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Category: College Bound

  • Why You Shouldn’t Be So Hard on Yourself

    Why You Shouldn’t Be So Hard on Yourself

    First and foremost, you should know that you’re doing a fantastic job. Despite what I’m sure you have told yourself at least once throughout your educational journey, you really are doing great. Between essays, midterms, presentations and final exams, (not to mention out of school obligations such as a part-time job) it can often feel like there is barely enough time to make sure everything gets completed, let alone find time for yourself. But it’s important to remind yourself what a great job you’re doing, and allow yourself the time to re-charge.

    With the constant, overwhelming pressure to succeed in post-secondary, it’s no wonder why in the ACHA Canadian Reference Group’s spring 2016 survey, 89.5% of surveyed post-secondary students (both male and female) reported feeling overwhelmed by things they had to do in the past twelve months. In the same survey, 44.4% of surveyed students reported feeling so depressed that it was difficult to function. While there is no doubt the strive to succeed in post-secondary should place some weight on your shoulders, it’s important to understand there needs to be a healthy balance between hard work and time to allow yourself to re-charge. In fact, putting an excessive amount of stress on yourself may come with various negative consequences on both your mental and physical health, which may negatively impact the progression and quality of your work. So, take a deep breath. You are doing better than you give yourself credit for. The fact that you have taken steps towards reaching your academic and career orientated goals already shows you’ve made terrific progress, and you deserve to give yourself some recognition. Ensure you continue studying an adequate amount, and completing projects by their deadlines, but in-between your hectic schedule take an hour or so out of your day to take a break, and spend that time doing something just for yourself. It could be something as simple as going for a walk, or watching a movie. Although it might feel like you are wasting precious time at first, this little relief from all the hard work you are doing gives your brain a chance to recuperate, and may benefit both your health and your work performance, once you get back to the books.

    However, sometimes no matter how hard we try there are times when we just don’t appear to be reaching our full academic potential, leading to frustration and disappointment. Don’t be so hard on yourself! By taking care of your mental and physical health, and putting in the right amount of time and effort into your studies you are making tremendous progress towards getting to where you need to be. All you need now are some other resources to help give you that final push to success:

    • If you find yourself struggling in a particular subject, reaching out to a tutor in your area may be an excellent source for help. Find a tutor.ca allows you to search tutors in your specific subject in your local area. https://findatutor.ca
    • If your professor has office hours, stopping in with him/her may be exactly what you need to clarify anything you don’t understand. You can often find office hours listed on the course syllabus, or ask your professor.
    • Your fellow peers are an excellent source for information. Try asking someone in your class for some help, or ask to study together.
    • Time management plays a large role in academic success. If you find you’re struggling to find time to fit everything in, try making a day planner outlining specific time frames for each thing you need to get done.
    • Make time for yourself! Remember, even though it might not feel like it at times, you are doing fantastic. Keep up the great work!

    References:

    http://www.cacuss.ca/_Library/Provincial_Reports/NCHA-II_SPRING_2016_CANADIAN_REFERENCE_GROUP_EXECUTIVE_SUMMARY.pdf

    https://findatutor.ca

  • Podcasts on Campus Life

    Podcasts on Campus Life

    Podcasts are a truly glorious thing. Truly. The amount of knowledge readily available to any person with various particular interests, hobbies, goals and concerns are at times even overwhelming. For those delving into the bottomless world of podcasts there are the incomparable ones like You Must Remember This, This American Life and Death, Sex and Money. Many of these offer snippets of university life information, but they by no means offer a lot. Here are a few podcasts that are perfect for the post-secondary immersed student:

    Campus with Albert Leung – CBC

    CBC’s first original podcast series, Campus provides first-person tales on college and university students. Only a year old, this podcast is a study on the concept of change and time in relation to the young post-secondary demographic. What are the moments that make you who you are? Campus gives you a glimpse into them, and is driven by first-person stories about pressures around university. Pressures to succeed, the threat of failures and all things surrounding growing up build this podcast.

    Cited – UBC

    The only podcast with a bibliography, the University of British Columbia-spawned venture focuses on the fusion of news with original storytelling and strong academic research. Released weekly, Cited is the first of its kind and will inspire research oriented thinking and questioning. Unlike other Canadian university podcasts, Cited is not specifically geared to student of its mother university. It speaks to the learner and student in general. Get your news from a unique source for once: your peers.

