Answering questions at Boston College O’Neill Library
Be gentle with yourself. Try and control the things you can (food, sleep, physical comfort). Try and do your work ahead, in small chunks, so you don’t have deadline pressure coinciding with a bad day. The best you can do on any given day is still the best you can do, and that’s all anyone can ask.
I am sorry that one of our staff made you feel bad for being in the library late at night. Please know that we are happy that you come to the library, and will do everything we can to make you feel welcomed! Normally, the library opens 24/5. On Fridays and Saturdays, the library closes at 10:00 pm, but the first floor remains open until 2:00 am. Please note that these hours change during holidays, summer session and exam periods. For more information, please visit https://libguides.bc.edu/oneill/hours.
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Study hard, but also study effectively. If you are in danger of failing, please speak directly to your professor (at office hours or schedule a time with them as they specify on the course syllabus), and seek out peer tutoring at the Connors Family Learning Center (bit.ly/BC-connors) right now; tutoring ends May 2. Best of luck; you can do this!
If you mean how do you complete the work in order to graduate, it’s simple but not easy: work hard, maintain focus, complete all the requirements. Talk to your advisor & professors often. If you mean what are the practical details of graduation, aka commencement, they are here: bit.ly/bc-commencement. Good luck, and hope to see you in your cap & gown!
IDK, reasons can vary widely. Senioritis? Spring Fever? Overwhelmed? Burnout? I wish you luck identifying the cause(s), so you can address the root problem. I recommend a visit to the Connors Family Learning Center (CFLC), where an academic coach can help you figure out what’s going on. bit.ly/BC-connors
Group projects are a hassle in a setting like college where individual performance is emphasized so heavily. However, they are good training for the real world where you will almost never be individually responsible for a project. For most of your career, you will succeed and fail on the merits of not just yourself, but of your team. Whether you are the leader of that team or a contributor, the team is what will get it done. To put it in perspective: after your first 12 months out of college, no one will care what your GPA was. But for the rest of your career you will be judged on how good a team member you are.
Study hard but don’t procrastinate and pull an all-nighter. Get a lot of sleep the night before, and give yourself time to relax and eat a healthy brunch before your exams that will keep you full for a few hours (I’ve heard eggs are good for that!). Above all, stay calm and remember that you have a whole community here to support you and cheer you on. Good luck! The Wall is rooting for you.
I don’t know why. As they say, you can’t change people. But you have recognized that you don’t like their behavior. My suggestion is to take this window as a learning experience, and file it away as an example of how you will not treat people.
If you must work in a noisy environment, the O’Neill circulation desk has earplugs; you might also be able to mask sound with music via earbuds or noise-cancelling headphones, which are expensive but really work. People have different needs for work environments, and BC Libraries attempts to cater to as many needs as it can. There are certain areas that are set aside for quiet work such as O’Neill 4th & 5th floors. Take a look at these descriptions: bit.ly/BC-oneill-spaces. Other libraries also have quiet spaces, such as Gargan Hall in Bapst, & many spaces in the Theology & Ministry Library.
I’m very sorry you’re struggling and worried. Touch base with your academic advisor for general advice about your GPA and options, and get lots of tutoring help from the Connors Family Learning Center (bit.ly/BC-connors). I’m cheering for you.
It’s a highly competitive process, with an acceptance rate in the single digits. There is no guaranteed way to be accepted. Your grades and test scores are what they are, so the parts you can work on include making sure your resume or list of activities is comprehensive, getting the best recommendations you can, and writing a truly remarkable personal statement. I wish you the best of luck! (But will miss you if you go.)
Practice, practice, practice! Set the bar high as you study; in a sense, give yourself the chem test over and over before the actual test. And get help, which you can find in the Connors Family Learning Center in the form of tutors: bit.ly/BC-connors
The senioritis struggle can be so real for a lot of students. You’re so close to the end of your time in college and while you know it’s important to study and finish strong, you want to spend as much time as you can with your friends, doing activities that you may not be able to do when you leave. Try to enjoy the rest of your time here but remember that you and your friends can have a great time studying in O’Neill!
I’ll have my assistants look into this. In the meantime, you could contact the Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS): bc.edu/offices/oiss.
I can understand that. There are so many exciting things to do around here, and assignments can seem tedious in comparison. I’d say, keep the goal (learning? grades? graduation?) in sight, and maybe set up a system of small rewards for getting chunks of the work done.
I’m pulling for you to crank it out! Think little rewards (a walk, a fancy coffee, that show you love) once you hit benchmarks, and polish it off!
Here are details, assuming you mean Columbia in NY (bit.ly/ColumbiaTransfer). If you mean Columbia in Chicago, then bit.ly/ColumbiaChicagoTransfer. Info for Columbia College in Missouri: bit.ly/ColumbiaMoTransfer There are others – let me know if you need more info. I would also check in with your Academic Advisor.
Everyone’s most effective approach is a little different, so there’s a lot of advice available. The Wall suggests running a few simple experiments. 1) Some people need absolute quiet to focus, others like some background hum. Try doing the opposite of what you usually do for a bit and see if it’s better. 2) Some people cram immediately before exams, others space it out in smaller chunks thorugh the semester. Most people have done the first; try the second if you haven’t. 3) Take care of your body and mind. It’s really hard to focus if you’re hungry, or falling asleep, or stressed out. You can also talk to my friends at the Connors Family Learning Center down one floor–they can get you set up with an academic coach to give you more detailed advice. http://bit.ly/BC-connors
The reality is that many if not most people will change careers, sometimes multiple times. It’s not a final decision. I’d check in with the Career Center (bit.ly/BC-career) for some validation of your career choice. There will always be “what ifs”. Even I wonder once in a while if I should have studied to be a memorial wall, like my amazing cousin, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, but I know that I have a valuable role to play here at BC doing my answering.
After your class year and your current class schedule are taken into account by the system, it’s the luck of the draw. See bit.ly/BCRegSched for details, and I wish you all the best in getting classes that will work for you.
