Uni By Week: Week 0
How To Prepare for the Upcoming Uni Semester
A few tips to prepare yourself and power up for the uni semester
Its Thursday, so we are only 4 days away from the beginning of the semester. I thought it would be a great time to start a series I have always wanted to write. This is Uni by Week. In this series I will be writing one newsletter for each week of the semester. Each edition will give some tips for that week of uni.
Hi, I’m Jess, a chemistry student
In case you don’t know me, I’m Jess and I study chemistry. I’m in my 8th consecutive semester of uni and currently studying a Masters of Science. Over the last few years I have discovered unusual ways to thrive in uni and have a balanced life. Now its time for me to share the insights I have learned over the years. I hope these posts will improve someone’s uni life.
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This week is all about preparing for uni. No matter if this is your first semester at uni or your 5th I hope you will find some value in this edition. I discuss some of the unusual topics that you may have not considered before starting uni.
This week's edition will cover:
Picking courses for this semester
Doing pre readings for classes
Staying healthy during the semester
Deciding on your courses
Before uni it is important to pick your courses, spend some time, do a little research and really think about what you want your degree to be. For my degree this year I have 8 papers to do, 1 is compulsory, 4 have to be in my discipline of chemistry and the other 3 can be anything I want within science. You need to do research looking for which courses would be the most valuable in the future but also considering the courses you will enjoy the most.
Consider your whole degree
You should to consider your degree as a whole. Not just this semester or this year. Find out what papers you need to complete in years 1, 2, 3, and beyond. Once you are aware of this you can plan your semester. A little known secret is: you don’t need to follow exactly the order the university prescribes for your degree. You could do a 3rd year course in your second year or a 1st year course in your final year. You could take a course thats nothing to do with your degree subject. As long as you meet the requirements for the course you can take it. Its up to you to discover what will suit your needs best.
Choose courses that are valuable to your future
Its important to choose courses that are important for your future. These may be boring courses such as learning the basics of academic writing or how to plan a research project. This could be learning how to use a specific computer program that’s used in the industry. Consider anything that’s relevant to a future job. These skills are very important to learn in university so that you can find a job as soon as your graduate. No one wants to be a student forever, so take those boring classes and boost your employability for the future.
Computational Chemistry
An example of this is computational chemistry - a class I took last semester. This is a fairly new branch of chemistry which uses computer simulation to predict solutions to chemical problems. I had never studied this before. But considering where the world is heading, using machine learning and AI in the industry, I thought it would be valuable to learn. The class was an introductory course taught at post grad level. This was a great opportunity to get a taster of what this subject is about. I took the class and ended up not liking the subject that much. However it was valuable to learn the basics of computational chemistry because I can always use the skills I learned in a future job.
Pick courses which interest you
It is also important to take courses that you are interested in. There may be courses you have never studied before but want to take for personal interest and curiosity. Last semester this was medicinal chemistry for me. I had never taken medicinal chemistry before (as my undergraduate university did not offer it) but I wanted to know more about the synthesis and chemistry behind pharmaceuticals. This was a post grad course where prior knowledge was assumed. For this reason this paper was a struggle for me. But I enjoyed it. And worked extremely hard to make sure I passed the paper. And even with the added difficulty of this paper it was still my favorite class of the semester.
Your lack of knowledge doesn’t matter
So I guess this example has 2 lessons. Firstly, take classes you are curious about. Let your interest for study guide you and pick classes you know you'll enjoy. And the second lesson is, don’t let your lack in knowledge stop you. It doesn’t matter what your knowledge levels are at the beginning of the semester. If you are curious and willing to work hard you can study any subject.
Do your course readings
This leads me nicely into my next point. You should consider doing some pre reading on your courses before the semester starts. Quite often in the weeks leading up to uni your lecturer will provide a reading list or textbook which the class is based on. I suggest getting ahead and reading (at least partially) these materials.
Previously, I had never had an issue skipping the readings. Each year would built on previous years material so it was easy to follow. However this year I majorly regret not doing any pre readings. In semester one as I found it hard to catch up on brand new subjects (especially medicinal chemistry) as I had no base knowledge. The pace of lectures, assignments and suggested readings during the semester left me with no time to go back and read the basic introductory material. So this semester I am fixing that. I have spent the last week doing a bunch of readings for my classes, especially one new topic: green chemistry. And I have taken lots of notes which I can refer back to during the semester.
Get into the flow
Additionally, doing readings during the break has also helped me to get back into “uni mode”. I’m glad I started this process early because I have had a lot of trouble getting back into it. It has been impossible to find the smallest amount of focus to read one paragraph without being distracted. I am really questioning how I usually get things done during the semester. I used to focus for hours reading journal articles and writing papers. Right now that seems impossible.
Make a health plan
I don’t know about you, but during the uni semester as the assignments and stress levels increase my health is the first thing to go down the drain. From having a horrible sleep schedule to eating rubbish and never having time to exercise. No wonder my stress levels are through the roof.
This sem I am putting a stop to that and I am going to do my best to stay healthy . To do this I have created a “health system” to help me stay on track. I will use this system everyday to gauge my health and make sure I’m working towards my health goals.
Define healthy to you
To create your own system first you will have to define what is healthy to you. Everyone has a different idea of what healthy is for their body. Its good to stick to a plan for exercise, diet and sleep. Its also important to think about your mental and emotional health. Do you know how to deal with stress? Do you go out with friends? Do you have a daily wind down routine? These answers are different for everyone so it is important to answer them for yourself. From there you can plan your uni semester accordingly.
A Few Health Tips
One day I will tackle the subject of health during the uni semester. It is a big subject which I don’t yet know enough about to discuss in a full length post. For now here’s a few tips which have helped me improve my health at uni:
Have healthy go to snacks. Uni is full of cafes and places to get lunch and vending machines. Full of not great food options: cakes and chocolates and chips and energy drinks. These are not going to be the best for your cognitive ability. Make sure to bring in healthy snacks to uni to fuel you during the day.
Block in time for exercise. I exercise right after uni. As soon as I get home, I change into my workout clothes and head out for a brisk walk. Sometimes I do more exercise, but at least I get the walk done before dark at 5.
Have a consistent sleep schedule. This one seems a bit extreme because I hardly know any uni student who sleeps at the same time everyday - especially during the end of semester. But its very important to pick specific times to get up and go to bed everyday and stick to them. It goes hand in hand with consistent day schedule.
Create scheduled time off. Uni can be tough with the constant assignments to think about. Make sure to schedule at least one day per week where you totally switch off from uni. Additionally I personally like to have specific times each day where I do no uni at all. Its great to switch off and have an intentional break from study.
Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash Well that’s it for today. This is all we need to think about before starting at uni on Monday. Make sure to consider the papers you are taking this semester carefully. Pick papers based on your interests and your future goals. Once you have picked papers it is important to do pre-readings. Start your semester off slowly by doing some intro reading for your courses before they start. And finally it is important to consider how you will be healthy this semester. With the increased stress levels uni brings its important to keep stress down in other areas of your life to have the best outcome this semester.
I hope you have all found some value in this post. I wish you well this semester! and don’t forget I will be putting out a new edition of Uni by Week every week this semester.
~Polymath Jess