It all starts with a question: Why didn’t anyone tell me any of this when I started?!
Auuuguh!
My name’s Peter, this is Stacks & Facts, and I’ve got some tips to help you make
the most of your university experience with a minimum of freaking out.
[intro music]
So first of all, congratulations -- going to college is a big deal!
Yeah, it’s gonna be hard -- but it’s also gonna set you up for success in whatever you
decide to do with your life, even if you aren’t sure what that is right now.
Which, by the way, is totally fine!
Nobody really knows what they're gonna do with their lives,
You’re doin’ okay.
But! just because college is hard, doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do to make
it easier!
So I wanted to share some things with you that I wish someone had told me before I started
my undergrad, and eventually my masters.
They would’ve saved me all kinds of trouble, so I’m passing them to you.
Y’ready?
Alright let's do this.
What we expect university to be like, and how it actually ends up being, are two very
different things.
And that's because what’s expected from us is different between high school and college.
Take writing, for example: while we learn the very basics of how to write a paper in
high school (intro, body, conclusion), those are, truly, the *very basics*.
In university, you’ll be held to a higher standard in your writing, or even different
styles depending on the field that you’re studying.
But since a lot of your classes are going to be lectures, you and your 200 classmates
might not get a lot of feedback from your professors or TA’s on how to do that.
Most universities know this, and offer workshops to help bring you up to speed.
They’re FREE, they’re a lot more personal, and they cover everything from academic skills
like writing, presenting, and researching; to life skills like time management, interviewing
well, and taking care of your health.
Every school has different offerings, but it's worth starting your search at the library,
which is home to many of the student support services that your school offers.
And the cool thing about starting at the library is, if that's not where the things that you're
looking for are, the librarian’ll help you find them.
When you're in college, sometimes it comes down to am I going to buy a textbook, or am
I going to eat for a month?
I hate that this is a decision people have to make, SO MUCH!
It's... Criminal.
But to cope with this, look for classes that use open textbooks in their curriculum.
These are published for free online, or printed at very low cost, so that you don't have to
decide that it's going to be ramen for dinner every day for the next four years.
Email the library and ask if they have a list of courses or professors that use them.
You can also use what’s known as the inter-library loan, or ILL system.
Basically, you tell your library “I’m looking for a copy of this book,” and then
they’ll go and borrow it from another institution to loan to you, as if it were one of theirs.
It’s free, and can be done online about as easily you can order a textbook off of amazon.
So… that's pretty sweet, right?
Living in the dorms can be super fun, with lots of parties and new experiences and things
that you might not have done or consumed before.
And so, when things get a little hectic, getting out of your dorm to study or be otherwise
productive is a super important habit to build early on in your academic career.
You can of course go to any old space in the library -- that’s what most people do.
But if you want some variety, you might also want to check out your library’s Rare Books
and Special Collections space: they’re beautiful, quiet, and never as crowded as the rest of
the library.
This is going to serve you well, especially during midterms and finals week.
Trust me on this... it gets... it gets messy.
Your laptop is probably going to die.
That’s just how things seem to pan out.
Maybe you drop it, or maybe you visited one too many websites of ill repute (no judgment!),
but at some point it’s gonna happen.
With a little bit of planning though, it won’t be the end of the world!
First, Google Drive is going to save you a lot of heartache.
Privacy issues aside (but still relevant), using Google Docs automatically saves your
work to your own corner of the internet so that when your laptop fails, you can still
get to your stuff.
Plus, many university libraries let students check out laptops and other tech, at least
for a few hours!
So if something goes wrong and you need a laptop or iPad in a pinch, or the infamous
HDMI-to-VGA adaptor for a presentation, or whatever power cable, check with your library
and see what they’ve got on tap.
But maybe do that at the start of the term, before it’s *actually* an emergency.
Focusing on your grades is going to get you, at most, halfway to the job or career that
you want.
The rest of it is going to be things like soft skills, work experience, and actually
caring about something beyond your academics.
You can build up all three of these things by volunteering!
Off campus, look for organizations like food closets, youth programs, and cultural institutions
like libraries and museums.
On-campus, consider getting involved in student government or joining a peer support program.
Volunteering is a great way to meet new people and give back to your community of peers,
and gets you familiar with what’s going on in the wider community.
