Things I Wish I Had Known

Hi ladies! My name is April Davis and I am going to be a mentor for WEPO ’11. I will be a senior in mechanical engineering. Currently, I am working at an internship with GE Healthcare in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Go Pack!). My project is working on the x-ray tubes that go into CT machines and helping with a new prototype. (I get to build parts for it – it’s pretty sweet!)

So I thought I’d write about things I wish I had known as a first-year student/engineer.

• How to study. In high school, I never had to study for tests or quizzes since my teachers covered the topics for days and so deeply. When I got to college, I thought it would be the same; but it wasn’t, and that was a big wake-up for me. I had to learn that just sitting and listening to the information doesn’t cut it for me. My best learning strategy is doing as many practice problems as I possibly can. Many professors offer past exams as a tool to help you, and many mentors and rovers also have saved their work for you to look at.
• You CAN join a major-related club even if you aren’t yet in the major. When I was a first-year, it took me a while to realize that I could join a bunch of different engineering groups even though I wasn’t taking any engineering classes. It’s a really great way to connect to peers in your major. These people all know what you are going through and are willing to help (many of them have an upperclassmen mentoring program as well). Also, many of these clubs compete in engineering competitions which looks great on a resume. For example, I am in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and am part of the Rube Goldberg team (check out our video from this past year).

• SLEEP! Sleeping is directly related to how you perform in classes. You aren’t around your parents anymore, so no one is going to be telling you to go to bed at a certain time or making sure you wake up and go to class. Likewise, no one will be telling you that the 3 hours of sleep you are getting because of your procrastination is bad for you. Sleep gives your body a chance to heal itself and recharge your batteries. If you are a morning person and your roommate is a night owl, you may have to agree to do your best to stay out of the room when the other is sleeping. My roommate and I worked out an agreement where if she was asleep, I would hang out in a friend’s room or study in the library and vice versa. Making sure that you get between 6-8 hours of sleep every night is the key to not falling asleep in class and thus, better grades.
• You don’t have to sit in your room bored. EVER. You are lucky enough to be going to a school with 26 campuses and there is something to do at every single one of them. If you feel alone, go out and meet one of the 80,000 other people who are proud to call themselves Penn Staters. If you are alone on a Friday night because your roommate is going out with friends/her boyfriend, remember that you aren’t the only one. A simple thing such as opening your door or going to your RA’s (sometimes cheesy) activities can help you meet people to hang out with and it can act as a nice study break too.
• So as I’m winding down my time left at PSU and crossing things off my bucket list, I encourage you to make one as well! And if you ever need help crossing things off, I’d be more than happy to lend my services.