Academics

Advice from former transfer students:

• Make going to office hours part of your daily schedule.

• Just be ready for a change. Make sure you have good study habits or it will really make you fall behind.

• Plan your courses carefully and make sure you don’t get stuck taking an extra semester to graduate.

• Michigan is harder. Michigan is better. You are going to have to work harder, but the rewards are exponentially greater.

• Don’t let the super smart people make you feel stupid; they might not be as smart as they seem, and you are far smarter than you think.

• The transition will be hard at first because while the work is not necessarily harder, there is more of it. You have to learn what homework is the top priority and attend to it.

• Regardless of how good your study, note taking, and organization skills are, they can be better, and it would be beneficial to perfect them from the beginning of your education at U-M.

• Be prepared to be humbled and surprised by the difficulty.

• The first semester is rough, but it will get much better! Have patience and persevere. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and don’t be intimidated by the way others are talking in your class.

• At Michigan, studying is your life, and you have to focus on just that. It takes a large portion of your time.

• If you’re used to working hard, this will be easy.

• While the material is not necessarily harder [at Michigan], the classes move along much faster; there is much more reading involved, and tests are designed to rigorously test your knowledge rather than just test the basics.

• I’ve adapted my study habits. I have explored new ways to study that I did not have to try before. Michigan has great academic support in terms of Graduate Student Instructors’ availability to assist, tutors are readily available, and all of my professors at Michigan have made themselves available through email and one-on-one assistance. I was very surprised to find professors approachable, even in very large classes.

• Always ask your teachers what they expect of you.

• Start your work early because if you leave it until the last minute, you’ll have a heart attack by the end of the semester.

• Take classes that interest you. I did and ended up deciding to change my major. I am very happy with the decision.

• Get involved in extra-curricular activities specifically related to your major as soon as possible.

• Be ready to involve yourself more into reading the text and not relying as fully on your notes.

• At my community college it was never necessary to meet with my teachers outside of class, but at U-M, I find going to office hours invaluable. It helps you to better understand the teacher’s expectations but also to get to know them better.

• Community college professors tend to ‘spoon feed’ information to students. U of M professors do not. As a music school student, I was in a state of shock. My first week covered everything I had learned in community college over the past two years!

• Coming from a community college . . . you really need to stay on top of your school work, and it’s a different learning experience. The University of Michigan has a lot of competition in classes, and in general more people, and sometimes it can be overwhelming.

• My previous school had a decent amount of homework, but when I came here, all I do is homework. I barely get enough sleep.

• The AAEL (Art, Architecture, and Engineering Library) is 24/7 and there is always a computer available. All nighters are best at this library.

• The Hatcher Graduate Library doesn’t mean “Grad only”, so if you want to get some quality studying done, you don’t have to go to the Undergraduate Library. Hatcher has nice little study rooms. There is also a big reference room on the second floor.

• The school is very competitive and some professors expect students to already have a lot of knowledge of what classes they are taking.