Hey guys, it's sadie and today i'm going to be filming in my old room.
Do you remember this room?
I used to film all of my youtube videos in this room before i went to university.
Now i barely film any videos in my room because it's downstairs and there's no lighting.
This is the last room that i was in before going to university and this is the room that i would look up on youtube.
Real university advice, Not like the cliche advice that everyone gives.
I would rather give brutally honest advice and actually help prepare you than give you sugar-coated advice just so that you're not scared.
And these are just things that I wish I knew before I went into university.
I'm gonna miss high school.
Is university better than high school?
What are the similarities?
I, in fact, didn't love high school.
Like I didn't hate high school but there's always just so many immature people that kind of make the experience a little bit less enjoyable.
Everyone is really invested in everyone's drama.
I feel like that is a difference in university.
Everyone is so busy that they don't really have time to make drama.
Like of course there's going to be drama.
I'm not saying it's a drama-free zone, but I just think less people are looking to actually create drama because they have other things to worry about.
I personally like university so much more than high school, and this can give you peace of mind if you loved high school and are scared and don't really wanna leave, because it's the perfect transition between being a teenager and being an adult.
You get so much freedom to not have to like tell your parents whenever you're leaving the house if you're living on campus.
You have your own routines.
It just feels like you're so responsible and you feel that maturity independence, autonomy and you really gain a lot of confidence.
Also, I feel like I've grown so much in my first year of university than I've ever grown in any year of my life.
So this experience just makes you grow into such a mature version of yourself, if that's like your goal.
But i also love the fact that you have different classes every day.
What i didn't like about high school is you had like the same schedule, or i did.
You don't just have to go to class from like 8 am to 3 pm.
Sometimes you'll have evening classes, sometimes you'll have morning classes and you have more leeway of what you can do in your day, like you're not in school all day.
Also, I do feel like the professors treat you like more of an adult and less as a kid, which I really appreciate.
Overall, I think if you liked high school, you're still going to like university and you're gonna like it so much more.
How to stay on top of work without losing motivation halfway through.
This is something that literally everyone experiences.
I lost motivation halfway through for my classes.
And then when it came to exam season, I was like, there's no way this is happening right now.
What really honestly helps me is figuring out which things you're going to give your 100 to and which things that you're not those little formative and ungraded things that your teachers are going to give you.
You actually don't need to spend hours doing that.
Like you don't need to put 130% of your effort into the tiny things.
I would look at the weighting and the grading and how important each assignment is and assign the amount of energy that you wanna spend on that and make it smart.
Like your energy is valuable and your time is valuable.
So make sure you're leaving time for other things and not expelling too much of your energy on the less important tasks in your class will keep you having motivation for the rest of the year, because you will have obviously spent less time on every single thing that you had to do in that class and you'll be less burnt out.
How to pick out classes.
First of all, I feel like the descriptions of each class, read them so carefully.
There was a class that I took in my first year that I would not have taken if I reread what it said on the description.
There are specific keywords that will let you know what this class is going to be about.
I suggest taking classes that actually interest you, not just things that will look good on your transcript.
Obviously take the required courses for your program.
Also keep in mind.
Once you're done choosing all of the ones that you think you would actually be interested in, then go to your schedule.
Figure out when is the time where I have the most energy and the most motivation to do school and put your classes at those times.
For me, it would be in the morning.
Take advantage of this opportunity.
Spend time planning out your schedule and don't just pick random classes.
Don't rely on your other friends helping you choose by knowing that they're also in that same class.
Like I had literally zero friends in my class, maybe one that I knew from orientation in my classes, but I never let my friends influence what classes I take.
Outfit staples.
Okay, this is actually such an essential tip.
Sorry, my camera died.
Camera guy did like the most dramatic point.
This is such an essential tip to know.
I would have saved so much time and effort and also clutter in my room if i didn't bring my entire closet.
So the outfit staples that you need for university, in my experience, would be the comfy clothes like the comfy clothes basics the basic sweatpants, basic zip up hoodie, basic crew neck and hoodies and then layering pieces like tank tops and t-shirts, like cropped long
And once you have those, then you can pick out some of your favorite, like colorful and patterned pieces and trendy pieces.
You are not going to be wearing jeans.
Once that January winter hits, especially in Ontario, you're gonna ditch the jeans and you're gonna ditch the cute outfits and you're gonna wanna wear sweatpants to class every day.
No uncomfortable clothes.
It's leggings for me, thank you, so i also have leggings.
I bring flare leggings.
Sometimes these classes are freezing or they're so hot, so having layers and being able to put on or take off a jacket is needed.
Also, shoes i brought so many shoes last year and all i needed were like beater shoes that i could wear to bars and wear out and get dirty.
Then i would have like nice white shoes and then maybe like my winter boots and some slides.
