Answering questions at Boston College O’Neill Library
The BC Libraries do offer ebooks. It sounds as though you are a looking for books through OverDrive, since you mentioned the Libby app and the easiest way to browse these books is to go to our OverDrive site (bc.overdrive.com). There you will find lots of ebooks and audiobooks too. Happy reading!
Ask Professor Yuan Yin. Really. It’s that easy!
The Woods College of Advancing Studies (bit.ly/BC-Woods) is part of BC. It offers 13 undergraduate majors, 5 graduate programs, and 9 professional studies certificate programs. It is designed for students who have to work full time or have other daytime commitments. The courses are as rigorous as any others at BC (many of the professors also teach regular graduate and undergraduate courses.) Notable alumnus: Boston Mayor Marty Walsh.
Will your head explode if I told you this was a good thing? College is the time to sort things out, and the process you’re going through is part of you becoming the person you are meant to be. it’s not always linear, and you may change your mind; your major is not your career – it’s not even very likely your first job; and there are probably many majors that would work out fine for you. Major advice from the Advising Center (bit.ly/AdvisingCtrMajors); from the Career Center (bit.ly/CareerCtrMajors). Best wishes!
Break big goals like that down into small, achievable goals (such as “will draft 3 pages of history paper today”) and focus on them. Intrinsic interest in the subject of study is also important: earning a 4.0 is already like climbing a mountain; if you’re not interested, it’s like climbing a mountain when you’d rather be sailing. Keep in mind, too, that there are many other avenues to success (and other kinds of success) to be had in college: making and keeping long-term friends, for instance, who can help support you throughout the long, successful life in store for you.
Ambitious! I believe in you! You’ll have to be parsimonious with your time and attention (put strict limits on social media, tv, and games). You may also want to let friends and family know you might not be as available as usual. Go! Go! Go!
Good for you! Make a preemptive strike against bad grades, and try tutoring at the Connors Family Learning Center (bit.ly/BC-connors) before you get to the point where you’re struggling. Best wishes for a productive semester.
Discipline is all about getting yourself to do things you resist doing, and/or not to do things you really want to do. So, one could rephrase the question: How do I get myself to do things I don’t want to do, and not to do things I want to do? There’s a recognition implicit in these questions that what we want to do and what we really ought to do are different. So, the first thing you need to do is define your wants and oughts, and perhaps rank them. Which wants are getting in the way of which oughts? It might help also to read what psychologists have learned about deferred gratification. The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control, by Walter Mischel (BF632 .M57 2014) is a good place to begin.
