Ambassadors give advice to first-year students
author: taylor balfour | news writer
Passing along some knowledge / Jeremy Davis
Student leaders provide suggestions to newbies
Going into your first year of post-secondary can be terrifying, and a lot of university students wished they had done things differently.
In hopes of helping first-year students get some advice, some members of the University of Regina’s Ambassador program offered some advice to students arriving on campus for the first time.
Hammad Ali, a second-year student working on his Master’s in computer science, and originally from Bangladesh, said that the key is to explore.
“When you come into university, there’s a lot of resources designed to help you succeed. I’m an international student, so coming in from high school from my background, I wasn’t completely aware of how much there is to help you succeed.”
“I would tell them find out all the stuff that’s available, whether that’s tutoring, whether that’s textbook loan program, whether its group study, and make the most of it. You’re not on your own and you don’t have to be on your own.”.
Alexis Denischuk, a third-year psychology major and English minor, said it’s about embracing what’s already here.
“Go to all the different events. Don’t feel dumb or stupid going to them, just go to them,” she said. “Embrace the first year because that’s something you can’t ever get back.”
For students like Amira Muftah, a fourth-year science and psychology major, she wishes she had broken out of her comfort zone, too.
“The only thing I wish I had known more about or wish I had done was to get more involved from the get go. I did get involved near the end of my first year, but to start getting involved earlier on, I would’ve been able to meet more people.”
However, when it comes to school, Abass Einstain, a second-year biochemistry major, said that the key is paying attention.
“Small marks matter. In high school, I was the person who used to let small marks slide, but in university, you need every mark.”
If there was anything that Amira Muftah would want new students to know, it would be about tutoring services.
“A lot of the first-years that I do encounter, they’re very stressed about specific subjects, like ‘I’m not good at math, but for my program, I need to take a math’ or ‘I’m not good at English’ or ‘I’m an international student coming in and my English isn’t that strong.’”
“The Student Success Centre offers free writing tutoring, free math stats tutoring, and that would’ve been great to take advantage of.”
Muftah explained how the Student Success Centre can make more students feel comfortable asking for help.
“It’s not some big scary professor.”
Jinesh Kamdar, pursuing a Master’s in computer science, says that not doing enough reading was his biggest regret.
“I think I should have been in the habit of reading more textbooks and reference materials,” he explained. “Also, feedback from seniors about a course is indeed helpful; one should pay attention to it.”