    The Life Game – CBC

    Not strictly campus life, but definitely often centred on it, The Life Game tell people’s stories as told by improv actors in interviews. These are stories about love, expectations, bad and good choices, and the realities of goals. With stories that feature life lessons experienced by Canadians, CBC provides listeners with a specifically northern and at the same time universally true themed series of comedic tales. Students will be comforted to hear stories familiar to their own trials and tribulations.

  • Building Your Research Skills in University

    Building Your Research Skills in University

    For many students research can seem like a chore. In truth, it is less of a chore and even at times a joy when mastered. The best way to make things easier is to become as familiar with your resources as possible; this means sifting through university library and in-class resources while seeking out your own as well. So let’s break it down!

    University Resources

    Each university and college has a library website that gives students access to databases and journals for essay and exam research. Here are the top ones for easy access and widespread research:

    Academic Search Premier – A multidisciplinary database with over 4,600 entire-text journals, it’s hard not to find what you need for any paper whether its Political Science, History, Sciences or Literature. Some PDF files go further back than 1975 and there are plenty of searchable cite references. Some titles are peer-reviewed and Academic Search makes citing in papers fairly easy and thorough.

    JSTOR – While this database covers all manners of topics it is really best for the humanities. Think Anthropology, African-American studies and History. Coverage spans from the nearly the beginning of a particular volume to the most current issue. But this database isn’t just for articles, but rather also for graphs, photographs and other images. Think of this database as a more creative version of Academic Search.

     

    Good Old Fashioned Library Books – Most papers require you to have at least one cited book source rather than strictly all online sources. So get to that massive quiet building on campus and crack a book. Numerous dictionaries, thesauruses and encyclopaedias can be found there and the atmosphere helps a lot with putting students in the research frame of mind. Also, seeing a book visually up-close can really help with concentration. Screens can dull the process.
    Personal Resources

    Google Scholar – This one is free so you don’t need your university’s power for this one. Google Scholar is not the best, but it’s quick and easily accessible. Find a small group of books, preprints, peer-reviewed papers and technical reports for some quick research. This one is best used as a clue to where to find bigger research sources. It is also handy for annotated bibliography assignments. Google Scholar is not the ultimate tool, but it’s great in a pinch.

    Your Class Notes – This may seem like a university research source, but actually its attributes are dependant on your own skills. Take good notes and the resource is going to be most profitable for you. Find ways to make note taking easy and productive for your particular mind; highlight and add personal thoughts when they come to you. Your essay writing will be that much more alive, in-depth and well thought out.

  • Best Books to Read Before University

    Best Books to Read Before University

    Here is a little heads up about university: you will have to read A LOT. More than that, you will have to write a lot. There will be essays expected in nearly every subject and some previous literary knowledge can really come in handy. It not only helps make you sound more experienced and knowledgeable in your essay writing, but will help with in-class discussions and group work. There are plenty of different books to not only take advantage of but truly enjoy. Here are a few to start you off on the path to being the smartest and most well read freshman in the room:

    A Room of One’s Own – Virginia Woolf

    Ms. Woolf really knew how to say the things that lie deep in one’s mind. A Room of One’s Own is an insightful and eloquently written long essay that explores feminist themes on literal and figural space for women writers within a largely male dominated arena. It is based on a series of university lectures Woolf gave, and is perfect for getting the mind thinking about feminist issues and autonomy. Especially consider tackling this one if you are heading into Women’s Studies, English, Philosophy, Psychology or Political Science.

    The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath

    Plath’s brain is a fascinating place and she has penned some truly great work. The Bell Jar is arguably Plath at the height of her brilliance. A look at mental illness, anxiety and depression, its attributes for students lie in the complex themes often mulled over by Plath and truly many people every day. It is very dark, yes, but professors in university will be impressed at your knowledge and its many psychological themes and strong English will make its way into your paper writing when school begins.

    The Armies of the Night – Norman Mailer

    You want to talk about great thinkers and writers? Look up Norman Mailer. The amazing (although at times not the most politically correct and socially acceptable) writer was at the forefront of the New Journalism movement and knew how to combine non-fictional reporting with creative-form writing. The Armies of the Night is a work of art about the 1967 March on the Pentagon. Perfect for those interested in either politics, 1960s culture or historical figures, this book is for both the creative and the scientific. Chock full of deep thoughts and great one-liners, Mailer is a quotable entity if there ever was one and not a single professor is unaware of his credentials. Read this one.

