranges from the American equivalents of a C down to an F.
Encouraging students to pursue independent study opportunities along with offering flexible class schedules, my class schedule here is surprisingly similar to my Drexel schedule. For the fall semester, I only have classes on Tuesdays (LOVE that), so let me walk you through my schedule and what my academic responsibilities are while studying here.
9:00AM:
I take three classes in-person, Introduction to Visual Culture, Eating History: Food and Culture from Coffee to Chocolate and Doric & Scots Language: An Introduction to North-East Scots. Since the university technically does not offer my major (Communication), I take classes to fulfill my elective requirements through Aberdeen and enroll in my core courses online through Drexel. My first class of the day, Intro to Visual Culture, starts at 9 a.m. and lasts until 11 a.m. We’ve been learning about the key elements of recognizing certain film and photography techniques and we even got to create our own short films for our final projects.
12:00 PM:
After my first class, I usually sit in one of the school cafés and grab a quick snack before my next class at 12 p.m. which is Eating History; my favorite class. Each week, a student presents on a topic of their choice which can be anything as long as it ties back to food history. I was inspired by a class I took last spring at Drexel called “Eating Animals or Not” and I presented on entomophagy (eating insects) and how the practice has evolved over the past few centuries. For our last class, we had the chance to look at some artifacts relating to food history and got to handle some interesting pieces including antique ivory figurines from Japan, tortoise shell chopstick cases from China, cuneiform clay tablets and a 19th century cannibal fork that was used during rituals in Fiji.
3:00 PM:
My next class after Eating History is my Doric & Scots Language lecture. Doric is a dialect of the Scots language that is specific to North-East Scotland/Aberdeen. I took the class because I wanted to learn more about Aberdeen’s culture and I’ve been able to pick up a few of the more common Doric phrases, even though I sound horrible saying them.
4:00 PM:
My last class of the day is my Intro to Visual Culture tutorial. Across most classes here, you choose your classes or lectures and then you choose a tutorial time to take in addition to your lectures. The lectures are usually longer and the teacher speaks or presents for the majority of the class period while tutorials are meant to encourage more class participation and group work.
My academic schedule ends at 5 o’clock, but since I am also on the tennis team, I head straight to practice from my last class of the day which ends at 8 p.m. Even though Tuesdays are quite busy for me, I have the rest of the week to relax and pursue other activities which has allowed me to explore and travel across Scotland.
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