Being a first-year student at the University of Toronto (or at any university) be a challenging for many. In this wiki page and research project, I wanted to create an easy to access guide on the 3 most important aspects that I think influence university students the most. The 3 aspects that I cover include are making friends, time management and handling stress.
'McLeod, Chris. “How to Make Friends and Get a Social Life.” Accessed November 28, 2016. http://www.succeedsocially.com/sociallife.'
Making friends - One of the most important aspects with regards to getting the most out of university is making friends. Building healthy relationships between your fellow students is a great way to improve your well being and overall social life. Friends are going to be vital providing information that you may have missed during a lecture and they can also provide you with multiple perspectives when tackling a project. Most importantly, your friends will the people
that you can fall back on when experiencing a tough time in University as most students so at some point.
The article “How to Make Friends and Get a Social Life” by author Chris MacLeod (a Canadian Psychological therapist and registered social worker in Ontario) provides through his website a well researched article that covers many different situations you may be looking for friends and steps on to achieving them and build a better social life.
"19 Basic Time Management Principles” PDF file. August 2014. Accessed November 28, 2016. https://www.studentlife.utoronto.ca/asc/procrastination
Time Management - Procrastination and time management can be the most difficult aspects of the student lifestyle. Learning to control your time allocation to certain tasks only comes with experience and discipline.
In this PDF Article provided by University of Toronto’s Academic Success Board called “19 Basic Time Management Principles”, is a article that outlines 19 the fundamentals of how to handle student time management. In the guide, it mentions at the beginning of the document to make a schedule and spend time on performing a “reality check” by realistically accessing your habits such as, eating and sleeping and creating a schedule that corresponds with your peak performance times (the time in the day your brain is at its most awake). Other tips the guide include “Take care of your mind and body” and “Don't skip around; first things first” with explanations on how to achieve these fundamentals. Both tips that can be useful for the average student.
"Stress.” Accessed November 28, 2016. http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/hwc/stress.
Handling Stress - Probably the most common aspect of University that many students feel during University is the feeling of stress and anxiety. Whether your preparing for upcoming Final Exam or receiving an evaluation that is lower than expected, these are some factors that unfortunately cause stress. Learning to deal with stress can be one of the most important and challenging aspects for a student to handle but fortunately there is information and resources available to help you.
University of Toronto Scarborough’s Health and Wellness Center has very simplified and clear information on their site to help you handle stress. In their Mental Health Resources section, you can find clear definitions of what stress is and how to identify it. The page also outlines useful examples of how stress can occur in “university life” and coping strategies to further help the average student cope with stress.