    Just Kids – Patti Smith

    There are many different kinds of brilliance, and artistic brilliance is a heavy-hitter. For inspiration and a truly stunning example of impeccable poetry read rocker Patti Smith’s Just Kids. A memoir about her and former lover and life-long friend photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, Just Kids is not only a love letter to a soul mate but a love letter to muses, different art forms and the process and hard times of the artist. It’s not enough to want to learn in order to achieve a career, you should also want to have passion for that learning. Smith is all about passion and it’s infectious.

  • How to Combine School & Work

    How to Combine School & Work

    Lecture after lecture. Essay after essay. It is a struggle in and of itself to maintain a high quality output of schoolwork and a robust grade point average. How then is someone expected to earn an income on top of all that? Perhaps you are saving towards a future goal. Or maybe the money is needed for your schooling itself. Regardless of the reason, juggling your studies with work can feel overwhelming. However, there are ways this can be done effectively so that your education and grades are not compromised.

    Providing tutoring services to clients one-on-one is a great way to make money when you are juggling other commitments. Not only are the hours typically in the evening and weekends, outside of lecture times, but the job also provides a high-level of flexibility in your scheduling. You can coordinate times with your students, and even change them as needed with sufficient notice. Perhaps more importantly, your tutoring subjects can include the field of study you are pursuing in school. This means of income would allow you to harness your knowledge and dive deeper into the subject. Being able to effectively teach a concept demonstrates a thorough understanding of the idea that will translate into success in the classroom. Finally, this line of work also lets you customize your working location. You could offer tutoring at the students’ individual homes, at a public space such as a library, or even online.

    The greater prevalence of technology has opened up the potential for remote work. By removing travel times, you make it significantly easier to balance a job with your studies. Although part-time work can sound accommodating, traveling to and from the location can be increasingly frustrating compared to full-time work due to vast difference in the travel to work time ration. As a tutor, you can be self-employed and have full control over your business online. By working with students via Skype or Google Hangout, you can be vast distances apart but still have classes. Advertise on Craigslist, Kijiji, and social media. But this can be done for more than just tutoring. Perhaps you are a writer or editor, and want to offer your services online. Or you could make crafts at home, and use an online store to sell them. In all these cases, setting up a basic website showcasing your skills and experience is a good idea.

    By utilizing the skills you are gaining in school, as well as the technology that has rapidly developed within the last few decades, you can achieve a successful balance of work and school. It could even turn into work that you continue doing after completing school. Perhaps even more importantly, you will gain the skills and know-how to juggle a hectic schedule that will prove invaluable as you move forward.

    Source:

    Raver, Ryan. 7 Easy Ways For Graduate or College Students to Earn Alternative Income or Make Money Online. http://thegradstudentway.com/blog/?p=86

  • Electronic Organizational Tools for Students

    Electronic Organizational Tools for Students

    How many times have you completely forgotten a due date or that you were supposed to meet with a fellow student on a group project? Are you having a hard time compartmentalizing large projects and tasks? What about that social life you would like to have with all those coffee dates and happy birthdays to wish? Luckily we live in a time of endless electronic resources for your every organizational need. That being said, sometimes it can be difficult to narrow down what to use. So here is a list of five apps/programs to use besides your phone’s built-in calendar. Let’s get organized!

    Trello

    This project management app features “boards” which contain “lists” for tasks. The “cards” contained in the lists correspond to the particular tasks. This is perfect for breaking down assignments and large projects, particularly for groups and organizations. If you are a teacher, teacher’s assistant or tutor this app is absolutely perfect for lesson planning. Very recently Microsoft launched a Trello-like component called Microsoft Planner. Microsoft users can compare and contrast Trello with this new app to decide which they like best.

    www.trello.com

    Excel

    One of the most popular tools for students and really anyone is Excel. This program is so popular because it features many spreadsheet templates to sort through for your specific organizing needs. From to-do lists to budget worksheets, Excel is an all in one. It lacks the simplistic construct of some of these other apps, but numerous how-to videos can be found on the web to improve your understanding and ability to use Excel to its full extent.

    Deadline

    Completely simple in format and therefore more than easy to use, this calendar app helps you to set up reminders and organize meetings, deadlines, tests and appointments. It can be used for both work and school setting, although it does lend itself particularly well to the busy individual who does it all and doesn’t have time to remember every little thing themselves.

    www.deadlineapp.com

    TrackClass

    Strictly for schoolwork, TrackClass features a calendar application that keeps an eye on your progress and schedule. You will be reminded when you have a midterm or final coming up—right down to the last fifteen minutes—and labs and tutorials will be formatted in a simple and comprehensive way. You can even take notes on the program that will ensure that you never lose them. The website features a tour, so take it to see if TrackClass is right for you.

    www.trackclass.com

    Soshiku

    Very similar to TrackClass, Soshiku helps students organize their work in a practical way. This is ideal for high school and college assignments and projects, and the app will email you reminders on due dates. The basic version of this program is free, but going pro only costs $5. Some handy features of Soshiku are that assignments can be searched for in the tool bar, courses can be organized and labeled, you can share messages and attachments and tasks with friends, and assignments and reminders can be added right from your own phone.

