Copyright: Calvin and Hobbes
It is just one month after school starts, but due to the tri-semester system at McGill, we already start to write our first midterms. Usually with only four to six weeks of stuff in our brain, it seems easy to handle, but due to the joy of the first three weeks (aka housewarming parties, reunions with friends, holiday-lag from summer), our machinery has not been tuned to its optimum. (more…)
So I’m a third year student. Now I was never really fond of math, but I believe that means I’ve been through two years of university. Looking back, there were many differences between my first year and second year. Some of those differences were actual changes of something that I did in first year. Not all of these were good things, but they did help me learn a lot about how to survive a year’s worth of university (technically it’s only 8 months, but it feels longer). Hopefully they can prove useful to you! (more…)
As a first-year student, you get a lot of advice on how to manage the start of this new chapter of your life. From student handbooks to online resources, many places offer tips and tricks that you can carry on with you throughout your studies and later in life. Things like ‘don’t procrastinate’, ‘eat well’, and ‘get involved on campus’ often make up part of the list of things you can do to both enjoy your university years and be successful, but there’s more!
Here are seven more ways to do well during your first year (and beyond!):
The start of a new semester is always filled with excitement, nerves, add-drop season, and the dramatic shift from perpetual procrastination to keeping up with classes. For returning students, it’s an opportunity to see friends we haven’t connected with for a while. For new students, it’s the beginning of new friendships and connections at the university. For new and old alike, it’s a period of time where we join new clubs and organizations, both on-campus and within the Montréal community!
When I started my first year at McGill, I was hesitant to join student societies and other groups because hanging out with strangers was terrifying. I wanted to concentrate on my studies, meet people living in my residence, and save enough time to Netflix daily. (more…)
Technology is incredibly convenient in many different ways. It provides an efficient method of long-distance communication, it allows for widespread access to information, and it’s a cool place to share our selfies. But as amazing as technology is, it also can be extremely distracting. Maybe not everyone feels this way, but I know firsthand that technology can be an impediment to productivity. I don’t think I could ever accurately claim that I’ve found a solution to that, but over the last few years I’ve learned some ways to manage technology-related distractions. (more…)
Whether you’re working on personal projects, applying for scholarships, or preparing for applications in the fall, getting things accomplished in the summer can be a difficult task. With the sun finally coming out and festivals left and right, distractions often act as roadblocks between you and your work goal. Here’s how I try to keep on top of things, despite sometimes giving in to the summer temptations (more…)
When I was on the Varsity Badminton Team, it was difficult to recruiting new talent because students believed that it is a huge time commitment. Personally, I felt being on the team did not take my time away, but rather it saved my time. Unfortunately, I only joined in my third year due to injuries. But my first semester on the team, I achieved my best GPA. And despite no longer playing for the team, currently I continue to train in a private badminton club. Here are the three main reasons why I believe having a regular extracurricular activity makes me more efficient and effective with my time:
We’re back in the thick of it now. The school semester is as follows (monthly); Septry-anything-out-and-apply-for-everything, Octotally-in-over-your-head-with-work, Novacate-life-and-camp-in-the-library, Decearnestly-study-for-exams-and-wait-for-Chrsitmas.
It can seem like all too much at once. You want to get better grades this year and find an internship and be an executive while also penning your early memoir and inventing the time machine.
Sometimes it’s best to take a second and slow down. Here’s some info and advice for those of us (myself included) that need a pre-break to pre-manage our prospects.
Sometimes it’s easy to keep up with deadlines. Other times harder than scaling Mount Everest. It’s easy to push things for later and end up procrastinating. I find the hardest step to be getting started.
Stress season is about to hit again, so I would like to share some tips that I use to boost myself out of a low.
So tomorrow I’m doing a retreat for Service Point, the administrative office at McGill. They invited me to come and give suggestions about what could be improved in their office. Service Point is the face of McGill. It’s where students go to first when they arrive here. And, even though it has nothing to do with student affairs and personal problems, most people end up going there because it’s the only place that they can think of reaching out to. Therefore, this blog post is me outlining a little bit of what I wish I had known when I entered McGill.