The University Student

Shell Shocked

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Edward

I always viewed my time here at university as an ongoing battle. I was the soldier who was fighting for his freedom against the oppression of an unforgiving, dream-destroying, soul-snatching institution. Now don’t get me wrong, university can be a great place that can have a very positive effect on one’s intellectual and professional development, but there are aspects of it that over time, can ware one’s resilience and positive attitude away if one is not careful. I’ll get into that another post.

The happiest moments, for me, have been the temporary lulls (otherwise known as summer and winter break) that occur between successive battles. However, nothing lasts forever and one must inevitably return to the four year cycle. Unfortunately most students suffer from what’s known as shell shock upon return. Simply stated, this is a cognitive state where a student is not mentally prepared for the start of the semester. This usually results in the student either skipping the first few classes or zoning out during class. Then end result is that you have to catch up on all of the material that you missed, which can be very difficult especially if you have a very hectic schedule with a lot of labs. Luckily there are a few things that you can do to ensure that you are well prepared for the start of the semester.

Actually take a break

Do yourself a favour and actually take a break when you are on break. It’s fine if you want to work or to pursue other interests but make sure that you are getting your much deserved rest and that you are not overexerting yourself. You may regret it later.

Adjust your sleep Schedule

If you are like me, then your sleep schedule gets completely messed up during the break. I usually don’t go to sleep until at least 2am in the morning and then I sleep in until 11am. Although this is fine during the break, it is terrible for going back to school since you usually have to wake up much earlier than 11am. What I recommend doing is conditioning yourself to get up at the time that you will be when school starts at least a week before you go back. That way your body will have adapted to the sleep schedule that you will be following when you are back at school.

Get your stuff in order

Most professors make the syllabus and other course materials available online before the first class so be sure to print them. Also make sure that you have binders, paper, pencils, pens, and whatever other school supplies you need ahead of time and also make sure that all of your course materials are nicely organized into their respective binders.

Mentally prepare for it

Like I said before university is a battle and you need to make sure that you are mentally prepared for the workload that you are about to encounter. Make sure that you are ready to deal with the labs, the all nighters, the midterms, and the early classes. Personally I find that exercise (particularly cardiovascular exercise) really helps with this. The endorphins that are released triggers feelings of well being which really helps to prepare for the return of school.

Hope this helps!

Posted in Academics | Tagged academics, courses, student | Leave a comment

University ≠ Sleep?

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Edward

5:30am in the morning and your alarm goes off. You instinctively hit the sleep button, but you know that you have at the very most 10 minutes of extra sleep before you have to get up or you risk being late. At this point you start thinking about all of the classes that you have that day, if you have any tests, or if you have any assignments due in an attempt to convince yourself that it is okay to skip. Then it hits you, “Crap! I’ve got physics today and I shouldn’t sleep in. I’ve already skipped so many classes and I have a midterm coming up soon that I really need to pass”. You resolve to get out of bed, but when you get out from under the covers you are slapped by the cold air and you remember its winter time. “Hell no, I’m not putting up with this cold. I am way too tired for this. I’ll just get the notes off a friend later”.

Does this scenario sound familiar to you? It was to me. Nights when I didn’t get enough sleep I would have to battle myself to get out of bed the next morning, and honestly most mornings I wouldn’t make it. Unfortunately, all this skipping does eventually catch up with you, when you have to write your midterms or exams. That physics midterm that I wrote was ruthless. I barely passed. How do you avoid this morning exhaustion you ask? Well…

1. Get more sleep. Easier said than done, right? Well it can be done. All you have to do is gradually increase the amount of sleep that you are already getting. So if you are currently getting 4 hours of sleep each night, try going to bed 15 minutes earlier each week. In a month you will have increased the amount of sleep that you get by a full hour.

