It Gets Better: Top Ten Tips for
First-Termers
Tiffany
Champagne is in her second term in Western’s MLIS program, and previously
received her B.A. in History from Brescia University College. She has survived
the ordeal of her first term and is now enjoying the high life that is elective
classes. When not MLISing away, she
enjoys reading, writing, drawing, and other solitary pursuits that keep her
calm.
I can still remember my first term like it was
yesterday: armed with my syllabi and my laptop, I was ready to embrace the
world of the MLIS program. The orientation had made it sound wonderful – plenty
of chances for discussion, student programs galore, plenty of extracurricular
opportunities, and best of all, no exams!
Then the assignments hit.
Perhaps you are like me, and knew some MLIS students
prior to entering the program. Or perhaps you came into the program blind, not
really knowing what it was about, but having enough of an interest in libraries
to try and make it your profession. If that is the case – or even if it isn’t –
then let me help you. I’m a (future) librarian, that’s what I’m here for.
10. Facebook: Besides being a lovely distraction tool
when you’re up to your eyeballs in assignments and can’t write out another
word, having a Facebook group for your cohort can be quite useful in communicating
with other students in your term. Need someone to look over your 9003
assignment before you send it in? Post on your cohort Facebook page. Looking
for someone to come to your MLIS movie night? Cohort Facebook page. Just found
a library-related article you think is neat and want to share it with your
classmates? Facebook. Don’t have Facebook? Get it. Your cohort doesn’t have a
Facebook page yet? Start one yourself and start inviting all your classmates –
initiative is a great thing to have, and your classmates will be grateful to
know they have a place where they can chat.
9. Mentorships are useful. Having a peer mentor to chat
with about the program can really be useful. It lets you know that you’re not
alone, and that there are others who went through the same experience. Come the
end of term, they can also offer advice that you won’t find elsewhere, or offer
opinions on elective classes. Even just having someone there to vent when
you’re stressed can be helpful. And above all, having communication between
cohorts is a great thing and a great way to foster a community. (Why, by a
fortunate coincidence, the CLA just happens to have a mentorship program!)
8. The Grad Club exists for a reason. It’s a good place to
just unwind after class or between classes). Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying
to spend all your time there, but it’s
a great way to socialize. By now you’ll notice that the first three of these
bullet points talk about social activities. There is a reason for this: you’ll go crazy if you don’t. Even if you’re a massive introvert like me, having
some sort of social outlet outside of class – and ideally, one where you’re not discussing class – will do wonders
for making sure you’re not completely overwhelmed.
7. Because you will be overwhelmed. This advice might apply more to those who
are taking a full-time course load (4 or 5 classes per term) than the
part-timers, but the idea is the same. Depending on what background you have,
you might be used to courses with only a few, large, assignments per term,
rather than a whole host of smaller ones like MLIS offers. I know I was the
same way, and suddenly being confronted with a tsunami of assignments was
stressful. Sometimes I wondered if I was cut out for the program. Times like
those I found it soothing to take a deep breath, calm down, and message my CLA
mentor on Facebook. She knew what I’d gone through, and just having someone to
vent with can be reassuring.
6. It’s never too early to
start thinking about the next term. The first term is where you’re confronted with a
little bit of everything, and you can begin to see what you like the most. Do
you like cataloguing? Reference services? Theory? Start looking at some of the possible courses for summer term now and see if any really interest you.
This doesn’t apply if you want to go on co-op for your summer term, but getting
a handle on what you like, and what you might want to do with your degree, can
be useful. You might be really interested in academic libraries, for example,
and great news – there’s a course for that!
5. Research Methods and
Statistics really isn’t that scary. For those with a humanities background, something
like Stats can seem intimidating because ewww, math. I know I was surprised
by the fact that it was included, because it didn’t seem to be
library-related…but then I learned that stats are actually super-important for
libraries. If you don’t like math or research or anything of that stripe, don’t
worry – it’s just the one class, and it’s less frightening than you expect.
Trust me, don’t be spooked by the thought of Excel or strange Greek symbols you
only vaguely understand. It’ll be fine.
4. But speaking of co-op, don’t stress too much about it. This
advice might ring a bit hollow, as I didn’t apply for co-op, but I saw many,
many people stressing about getting that coveted 75% average for the program.
Honestly, just relax. Take a deep breath. Have a cup of coffee. Realize that
you had enough smarts and talent to get into
the program, so you’ll be fine. I wish I could offer more advice here, but FIMS
has a lot of co-op information sessions, who probably know far more than I do.
If that doesn’t work, reread what I wrote above about the power of
communication: there’s probably someone
out there who does know.
3. Don’t stress out too much
in general. I know this is
easier said than done, but I beg you to hold off punching me through the
screen. I won’t lie, I had my fair share of stress dreams involving failing one
too many courses and being forced to drop out of the program. Then, when I got
my grades back? I did fine. I’m sure
you’ll do fine, too. And, for those of you still worried, let me blatantly
steal some advice from Lucia Serantes, who I had the pleasure of having as
instructor for 9003 last term: employers aren’t going to care if you have a 95%
average or a 75% average. It’s the skills you have and how you apply them that
counts, so don’t worry about it. (Citing your sources is important!)
2. You’re not alone. It can be tempting to freak out at the
prospect of having an assignment due in every
class that week (yes, this is an actual scenario that happened), but everyone
else in your cohort is going through the same thing. They know your pain. I
keep harping on the social aspect of the program, but I can’t stress enough the
merits of having friends who understand exactly
what you’re going through. Yes, this won’t make the assignments disappear, but
there’s definitely some advantage to knowing that others know exactly what you’re going through.
You’re all in this together.
1. It
gets better. Honestly. I’m personally finding elective classes to be
somewhat less stressful overall than the core ones. Which isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy the core ones, but they did
have to give a solid grounding in the subject and cover a wide variety of
bases. Electives tend to be a bit more specialized, and while they still have
assignments, my experience shows me that they tend to have less, or so it feels
like. Obviously not all classes will be the same, but it’s a good thing to
remember: once you get through this first term, I think you’ll find your second
term easier to deal with.
