View these resources for tips on adjusting to life at SFU.
Meet Jason
Learn about Jason's experiences at SFU
Read these awesome comics about Jason, a student who is newly arrived at SFU from Taiwan, and his experiences with course selection, note-taking in lectures, reading textbooks, participating in tutorials, and writing a paper!
(Comics about Jason are courtesy of SFU's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the English as an Additional Language Implementation Project.)
Handouts from the Student Learning Commons
Here are some Student Learning Commons handouts to help ease the transition:
Campus Life columns
Layne Clark
Check out a personal account of the first year experience at SFU.
In the Fall, 2008 term, SFU student Layne Clark wrote a weekly column, "Campus Life", in the newspaper 24 Hours, on her experience as a first year student here. The entirety of this series is reprinted here, with permission from 24 Hours. Thank you 24 Hours.
Column #1 Orientation (September 2, 2008)
Column #2 "Late, late, for a very important date" (September 8, 2008)
Column #3 "Cleaning out my bank account for books" (September 15, 2008)
Column #4 "Procrastination comes with stress" (September 22, 2008)
Column #5 "Academia 101: Jargon" (September 29, 2008)
Column #6 "Public speaking and that awful, sinking feeling" (October 6, 2008)
Column #7 "Catching the Football Fever" (October 14, 2008)
Column #8 "Living through midterms" (October 20, 2008)
Column #9 "Escape into books" (November 10, 2008)
Column #10 "The highs and lows of campus life" (November 17, 2008)
Column #11 "Feel the crunch" (November 24, 2008)
Column #12 "Heading into final exams" (December 1, 2008)
External links
A Guide to University Learning (University of Guelph) - Intended for university prep, this Guide provides information and practice exercises which take you through the process of writing a multiple choice exam after guiding you through the exam preparation stages of reading the course outline, learninging from textbooks and lectures, and studying for an exam.
Academic Literacy Project (Victoria University, Australia) - A series of videos and a comic strip with valuable information for new students including information on:
- Critical thinking and creativity
- Academic integrity
- Writing Papers
- The personal transition experience of an international student
What Instructors Expect from Students (City College of San Francisco) - If you are new to university, please read this as it is very different from what high school teachers expect!
Academic Orientation for Fall Semester Freshman Lecture Courses (Johns Hopkins University) - A professor's notes about how high school and university are different, and the implications this should have for study strategies.
What Professors Expect from You (i.e., Why are you at College?) (Carson Newman College) - An essay on how post-secondary students should approach learning, by Dr. Kip Wheeler, an English professor.
Math Study Skills: High School vs. College (Mission College) - A chart showing ways in which students must adapt themselves to the expectations of university-level problem-solving courses.