Hope it helps...
GO TO YOUR F*CKIN CLASSES !
I'm not even joking at how much it helps. Even if you're "not learning anything", your getting a kickstart on how to approach difficult topics. In Calculus, I found myself always lost in the material. I'm not slow or anything, I just learn math like most people, with pencil and paper (and of course your trusty calculator but you don't really need it for when u get to integrals). And don't try to tell yourself or let anyone else tell you that you can "learn it from the book". You certainly can but it's a pain to find motivation to start studying on a dime when you get back to your house/room/rez.
Get a bank account from PC Financial
This probably isn't mentioned too often or even at all. I go to Mac and the only bank machines at Mac (except for the general ATMs and this other McMaster Credit Union bank) are all CIBC. Particularly helpful esp if you need some money for clubbing, laundry and small cash purchases (at Mac anyways). Even if your university has all the other bank machines, get it anyways. There is no interac fees for interac direct purchases. So it's totally perfect for small purchases with interac. This comes with their no-fees bank account (no monthly fees and etc.). Plus you get a free $10 to Loblaws (sort of .... there's the fact that it's in PC points and you need to obtain another 10,000 points (worth $10) to redeem your initial 10,000 points ...5 points for every dollar at a Loblaws store ... includes No Frills, Fortinos and etc.) till you can spend the total min. of $20).
Working during the school year
This is sorta a personal opinion but it's sorta hard to work 1st year. You have to balance out your work, social and school life. It's much easier to balance it out if you have only social and school to deal with. Get used to university first before you start working. The money helps alot tho.
Books
Almost all books I would recommend you get them used. It's hellava lot cheaper and you honestly shouldn't spend too much. I spent $800 on text books (rounded down) and they were all brand new, only for 1st semester ! I spent another $400 on 2nd semester courses. Solution Manuals are a good source of help ... if you actually use them. I found it useful for Economics, Calculus and Algebra. My physics one was useless for me since all the questions on the test were similar to the ones found in the book. Check them out first.
Read your text/notes before lecture!!!
I swear, it is SOOO much easier to sit through a lecture, when you already have a mild understanding of the material! If you haven't read the relevant sections, you'll be totally lost and will fall asleep... and yes, I have personal experience
ALWAYS come prepared to tutorials, unless you enjoy looking like a complete idiot in front of your peers
When scheduling your classes, try to leave as a few and as small (timewise) gaps between them. Nothing is more obnoxious than having to kill 1-2 hours between classes. Unless the distance between classes is immense, 10 minutes is almost always enough time to make it from one class in one building to another class in another building.
For your first class bring only a clipboard, a couple sheets of paper and a pen. Your prof will only cover the syllabus, what books to buy and other general boring crap, so you won't need your books/napsack, etc... and you'll look like you're a laid back/relaxed kind of guy and that you know what you're doing... not a bad first impression to make.
DON'T BUY ANY BOOKS BEFORE THEY ARE NEEDED.
You could change courses, the syllabus can change, and you could later learn that that $100 reference source you bought was only a "nice thing to have" and not a necessity.
If you're going to be more than 8 minutes late for a class, forget about it (unless it's a lecture/tutorial that penalizes for absence)... any later than that is just disrespectful to the prof and other students, and will reflect more poorly on you than an absence.
Know exactly where your classes are before they start. Most university buildings (Western especially) have wildly illogical room layouts... merely knowing which building the class is in is usually not enough to save a dozen minutes of aimless wandering.
If you have a laptop, be sure to load it up with a bunch of emulators and play old-school games during boring parts of a lecture... it should put a smile on the faces of a dozen or more people in the rows behind you and could help you meet people
Go to class, go to tutorials, don't be afraid to ask questions, and eat healthy! And don't be discouraged when you get a bad mark. Part of university is learning about your capabilities as a person, and a very important part of that is learning not what you can do, but what you can't. For example, students will have the best intentions to sit down and study the entire day away, only to find that they've procrastinated most of it away. Perhaps the goal of studying an entire day is too big an expectation for now? University is a place where you're forced to be mature with yourself, your abilities, and your work ethic
GO TO YOUR F*CKIN CLASSES !
