Category Archives: Academic

The small things in uni life

Posted on 18 November 2007 | 3 comments

I’m going to sound obsessed, but I was walking under a covered route to the commonsblock when I heard a rustling in the trees near me. Remembering my raccoons, I wondered how they were doing, when I realized there was one standing by where I’d just passed. If I’d walked sideways, I’d have bumped into its nose. Fortunately, I wasn’t walking in zig-zags like when I am incredibly tired.

So now not only have I seen a raccoon, I also managed to get really close to one without it going berserk on me.

Another thing that I really appreciate is my tuition for next term: the figure is a whopping $3.78 in total. It’s the biggest waste of a bank transfer ever, but I love it so much. Most of my tuition was paid off by a scholarship, and because I dropped a course I paid for this term, I think the fee got moved over to pay for next term or something.

Sadly, there are so few continuing scholarships so I won’t be able to enjoy this next year. A President’s Entrance Scholarship goes up to $4000 if you get 36 points on the IB or a 96% average in a B.C. high school, I think. You have to be in the top 5% of your faculty or school to qualify for a continuing scholarship, though, and I think that maximum is something like $1500. Every little bit helps, of course, but it really feels so little — personally, I think it’s much harder to be in the top 5% of your faculty or school (many of whom have also got scholarships as well) than to get a President’s Entrance Scholarship. It should be recognised as such.

Comparing UBC to Queen’s or UofT, both of which I applied to as well, it really isn’t very impressive on the scholarship front. Both those universities offered extensive — and I mean in the few-thousand figures — scholarships in the first year and in the following years, provided that I maintained an 80-something % average. Personally, I think it’s also easier to maintain an 80-something % average than to be in the top 5% of the Faculty of Arts here. Consider how many people there are and what the top 5% average must be — my guess is closer to 90-something % than 80. Although I don’t remember the figures for Queen’s, Toronto offered something like $4000 for my first year, and the college I applied to also offered $4000, bringing it to $8000 or so. Now that is an extremely attractive package and I wish UBC came a little closer in matching up.

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Posted in Academic, Residence Life

A life in a day

Posted on 31 October 2007 | 5 comments

So we’re now a quarter of the way into the academic year, with three more to go. It’s also application season for high school senior students, so I thought it would be a good idea to write about what a typical day is like for me.

My day actually began yesterday. I stayed up until 1:30 am to write an essay that is, ironically, due on Friday. Academic staff recommend students to write their essays ahead of time so there is time to revise and make a good job of them. I don’t think they meant for us to lose sleep over them ahead of time as well, though… However, I really enjoyed writing it and couldn’t stop once I got started. It’s so much more fun to choose your own titles on a subject you actually care about.

It’s quite hard to sleep early when living in rez. There is always something going on — tonight is obviously Hallowe’en. I went to the Haunted House at Hamber with some friends, and had a great time. I’m impressed by how much they managed to do in such a small space. I wish I’d screamed, but I was laughing too hard. It’s the first time in ages since I’ve got out of my room properly. Even though I’m exhausted tonight, I’m still not going to be able to go to bed for another hour. I hope we don’t have a fire alarm tonight — we had one two Fridays ago, and we all had to troop out to the commonsblock at two in the morning. The alarms here are piercingly high and painful, so you have to get out just to save your eardrums, even if you don’t want to leave your bed. Unfortunately, the alarm at the commonsblock went off too, so we got chucked out into the field, and then it began to drizzle while the firemen sauntered around. We all went back twenty to thirty minutes later, but not before one of the RAs yelled, “Who was watching porn on the big screen?” Our new big screen TV in the house lounge has obviously been put to use…

These many late nights, coupled with the later sunrises, mean that I get up late as well and don’t have time to eat breakfast before I go to class. I almost wish that someone would take my milk from our floor’s fridge, just so it won’t be wasted. (I buy giant jugs of them each time.) Our floor is pretty good about not taking other people’s food. But I don’t really wish it. In fact, I’d be pretty peeved if anyone took my milk, so please don’t take it. It’s mine. Hiss.

My meals have been rather atypical today. Some friends told me that there is a caf in Buchanan A. I was astounded. We have food in Buchanan? And I didn’t know about this? What is the world coming to? I’ve been hunting out feeding-grounds to satisfy my appetite, which has been increasing exponentially ever since I came to UBC and had to start walking around. Oh, for hyper-convenient public transport again! Vancouver’s transport system isn’t actually too bad, and Translink is a great trip planner for the newcomer — it did, however, once get me stranded in the middle of nowhere, so I don’t entirely trust it anymore. The best part of it all, of course, is that we have our UPasses, transport tickets that basically give us free reign of the public transport system, covered for in our school fees. Yay, free transport! Especially wonderful for commuters.

Returning to the topic of food, though, Vanier’s caf food is not too bad. Totem tent people might say something different about theirs. I actually still quite like the food here — everything except the Asian food. Those are just all wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. (People tell me the quesadillas here are fake and disgusting, but I’ve never known otherwise, so I’m able to continue eating them in perfect bliss.) And there are other yummy places to get food — Suga Sushi down in the Village is my best suggestion for sushi on campus, if you insist on it. I’m heartbroken that Cafe Crepe isn’t open anymore, though. I love their crepes beyond anything else containing an egg.

