Guide to Campus

It is a great idea to solidify your GPA from the beginning. Try your best to register for a mixture of core major courses and easy Gen Eds your freshmen year. By taking some easier courses early on in your academic career, you will be able to have more time to devote to courses related to your major and should be able to get some good grades under your belt. Solidifying your GPA early on will open doors to you when you begin searching for internships and research projects on campus. Not to mention you will make your parents happy. Take a look at some of the General Education classes current students recommend.

Friends in your class

Whether you register for a class with a friend or are beginning the semester running solo, be sure to make friends in your classes. You may not want to form a ‘study group’, but having someone you know in the class will help you if you miss class, need help on homework, or want to share ideas on what to study for an exam.

Contacting professors

Utilize email. Email is a great way to communicate directly with professors without having to go face to face. Do not upset the professor, but they give you their email address on the syllabus for a reason. If it is a large class, they probably won’t recognize your name anyway.

Course registration

If you are having trouble registering for a course, especially one in your field of study, do not hesitate to call or go into the departmental office. By making your request more personal, the department will be more inclined to squeezing you in. Also, always keep checking the availability of seats in the class once the semester starts.

Some departments on campus make it mandatory to meet with your advisor once a semester, but regardless if it is mandatory or not it is a good thing to do. Be sure to be prepared with ideas and questions when you go - make the most of the visit.

Review sessions

Go to review sessions. While they may be lengthy at times and you may know most of the material, I guarantee you will learn at least one thing that you did not know before. And guess what? More often than not that piece of information will show up on the exam.

In order to best prepare for these sessions, take note of topics that might have been a little difficult to understand - and also the topics you might have missed. Be prepared to ask some questions in the review session. Some teachers hold their review sessions in class and only take questions from the class, rather than going over everything - and in these cases "Can you go over chapter 7?" won't cut it as a question.

Best places to study

Do not study in your room. Way too many distractions. Just don't do it. Someone will knock on your door, instant message you, call you. Maybe you'll get an email from Facebook and accidently spend an hour on the site. Here are a few great places on campus that you can meet a study buddy at.

Floor Lounge - The lamest but probably best study spot on campus is the floor study lounges in your dorm. These study areas are almost always vacant, yet offer a quiet and spacious escape that will save you a 15 minute walk to the Undergrad as well as 15 minutes back. These study lounges also typically are wireless accessible. Also, with the proximity to your room, you can easily grab all the materials you need.
Peak Hours at the Undergrad - Stay away from the Undergrad during peak hours (Sun-Thur 8pm-1am). You will spend more time trying to find a study cubicle than actual studying. Try to get your studying done here during the afternoon.
Grainger Library (Engineering) - While it may get crowded at times, Grainger Library (the engineering library) located in the middle of the Engineering Quad is a wonderful alternative to the Undergrad. The building and environment are inspirational (all those engineers) and really promote productivity. If you can't find a seat on any of the main floors, check out the basement which are usually the last cubicles to fill up. You can reach Grainger from either the 26 Pack or 21 Quad busses.
Business/Commerce Library - If your group for a class or you individually cannot find a seat at the Undergrad, go 100 feet to the west to the Main Library. Inside you will find the Commerce Library which is generally pretty wide open. This library offers large tables for you to meet with your group, as well as a large room full of unused study cubicles.
Law Library - For those living in the Six Pack or PAR/FAR area, the Law Library is another great study area. Once you enter the library, take a right to find open cubicles. However, only go here for some serious individual studying since you will want to be as quiet as possible. Law students are pretty irritable.