Here is an interesting post by Harry Slater that has just popped up at The Guardian — advice from a student on how to make the most of your time at university, both socially and academically.
Ring any bells?
Archive for the ‘Student Life’ Category
Welcome to all the first year students arriving for their first taste of life at university. We hope that you are about to embark on some of the best years of your life. There is plenty of hard work ahead but also a great opportunity to grow, both in terms of scientific understanding and personal development.
Welcome also to all our returning students — we hope you enjoyed and profited from the long summer break and are looking forward to getting back into the swing of life on campus.
- Students celebrating the results of their finals in July 2012
First years are perhaps most likely to be regarding the year ahead a little apprehensively, but please don’t worry. We aim to make the transition from school to university life as straight-forward as possible. For sure there are challenges — studying at university is less structured than at school and you are expected to take more of the initiative in your learning. But you are all bright, successful students and should have confidence in your ability to cope. The nerves are understandable — it’s a big step — but fear not.
Second and final years may be wondering what is in store for them. Is a shift to a higher gear required? Possibly (!) — we do expect you to mature in your approach to your studies now that you have at least a year under you belts. But plan ahead and you will manage.
Take a look at the smiling faces above. These are last year’s finalists celebrating their degree results in July. Many were pleasantly surprised and experienced a gratifying sense of pride in their achievements. And yet they too were once first years, arriving at the Department of Life Sciences and not knowing quite what was ahead of them.
Prof Stephen Curry (Director of UG Studies)
There is a very interesting article in the Times Higher Education magazine today on the knotty subject of failure — something that anyone who wishes to succeed will inevitably encounter.
To quote just one small snippet:
“It’s entirely understandable; parents want their children to succeed. Unfortunately, they may be ensuring just the opposite. As Tough notes, protecting students from experiencing failure also prevents them from gaining the self-confidence that comes from overcoming it. There are no safe routes to success. If we want to prepare our students for life’s inevitable slings and arrows, then, for their own sake, we must let them fail.”
But the whole piece is well worth reading.
Guest post from Roddy Pracana:
Hi everyone! I’m Roddy, and I’m the Biosoc’s Welfare officer. I’m writing this because it’s RCSU Welfare Week!
As you know from the email sent by the RCSU’s president Luke (if you bothered to read it), this week is packed full of exciting events! I would definitely not miss Wednesday’s cycling tour at lunchtime and Ice skating at the Natural History Museum in the evening (for £6 only!). If you are looking for more a more relaxing activity, there will be a free Yoga taster class on Thursday.
On a more serious note, it’s important everyone is aware of the welfare services provided by Imperial. If you need any informal advice or just some friendly chat, you can talk to me, or to the RCSU’s Welfare Officer, Jiajun Tan. I’m a third year Biology student, so I know what we all go through in our courses – and I know how much help friendly advice can be. I would be more than happy to meet up for coffee (although coffee stresses me out and makes me anxious, so I’ll probably just have some tea).
Imperial also offers high quality professional welfare services. In particular, we all have access to confidential counsellors, who can offer help on any matter, from academic difficulties to more personal difficulties, such as relationship problems, sexuality and bereavement, and lead you to the right people if necessary. College also offers free advice on careers and has offers very good support for any disability (including learning disabilities). Oh, and don’t forget the free condoms in the RCSU office, the Student’s Activity Centre in Beit, and at the Health Centre!
My personal advice is that, if you encounter any issue that may interfere with how you’re coping academically let the UGO, your course convener, and your personal tutor know! Everyone is really friendly and sympathetic towards our personal problems, and no one in the department wants anyone of us not to do as well because of these!
Enjoy Welfare Week!
Roddy is a third year Biology student, the Biosoc’s Welfare Officer, and the president of the Union’s Yoga Club. He sees himself as an Environmentalist – whatever that means – and when he isn’t worrying needlessly about exams, he enjoys cooking and eating. You can contact him via email – rodrigo.pracana09@imperial.ac.uk