  • Academic Probation

    Academic Probation

    Whether you get overloaded with school work, join too many clubs to make new friends, or can’t handle the load of university, being on academic probation is a serious problem. For any of those who may not know, academic probation is when the university takes action against a student who consistently fails to keep their grades above a certain overall average, according to their program. The average will range from school to school. For example, Wilfrid Laurier University defines it as, “An undergraduate student (registered in an Honours or General degree program) is placed on academic probation, in a general degree program (BA or BSc) without designation, when they achieve a cumulative grade point average (GPA) between 2.00 (D) and 3.99 (on a minimum of 4.0 credit attempts.” The University of Toronto Mississauga, on the other hand, describes it as “Students who have a Cumulative GPA (CGPA) of less than 1.50 at the end of an academic session after which they have attempted 4.0 credits, will be placed on academic probation.”

    Academic probation leads to serious complications for university and college students. For starters, those on academic probation will need to adhere to strict rules and guidelines for completing their degree. For example, UTM requires that said students “who, at the end of a session during which they were placed on probation, have a Cumulative GPA of less than 1.50 but a summer sessional or annual (Fall-Winter Session) GPA of 1.70 or more shall continue on probation. Students who, at the end of a session during which they were placed on probation, have a Cumulative GPA of less than 1.50 and a sessional GPA of less than 1.70 shall be suspended for one calendar year.” Universities and colleges do this for students on probation; they monitor these students closely and should you fail to reach the grades the school asks, you get suspended.

    One of the things you need to pay attention to as a student, especially a first year student, is that things are going to be different. Your grades will drop. Classes will be harder. There will be lots more people. The homework will pile up. It will be overwhelming. And, yes, academic probation is a scary but a very real thing to worry about. However, talking to your professors, the office of the registrar, and attending study groups (to name a few) are just some of the ways to keep those grades up without falling too behind. If you receive a poor mark on a test, don’t get so discouraged that you don’t ask for help. Take the blow and get help from your professors or your classmates. It’ll keep you in good standing and on the way to a smooth graduation.  In the case of being on academic probation, you may need to stay in school longer with a lesser course load spread out to help you get the hang of things- even though it could help you focus better, you may not to stay in post-secondary longer than you have to.

  • Academic Papers 101

    Academic Papers 101

    To a high school student, paper is what you write on, journals are diaries, and literature is the collection of classical fiction. Once you enter university and college, these words take on additional meaning. Regardless of your chosen major, you will be expected to read and understand papers published in academic, peer-reviewed journals as well as undertake literature reviews. If this sounds confusing to you, read on!

    What are academic papers?

    University professors teach and conduct research. Once they have a significant finding, they will write an academic paper describing their discovery, their methods, and their data analysis. Academic papers are formal pieces of professional writing, intended to be read by colleagues in the same field. Students may find these papers difficult to understand due to the technical language and objective voice.

    Academic papers are split into two types. One type is the original paper described above, where the information in it is new to the field. The other type is a review paper, where the authors have read and analyzed all the papers on a particular topic and wrote a critical summary of all these papers’ conclusions. The best review papers give you a clear idea of what is going on in the field and where it may be headed.

    What are academic journals?

    This paper is then submitted to an academic journal. Examples include The Journal of Neuroscience and Nature. Academic journals are publications like newspapers—but instead of fact-checkers, journals employ peer review. The paper is sent to other professionals in the same field (peers of the authors) who scrutinize the paper and then recommend to the journal whether to publish or not.

    Not every paper submitted is published. Journals publish a specific number of articles each week or month, and more prestigious journals receive more submissions. A general rule of thumb is to look at the name of the journal: the broader it is, the more submissions it receives, the more difficult to get published in that journal. For example, it may be easier to publish a paper on autism in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders than in Science.

    What is the academic literature?

    The academic literature refers to the collective papers that have been published on a specific topic. If your professor tasks you with conducting a review of the academic literature on concussions, you are being asked to read the relevant papers and write a summary. It is similar to writing a review article.

