{"id":10278,"date":"2011-12-15T15:40:46","date_gmt":"2011-12-15T20:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/UpbeaT\/?p=10278"},"modified":"2011-12-15T15:40:46","modified_gmt":"2011-12-15T20:40:46","slug":"a-letter-to-my-first-year-self","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2011\/12\/15\/a-letter-to-my-first-year-self\/","title":{"rendered":"A letter to my First-Year self"},"content":{"rendered":"Dear First-Year Me,\n\nSo you\u2019ve just finished your first semester at U of T. Congrats! One down, seven more to go! Now while you may think you\u2019ve got it all under control, and I\u2019ll admit that you\u2019re not doing such a bad job, there are some things that we should talk about.\n\nFirst, don\u2019t be surprised when you get back your grades from your first semester and you didn\u2019t get all A\u2019s. For one, you\u2019re not in high school anymore and let\u2019s face it \u2014 you really didn\u2019t do your best. But that\u2019s okay! Your first semester is not going to define your entire undergraduate career. And plus, you\u2019re on your own for the first time in your life, at one of the toughest schools in North America, it\u2019ll take a bit for you to adapt.\n\nSo, instead of hanging your head in defeat, reflect on the semester by doing more than just saying<\/em> that you\u2019ll do better next time. Take a moment to figure out and to understand what you were lacking this semester. Identifying a cause for your poor performance and reacting to it is just as important as committing to do better in the future.\u00a0It may not even be that you\u2019re not working hard enough. It may just be that you\u2019re setting unrealistic expectations for yourself, or even that the program you\u2019re in isn\u2019t the right one for you (hint, hint).\n\nWhat I\u2019m trying to say is that you should be proactive. Once you get back your grades, go pay your registrar<\/a> a visit and see what they think. Vocalize your concerns and get advice. Have a chat with someone at the Academic Success Centre<\/a> during their drop in hours, or check out one of their workshops to see if there's anything you can add to your toolset. Trust me, there are lots!\n\nSecondly, I know that you\u2019re leaving for Trinidad in a few days, and you\u2019re excited to see your high school friends and to party the next three weeks away. And that\u2019s all great, you should be having fun during the holidays, but don\u2019t forget, you\u2019re an adult now. You should be using your time \u2014 even your time away from school \u2014 to try to experience things that will help you to evolve and grow, not just get sloshed on the beach.\u00a0Now I obviously don\u2019t expect you to study day and night for the entire vacation, but start looking at your down time as an opportunity to get a leg up, and I don\u2019t mean up on the sofa.\n\nSee if you can get a part time job or volunteer position and gain some experience in a field that you think you might be interested in. Read a book that may or may not be on your syllabus, but one that\u2019s at least somewhat related to a course for next semester. Take advantage of the time and do things that you wouldn\u2019t be able to during the school year. Future you <\/em> will thank you; trust me, I would know!\n\nLastly, start thinking about what you\u2019re going to do next summer, now! I know it seems like eons away, but once second semester starts \u2014 and let me warn you, it\u2019s a whole different beast compared to your first \u2014 you won\u2019t have the time to think about it again, and before you know it, May is upon you and you have nothing planned.\n\nThink about taking summer courses, they\u2019ll ease up your workload next year. Have a look to see what internships are available, or check out the Externship Program<\/a> run by the Career Centre for a chance to shadow a professional for a week during the summer. A lot of the deadlines for applying are in January and early February so there\u2019s not a moment to spare.\n\nAnd if you\u2019re really feeling adventurous, apply for the Summer Abroad Program<\/a>. If it\u2019s one thing I can\u2019t ask you to do more of, it\u2019s to travel. It\u2019s possibly the most overlooked and underrated aspect of your education, and you will learn as much from traveling as you will from going to class.\n\nThe last thing I\u2019ll say is not to be afraid of new things. I know you\u2019re not always the most outgoing or confident person in the world, but so far I haven\u2019t regretted anything that I\u2019ve done, only opportunities that I\u2019ve passed up. Yeah, you\u2019ll have a few mornings where you\u2019ll wake up feeling you could have done things a bit differently, but eventually they\u2019ll become stories you laugh about with your friends. You\u2019re only really going to miss, the things that you missed. Other than that, you're going to be just fine.\n\nSee you in four years!\n\nYour friend, Chad\n\nP.S. Please buy some new clothes, you\u2019re not thirteen anymore. \ud83d\ude09","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\nDear First-Year Me, So you\u2019ve just finished your first semester at U of T. Congrats! One down, seven more to go! Now while you may think you\u2019ve got it all under control, and I\u2019ll admit that you\u2019re not doing such…\n<\/div>
Continue reading “A letter to my First-Year self”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>
Continue reading “A letter to my First-Year self”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":149,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,70,58,67],"tags":[1905,767,475,1565,183,558,1837],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10278"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/149"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10278\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}