Students need to make sure they are getting their relevant and critical university information. This was the quick response from Marguerite Greavette, Administrative Coordinator for Undergraduate Studies in the University of Waterloo’s Chemistry Department, when asked what advice she would give undergraduates. Marguerite has witnessed unfortunate situations that students could have been easily avoided by just simply checking university correspondence.
At most universities, once students accept an offer, they get an official institutional email address. Students are told repeatedly this email is the university’s direct line of communication with them. Unfortunately some students don’t check this account — at least as frequently as they should. Some redirect this email account to their personal one, such as a “Gmail” or “Hotmail” account. This can sometime result in important information sitting in a spam folder somewhere. Students need to realize they risk critical information not getting to them. In the end, students need to be responsible and keep up with all the administration aspects of university life — a job in itself.
