FAI: Orientation
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In my continued effort to give my students lots of work, I asked them to send me two points from Getting the Most of Your Academic Experience and two general points they've learned from orientation. Here are the comments that I've received. My followup comments are italicized. -- SamR
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Getting the Most of Your Academic Experience
- Use the writing lab, as well as tutoring. They help with the difficulty of college.
- Never underestimate what a good night's sleep and balanced meals can give you. Although it dosn't sound very academic, they're good ways to keep you in shape. (There's some good evidence that lack of sleep and a less good diet have negative impacts on your ability to think and do work well.)
- Class balance is important, and that choosing classes in a wide variety of subjects will help one make the most of a liberal arts education.
- Another key point was that the key to academic success at Grinnell is being able to approach your professors and to express your thoughts and concerns with them. A mature working relationship with professors opens the door to extra advising and making them receptive to your input on their classes, such as unfair tests or assignments. (With faculty like me, it's okay to have immature working relationships, too.)
- Time management is very important. Keeping on top of homework and studying is essential, though it is important to do more than eating, sleeping, studying, and going to class.
- Class times are also very important. It is difficult to take notes or participate in a discussion when one is asleep. Afternoon classes make staying awake easier, as does sleeping at night.
- GPA isn't as important as getting a good education - even though your GPA will drop, you should still be proud of your work.
- Tutors are free. (So feel free to use them.)
- One can go up to 18 credits without being charged more money.
- It's normal to take 12 credits in one semester. (It depends on what you mean by "normal". Lots of students do it, and there's nothing to be ashamed about. However, why not get more for your money?)
- Teacher recommendations are more important than the GPA in the longer run. (A limited truth. If your GPA sucks, recommendations probably aren't going to do you that much good for some activities.)
- Following the discussion of group work, the panel of upperclassmen provided useful information in the form of their own personal blunders. I found it interesting that one of the students said she should have taken science right away starting her freshling year. All in all, a bonding experience. (You are definitely going to be a fun class.)
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Goals and Fears
- It is important to make goals and address your concerns, and to know that everyone else, whether a first-year or senior, shares similar goals and fears. (The "everyone" is a clear exaggeration. However, many people are likely to share your goals and fears.)
- We all have pretty much the same fears and goals, so our classmates are a good resource. (That's a good followup suggestion.)
- Everyone has the same general goals and fears for college. We all want to excel academically and socially, but we also fear we'll end up having time/stress management problems, or interpersonal issues. We're all in the same boat here. (Again, "everyone" is a bit of an exaggeration.)
- Goal: To get a balanced life (personal / academics). This means that we have to study a lot in order to get good grades and the best knowledge we can, but at the same time we have to make friends, have fun, and find some time for making the things we enjoy the most (maybe athletics, parties, etc). You just have to manage time well, because if you do so, you will know exactly when is time to study and when is the right moment for having fun.
- Fear: To declare the wrong major. Nobody wants to make wrong decisions in life, and declaring the wrong major would be a huge mistake. You have to think in what career is going to make you happy and to enjoy your work, not in what career is going to give you more money in life, or success. So I think this is my greatest fear in college, because I am really undecided about what is going to be my major, and I don’t want to make any wrong decisions. (There's some evidence that with a good liberal arts degree, what you do in life does not have to follow directly from your major. For some careers, however, the major will have an impact.)
- Many other students have the same fears about college as me.
- The presentation began with the creation of a list of prospective goals and current fears. The repetition of common themes amongst these goals and fears accomplished two things; first it bored us to the point of, well, boredom, and secondly it reinforced the similarities in the aspirations of our whole group of students, which I imagine extends well into the other three pod colors.
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Where and When to Study
- Everyone studies best at a different time and in a different place - some people work best at midnight in their room; others in the early morning in the library - and that I need to work out when and where that is for me. (Again, "everyone" is a bit of a lie; there aren't that many different times and places (or even different cross products of the two). But you are correct that different people may find different times and places useful.)
- Know when you're productive/awake and schedule your academics around that knowledge. (Yup, another good way to say the same thing.)
- When you need to study, and you're fed up with your dorm room, study in Noyce because it's quiet. Alternatively, go in town to Saint's Rest so you can study for a bit, then take a refreshing coffee break. There's always the library, but one of the upperclassmen panelists said she didn't like it there much.
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Other Recommendations and Notes
- Never, ever procrastinate. I did that a lot in high school, and want to kill the habit here.
- Be sure to cope with stress. Apparently, there is a lot of stress here. Makes one kind of nervous.
- Orientation is an opportunity to get to know lots of people. Most of the students arrive into college without knowing anybody, so they just want to meet new people. As all students are in the same position, it is really easy to start some kind of relationship with them, and maybe those people will become your best friends at college some time later, and will spend lots of their time with you.
- Orientation provides an excellent introduction to college life. You have to attend many conferences and meetings in which the college’s staff explains to all the new students how the college works in every aspect. With this you get to know how you have to function at college, the responsibilities you will have and procedures you have to follow in order to do things correctly.
- Don't cuss at your professors. (And don't be late to class!)
- Schedule your time wisely between academics and personal life activities.
- Sometimes people have illegal pets in their room and if everyone is cool with it they wont get in trouble. (Yeah, that's not really the kind of thing you should tell your Tutorial professors.)
- Some pod leaders are awesome.
- The best way to get into town is from the southwest
- The first thing we should do in a conflict is talk to the person with whom we have the conflict. (That is just so sweet.)
- There is a dark side to making new friends. You run the risk of chatting with them endlessly all day and suddenly realizing it's 6:40 and you have an assignment due at 7. In contrast, it's good to make friends with someone in your Tutorial so that when you realize you both have twenty minutes to do an assignment, the other person isn't left completely in the dark. (Funny.)
- Grinnell has a LOT of academic resources! Don't be afraid to go to the reading or writing labs. It doesn't mean that you're a failure at reading or writing, just shows you want to improve, and have the initiative to go about improving.
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Self Governance
- I learned that the point of self-governance is to resolve conflict through open communication. Self-governance lets the student body control their own actions. However, it only works as well as you want it to. Self-governance is vital to maintaining the quality of student life at Grinnell.
- Self-governance allows students many freedoms.
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Financial Aid
- To avoid sticky financial situations, it is important to create a budget and stick to it, and to take advantage of all the free activities and food that Grinnell offers.
- The informational packet provided at the financial aid meeting contained many interesting debt and earnings statistics. (That's a bit vague.)
Comments from Alex, Hanna, Jake, Jakob, Jordan, Juan, Lee Ann, Matti, Ravi, Reed, Rick, Shitanshu