2. Try not to sleep during the day too often. Its fine to do it a few times or to take naps if you are truly feeling tired but don’t sleep for like 4 or 5 hours repeatedly during the day because it will throw off your sleep schedule. What will probably end up happening is that you won’t feel tired until very late that night and when you get up early the next morning you will feel tired as a result of sleeping so late, which will trigger you sleep again during the day. It becomes a cycle.

3. Exercise in the late afternoon or early evening. Exercising raises your body temperature so when it starts it fall it will probably be around the time that you are preparing to go to bed. This decrease in temperature can help you sleep.

4. Try to reduce stress. Being stressed out is terrible for sleep since in a state of stress the body releases catecholamines and glucocorticosteroids. This triggers the fight-or-flight response which is a state of physiological arousal that is meant to help you deal with the stressor. Unfortunately this does nothing to help you sleep and it in fact keeps you awake.

5. Don’t Ruminate. Whatever happened that day has already happened. Right before you go to bed is not the time to obsess over what could have been done differently or how something didn’t work out. It’s time to sleep so don’t keep yourself awake over things that have either already passed or that you have no control over.

Hope this Helps!

Posted in Health and Activity | Tagged good habits, health and activity, student | Leave a comment

Put down that Cheeseburger!

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Edward

Trust me, that’s probably some of the best advice that you will ever get about university especially in regards to staying healthy. I wish somebody had told me that when I started university! But I understand where you are coming from. It can be seemingly difficult, if not impossible, to eat nutritious meals and snacks consistently every day. Plus with all of your many responsibilities it may be much easier and more convenient to just buy fast food. Well, as somebody who put on 25 pounds their first year of university, let me tell you, you will pay for that “convenience” later. To make matters worse you probably (like me) won’t realize that you have put on the weight until your clothes start to hug your body A LOT tighter or unless you are called out on it by your family and friends. If you are unlucky then you will realize it when you have to pass through an aisle of people at the movies or on the bus. That’s not fun! So now that we have identified the situation what can be done about it? The best advice I can give you guys in regards to your diet is: Everything in moderation and do the best you can. Having fast food once in a while is not the end of the world, just don’t make it a habit. Try your best to prepare nutritious meals ahead of time. I have found that the weekend is the best time for this. If you can prepare a cookup rice or sautéed vegetables and chicken or any other type of healthy food on Sunday you can put it in the fridge and have that for lunch for the first few days of the week. For snacks, nothing works as well as fruits, dried oats, and yogurt. Buy your favorites of each, wash the fruits and vegetables and you are good to go. Me personally, I always make sure that I have apples, oranges, grapes, watermelon, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, carrots, and celery stocked up. Of course, there are many other snacks that you can add to your repertoire and I would recommend that you mix it up, just so you don’t get bored. Some possible ideas are the goldfish crackers, almonds or other nuts, or cheese and crackers.

Hope this helps!

Posted in Health and Activity | Tagged health and activity | 6 Comments

How to deal…With Nosy Friends and Relatives

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Edward

Let me start off by saying that I love my friends and family. They are some of the most supportive, positive, and fun people that I have ever had the pleasure of being acquainted with. However, some of them are nosy like nobody’s business! How many times have you guys gone to a family function (or a fam jam as I like to call it) only to be accosted at the front door by a slew of questions. What are you studying at university? How do you find the material? Is it hard? What are you planning o doing with your degree? Were you thinking about medical school? What about law school? Hi, [insert relative name here] it’s nice to see you too! This can get a bit tiring especially if you have a large family like me because you have to repeat that sequence for almost every family member! To be fair though, friends can be just as nosy. How many times have you guys gotten a test or an assignment back and saw that the first number of your percentage score was a 5 or below a 5 (I don’t judge :p) and then had your friends come up to you inquiring incessantly, “what did you get?”. Or how many times have you been walking in school with somebody who you like or sometimes even just with a friend, only to be interrogated by another friend who saw you guys together? Who were you walking with earlier? Do you like him/her? Where did you guys meet?…

Well I’m here to help you guys out! Now I am going to be completely honest with you guys, navigating the intricacies of these social exchanges does require a bit of tact, but the good news is that it gets a lot easier with time and practice! Let’s begin.

