An important role in the shaping of the youth's personalities is played by socialization and interaction with people of the same or older age and with different professions. The connections between the students of the same age and same professional domain help build a portrait filled with their own expectations and possible future experiences in the professional life. The transition from the imaginary professional life to reality takes place as early as the first years at university. This happens by combining theory with real practice in university labs and/or at future employers' enterprises. This study aims to expose the perceptions of 763 computer science students from Politehnica Timisoara University of the exclusive online system used throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to the classic system (offline), as well as the palpable effects. While the results are different, an overwhelming majority of answers are the same. The data collection took place over the course of 2021 through an online questionnaire on the platform i-sondaje, which was completed by students from the first, second, and third years of university. The obtained results highlight the need for socialization and also different attempts at shaping the online medium into one that should be more learn-friendly.

resilience; perceptions; online and offline education; students