I'm not even joking at how much it helps. Even if you're "not learning anything", your getting a kickstart on how to approach difficult topics. In Calculus, I found myself always lost in the material. I'm not slow or anything, I just learn math like most people, with pencil and paper (and of course your trusty calculator but you don't really need it for when u get to integrals). And don't try to tell yourself or let anyone else tell you that you can "learn it from the book". You certainly can but it's a pain to find motivation to start studying on a dime when you get back to your house/room/rez.
Get a bank account from PC Financial
This probably isn't mentioned too often or even at all. I go to Mac and the only bank machines at Mac (except for the general ATMs and this other McMaster Credit Union bank) are all CIBC. Particularly helpful esp if you need some money for clubbing, laundry and small cash purchases (at Mac anyways). Even if your university has all the other bank machines, get it anyways. There is no interac fees for interac direct purchases. So it's totally perfect for small purchases with interac. This comes with their no-fees bank account (no monthly fees and etc.). Plus you get a free $10 to Loblaws (sort of .... there's the fact that it's in PC points and you need to obtain another 10,000 points (worth $10) to redeem your initial 10,000 points ...5 points for every dollar at a Loblaws store ... includes No Frills, Fortinos and etc.) till you can spend the total min. of $20).
Working during the school year
This is sorta a personal opinion but it's sorta hard to work 1st year. You have to balance out your work, social and school life. It's much easier to balance it out if you have only social and school to deal with. Get used to university first before you start working. The money helps alot tho.
Books
Almost all books I would recommend you get them used. It's hellava lot cheaper and you honestly shouldn't spend too much. I spent $800 on text books (rounded down) and they were all brand new, only for 1st semester ! I spent another $400 on 2nd semester courses. Solution Manuals are a good source of help ... if you actually use them. I found it useful for Economics, Calculus and Algebra. My physics one was useless for me since all the questions on the test were similar to the ones found in the book. Check them out first.
Read your text/notes before lecture!!!
I swear, it is SOOO much easier to sit through a lecture, when you already have a mild understanding of the material! If you haven't read the relevant sections, you'll be totally lost and will fall asleep... and yes, I have personal experience
ALWAYS come prepared to tutorials, unless you enjoy looking like a complete idiot in front of your peers
When scheduling your classes, try to leave as a few and as small (timewise) gaps between them. Nothing is more obnoxious than having to kill 1-2 hours between classes. Unless the distance between classes is immense, 10 minutes is almost always enough time to make it from one class in one building to another class in another building.
For your first class bring only a clipboard, a couple sheets of paper and a pen. Your prof will only cover the syllabus, what books to buy and other general boring crap, so you won't need your books/napsack, etc... and you'll look like you're a laid back/relaxed kind of guy and that you know what you're doing... not a bad first impression to make.
DON'T BUY ANY BOOKS BEFORE THEY ARE NEEDED.
You could change courses, the syllabus can change, and you could later learn that that $100 reference source you bought was only a "nice thing to have" and not a necessity.
If you're going to be more than 8 minutes late for a class, forget about it (unless it's a lecture/tutorial that penalizes for absence)... any later than that is just disrespectful to the prof and other students, and will reflect more poorly on you than an absence.
Know exactly where your classes are before they start. Most university buildings (Western especially) have wildly illogical room layouts... merely knowing which building the class is in is usually not enough to save a dozen minutes of aimless wandering.
If you have a laptop, be sure to load it up with a bunch of emulators and play old-school games during boring parts of a lecture... it should put a smile on the faces of a dozen or more people in the rows behind you and could help you meet people
Go to class, go to tutorials, don't be afraid to ask questions, and eat healthy! And don't be discouraged when you get a bad mark. Part of university is learning about your capabilities as a person, and a very important part of that is learning not what you can do, but what you can't. For example, students will have the best intentions to sit down and study the entire day away, only to find that they've procrastinated most of it away. Perhaps the goal of studying an entire day is too big an expectation for now? University is a place where you're forced to be mature with yourself, your abilities, and your work ethic
