When I was eight years old I loved everything about summer. That is, until those “back-to-school” commercials started popping up everywhere (why they air those commercials as soon as we have our first taste of summer, I’ll never know.) As soon as I saw those advertisements, I was reminded of the horrors of going back to school—but that was before my education included lectures about movies and playing beer pong.  So, for those of us lucky enough to go to UofT, seeing a “back-to-school” advertisement no longer needs to fill us with mortal dread. Instead, we can embrace this time;  September is reborn as a time for Toga parties, being reunited with old friends, and even making new ones.

While many readers will have already passed Freshman year, I’m sure there are those of you who are still a bit nervous about heading off into the direction of academia. For those lucky few, I have prepared the following crash-course on how to spend your first few weeks at UofT.

1.Don’t freak out.

You’ve signed up for your classes. You’ve paid your tuition (hopefully!). You know where you are going to live.  Beyond that,  don’t worry over anything just yet. Just because the anti-calendar says your class is going to suck, doesn’t mean it actually will.  Just because you don’t know anyone in your class, doesn’t mean you can’t make some new friends– or at least meet someone to share notes with.  Don’t listen to people when they tell you to just “turn back while you can!”. You obviously did well enough in High School to get into Uni, so there is no reason you can’t succeed once you get there.

2. Seriously, don’t freak out.

All of those things you are worried about—making friends, tests, term papers, parties, getting lost—they haven’t happened yet.

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U of T already has a student-developed iPhone app, but now we also have a handy tool for searching for U of T courses online. Created by psychology student Ammar Ijaz, it allows you to search by course code, term, professor, date and time, enrollment indicators, enrollment controls, and whether or not there is a waitlist. Ammar says:

Don’t you hate trying to find courses to take? Using the timetable and calendar books is bad enough, but the archaic website is even worse! I hate searching for courses, too, so I decided to create a website to make the task easier. Looking for 3rd year psych courses? Just put in “PSY3″ as a course code and hit “Show me!”

Check it out!

Is it safe for me to say that this  pretty much sums up the life of every student out there right now?

I think so.

Good luck to everyone on their final exams! We’re almost there!

Taking the plunge into learning a new language can be terrifying, and the experience even more so. You’ve heard all the promos on how many doors it opens, but when you’re wading through yet another translation that just makes absolutely no sense, it can be really tempting to just conclude that languages are just not your thing. Maybe you’re just not cut out for it, right?

Not so! I’m on my third non-native language right now, and believe me, I’ve been through all of the painful “bloody hell how does anyone remember this” moments, the “why the f*** do you need subjunctive” moments, the “why does every *&$^% word start with q” moments, and everything in between. The thing is, it really does get better. I promise. If you’re brave enough to keep going with languages, or not sure if you are, here are some tips to help you on your way: (more…)

Well folks, this is the time of year where almost everyone makes their New Year’s resolutions. Some people aim extremely high and some people prefer to keep things within their reach. As with every new year, most people expect to have a fresh start and embrace the year with open arms. Those are the people who make endless goals and have big expectations for the year. Then you have those who just seem to accept the upcoming year without any particular expectations or goals in mind.

It’s always that fresh beginning in which people make goals to stay fit and go to the gym or attempt to become focused in their academics or job. It’s usually one of those two goals that fail within the first couple of months of the new year. Try making goals that you know you would be motivated to make or things you wish you could change about yourself. And I know the obvious choice would be to hit to gym or hit the books, but try goals like eating healthier, or keeping up with readings despite the crazy overload of papers.  Remember that goals that are more specific and measurable have a higher chance of being achieved.

Whatever your goals or expectations are for 2010, I hope you reach your goals above and beyond of what you have planned!

Just three weeks before the end of the fall semester, I have come to the realization that I haven’t done any productive work outside of school since the start of classes.

