You’ve done well in or aced high school and/or college and now you’ve decided to pursue higher education. What are you to expect now that you’re in the bigger academic leagues?

Most students will be coming directly from high schools or CEGEP, but some of them are transfer students or have already completed a first degree.

University is different from high school. In high school, you are given courses to take and may have one or two electives. Professors will chase after you or look out for you. They will send reminders of deadlines and be more lenient for homework and deadlines. It’s a very structured place.

In university, this is different. You often don’t have an assigned professor. Professors will not chase after you and may or may not send reminders for deadlines. They expect that you submit assignments, sometimes without any reminders at all. You are charged with building your own schedule for the entirety of your degree and nobody is there to hold your hand to remind which courses you should or have to register for. Although your program advisor can help with this planning. 

The professors will give you a course syllabus, or as I like to refer to it as the “course bible“. Read it closely and keep it safe. All the information required to succeed in a specific course is within this document. 

The Major, Minor, Specialization, Honours, and Elective Groups

The major program is a standard degree program. It gives a good distribution and depth of a particular field of study. 

The minor is a sub-specialization that allows you to get your feet wet and get a basic understanding of a field without having to take the entire program. Some minors can complement majors. 

The specialization is a more focused study into specific aspects of a field. For instance, the psychology program offers a specialization in behavioral neuroscience. Behavioral neuroscience is a sub-discipline of psychology and you focus in on this sub-discipline.  

The honours program is an intensive program that shows your dedication to the particular field of study. It can involve a research project, paper, or thesis depending on the program. It’s often a required degree for post-graduate work.  

An elective group is a themed set of courses you can add to any degree program to satisfy the requirements for a degree. All degrees require courses to be taken outside your program, so an elective pack can be used for this purpose. Think of it like a minor of sorts, but isn’t specific to one academic program. It’s more topic-related than academic domain-related and is much more flexible. For instance, you could take a group of courses related to sustainability or success in the workplace.

The following video gives a basic understanding of these program options:

To-do for New Students

Concordia offers a welcome guide for new students which includes information on your application, registering for courses, orientation, paying tuition, and more. 

See Concordia’s video on enrolling in courses for Arts and Science students. All new Arts and Science students need to sign up for an advising session to be able to enroll in courses.

See also the video on orientation events for new students. Note that this video was released last year and may be out of date (especially the international student delayed arrival). Orientation events are optional and include campus tours, social mixers, and informational events. Concordia’s campuses are big, with lots of locations and services, so it’s a good idea to get to know some of these places.

Assistance for New Students

The Student Success Center offers all the tools a student needs to succeed. They offer writing assistance, workshops, mentors, tutors, and study group sessions. They also have a lot of handouts for success in writing, studying, and time management.

You might also be interested in checking out Concordia’s FutureBound program. The FutureBound program offers workshops on developing practical soft skills which are transferable to the workplace. If you take a certain number of workshops in any one category in a year, you also get a certificate proving you have skills in said area.  

Tips for Success

Successful university students must learn good time management, organizational, and study skills. The University space is a lot more self-driven, and you must learn to do a lot of things on your own. While one can earn a degree by only attending lectures and taking notes, the most successful students are well organized. They learn their strengths and weaknesses and learn to adapt them to their study style. 

The Student Success Center offers a lot of services and resources for student success.  

Program Advisor

All Concordia programs have a program advisor. They may be titled as the “Undergraduate Program Director” (UPD). You can email them with concerns and they will schedule a meeting time with you if you’d like to go over any questions or need help planning your courses. 

For philosophy, the UPD changes annually and will be listed on the contact page of the philosophy department site. The email to reach them is always the same. 

The Student Experience: A Short Synopsis

After enrolling for courses, you will have your schedule for the upcoming semester.

Depending on how many courses you enrolled for, you will either be part time (less than 12 credits) or full time (12-15 credits). You will have enrolled in a variety of courses, most of them pertaining to your main program of study.

These courses will either be on eConcordia (virtual), blended, or in person. eConcordia courses are regular offerings that are fully online. They may include readings and short video lessons. Concordia has shifted away from remote courses given during the 2020-2022 pandemic, but has given rise to a new form of learning called ‘blended’ courses—courses with about a third of the course content done remotely.

Blended courses are a mix of remote and in-person. Students might only attend classes on campus every second week, and be given a week in between to do their readings, self-study, and coursework. In-person courses will require students to come onto campus once or twice a week to attend a lecture given by a professor. Some courses will have mandatory attendance and participation grades.

You may have courses on every day of the week, or you may have some days where you don’t have any courses at all. This is normal. It’s up to you to design your own schedule and what works best for you! For instance, some people like to have short daily lectures, while others want to take all their courses on the same day and have many days to focus on self-study. Find what works for you.

There’s two Concordia campuses, so make sure that you’re aware of which campus your class is at. The SGW and Loyola campuses are a 35 minute bus drive apart. Concordia offers a free shuttle bus between campuses.

As for courses, you will be given a syllabus at the beginning of the term detailing all the dates for expected readings, assignments, tests, and exams. It will also detail what’s expected of a student. In general, you will have readings to do before a lecture and the professor will lecture on the readings and/or topics of the reading. You will have one or more midterm examinations throughout the term, papers, short assignments, and/or a final. The final may be written on campus or it may be a take-home essay or project, depending on the course.

Continue to “What To Expect as a Philosophy Student“

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