1. Lie. Now I started with this one because it is the most obvious one, however it is not one that I would recommend you use often, especially if you have a bad memory like me! If you do happen to bend the truth a bit, be sure to remember what you said! I can’t tell you how many times I have told a lie to get myself out of a situation, only to give a different response when asked about it at a later date. Not a good look.

2. Give vague answers. I don’t know or I’m not sure yet, have become some of my most favourite sentences. Few people are brazen enough to inquire further after they have been given a response such as that and if they do, just stick to your guns and keep insisting that you are really not sure.

3. Change the Subject. This maneuver requires a bit of skill but it is really effective, especially when combined with a way to excuse yourself from the conversation. For example, if your aunt or uncle is continually asking you about school, you may change the subject by asking them how their children’s school is going. This works very well if their children are younger than you. Then right when they are finished speaking and they pause for a second, simply state that you are parched and are going to get something to drink. Done.

4. Keep Your Distance. Obviously this one is a lot less possible with family and close friends but it can be very useful for those nosy acquaintances who are always up in your business.

5. Be Direct. Sometimes it’s best to be proactive with nosy people. If they start inquiring about a subject that you don’t want to discuss just say so. For example if your friend is asking you about a mark that you got on a test, you could say, “I don’t feel like talking about school right now, do you mind if we talk about something else?”.

Hope you guys found this helpful!

Posted in How to deal... | Tagged family, friends, How to deal, social | Leave a comment

A word to the shy people

Posted on December 26, 2012 by Edward

The transition from high school to university is not an easy one. With the drastic increase in the academic workload, responsibilities, pressure to succeed from parents and living away from home, it is easy to see how it can be an overwhelming experience. This is especially true for shy people. The added apprehension about meeting people and having to interact with roommates and others within various social contexts can be a source of potential anxiety for some. Well, I’m here to let you know that it doesn’t have to be. University is a great opportunity to discover new things about yourself and to overcome your shyness. Through my experiences I have found that most people tend to be very kind and welcoming of conversation. Just be yourself and pursue what interests you as you are bound to encounter others that share some of your interests. The great thing about university is that you can meet some very cool people who come from countries that you have never heard of or who have really cool hobbies. For example I’ll bet that the majority of you haven’t met anybody from a country called Mauritius, have you? Well I have and they are some of the coolest people ever! (If you have never heard of this country, search it on Google. It’s very interesting and it has a really cool history). I have also met some of the most incredible artists at university. One of my good friends (who is also an artist) is ambidextrous and he can draw portraits of people with both hands at the same time! Basically what I am trying to say is don’t let your shyness get in the way of what can be one of the greatest experiences of your life! I’ve also got some tools to help you guys out. I came across this website the other day and I think it may be of some help. Basically it was created by a guy who considered himself to be socially awkward when he was growing up and how he was able to overcome it. He has some really great tips on the website and you might benefit from checking it out. The link is here. I also wrote another article about how to expand your comfort zone, which may also be of some assistance to you.

All the best guys!

Posted in Personal Development, Social | Tagged Comfort zone, interpersonal relationships, Personal Development, shyness, social | 2 Comments

Self-Study vs. Group-Study

Posted on December 23, 2012 by Edward

Okay, so a common question that comes up regarding studying is whether to study alone or in a group.

Studying by yourself is great because you can avoid the distraction and occasional social loafing that can result from being in a social environment. It also gives you the opportunity to focus on the material that you need to study. A downside of studying alone is that you cannot get explanations of concepts and examples that you do not understand and it can be very easy to slack off if you are not a very disciplined person.