For someone who almost fell asleep swing dancing — I feel so sorry for my partners for my completely slow reactions; I can’t even remember how to do that new dance we learned today, and that was basically just walking in a straight line — I am horrendously verbose. Actually, that is probably why I am rambling away in the first place.

Goodnight!

5 Comments

Posted in Academic, Commuting, Orientation, Residence Life, Wellness

The sins of writing blog posts in the wee minutes before class.

Posted on 29 October 2007 | 1 comment

Alas, it is a bad, bad, bad idea to write blog posts just before a mid-term, while eating breakfast. Multi-tasking is not the way to go after all.

I’m sure most of you know this already, but always bring your student ID card with you to an exam. Any exam. Even pop quizzes. It’s just better to be safe than sorry. I blithely left my wallet on my desk this morning because I couldn’t be bothered to lug it around (it’s about the weight of a brick, I think). Laziness is a vice that comes back to bite me.

Well, I’m not sure whether not bringing my card will affect my grades or not. You get a mark for writing your name and student ID on this paper. And for signing it to say that you agree to the rules (one of which includes being able to provide identification). It’s only a mark, but I like my marks! Particularly when it’s to do with Comp Sci. My TA recognises me, which is good, but the TA who was doing the checking doesn’t recognise me, which is not so good.

Now to run off to my next class. I am, once again, writing this in the wee minutes before a lesson. When will I ever learn?

1 Comment

Posted in Academic

I’m turning into a study-machine.

Posted on 29 October 2007 | Comments Off on I’m turning into a study-machine.

My parents came, and went, and I did my laundry.

I also studied until I lost feeling in my legs and had to take a walk. I’m scribbling this in the wee few minutes before I need to leave early for my last mid-term — CPSC 101 — while I crunch away on my cereal. Multi-tasking is the way to go. I’m a bit terrified about this mid-term, to put it lightly. I mean, I think I can read JavaScript code and understand it, but my brain cells jump off metaphorical cliffs whenever I have to write my own from scratch.

Aaaah!

That sound, my friends, is the cry of a brain cell when it jumps off said metaphorical cliff. Given that I have multiple brain cells, the sound can get quite loud. I feel sorry for my neighbours.

Here is a Good Tip to those of you who are incoming students: Have a goal of some kind before you start school. Otherwise you will be like me, completely lacking in motivation and doing the bare minimum (or less!) until you check what your grades actually mean in percentages and how this affects you getting into the major/other programme of your choice. I don’t know why I didn’t check it before I moved; for some reason, this was one of those things that I didn’t have a million contingency plans for. Oops.

So now I am flailing around madly trying to make up for all those readings I didn’t do. (I knew that would come back to haunt me someday.) Here is the Second Good Tip: Keep up with all your readings and make notes, if the class is going to test you on them, no matter how inane or monotonous or redundant you think they are. At least that way you don’t have to endure another round of redundancy or monotony or inanity (is that even a word?).

And now I have to run to class.

Comments Off on I’m turning into a study-machine.

Posted in Academic

Lillienne’s Life Lessons in Lists: Exam Preparation

Posted on 16 October 2007 | 3 comments

Do get a good eight hours’ of sleep the night before your mid-term, final, or any other exam situation. The exact number of hours should be whatever personally works for you. Even though I almost overslept yesterday, I did get enough sleep and was energetic enough for my Archaeology mid-term. The worst thing to do is to cram and not sleep, because you are not likely to perform very well.

Don’t cram. Sometimes this can’t be helped, if you didn’t really study regularly before, like me. But if you are pushed for time, just read through everything instead of trying to memorise as many details as possible. You are likely to absorb lots of information without putting yourself under undue amounts of stress — and really, if you don’t already know something, a few hours is not going to be enough to commit it to memory for eternity. (This doesn’t apply for those of you lucky things with photographic memories.)

Do go over your notes regularly each week and sum up what you have learned. I prefer looking at a few pages of condensed notes rather than a few hundred. I also mean these numbers in a very literal sense. It is tedious and it is unromantic, but it is quite necessary to prevent breaking the above rule. You also feel a lot less stressed when people are reciting millions of dates and information and you can say, “Oh, I know that too!”

Don’t stress too much. I know I will always feel a little bit of stress in any exam, no matter how well-prepared I am for it. A little stress is good for your exam performance, according to studies, but too much makes you blank out. You are going to do as well as you possibly can do, and you cannot do any better than that, by definition, so don’t beat yourself up over it. If you aren’t ready, you just aren’t, and you’ll have to prepare earlier next time.

Do get comfort foods before and after an exam. If you are allowed to eat candy during the exam, go ahead and eat it. You deserve nice things to eat when you are trying so hard, particularly after an exam — any reason to make up for all that slogging, no? If eating isn’t your thing, do whatever it is that equates to a really nice pat on the back for yourself, and then move on. You can’t change the past; you can only do what you can for the future.

3 Comments

Posted in Academic