As a first-year student, I naturally had many plans to do extra-curricular activities over the summer. French Club. The Varsity newspaper. Engineering Toastmasters. Engineers Without Borders. The Blue & Gold Committee (a spirit group for engineers). The Engineering Society, Academic Committee. The Engineering LEGO Club.

Tons of plans, but they’ve fallen through due to:

1. Time commitments. Toastmasters ends at 10pm on Thursdays, when I am often staying up late completing PHY180 lab write-ups. I also have limited time to begin with because the commute eats up 3 hours each day. LEGO Club… well, meetings are also on Thursdays, and I guess doing error analysis calculations is more feasible than constructing a house made of LEGO bricks.
2. Lack of response from group executives. I’m serious – I signed up for a gazillion clubs during the UTSU and Engineering Clubs’ Fairs, but have only been e-mailed by a handful. And some have only e-mailed once, and never again. The only French Club meeting I’ve been to was their introductory brunch, which, incidentally, was delicious.
3. Laziness. I signed up for blogUT, knew I was going to blog the second I had something to say, and… kind of forgot about it.
4. In my defence, it was partly also due to shyness and decision-making. I was trying to come up with something interesting to talk about. Whatever was remotely related to engineering, I stuck the blog entry into the Online Design Journal I’m required to keep in preparation for one of my final exams.

Considering that all of my friends here at U of T are first-years in engineering, I haven’t been doing non-scientifically-related writing for a while now, and I am slowly losing my French skills, my inactivity is clearly something I should deal with.

Fortunately, I kept the last e-mail I got from blogUT, in my Inbox where I could easily see it. And I discovered that not only was the founder a former EngSci graduate, but there were posts, personal ones (i.e. not just artsy reviews or school events!) that could resemble what I’d write in any blog.

I decided not to write for the Arts section of the Varsity when I realized that they didn’t publish book reviews (plus my  reviews are generally outdated – a few months after the book’s release), and didn’t write for the Science section because they seem to expect up-to-date news from research conducted right at the U of T. The Cannon, the engineering newspaper, has never e-mailed me since I wrote my contact information on the sign-up sheet.

So much for trying to be connected to student life. I guess that’s how blogUT started, because it sure feels good to be blogging and just… doing something aside from problem sets and whatnot.

Grad school is every ambitious undergraduate’s  golden fountain of eternal youth, and most of us are like famed Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Pizzaro: doomed to wander the jungles and subjugate the Aztecs in the pursuit of our goal. Unlike Cortez, there is actually a chance of attaining your goal. Of course, having a horde of conquest-thirsty, glory-seeking conquerors would improve anyone’s application, but few of us have this (only 1 student in 2 at Trinity College).  In the absence of a royal mandate, the rest of us have to struggle to make our own applications appear much longer and substantial/menacing (I cite the blowfish as inspiration) than they really are. If you are looking for tips on how to get that golden letter of reference, or how to make it look like you were heavily engaged in your college’s Frosh Week when in fact you were really just passed out in the quadrangle, then look no further! Avail yourselves of these handy tips.

INTERVIEWS

If you get an interview with a potential grad school, you should be aware of what they are looking for. The most important part of higher education is getting your foot in the door and never leaving, not even after you die and they have the wrench your corpse out of your office’s ergonomic swivel chair. Thus, having the appearance of a lifetime academic is key. Show up dressed like an Edwardian nobleman: full-tails with a bowler hat, monocle, and a copy of the London Times are highly recommended (NB: do NOT show up with a copy of the New York Times. What, do you WANT to look like some colonial?)

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Did you ever visit Israel? Did you ever have a stopover in Jerusalem? Have you ever seen Israel on a map? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions then you have just earned the right to lie on your CV and write “Summer Kibbutz (2008)” under work experience. Likewise, being one of the elected “class representatives” to the Faculty of Arts and Science can, with the stroke of a pen, become “Actively engaged in Student Governance, 2006-present.” Also, if you really want to milk the “class rep” thing you can also include it as a Minor in Futility Studies.

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