Making the most of your time as a Viking

By: Sam Harrigan

Jr. Web Editor 

College can be difficult when you first start. You may not know anybody on campus or you may be living away from home for the first time. 

Here are a few tips from a returning student to help new students adjust easier!

Look for opportunities

The campus is full of a wide variety of opportunities. Finding an extracurricular activity is a great way to take advantage of this.

Looking for a job? The Center for Careers and Transfers can help you find a job on or off campus. From employment listings to mock interviews, they are trained to help find a placement to fit your strengths.

Clubs are also an amazing way to get involved and meet people with similar interests as you! With over 50 clubs and organizations, there’s no shortage of places for self-expression and networking.

If you do not see a club that catches your eye, you can make a new club by finding an advisor and eight other students that are interested. Student Activities will then register your club.

Use our student offices

There are offices all around campus. Many of them serve students directly.

At Student Activities you can learn about what is going on around campus and get tickets to go on day trips or Regal Cinema tickets. 

The Wellness Center is our college health office, where students can get help with both their mental and physical health. The Wellness Center also has yoga! 

There are all kinds of resources in the library as well. The Writing and Research Center can help with all parts of a research project or paper for class. 

There is also the Learning Assistance Center where you can get help in math. Department tutors are also available to help in other areas of your studies.

Use Rate My Professor

Before you know it, you will have to pick classes for the next semester. 

Everybody has a favorite kind of teacher, so use Rate My Professor to make sure you have a teacher that works for your learning style. 

Some professors use a lot of technology and many ask you to write papers. If that’s not how you learn it might be better to have a teacher who assigns projects and group work instead.

Pay attention to dates! 

There are a few very important dates to pay attention to every semester. The most important of these is the Add/Drop date. 

There is one full week after classes start where students can add or drop a class without penalty. For the Spring 2020 semester that date was January 27 so keep that in mind for next semester! 

If you ever realize throughout the semester that a class is not right for you there is an option to withdraw from it. The last day that can happen this semester is April 17. If the withdrawal is prior to February 10 you can get back a portion of what you paid for that class. 

For more information and more dates please visit the Hudson Valley Community College website and the Spring 2020 registration calendar.