(Elliana Lilling | Staff Illustrator)

Welcome to WashU! This article is a primer for incoming first-years to make the most of their academic experience here. You’re about to have the most work and the most free time you have ever had, and handling all of that can be daunting at first. I hope that this article will help make sense of the academic world of college. I will discuss some baseline things to know about your classes, and I’ll also offer some advice on how to think about academics in a healthy and productive way.

On impostor syndrome

You belong here. You got in. There are going to be times when that doesn’t sound so convincing to you. I promise that every other person will feel the same way at some point, even the people that you might be comparing yourself to. This is a natural part of new experiences! I speak from experience when I say that these feelings will come and go, and that you should acknowledge them but refuse to believe them. Everyone is coming from different backgrounds, and everyone has unique skill sets that make it easy to feel like you’re behind. But you all share one thing, which is that the admissions committee at WashU knew that you are someone who can succeed here. And so you will, as much as impostor syndrome might try to convince you otherwise. 

Commit to the process of learning

WashU is academically challenging. That will probably become apparent soon. I do not say that to scare you, but to tell you that this is an opportunity to throw yourself into what you are learning and look at it not as a chore or a job, but as something you benefit from. As cliché as it might sound, you will get out of your classes what you put in. So when I say “commit,” I mean really let yourself learn to love the process of learning. This will be easier for some classes than others, but strive to find the things that make you wonder about the world and force you to want to know more. College is the place to leave class confused but curious to clear things up.

Take advantage of resources

Okay, so just how do you “clear things up?” WashU has many resources for you to use to get the most out of your classes. Some of these, in my opinion, are musts, and often they are pretty simple to find and sign up for. First and foremost, go to office hours. As obvious as that sounds, many students rarely go to office hours and as a result miss out on opportunities to clear up the questions that they won’t have time to get answered later when they are cramming for an exam. Office hours are also a great time to get to know your professors, who are experts in their field and very interesting to speak with.

Second, if your class has structured study sessions like Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL), go to them! Even if you find they aren’t useful for one class, they might be for another. I have found from my own experience that these sessions can be the most useful resource available for learning. 

Third, look to classmates and upperclassmen who have taken your course for help. Especially in those huge lecture classes where one-on-one time with the professor is rare, getting a group of people together to ask questions and work through problems together can be very helpful. Most people are willing to help if you ask, so ask! Seriously, if you have questions, you can reach me at [email protected] (especially if you are thinking about being pre-med).

Learn how you learn

This can be a big one, and it may require some trial-and-error. Find the learning process that works for you and helps you feel comfortable and confident in your work and in your studying. For my STEM classes that have dense lectures, I like to spend 20-30 minutes reviewing each lecture on the day of the lecture to help get the information in my head and find areas of confusion. Closer to exam dates, I focus on active recall and write out everything I know from memory, then check to see what I missed. These are two processes that I have found to work for me, but maybe there are other things that work for you! Getting into a rhythm that you know you can rely on helps assuage anxiety and will set you up for success. Know that this can take time to figure out, and that it might look different for each class. You might also have to learn the hard way by realizing what doesn’t work for you as you go along. That’s all part of the process.

It’s okay to stumble over the first hurdle

As mentioned above, finding success might initially take time. Your first exam might suck. Brush it off and keep going. At the risk of using another cliché, it really is true that one bad exam or paper or whatever else neither defines you nor will define your academic experience at WashU (that’s why some classes let you drop an exam!). Reflect on why things didn’t go well and what you can do to fix it for next time. Then move on.

Take your mental health seriously

Okay, yes, another cliché, but this matters more than anything. If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen, or at least scale things back. It is normal to feel some burnout, but please monitor how you are doing and take action if you feel you are slipping. Academics at a place like WashU put a lot of pressure on students, so being mindful of how that might be affecting you is paramount. Just like how coming to college is an opportunity to learn how you learn and figure out what career you want to pursue, it is also an opportunity to learn how to take care of yourself and your friends. WashU offers a number of mental health resources, like free therapy services, mental health emergency support, and drop-in counseling. You can learn more about offerings on the website for the Center for Counseling & Psychological Services.

Miscellaneous

Here are some quick-fire pieces of advice and information from my experience that might help you with WashU academics:

Get organized. Using a scheduling app (or book, if you’re old-school) is super helpful for keeping track of classes, meetings, and homework. My personal favorite is Google Calendar.

Read the syllabus. Understanding the syllabus helps you understand the class. For example, they often offer insight into your professor’s teaching style, which does differ between classes. The syllabus also gives you a sense of timing and what you will learn that semester. I recommend reading the syllabus before going to the first class.

Space out your studying. Schedule out what you want to accomplish and when, and it can make a lot of work feel much more manageable. If I want to review, say, nine lectures for an exam, I might do three a day in the week leading up to the exam instead of cramming it all in right before. 

College is not only academics. Even at WashU. There is life to be lived outside of your schoolwork. Even though my best advice is to try not to let schoolwork feel like a chore, it still is work and you still need a break sometimes. Enjoy what WashU and St. Louis have to offer (which many of the articles in this magazine will show you)!