Thursday, April 23, 2020
You might be scared of the prospect of university, so here are some lessons we learned that we wish we knew back when we were in your shoes:
- The most important tip — study. University may be a time where you have newfound freedom, or a place to explore your passions. But make time to study because university courses are a big step up from high school and can test your prior knowledge. Pre-study, do your research, and don’t cram the night before.
- Go out and be social! If you live in residence, go out to any floor or residence event to meet your floormates and fellow residence members. Don’t worry about feeling shy, everybody is open to meeting new people. Who knows, maybe you could meet your friends for life.
- Your SAF crew is a good starting point to get to know more people at university. Try getting to know your crew of 4-6 students first and then going out as a Crew to meet other Crews!
- Time management is an important skill you should pay attention to. Prepare for exams and assignments in advance by doing practice questions. Attend SAF’s mock exam sessions and study sessions. Make sure to sign up for those and treat them like a real exam scenario. Attending with your SAF crew will help because you can bounce ideas off each other and learn from them! More often than not, you’ll find that you will gain a new perspective on a concept.
- Most importantly, enjoy your university experience. Once you live it, there’s no going back!
Individuals perform better and get more from their experiences when they are supported by a group of their peers. That’s why learning teams are used at Columbia Business School, work teams are used at Google, and training teams are used by Olympians. SAF Crews are groups of 5-6 students that support each other through the first year SAF experience. Crew members build strong working relationships with each other, attend events together and support each other’s professional awareness and academic success.