First off, I’d like to extend a warm welcome to all the incoming first year students. My name is Alexander Lee, and I am entering my 2 A term as the incoming Editor-in-Chief of The Iron Warrior for Fall 2013. The Iron Warrior is the University of Waterloo’s engineering newspaper. The University of Waterloo (UW) has The Imprint, which is the newspaper for the entire university, but The Iron Warrior is purely for engineering. We are here to serve your needs and appeal to your interests as engineers.
Your first year in university will be one of the most memorable years of your life. Each of you will have a different experience, but that experience will be among the most unique. You were all born in different places, went to different schools, had different circumstances growing up. But don’t let this divide you. What matters is that you all made it into Waterloo engineering, the absolute best engineering program in Canada. Waterloo will do great things for you, provided you put the work and effort in. You have a lot to give to Waterloo, if you so choose, and here we accept it all. By the same token, Waterloo has a lot to teach you, in more ways than one; obviously academically, but for many of you, you will learn many things about yourself as well. Just how much you learn depends on how much you are willing to put in to your classes.
You are all entering a new stage of life’s journey. Things work differently here compared to high school. I’ve only just entered second year, so I remember first year very clearly. Here are some things that really stood out to me, and also some tips:
– You will find your days both busier and strangely lighter than the the year before. This is because, while you have a lot more classes, and you have to learn much more much faster, you are also more free. You are not forced to go to any of your classes. You can skip whichever ones you like. This doesn’t mean you should skip any classes, but the choice is yours.
– Another aspect of this new found university freedom is that you will be able to stay up as late as you want. And by that I mean there is literally nothing stopping you. You won’t have to hide the fact you’re up at 2 in the morning from your parents. There is nothing stopping you. This is both a blessing, and a curse. You will find you want to stay up until 3 in the morning every night. Don’t. Fight it, because at least three days out of five, you will have 8:30 lectures, and the human body cannot get by on four hours of sleep every night.
– Good study habits. I CANNOT stress this enough. Hard work is important, but efficient work is even more important. You can spend hours trying to study for something, and someone you know will get the same amount done in an hour. Why? Well they might actually be smarter than you, but also they just might have more efficient study habits. Experiment and see if you can find a way to study that works for you.
– University life does not leave much room for a social life. With what little time you’ll have, you should join something on campus. We have a plethora of student design teams, and some insane number of interest groups out there. From chess to cheese; you name it, and chances are UW will have it somewhere on campus. And, of course, there’s always The Iron Warrior! *wink wink, nudge nudge* No, seriously, go join something. Go do it now. As the saying goes, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” Studying 24/7 will burn you out real quickly.
I personally found that my biggest hurdle in first year, and one I’m still not completely around, was the lack of structure in my day. I went to almost every one of my classes; however, it was hard to pay attention in some of them. Try your best to pay attention in all of your classes. If you start slacking off in some of the easier ones, it will be hard to get back into pace for the tougher ones.
Everyone’s first year experience is going to be different. What matters is that you work hard but also enjoy it. Study hard, attend most of your lectures, all of your labs, and however many tutorials you think you need. Have fun with friends, and make some new ones. Above all, make the most of your first year. It won’t happen again, or at least, the second time won’t nearly be as awesome. Life is an adventure, as I keep hearing on those Spence Diamonds ads. No experience is a wasted one, as long as you learned from it.
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