How to Succeed At University--International Edition. Danton O'Day
States, for example, the term “college” often refers to an institution that offers only a two-year Associate degree (junior colleges) as well as one that offers a four-year Bachelor’s degree. On the other hand, a full-fledged university offers Bachelor’s degrees and advanced degrees. But this is changing and, with more colleges offering Bachelor’s degrees, the lines between universities and colleges get less distinct with each passing year. The take-home message here is that although this chapter focuses specifically on universities, other types of higher education institutions also exist.
Depending on the university, the complexity and diversity of the curricula will vary considerably. Thus some places will offer Bachelor of Arts and/or Bachelor of Science degrees in a limited number of disciplines while other, larger institutions will offer almost the whole gamut of possible programmes. If you have any questions about the offerings at various universities, look up their websites. If you have long-term academic ambitions, universities that offer Master’s and PhD programmes may hold more appeal for you. In addition, the presence of graduate students working towards their Master’s or PhD degrees provides the university with a large source of qualified teaching assistants, laboratory demonstrators, tutorial leaders, etc., in addition to the full-time faculty. Another advantage of an institution that is training postgraduate students is that it will be more in the mainstream of what is happening in your area of study—it has to be in order to survive in the competitive academic world.
Selecting a University
Many students spend little time selecting a university. This can be a serious error. Although the overall ranking of universities may be based on their total programmes, some of the less highly ranked ones offer specific programmes that surpass those at the more prestigious institutions and some universities offer unique programmes. If you have a concrete idea of what you want to do, look over each university’s offerings in the area that interests you.
Don’t select a university because it is close to home. Never attend a university because all your friends are going to go there. Attending a distant university can give you new experiences, new friends and new outlooks on life. You will mature faster and grow faster mentally if you move on to a new environment.
Did You Know?
Universities are respected and ranked on their contributions to society—not on their teaching. Harvard and Oxford are famous because they have famous professors who work there. They are not great because they are great teaching institutions. In fact, the data suggest the opposite. A recent analysis of the world’s top research universities has shown that the top fifty or so universities worldwide generally have faculty who are not very good teachers. So if your goal is to simply get a good education, then you should set your sights on some of the lesser institutions. However, if your goal is to become a leader in the field in which you are interested, then enter those ivy-covered halls of the intellectually elite.
If it is necessary to attend a local university for financial or other reasons then do so, but make an attempt to meet new people. University is a fantastic place to meet people with varied backgrounds. It is a multinational, multicultural community. Regardless of the university you attend, you will be exposed to new views of life.
One way to get the feeling about what universities to apply to is to attend the annual recruiting sessions that many high schools organize one or more nights each year. Representatives of local universities, and even a few distant ones, give special talks at which they explain the attractions of their universities. Obviously the university representatives (liaison officers) are there to get your warm body to their university for the revenue it will generate. They are not going to tell you about their shortcomings, only about their strong points. However, you can learn a lot from these meetings, especially if you make notes about the topics discussed. If social or sports aspects are emphasized with little regard for academic programmes, then you should beware. You are going to university (or should be) to get a valuable education that will form the basis for your future. You will have fun along the way, but that should not be your prime concern. Look for liaison officers who describe the academic programmes available and be sure to ask questions.
University recruiting nights may be limited to specific locations and are not offered by all schools, so they will not be available to all students nor will they provide you with data on all the universities in the country. Thus you will likely still have to rely on other sources of information such as university brochures and websites.
What to Expect
In many aspects university differs greatly from high school; in others it is very similar. In this section we want to give an overview of what you will be up against at university. Later we will get down to details.
The most significant difference between university and high school is the freedom that you have at university. This might seem like a good thing but, as we have seen, it can work against you. For example, since you are free to attend or miss classes at will, you may be tempted to skip them.
Your classes or lectures will often be very impersonal events. You will sit in a large lecture hall listening to an apparently miniscule professor standing in the distance at the front of the classroom lecturing you on topics that were never covered in high school. Except in rare instances, you will not be missed if absent or acknowledged if present. It will be up to you to decide what is important and what is not. It will be up to you to decide whether or not to study; very few professors give unannounced quizzes in the lecture period.
You alone can decide whether or not to do what’s asked. It will be up to you to decide if you should hand in an assignment. It will be your decision whether to attend a lecture, laboratory practical or tutorial session. To the lecturer you will be one of hundreds or thousands of uninspiring first-year faces. It will be up to you whether you remain anonymous or get the most out of your years at university.
Your hours in class will vary with the subjects you have chosen. In each arts subject (English, history, fine arts, etc.) you will have a minimum of two to three hours (depending on the university) of lectures per week. In the sciences (physics, chemistry, biology, etc.) you will have the same lecture periods and you will also have to attend laboratory periods which will range from two to four hours per week. Some disciplines, such as mathematics and computer science, also have tutorials that are designed to give the practical aspects of the subject as well as some individual attention. The number of tutorial hours will also vary from university to university.
Typically students are required to take a number of subjects per academic year, each worth a certain amount of credits, for three or four years to be awarded the Bachelor’s degree. Also, full-year classes tend to be less common with single-semester subjects predominating. Thus depending on your chosen curriculum you will have between ten and thirty hours of class time per week. In disciplines that have few class hours, more outside reading and other assignments are usually required, while in the sciences time will be spent preparing for labs and writing lab reports.
Did You Know?
Nowadays, many students take fewer than the full academic load of credits per year, increasing the time required to complete their degree requirements. It typically takes four to five years for students to complete what is considered a four-year degree. However, that’s the average and it’s not unusual for students to take six or more years to graduate from a four-year programme. As a result, it’s common for students to discuss their progress towards graduation in terms of the number of credits earned as opposed to specific years of study or the amount of time required for completion.