A random assortment of university tips - Classes and professors
Note: I am studying at a German uni, so this is done with such in mind. In case some of this sounds weird to people from other countries. Also, not all of these are new, but it doesn’t hurt to read it again. I might do more of these posts in the future. I can also give people specific tips about life as a student, if needed. Just send me asks.
Feeling like shit, unprepared or just generally like participating in classes is too hard some days? I can relate. I get this slightly depressed feeling once every few weeks, tbh. But one thing I’ve taught myself is to just go. Just be present. I’m telling myself that I don’t even have to participate, if it’s too hard, or I can just go back home if I feel super unwell. Just taking away that pressure of having to get active really helps. But if you’re actually sick, stay home.
Even if attendance isn’t mandatory in your class or lecture, go anyways. For me attendance is mandatory in all of my lectures and classes, but I have friends where they aren’t. Go anyways. You tell yourself that it’s not bad and you can just watch the recording of it at home, but let’s be real. You won’t. Or if you will, you’re gonna binge all of them one week before finals. So do yourself a favor and avoid that last minute panic.
When choosing your classes go with 70% interest 30% convenience. It’s important to look for classes that you actually feel like you’d enjoy doing. This way you’ll put more effort into them. But also, be smart about them. Is the time good for you? And also, are the chances you’ll get in high? Where I study, you can see how many spots are free and how many people already applied. So it’s smart to choose classes with fewer applicants so you don’t have to change your whole schedule in case you don’t get accepted into that class and the new one interferes with others. Just find a good balance between interest and convenience. Trust me choosing classes for convenience only will make the semester hell.
In case you have to take a class you didn’t want, because you didn’t get accepted into your first choice: This sounds redundant, tbh, but anyways. Still try to be open-minded. Find something about the class that interests you. Maybe search for yt videos or documentaries, etc… regarding the class topic. Because let me tell you, if you don’t have any interest you won’t put in effort and that is a waste - academically, but also just a wasted opportunity to learn sth for yourself (that’s probably why you study in the first place).
Talk to your professors.They like seeing students put in effort. Go to their office hour once a semester. If you don’t know why you should go there, just go to talk about your presentation (we have these in almost every class). Just show them what you did and ask if they like it so far. Sounds super unnecessary, even to me. But from experience I know that you get some sympathy points for that.
Go to your professors for help with your term paper. They can give you tips for sources or help with finding sth to write about. A lot of my peers don’t do that, because they’re scared of seeming unprepared and professors hate being unprepared in their office hours. But I got a little trick up my sleeve that works lots of times. Your thesis has to be pretty specific, right? In your class, just look through the things you did and pick a broad topic,that sounds good to you. Then go to your professor and tell them this: “So for my term paper, I thought about writing about [insert broad topic here], because that really fascinates me. But I know that we should be more specific for our term paper.” This is when they are gonna give you suggestions. And when you got a topic, ask them if they’ll think it’s easy to find good sources. They’re gonna give you suggestions for that, too. No 100% guarantee, but it works super well for me.
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