"I WISH I knew that in first year!"

You can ask any upper year student, at any college or university world wide "what is one thing that you know now that you wish you knew in first year?" and I guarantee that they will have A LOT to say.

The truth is there is always more to learn, more to discover and more to enjoy at university. There's a TON of stuff that I didn't know about when I first started here that would have made my first year a lot less stressful! Things that I only know about now as a result of personal inquiry and experience.

Here's a few things that I know now, that I WISH I knew when I was in first year!

-There are five libraries at York's Keele Campus and one library at Glendon, as a York student you can use ALL the libraries.
--In first year I assumed that Scott Library on the Keele Campus was the ONLY library. Whenever it was crowded I figured there was no where else I could go to study so I would found myself trying to study in my residence room whenever I couldn't find a place to sit in Scott; that resulted in a LOT of breaks and ineffective studying. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that it wasn't until well into my 3rd year that I discovered all the libraries at Keele.

Scott Library...bigg huh?

- There is more to do on campus then just go to class and go home (or back to residence).
--I figured that there must be clubs or student organizations at York. I mean come-on a school this size had to have something going on other than class. However I didn't really know what was going on since there was no coordinated club directory. My first year was WAYY back in the day before YU Connect. I'm happy to say that now York has an organized listing of all the recognized clubs and student orientation, so getting involved is easier than ever before! So avoid the commuter trap and find a way to get involved on campus.

- Lecture and Tutorial are two separate but IMPORTANT components of a class.
--In my first year I was under the impression that Tutorial was optional and that attendance didn't matter much. I QUICKLY learned that I was MISTAKEN! Lecture and Tutorial work together to make the material come alive. Lecture introduces new ideas and concepts and Tutorial allows you to work with these ideas and really learn something new. I can't tell you how important it is to attend both Lecture and Tutorial. Anyone that tells you any differently is doing you and themselves a major disservice.

Check out this lecture!

- Don't be afraid to ask questions!!!
--In high school you might hear from teachers "In university you'll be just a number to your professors and t.a's," your friends that have gone on to university might say "Don't ask questions, prof's hate it when you ask questions in seminars!" When I first got to York I was completely intimidated by the class sizes and asking questions basically the whole she-bang was majorly overwhelming.

Be brave...it's worth it!

What I learned through the years is that you might be recognized as a number at first but if you make the effort to get to know your professors and t.a's you'll become recognized as a student and as a person. Also professors LOVE it when students are engaged in class. Asking questions and challenging assumptions let's the professors know that you care about the class and you are working with the material. ALL GOOD THINGS!

If I can offer an additional piece of advice I'd say...don't be afraid to go and visit professors at their office hours. They like to talk about their work, the material and their class, and more importantly they like to interact with students. Make the effort and it will pay off. We're not children any more, if you want something you can't wait for it to come to you, you have to go out and get it yourself!

That's mee in first year...my my my
how much I've learned since then!

Well those are a few things that I WISH I knew in first year!