This blog is an archived post written by Marissa during her 2nd year in the Environmental Management stream.

 

 

 

Marissa's Top 7:

1. Get involved in first year. It’s never too early to get involved in clubs.  Clubs give you more connections, but also more friends. There are over 400 clubs and student organizations at York University. People who participate heavily in campus activities and life are also proven to do much better in school than who are not. You don’t need a year, start right away!
2. Get a job (if you can). In first year, I thought I need a break from work to focus on my studies. Well this left me completely broke! It is not too hard to juggle a job and school during your university career especially if you're working part-time. Jobs can also prepare you for your future career so I suggest obtaining one in your future field,  you can even work on campus (Check out the Career Centre postings)! It also is very helpful if you need more spending cash.
3. Participate in Social Orientation week.  Social Orientation Week or Frosh Week is a week of fun activities planned by your affiliated college. These activities are made for you to bond and feel welcome coming into the new university environment. I did attend my Frosh Week, but not to the full extent. I attended Frosh on a couple of days, but did not immerse myself in the full experience. I regretted this deeply because I was not able to get involved in my college community as much as I would like afterwards. After being a Frosh leader in my second year, Frosh is my favourite time of the school year and as a first year I wish I knew how much fun it was.
4. Bring a reusable water bottle. York became a plastic water bottle free campus in 2015 meaning you cannot buy bottled water from any of our over 50 food vendors (which is a benefit for the environment, reducing a lot of plastic waste!). This means you have to bring a re-usable water bottle which you can fill up at a Water Refill Station (See the 18 different stations here). During first year, I kept forgetting and I can’t count the time I would have to buy some other drink to fill it with water.
5. Don’t buy your books new from the bookstore.  You can easily buy used ones from previous students or even from the bookstore itself and save a lot of money, so long as the edition is the same.
6. Take advantage of school trips. This year, I attended the Founder’s Montreal Trip during the October co-curricular days. It was great and cheaper than if I had planned it myself. This was one of my favourite school events thus far and I was saddened that it took me a whole year to figure it out.
7. Take advantage of the many free resources on campus. York University offers a lot of free support services and programs such as the Writing Centre, the Learning Commons, Student Counselling and Development, the Centre for Aboriginal Student Services, and York International. These programs are free and are amazing to improve your academic and personal life.