Studying in a group, however, is advantageous in that every member of the group will likely have found different sections of the material important and as a result one will be able to get various concepts explained that maybe didn’t make much sense before. This is particularly useful if you are the one doing the explaining since this is a great way to solidify and reinforce what you have learned. Similarly, if you choose to study with very disciplined people they will also force you to study as well. A possible negative side of studying in a group is that it can be very easy to get distracted if you study with people who are not focused.

Me personally, I have found that it is the best to combine both methods of studying. I usually study by myself first to ensure that I have a basic understanding of the material and also to ensure that I dedicate time to the concepts that require my attention. Once I feel as though I have done all that I can by myself, I study in a group so as to reinforce what I have studied and to ensure that I have not missed any important concepts or theories. This is also when I seek clarification on some of the material that I did not understand so well.

Hope you found this helpful!

Posted in Academics | Tagged academics, studying, tests | 7 Comments

Pick your “bird courses” carefully

Posted on December 23, 2012 by Edward

For those of you who don’t know a “bird course” is a very easy course that requires minimal work in order to do well. These courses are very popular among students who are trying to boost their GPA, students who want to have a full course load but who still want to have a lot of free time for their other commitments, and students looking for easy electives. In case you were wondering I fall into the second category :p Unfortunately, things do not always go as planned and believe me when I tell that when it backfires it backfires hard! Allow me to recount my experience with one of my “bird courses”.

Essentially, there was this very cool biology course that I wanted to take since students were required to design and execute their own experiments. However, the day that I was scheduled to pick my courses I was working as a poll clerk in the national elections (I’m Canadian in case you were wondering) and as a result I was unable to pick my courses myself. So I did the next best thing which was to teach my mother how to sign on to my account and pick my courses for me. In retrospect this was a terrible idea, since she didn’t know how to access the internet let alone where to type in the URL once on the internet. Nevertheless, I ignored these facts and insisted that she was ready when the day came along. When I got home that night I logged on to make sure that I had been properly registered in all my courses and surprise, surprise I hadn’t been registered in any of my courses. I have nobody to blame for that but myself. Fortunately, I was able to get into most of my desired courses except my biology course. At this point I reasoned that since I didn’t get my preferred course why not take a bird biology course and have more free time during the year. So I asked my friends for an easy biology course and then enrolled in it.

Second semester eventually came along and with it the start of this course. At the beginning, the course was going very well. I got an 85 on the first test and I felt I was on my was to an easy 4.0. When the second test came around I was expecting something of comparable difficulty to the first test but what I didn’t know was that it was the T.A that had written the test and not the professor. I barely escaped with a 70 but I was starting to feel my 4.0 slipping away from me. By the time the exam came around I needed to get a 92 on the exam to get my 4.0. Unfortunately, my exam schedule that year was terrible and the exam for this biology course was the last of three consecutive exams. As a result of that, I wasn’t able to prepare for the exam as well as I would have wanted. Being the optimistic person that I am, I still thought a 92 was possible since the exam was all multiple choice. Now I don’t know if this has ever happened to you but I sincerely hope not because it is not fun. I opened my exam read the first question and realized that I had no Idea what it was asking, so being optimistic, I told myself that it’s just one question and that I will have more luck with the second question. By the time I reached the end of the second page there wasn’t a single question asking ANYTHING that I recognized. By this time I legitimately thought I was going to fail this exam and this course so I said a serious prayer asking God to have mercy on me. Needless to say, I walked out of that exam defeated. About a week or so later my professor uploaded the marks for the exam and I have to be honest with you guys I have never been so happy to see a 52 before in my life! This gave me a final mark of 68 in the course, which is ironic considering I took the course to boost my GPA and instead had it lowered… considerably. The moral of the story: work hard no matter the course or at the very least pick your bird courses carefully! Next time I’ll give you guys some tips that I have gathered since this incident as to how to better pick a bird course since I know ya’ll are dying to know :p

Hope you guys found this helpful!

Posted in Academics | Tagged academics, courses | 4 Comments

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