I basically am just going to keep wearing basics to class and then just make sure that I feel put together with my jewelry and having clean white shoes and my hair, and then I just feel really prepared and it's so much easier to keep my closet clean that way.
What is the best way to stay organized with your courses?
I actually have some things for you.
On my Etsy shop I sell a semester planner which has all the information that's vital for your course, like your prof's email, what your office hours are for each course, everything like that that you don't want to keep looking at the syllabus to have.
I have an assignment planner, an assignment tracker.
I have an exam planner and a study planner.
Just having that place to map out how you're going to do everything takes the anxiety and stress out of school and keeps you so organized.
Also, I love being able to track how many assignments I've already done in the year.
Another tip for me would just probably be to choose whether you're going to use digital or written notes and stick to that, and also not have too many apps that you're using to organize yourself with.
I only use calendar google drive for all of my notes and then my digital planners on my ipad, like on good notes, and that's it, because if i have too many things i'm just gonna feel scatterbrained.
I know no one going to my university.
Are people as welcoming as everyone says?
It's fully okay to be scared like the first time you walk into a class.
University is such a new experience and you're just kind of getting thrown into this and you have to figure it out yourself.
I just always think saying hi to people and getting their name is just the first step.
If that's all you do in your first day of class, perfect.
Like do little by little getting to know people and everyone was just so nice.
I haven't really met anyone that would not want to get to know me.
Like if you seem approachable and you seem like a good person, no one's gonna be like don't talk to me.
That's in my case.
I don't know if it's different in other cases.
I feel like laurier has such a good social atmosphere and everyone's pretty welcoming.
Also, a smile goes a really long way.
When i'm looking at girls in the classroom, i always look at ones that look like they're having a good time.
So just try to consciously smile sometimes, because it makes you look a lot more approachable.
What classes are best to take in your first year?
I'm going to give you the most real advice right now.
I feel like having a balance between the hard classes and then the bird courses, which are basically courses that take minimal effort and that typically give you a higher grade just because of how they're structured and the information that you learn.
I feel like a balance between those is perfect because some of my friends that are taking a million electives that are super hard and they're taking all the required courses for their program feel so stressed and especially at the end of the year with exam season and, i guess, midterm season, they have so many exams and if you're not a good test taker, that's completely fine.
Take courses that may seem easy, like i took a skills for university success course and it was amazing, amazing.
Also, I was a note taker for that course which got me volunteer experience.
Don't discount all of those easy and not useful courses because you're going to have a high average and your classes that you take like the names of the classes that you take in first year your employers probably not going to look at that like there's a 90 chance.
You're not going to be like oh, she took this.
That's kind of weird.
Like, definitely go online and search up bird courses first year or your university and incorporate those into your schedule.
I don't have that much motivation to complete online classes.
I try to take the least amount of online classes possible.
If you find yourself getting easily distracted when you're working at home, definitely just pick all in person classes.
Are there any oral presentations?
I had to do one oral presentation in my entire first year and I'm in communications.
So I think that gives you a pretty good idea.
I personally love oral presentations, which I was kind of disappointed because there weren't many projects like that in my first year.
But I think, as the years go on I heard from my communications prof that the course has become more collaborative and there's more group and that turns into more creative projects and oral presentations.
So if you like that, definitely do that.
Like in business, I know there's a lot of oral presentations at my university.
In other programs, I don't think it's as common.
Coming from an academic overachiever, were you humbled first year grade-wise?
Everyone told me to expect to get such low grades in university compared to high school.
And I was just honestly preparing myself for that.
I was like, okay, I'm going to submit my first project of the year and I'm going to get a 60 on it.
And I was pleasantly surprised.
I finished with really high marks.
Like it wasn't that different from high school.
Of course the workload is a little bit more, but I didn't feel as if I was getting marked unfairly and the profs basically stuck to the rubric and what the expectations were.
I didn't think they were marking unfairly at all.
I get basically the same marks that I did in high school.
How to overcome the fear of not being able to get high grades.
Getting high grades is not even half of the pie.
I don't even know if that's a a saying, but I'm going to say it.
It's not half of the pie.
There's another half of the pie.
And that's all of the rest of the things that you do with your university career.
It is all the volunteer experience, the not paid work experience, the co-op, the internships.
Helping out around your school matters.
So much on your resume, and employers will look at that because they want to see people that take initiative and want to get involved in whatever environment that they're in.
That puts me at peace because I know, even if I didn't get the highest grade in this course, I know I have other things that are valuable and that show my skills as a student and as a future employee.
Best ways to study memory techniques and such.
Okay.
Something I learned in university is the best way to study and get good grades on your exams and be confident going into exams is to study as the year goes on.
Make sure when you're in your lecture you're actively listening, like if you're gonna sit there for an hour and a half anyways.
You might as well just listen and then save your time trying to relearn all the info right before exams.
