Now that I’ve seen all these posts on first years, I’d like to add to that mix and describe how it’s been in my third year at U of T so far.

This year is set to be the most challenging yet rewarding for me, I feel. I find my courses more difficult but definitely more interesting. I’ve fell asleep in only 1 of my lectures so far! Albeit it’s only been 2 weeks. Although I think I’ve made a little progress in terms of time management, discipline and hard work, and making a little more sacrifices here and there (i.e. less time at home and on Youtube = more time at library).

My first year was tough but second year was toughest for me since I slacked off even more. Trust me, first years, you don’t want to start slacking off after first year — it’ll only get harder to catch up! I’ve only started to learn how to study and it’s hard to get used to all that reading I must do before class. I used to not do any of my readings until right before the test, when there would be hundreds of pages to read.

I haven’t totally warmed up to U of T yet, though. I think there is too much emphasis on academia and not enough hands-on experience. So many people go to college after university because they lack that experience. I know of someone who was a university grad and couldn’t get a job because he had no experience, but how could this be possible? He just graduated! From U of T, nonetheless.

U of T isn’t all bad though. There are many benefits like clubs, athletic facilities, discounted tickets and events, students from all different backgrounds, an array of programs and courses, good libraries and places to study, etc. Most of all though I think is the hard work that U of T instills in you because without hard work you are nothing.

Hard work is what makes or breaks you at U of T. We’re all on a level playing field, and yes there will always be someone that gets better marks than you, but we all set ourselves apart I think by our work ethic, determination and genuine passion for what we are studying. GPA is one thing, but passion is another. As long as you truly want to learn something and not just get a degree, then you’ll walk away with one of the most helpful experiences of your life.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 at 12:00 pm and is filed under We've Got Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.