.png)
Biology at Ryerson University
Michelle (Year 2)
phamthanhmichelle@gmail.com
@michellethuyy
What did you wish you knew before going to your university? What made you choose this institution over all others? What are advantages and disadvantages of your institution or campus? List any advice for incoming first-year students about your university.Â
I chose Ryerson because I wanted to go somewhere that would be downtown Toronto, or at least far away from my family to give myself a sense of independence. The downtown life is amazing, and really allowed me to grow my social skills with the other individuals here. The only disadvantage I have is that the commute is expensive and time-consuming (Go Transit).Â
What did you wish you knew before choosing your specific program? What are the advantages and disadvantages of your program? List any advice for incoming first-year students about your program of study.
I wish that I knew what kind of career I would be really going into after my program before I entered it. I also wish I knew how information-heavy the material I had to study and learn was, and about effective ways to take notes that were time-friendly and easy to maintain.Â
What was your favourite university experience?Â
The food! Everywhere you turn there is always a new place to eat and try out.Â
What was your least favourite university experience?
Having a bad professor for a course that I didn’t know anything about really sucked because I ended up having to teach myself a lot of the material. However, even then, it was difficult to do so, since I didn’t really know where to start or begin. I wish that I knew and took advantage of the student study groups that were offered for certain first-year courses.
What is the hardest part about your program and what were the steps that you took to overcome any difficulties?
Walking out of a midterm thinking I failed or getting my transcript back to see that my marks had dropped compared to what I had in high-school. However, it was because of this that I stepped back up in my game.
If you were able to take electives, what was your favourite elective? If you were not able to take electives, what was your favourite course and why?
Biology I and II (BLG 143, BLG 143). I found that the professors for these courses were very nice and informative and really cared to make the material of the course interesting. I also enjoyed my Chemistry class (CHY 113), because the professor taught the course in a way where everyone could understand, even beginners.