How to survive your first week at UM St. Louis
“As a third-year senior, graduating (hopefully) next May after six years and two changes in majors, I am no expert when it comes to advising new students (I leave that to the advisers on campus), but there are certain tips a new student at UM-St. Louis should know.
First, pay attention during the orientations. While the mentors will throw a lot at you during your welcome to UM-St. Louis, what they say will be invaluable when you are trying to remember during the first week where the financial aid office is located, and believe me, you most likely will be looking for financial aid. Unfortunately, there is not always a sign showing you exactly where you need to go.
Know where your classes are before the first day. While it can be a rare occurrence, you do not want to be the one student who has to get up in front of everybody else after realizing the lecture hall you were sitting in is actually astrophysics class and not college algebra.
Walk through your schedule one day this summer and time yourself how long it takes to go from Lucas Hall to Benton Hall. It’s longer than it looks.
Do not be afraid to ask people for directions. Not only will somebody probably guide you in the right direction, you just might make a new friend.
Set your alarm clock. Sure, in some classes, all you may do is go over the syllabus the first day, but some of the most valuable information you may learn in the entire semester is during that first day.
You may not learn a new concept or a true/false question that may be on the first test, but you may find out that a professor grades with no curve or that an A starts at 93 percent, not 90.
Remember, college is expensive, from textbooks to tuition. You cannot do much to change either (unless you want to go up against the Board of Curators), but to help pay for college expenses, UM-St. Louis offers various work-study programs and other job opportunities on campus.
You may have heard the argument that knowing what you want to accomplish in college beforehand and graduating in four years may save you the hassle of repaying more student loans in the long run.
However, you can also use your time at UM-St. Louis to figure out what you want to do after college. Take a few elective classes outside of your major. You may end up discovering something you like better.
I did. I transferred to UM-St. Louis as a pre-med major from a community college in Belleville, Ill. I joined The Current as a side job because I liked writing and the people working there.
To this day, I still credit The Current, one of more than 100 student organizations available, as the reason I switched from biology to communication as a future career path. I learned I had a hidden talent. What will you end up learning about yourself at UM-St. Louis?” Thank you Patrick Hackbarth!
