Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Third week

It has certainly been a whirlwind of classes for me so far, and it’s only the third week of Winter Semester. I should have expected this, though, seeing as I’m enrolled in a capstone class; that in particular will definitely make for a challenging semester. But it isn’t just classes on my mind; I’ve been thinking an awful lot about internship opportunities, particularly for this coming summer. On the bright side, AMA as well as a lot of my current professors will likely serve really well in networking, so I think as long as I get moving I shouldn’t have a problem.

It’s also pretty fortunate that, despite a pretty heavy work load, I’ve managed to stay on top of my gym habits. Sort of. I’ve been making it in at least three times a week, and my goal is four times. I also say “sort of” because I should be training for the River Bank Run, but the truth is that I haven’t been doing very much so far in the way of long distance. Still, I can’t help but be reminded of how great it is to have a free pass to GVSU’s gym, especially when I actually make use of it. On the downside, I haven’t been to the pool since Fall Semester, and it would definitely be good to get a little swimming in each week.

Aside from that, I’m not entirely sure what to write about today. It’s been quite busy for me; I’ve had mostly class work on my mind, and I’m pretty sure you guys don’t want to hear the details of my MGT 495 exam. That being said, if anyone has a subject that they want to hear a little bit about, let me know. Even if it’s something outside of my knowledge, I wouldn’t say no to a little admissions research project.

-Kyle

Friday, January 15, 2010

Winter Semester

For anyone who read my comment last week about being happy to be back to doing something and said “you’ll regret saying that,” congratulations, you called it. It’s Friday of the first week of the semester and wow, this is going to be tough. Which is a good thing; I’ll complain all day long about extra class work and so forth, but anyone who knows me has figured out by now that I like a good challenge, especially academically. This will (hopefully) be a very fulfilling semester.

It’s not like I really have much to complain about, anyway. Earlier this week I stopped by for an advising appointment and had a degree evaluation done, and it’s looking as though I’m in for some smooth sailing. The degree evaluation filled me in on a number of different things, namely those classes that I hadn’t yet completed, what I have completed thus far and where in my major it applies, as well as a “what if” analysis, for students thinking about changing their major. It goes pretty far in depth, though. Aside from the breakdown of general education courses, courses applied to majors, or courses for a theme, a degree analysis will also give you other helpful insights, such as which course will allow you to “double-dip” (meaning apply a single course to two different requirements. In this case, I think I had a Sociology class that took care of two categories for me). To be honest, though, most of the help doesn’t come from the analysis itself but from the interpretation of the advisor. The advising staff is great, they really know how to get all the information you need across to you in a really understandable manner. I tell most of my tours that one of the first things a new student on campus should do is get to know their academic advisor.

All that said, it has been quite a busy day, at the end of a very busy week, a week that is notably not over with (we have a scholarship competition tomorrow). It would seem that now is a pretty convenient time to sign out, so let me know if you’ve got any questions,

-Kyle

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

First post of the decade

First post of the decade

As great as breaks are, I’m pretty happy to be back to doing something. A week and a half of nothing is very restful, but I think the term “crippling boredom” may have been applicable at certain points throughout the holiday.

On a related note, I hope that that I’m not the first to wish you guys a happy new year, seeing as it is 5 days late here, but I do hope everybody had a safe and enjoyable holiday season this year. With that in mind, I do have some bad news: Our scholarship deadline has passes. December 31 is the deadline on a couple of our scholarships, the awards of excellence in particular. That doesn’t mean that financial aid isn’t available anymore, and it doesn’t mean that you can’t get scholarships, it just means that there are a few scholarships and scholarship competitions for which you can’t apply. On the bright side, if you applied and sent in ACT scores by December 31, you may be eligible to receive some awards, so keep an eye on the mail.

Another thing to keep an eye on, which is coincidentally also money related, is FAFSA. In all fairness, it’s been quite a while since I’ve had to worry about this, but if I recall correctly it’s early to mid winter when that information has to be filed (I think March 1 is the priority deadline, but I’m definitely not the guy to ask on that).

All business stuff aside, it’s tough to believe that we’re in a new decade. I can remember quite a few moments from the last ten years pretty vividly, as far back as middle school and as recent as the last three years here on campus. I’m pretty excited to keep moving forward, but if anybody asked me to, I wouldn’t hesitate to do most of it over again. And yes, I would still choose to come to Grand Valley, hands down.

That’s about it today, so don’t hesitate to ask questions. I know I said I probably couldn’t answer FAFSA stuff, but ask anyway if you’ve got a concern, and I’ll be sure to ask around myself.

-Kyle