When I spend my time writing good notes and really trying to understand in every lecture, that makes it so much easier to review before your exam.
You don't have to spend like a month trying to relearn everything you were supposed to learn during the year.
Study and memorization methods.
I love speaking it out loud and trying to like teach myself everything, just to make sure that I actually understand what the concept is and not just memorizing the words.
There are so many memorization techniques like Quizlet is really nice.
Should I take digital or handwritten notes?
What do you personally use?
I personally use digital notes.
I don't hand write my digital notes.
I take my digital notes on Google Docs.
Like I literally just type them out because I type a lot faster than I write.
And every single person that I have talked to that is a handwritten note girly and that was in high school.
They have switched to digital note taking.
I just think there is way too much information on each slide for you to be able to write down in the span of time that they're talking about that slide.
And also tying into the previous question, I think writing point form and using short form, like and symbols plus signs, and using your own language for you to actually understand, is going to help you so much when it comes to studying.
When would you say you should start studying slash preparing for exam season?
I was wondering this too.
I was like, do I have to start preparing like weeks in advance for exams?
Like what's going on here depends on how many exams i have.
So say i have like three.
I'll start studying for those like a week and a half before my first exam.
Um, and usually they're pretty spread out.
Hopefully i start making my study plan like two weeks before so i know exactly what i'm gonna have to study on each day, and then i just make sure i allot a certain time to study a certain lecture for each day, and once i get closer to my exam i usually give myself one day for review for all the things that i just studied.
How do you handle your blood sugar going low in class?
I actually have experienced this.
I have been low in class.
The main thing is i make sure to always have sugar and snacks in my bag, like if i don't, then i know i have to leave, and then walking around can make you even more low.
Like i have juice, i have glucose and then i have like little that's it bars that are Also.
I know that sometimes when you go low, your brain can kind of get foggy and you get a little bit confused and it can be really hard to learn when you're low.
If I think that I'm gonna miss some vital information, I'll just record and start recording, and once I feel better I'll stop recording, so I can just revisit what they said once I'm not low anymore.
How you get your way around campus.
There.
Usually for most universities, on their website there is a map of all the buildings and you'll probably have classes in different buildings and that is basically the hardest thing to find your way around.
Normally it's just like the first number of each class is the floor and then you just walk around until you find the exact class.
Look on your university's website for a map, because sometimes they can even type in where you wanna go and they can give you straight directions.
What are absolute essentials for a university backpack?
I made a whole video on this.
It was my preparing for university and back to school video.
I will link it in a card.
I put every single thing that you need in your backpack.
Are there religious and spiritual groups in university?
I have seen so many niche groups in my university.
Like you won't believe how niche these groups are and there are lots of people in them.
Like there are so many clubs you can join and there's probably already one for what you're looking for but definitely there are so many religious groups and so many spiritual groups at Laurier.
Also, I feel like you should look on Instagram, because most of them usually market and put all their announcements and news through social media and if you don't find one at orientation, you're probably gonna hear someone say this is you can start your own club.
What do you think about getting a job while in university?
I think that people are amazing for having jobs in university.
Like, I just admire people so much because that means that you are managing your time well enough to do school and have a job.
A lot of my friends work on campus and this helps them so much, especially in first year, because you don't have to commute anywhere.
Working on campus like there's a starbucks on campus you can help at, like the student health center there's so many different ways that you can work on campus and get paid a minimum wage.
If you go for a couple hours every day, you really will add up routine or ritual.
You do before going to class.
I actually do have a little ritual.
I just basically make sure that i have all of my diabetes supplies.
I make sure that i have everything in my bag.
Definitely suggest charging your laptop and everything that you need overnight.
Waking up and having it dead and then having to leave for class and getting there and it being dead then you have to sit near the wall because you need an outlet is the worst.
So definitely having everything charged, bringing portable chargers and then bringing snacks and water.
There's nothing really crazy that I do school-wise, like before class.
I just make sure that if there's anything that I need to know, I'll just make sure that I know it.
And a lot of my teachers didn't post the lecture slides ahead of time, so it's not like I could really review anything before I went.
How do you approach being called on in class by profs?
In my whole year of university I've never been called on by a prof.
It's very different from high school.
I used to be called on all the time randomly in high school, even when my hand wasn't up.
But especially during lectures, like they rarely call on anyone.
And in tutorials, they don't really call on people.
Like they want to see who's going to give the initiative to raise their hand.
They are going to be taking into account participation.
That is a really big part of your tutorial mark.
That is all the questions, guys.
I feel like i just answered so honestly and gave advice that i would give my younger sister if i had one.
Honestly, make sure to check out my digital products, which includes my academic, which includes my academic planners, down below on my etsy shop actualizer co.
I love you guys so much and i will see you in my next video bye.