It also looks great on a resume, and might even introduce you to future employers -- either
the institutions themselves, or their donors.
To get started with volunteering on campus, try googling your school’s name and the
phrase “peer programs,” or wander around your campus and see who has the best signage.
For off-campus opportunities, reach out to your public library and ask them about their
community partners -- or just ask *them* if *they* need volunteers.
You seeing a trend?
You are not the first person who’s having a hard time finding the *significance* in
taking statistics.
And you definitely won’t be the last person to go, “Auuuu!” when you don’t get the
gold star on that quiz in Chemistry.
So why are you studying like you are?
Find people in your classes who you get along with, and ask them early on if they want to
be study buddies!
This keeps you accountable, sets you up to know who’s reliable (or not) early on for
group work later, and is just a good way to meet people.
Or, check with the library to see if they organize any study groups through the year
-- they probably do!
And groups can usually book private rooms in the library just for studying, depending
on how rowdy you wanna get.
When it comes to finding the information you need to do good research, librarians are the
experts at finding it!
Sure, you probably can “google it” for your intro-level courses, but in your 3rd
and 4th years and throughout all of grad school, your professors will expect more from you.
When this happens, talk to a librarian!
People don’t realize this, but universities have *subject librarians*: experts in a given
field who stay informed about it, and know how to find the good stuff.
This is why grad students use library services more than undergrads: would you rather spend
8 weeks hunting for all of the relevant research on your topic, or go to a librarian who can
help you get it done in, like, two weeks?
And finally, #1,
Take care of yourself!
This is the most important advice I can give you: Take breaks, and make your mental health
a priority!
If you don’t have a lot of money, don’t sweat it.
You probably already know that libraries give you free access to books, music and movies
-- but they also offer things like board games, musical instruments, recording studios, crafts,
makerspaces, museum passes and so much more!
FOR FREEEEEEEEEE.
So if free things interest you, go to the library and keep the stress monster at bay,
if only for a little while.
So many things are going to stress you out: being in a new place, feeling pressured on
all sides to do well, navigating new relationships, paying bills, worrying about the future, and
the list goes on.
But remember: there’s help out there!
When things get hard, check out your school’s counseling services through student health,
peer support programs, or access to counseling hotlines.
And you can ask the librarian about this, too!
It can be scary, but recognizing that you need help and asking for it are the most important,
life-changing things that you can do.
You’re allowed to feel sad, or angry, or anxious, and it’s normal to sometimes feel
like nothing’s going right in your life and everything is outside of your control.
But I promise you that there’s no failure so big, that it will ever be worth ending
your life over.
So if you ever start having suicidal thoughts or think to yourself that you’d be better
off dead -- or, if you’re worried that someone you know might be suicidal, please seek help.
Here’s some information to help you out with that:
In the United States, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline toll-free at 1-800-273-8255
(TALK) , that’s 1-800-273-TALK, and Canada’s toll-free suicide hotline is 1-833-456-4566.
You should also dial 911 if you think you or someone else is in immediate danger.
And if you’re outside of the US and Canada, I put links in the description to some resources
around the world.
I like you just the way you are, and even if you don’t see it, you make this world
a better place just by daring to be your own, honest self -- by showing others with your
example that it’s *human* to be sad, or angry, or scared -- and that you can choose
to deal with those feelings in a healthy way.
So please, stick around, and ask for help when you need it!
Now, I wanna hear from you: If you’re in college now, what’s been hard?
Or if you’ve already been there and done that, what advice would *you* give to others?
Let me know in the comments below, and if you see someone else’s question that you’ve
got an answer for, go ahead and answer it, and share this video so that we can help college-goers
everywhere!
If you liked this video, and also like free things, go ahead give it a thumbs up, click
the subscribe button below, and tap the bell to get notified whenever I upload a new video
-- about twice a month.
I talk about all the cool things libraries do but no one ever told you about, and I try
to make sure that each one gives you something useful to take away and make your life a little
easier with.
As always, thanks for watching, and until next time -- don’t forget to ask questions.
OK bye.
but they also offer things like board games, musical instruments, recording studios, crafts, makerspaces
[weird mouth noises that aren't words] what a list. Okay.
museum passes and so much m-fore! FOR FR-EUUUUGH! UUUUUUUEHG! EUGH.