    In high school, textbooks are the source of information for students—but in university and college, textbooks are less frequently used. Academic papers and journals should become your go-to resources for research and assignments. Becoming familiar with the basic terminology is a good first step!

  • Public Safety: Tips on How to Protect Yourself

    Public Safety: Tips on How to Protect Yourself

    When you’re walking home alone at night, it’s easy to feel scared or threatened.  A lot of young women are often catcalled or approached in broad daylight, let alone when it’s in the evening. When people stare or approach you or even harass you, it can get pretty terrifying.

    When it comes to being safe in public, there are a few tricks you can try to guard yourself. There are some wonderful apps out there for you to download onto your device. This link from PC World http://www.pcworld.com/article/2057930/5-personal-safety-apps-that-watch-your-back.html will give you a guide to five apps that offer safety for you. The main attraction to these apps is that your contacts know when you are in trouble.

    Another thing you can do to keep yourself safe is take a class in self defense. Now, when I was first approached to take a class on self defense, I’ll admit that I declined. I didn’t really think that I needed it or that it would be as beneficial as people made it sound. I didn’t think that I was strong enough to fend someone off or to hold my own. But, one thing to understand upon entering these classes is that there are a lot of people who share the same feelings and you’re all in this together. The instructors are aware of these feelings and they take the time to teach you properly. They care about your safety, which means that you don’t really get lost in the back of class if you don’t know what you’re doing. They do take the time to help you, which is essential.

    Womenonguard.com is a great website that offers personal defense weapons for safety as well. Men and women have a wide selection of items that they can purchase. Items such as lipstick pepper spray, personal alarms, and mace are available for purchase. Home protection items such as window alarms and nanny cams are available as well. The site also includes videos on their website catering to self defense and how to safely and properly use these items.

    When it comes to protecting yourself, you can never be too careful. Classes and apps will allow for you to be safer than before and give you piece of mind that someone is watching out for you.

  • What Really Matters: Skills for Life and Finding Work

    When people are young, they often look forward to growing up. However, when they get older, they often wish that they could change the decisions that they had made. What would you tell your younger self about life and school?

    In school, the grades that students get seem very important. Later on in life, however, people might wonder why they ever cared so much about their marks. School results can be important for getting into certain programs, such as medicine, or for getting scholarships to university, but they aren’t the things that always matter most in life. Instead, the skills that people learn through their courses, volunteer work, and other activities are often more important than the facts that they know, the programs that they finish, or the marks that they receive- real life experience.

    Learning skills rather than getting grades can help in finding work when jobs are scarce, for example. In the past, university or college graduates could usually depend on getting work in their field. Even though that is no longer the case, people can still learn valuable skills in post-secondary education. The ability to concentrate, to do research, to write clearly, and to give presentations is all necessary in the workplace.

    These kinds of skills are also valuable in writing resumes and hunting for jobs. Even if you lack specific skills for a job, an employer might be willing to train you if you have other good qualities, such as the ability to focus on a task. You can emphasize these qualities on your resume, in your cover letter, and in job interviews. They might get you the job, and then you can focus on learning the particular tasks that you need to do.

    While it is best not to apply for jobs too far beyond your current skills, challenging yourself is also important. If you get into an easy but boring job, you will likely become frustrated or restless. If the job is challenging, but still within your abilities, you may find it easier to manage the work and any problems that come with it.

    Finding work can be difficult, and sometimes even the most qualified people have trouble. Being rejected for jobs is hard, but it is important to remember that there will always be other opportunities. Even if a job is difficult and you work with unpleasant people, you can take the skills that you have learned to a new position. Learning to develop personal qualities such as kindness and honesty can also be very valuable. Some even say that half the battle is learning to work and get along with other people.

    Life after high school might sound exciting or scary, but you can already start to prepare for the challenges ahead. The educational system and job market change frequently, but anything that you learn now could be useful for the future.

    Bibliography:   

    Kids Health.org. “Life after High School.” http://kidshealth.org/en/teens/after-hs.html.

    Thompson, Aly. The secret to a long life? Be kind, says 107-year-old N.S. woman http://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/the-secret-to-a-long-life-be-kind-says-107-year-old-n-s-woman-1.2849948.

    Wikihow. “How to Overcome Adversity.” http://www.wikihow.com/Overcome-Adversity.

    Vadhan, Opal. “The 3 Biggest Things I Wish I Didn’t Stress Over in High School.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/opal-vadhan/the-3-biggest-things-i-wish-i-didnt-stress-over-in-high-school_b_7621834.html.