Click on the bubble or question below to discover tips from other 苹果淫院 students about balancing school with other priorities, connecting with your peers, and talking to your instructors!
How do I maintain a healthy school-life balance?
In order for me to feel mentally and physically prepared to tackle my notes and textbooks, I make sure to exercise beforehand. I like to go for a run outside, or relieve any tension or stress by doing yin yoga. Either way, I can confidently say that moving your body will give you energy and that "oomph" to have an effective study session.
Management 鈥� Diploma
Know when to quit. If you're not getting anything done, stop. It's much better to recognize that you're not being productive and stop for the day, then to stare at a blank page or re-read the same sentence over and over, making yourself anxious for not being productive. Quit and come back to it the next day.
Arts 鈥� Master鈥檚
You got this! Find time in your day to do things away from your study location. Whether that be a home workout, cooking a healthy meal, or taking your dog for a walk. It鈥檚 important to have some me time.
Anonymous
Get out of the house. Go for a walk or go find somewhere new to do your work. Staying at home all day can feel depressing and not very conducive to work.
Anonymous
Make sure to stay active! I find that if I don't exercise a little bit it makes it harder to focus, so even if I go for a short run or do some yoga/stretches it helps me for the rest of the day.
Anonymous
Work when it鈥檚 time to work, and rest when it鈥檚 time to rest. Don't catch yourself sitting at your desk in front of your laptop scrolling through Instagram. You are not giving yourself a real break in that situation, and you are still near your schoolwork. Take appropriate amounts of time away, to rest and reset. When it鈥檚 time to study, go all in.
Anonymous
Exercise is very important for my mood level! My tip is to make sure to move every day; go for a walk or do some bodyweight workouts. I find it only takes about fifteen minutes of exercise per day to lift my mood and help me sleep well.
Anonymous
Do something productive that makes you happy, for at least twenty minutes a day (this could be cooking, baking, singing, dancing, drawing, painting, etc.).
Anonymous
How can connecting with my peers help my academic life?
I think the best way to study is not being afraid to ask for help and to be criticized. Getting out of your comfort zone is the only way to grow, so make friends to study with, improve and reach out to your TAs to study to make sure you understand everything completely.
I like to start my day by taking a walk with someone, writing a to-do list a day in advance to make sure I know what to do first, and if possible, I also study outside my apartment. I sometimes bring my laptop to the park to do my reading if possible, and I use my phone's data for tasks that require internet.
Medicine and Health Sciences 鈥� Master鈥檚
I call up a friend in the morning and we discuss what tasks we need to get done for the day. By the end of the day, we call again and discuss how we did. It's socialization and productivity at once!
Agriculture and Environmental Sciences 鈥� Undergrad
Form study groups. I have not been able to form any myself, but I study with my friends from high school online. This helps in not feeling so isolated and detached.
Anonymous
Make sure you get out every day! Go for a short walk and breathe some fresh air. Go alone or organize walks with one or two friends and explore new parts of Montreal or wherever you are studying. You can also talk to friends via Zoom, MS Teams or WhatsApp.
Anonymous
How do I build connections with my instructors?
Make sure you actually need to see your professor. In most cases, the professor will oversee every aspect of the course and is the person you should go to. However, in some cases, they are not the right people to be consulting. For example, if the teaching assistant (TAs) are the only ones grading tests or assignments - you should go see the TAs. If you need to discuss student accommodations - you may want to go to the 苹果淫院 Student Accessibility and Achievement office. If you want to know whether the course is a program prerequisite, you may want to speak to your academic advisor.
Arts 鈥� Undergrad
If office hours are in limited time-slots, list questions from the most important at the top that you absolutely need to ask and end with those that you would like to ask but are not essential for the moment.
Arts 鈥� Undergrad
Let your professor know early why you are there: clarification question on lecture/reading material, accommodations, grade reconsideration, career advice, assignment questions et cetera. Introduce yourself if the professor does not know you by name and start by telling the professor what you have done up to now and what you understand about the class/topic/project/ assignment. This shows that you have put effort into your learning, that you take the class seriously and just need a little 鈥減ush鈥� from the professor to keep advancing.
Arts 鈥� Undergrad
If I鈥檓 hesitant to ask a question during class, I often approach the professor at the end of class and ask my question then. Some professors are also very open to receiving emails, in which case I鈥檒l email them directly with my question. Another method that many professors appreciate is using the discussion board on My Courses. If this format seems too intimidating, one option is to use the anonymous feature. This feature ensures that your name remains anonymous but allows your classmates to benefit from reading the professor鈥檚 response. I also try to keep in mind that it鈥檚 almost always better to ask the question than to remain confused, and it鈥檚 likely that others in my classes have the same question.
Anonymous
If you're feeling intimidated, it is important to remember that teachers are people too. I have found that respect goes a long way. This includes conducting your emails and communicating with instructors formally, expressing gratitude, and being considerate of their time and energy. If you're looking to connect for research, mentorship, or job opportunities, be genuine with your approach and demonstrate to them your eagerness and passion for the topic. This can often look like reading journals they've published, tying your experience to the position, and expressing your vision of where you would like to go with this topic.
Science - Undergrad
For any sort of rapport to be built, the professor needs to know your name. This can be sourced in many ways.
- Introduce yourself to the professor in one of the first classes of the year. Go up at the end or beginning of class, introduce yourself, tell them that you're excited for the semester. Professors (to no surprise) appreciate this interaction where they get to place faces to names and our student numbers, and appreciate the genuine human interaction.
- Attend office hours and introduce yourself! (May as well come with a question about a key topic to get a crystal clear explanation)
- Meaningfully contribute in all class activities
- Email interactions with them whether its a question, or meaningful communication, with your name clearly signed on
Now that you have developed an introduction, meaningfully interact with the professor. This could be asking questions in class, attending office hours, going to review midterms with them, anything that you require of them. You'll be surprised as to how when they call on you, they will call your name while they don't know others and whatnot.
Establishing this sort of connection/professional partnership with the professor will leave all possibilities open for where this develops. Having a basic rapport built will let you guide as to how you want to leverage this new connection.
Undergrad 鈥� Management
Always check the syllabus for contact information for both your professor and TAs. They may also mention their preferred methods of contact here (e.g., email, office hours). If you鈥檙e in a large class that has multiple TAs, your best bet is probably to contact the TAs before reaching out to the professor. Don鈥檛 be afraid to write an email with all the TAs bcc鈥檇 to maximize your chances of getting a response. Try not to be discouraged if you don鈥檛 get a response right away 鈥� teaching staff can run into extremely busy periods in their semesters too. Sending a friendly follow up email if you don鈥檛 hear back from teaching staff is more than okay. Their inboxes can get bombarded with emails.
Posting on your MyCourses discussion board can seem intimidating 鈥� but this can be a perfect place to get feedback from both your peers and the teaching staff. Remember to ask questions about assignments/exams well in advance of the deadline to allow teaching staff time to respond!
Masters 鈥� Engineering
