Pearls of Wisdom: Commuters, Residence & Study Tips #1
Tips for Commuters:
- Prepare healthy snacks and put them in Tupperware or Ziploc bags on Sunday night so you can grab them from the fridge each day and bring them to campus. This saves you money and calories of buying unhealthy snacks on campus.
- Having a locker can mean the difference between lugging your heavy textbooks home every night, or not. Definitely consider getting a locker in the Fall. Lockers are also a great place to store you coat in the cooler weather, and your gym clothes for working out. If you’d prefer not to have a locker, try not to bring textbooks to campus unless you know you’re going to need it for a specific class or problem set.
Tips for Residence Students:
- Since you’ll be likely sharing a shower with a roommate or other residents that live on your floor, you should bring flip flops to protect your feet. A lightweight waterproof basket to hold your shampoo and soap is also very handy.
- If you’re living in a dorm-style residence with a meal plan, but enjoy having your own snacks and food, you may want to buy or rent a small refrigerator for your room. There will be a large communal fridge on the floor, but it is unsupervised.
Study Tips:
- When starting a new course at university, always read the course syllabus carefully. This is a handout your professor will distribute on the first day of your course. It also has important information about when your professor is available outside of class for consultation (referred to as “Office Hours”) and contact information for getting in touch with your instructor. Don’t wait to mark off any important course dates and deadlines in your calendar.
- Always go to lectures and tutorials. Your courses in university are not the same as in high school—and getting notes from your friend instead of attending class is not going to help you in the long run. It is better to get the information you need first-hand. This also gives you the opportunity to ask questions and get answers immediately, right in class. It is always easier to fill in the blanks in your own notes from what you remember, than not realizing that your friend’s notes completely missed an important point.
