Humber College is gearing up for its summer 2023 semester and current students say that first-timers could do well with some advice.
Many students said homework was one of the biggest causes of college life stress.
A first-year student from electro-engineering, Ravjot Deol, said his first year at Humber went petty well. He advised upcoming students to keep up with their homework.
“If you keep doing your homework on time, you’ll be good,” Deol said.
“Don’t fall behind on stuff, stay on top of it,” Carey French, a professor at Humber College said.
French teaches media law and ethics to first-year students at Humber, as well as the art of journalistic interviewing to second-year students.
“Take advantage of all the resources available to you as students,” French said.
“Students are terrified about marks,” he said. But they are secondary to the experience itself, he said.
Other students advised balancing a social life along with school life. This is where a lot of students face problems, they told Humber News.
Harshita Kakkar, pursuing a diploma in fashion arts and business and currently enrolled in her first semester, advised students to just live through it and go with the flow.
“The people here are really mean, so look out for yourself,” she said.
Aryan Pandey, a first-year student in paralegal education said the first year at Humber would go by pretty easily if a student has good time management skills.
“As an international student, managing studies as well as your part-time job can be a task,” he said.
Pandey said he has to work around 35-40 hours a week so that he can arrange his tuition fees for the next semester.
“Sometimes I come home at say 11 p.m. and I have an assignment due at 12. Without eating or resting I get to work on it to not pass my due date,” he said.
Kakkar said living your social life along with managing your schoolwork is very important as it takes the pressure off of your mind for a while.
Chhavvi Kakkar a business management student, said the most difficult part for her to manage is her rent, tuition grocery, and other miscellaneous all at once.
“I hope international students had some relief in their tuitions,” she said.
Some students said they were excited as well as nervous about moving to a completely different country.
“The professors and teachers helped me a lot,” Manmeet Kaur, a second-semester student in early childhood education said. Kaur said she was nervous about her studies as she did not know a lot about the course.
She advised students to be calm and focused on what teachers teach in class and not to be nervous.
Students should not feel out of place at college and should go out and enjoy themselves, said French. He advised students to take full advantage of the resources they have paid for.
Humber College has a student wellness and accessibility centre where students can get counseling and community services.