Bouncing back for January: how to succeed despite past academic challenges
The beginning of a new winter term can feel like a welcome fresh start or a daunting challenge for others. Especially your fall term was rough, you might be feeling discouraged this January. Maybe you did not get the grades you needed in some of your classes or are rethinking your academic goals. These kinds of difficulties are entirely common, which is why the University of Manitoba offers resources to help you bounce back!
Charge Ahead program
The Charge Ahead program is designed to support students facing roadblocks in their academic journey. Book a one-to-one consultation with a Charge Ahead mentor, an experienced upper-year undergraduate or graduate student who understands the challenges you’re experiencing. Together, you’ll reflect on your academic journey and develop an actionable plan to move forward. Learn more by visiting the Charge Ahead program page.
Academic advising
Every student benefits from meeting with an academic advisor throughout their degree program, even if they feel confident in their planning and progress. If you feel like you have fallen off track, that is even more reason to book an appointment. The academic advising webpage will help you find the specialized advisor for you, because there are a variety of different advising offices for different students’ needs. Most students can refer to the advising office for their school or faculty, but there are also specialised advisors for Indigenous, international, first year, graduate, and transfer/advanced degree students.
Advisors can review your academic history and help you figure out a new plan with what courses to take or resources to help you succeed in those courses. They aim to get a holistic sense of your experiences and goals to formulate a plan that works for you. In your appointment, you can talk about short-term goals, like succeeding in a class, or long-term goals, like working towards your future academic and career aspirations. Even if it seems that way, you are never out of options, and an advisor can show you what those options are.
Career Services
For more career-specific help, Career Services is also available to all students! Similarly to academic advisors, career consultants aim to understand your unique academic and career journey to give you personalised advice on how to get where you want to go (or even to figure out where you want to go in the first place). Career services can help you takes steps towards your future career goals now through your academics, as well as connecting you with people and resources to start building the skills and networks to develop the foundations of your career now. The Career Services site has all the information about the different services and programs you can take advantage of.
UM Achieve
UM Achieve is a simple digital tool that helps you track your degree progress. You can run a degree audit, which will review your course history to show you what requirements you have completed and what remains to be done for a particular degree program. As well as reviewing your current degree of choice, you can run a “What-If Audit” to see how your current credits may apply to another degree program if you choose to switch (staying flexible throughout your degree and keeping your mind open to all your options is always a good idea). You can find UM Achieve through your New Aurora dashboard. If you look at your audit and are not sure how to meet the requirements you see, that is a perfect time to make an appointment with an advisor.
Academic Learning Centre
The Academic Learning Centre (ALC) is a treasure trove of in-person services and online resources, with the singular goal of helping you succeed in your academics. For one-to-one help, you can book an appointment with a tutor. Tutors can help you understand course content or help with your writing or study skills. Specialised tutoring services are even available for graduate students and students with English as an additional language. For group-based programs, the ALC can connect you with group study sessions and academic skills workshops. There are even resources you can access at any time online, including “tip sheets” and video workshops. This content covers nearly all the major areas you need to succeed, from specific tasks like note taking to broad skills like time management. You can find more information about all of the services described here on the ALC’s website.
Just reach out
Finally, one of the best ways to keep your head above water when you feel lost in your academic journey is to reach out and connect with the members of your community at UM. For instance, you can talk to your instructors about any problems you are experiencing in your class, or you could even talk to the head of your program of study for broader questions about whether the program is right for you. Getting in touch with your peers is always smart, too. You will probably find that your classmates have encountered many of the same challenges as you, so they may be able to offer advice, or you can tackle the problem together. If you connect with your faculty or department’s student groups, you might even discover additional academic resources offered by your peers.
If you are trying to bounce back for this winter term, you do not have to face any challenges alone. Each of the resources described above is available to University of Manitoba students free of charge, and the staff and students involved want students to take advantage of these opportunities to help them succeed. Best wishes for the new year and new term, Bisons!