The University of Blog

I took a ton of AP classes while I was in high school and it really helped. That is because of Mizzou’s application of the AP scores to fulfill requirements. If you are in high school and deciding whether or not to take the AP exam at the end of the year, do it! Yes it is expensive, but it is so worth it. The test costs about $82, but if it gets you out of English 1000 or another class, it could equate to hundreds of dollars. If you take the class, take the test. It seems silly to put yourself through all the work of taking a demanding course when you could get something really good in the end.

Since I applied early enough last semester I get to park in Mark Twain lot. This is quite exciting! I did not use my car very much last semester. Having a car is a good idea, but it is not always necessary. Columbia has a lot of pockets of civilization to find and drive to. It is true there will always be people who are able to take people to Walmart or to the movies, but it is nice not to rely on other people all the time.

When I parked far away, if I really needed to go somewhere and no one could drive me, I would simply walk to my car. It was an inconvenience, but having the option of a car is nice. However, when I was riding my bike in the rain from the Student Health Center with Strep Throat, I was annoyed to say the least. Oh the upside, when I was parked in a garage, with the major snow we had, I was the only one who could drive out. So there are ups and downs to both. However, to celebrate my newfound close parking space, I went to Walgreens by myself! Who know where I will drive next.

The parking pass dates for next year have been released. Renewal for students living in the residence halls and commuting is assigned according to class rank. For new students, April 30 is the date to remember. The online application, that takes about five minutes, is available online now.

Today I learned what my schedule would be like on Monday and Wednesday. In one word, it will be BUSY. I went to my Stat class at 9, Spanish Conversation at at 10 and Modern World at 11. My spanish class is taught by a real spanish speaker (from Spain). I’ve never had that before! Also, I cannot wait for my Modern World– have a lot of reading, but we get to have a lecture on Hitchcock

After my morning classes, I grabbed lunch and went back to Conservation Hall (the furthest from Mark Twain) for Psychology. I had an hour between that an my next class so I TRIED to get a book. But buying anything from the bookstore is extremely difficult at the beginning of the semester. The lines seem to go on forever. The best time to go is late at night (bookstore is open until 7 p.m.). The last class I have is Cross Cultural Journalism at 4 p.m so I’m done at 5:15. BUSY day to say the least. Goodness.

They are giving away free coffee outside of Shakes (304 S. Ninth Street). You have to answer a question or tell a fact about Douwe Egerton Coffee. They now serve this gormet coffee and it super- great. So get out of the cold (google this type of coffee first) and enjoy!

I went to my first class of the new semester: Principles of American Journalism. This class covers media ethics, legality, the role of the journalist, and much more. Basically, the class will cover the structure of Journalism and what News is. It is a big lecture hall class with hundreds of journalism students (every journalism student has to take it).

Welcome back students! I hope that classes are going well for you so far. My schedule seems a little unbalanced. I have 5 classes on Monday and Wednesday and 1 on Tuesday and Thursday. Goodness. We’ll see. It will be a challenging semester, but hopefully worth it.

Be careful as you are heading back to Mizzou. It is supposed to snow Saturday Night until Sunday Afternoon. We don’t start until Tuesday so be safe. (This post might be just an excuse to show my pretty snow-covered Mizzou pics but still, drive carefully )

Ellis library is a nice place to study to get away from massive distractions. I know that if I am at my desk between my computer and TV, then I am not as dedicated to study. During finals week the library is really crowded, but it still is a nice place to be. There are plenty of comfy chairs plus tables for group work. The library also has free wifi so it is possible to work on your laptop there.

If you cannot study around other people, head up a floor to the stacks. Here, they have individual study desks and it is deathly quiet. If you are distracted easily, this is not a bad place to be. I can’t stand the deathly silence, but it woks for a lot of dedicated students.

Walking through the beautiful campus past the quad with the columns, it reaffirms my decision to attend Mizzou. However there is a rich history among the beautiful architecture. Fun traditions to note about the campus:

Want to marry an engineer? If you cross the stone Shamrock outside of the Engineering building East ensures that you will marry an engineer.

If you walk across the stone bridge in Peace Park with a sweetheart, it is destined that you will marry that person. Woo hoo!!

Memorial Union was constructed as a tribute to the students who died in WWI. The second portion was dedicated after WWII. Thus, students take their hat off and speak quietly when walking underneath the tower.

Also, while students walk under the archway of the journalism department, students either whisper or are silent. The story is that while a couple of students were walking under the archway, they discussed how they cheated on their exams, AND a teacher above them heard and flunked them.

Yes the school is very large (28,000 students from every state and 100 countries), but still Mizzou is very manageable It is easier to make a big school smaller but it is impossible to make a small school bigger. One way that the school is made smaller is to participate and to get involved. There are TONS of opportunities to get involved.

One way students get involved is participating in clubs. The Missouri Students Association (MSA) is the student governing board of the University. Meetings are held at least once a week. MSA decides upon common ordinances as well as fun things for students to do.

Almost every Friday night from 8-12, MSA hosts all night events. Events include craft night, spa night, and room decorating night. I have been to several of these, but they have been somewhat disappointing with lots of lines and sparse materials. They do include free pizza from Shakespeare’s. This is definitely a highlight of these Events.

The biggest transition from high school is how much free time there is. High school keeps students occupied from 8 until 3 every day, but in college, this isn’t true. You pick your own classes and especially the times for the classes. This is great and last semester none of my classes started before 11 a.m. If you aren’t a morning person, avoid morning classes. It’s that simple, but it leads to lots of extra time.

How to use this time becomes the new question. Great ideas are spending it productively. But how do you do that? Working out for a little each day is a good idea. Also, doing homework early and getting it out of the way will lead to more time watching movies or hanging out in the night. The biggest thing to remember is doing everything early and that way no cram sessions or freak out sessions are not necessary. It freed up a lot of time for me when I didn’t leave everything until the last minute. Finding ways to use that time productively will save a lot of headaches in the future.