Sunday, December 30, 2012

From ILC Alum Connor Miller


Hello fellow ILCers!

First of all I am very proud of all of you for being part of the Ivy League Connection. I know that without this program my life would have been very different than it is right now. I am incredibly thankful for all the opportunities the program provided me, and as a result I now go to Sarah Lawrence College in Bonxville, New York.

My college experience is a little different from what you would experience anywhere else in the country. Here's the lowdown on my school: 
  • Student population consists of about 1400 students.
  • There are no required courses
  • Most classes are typically no bigger than 15 students.
  • We typically do independent research projects instead of exams.
  • We have incredibly talented professors (our faculty was ranked #1 in the nation by the Princeton Review).

The majority of my workload consists of a lot of reading and writing, all the time.

When I first came to Sarah Lawrence, I was afraid that I didn't belong there. I felt like a public-high school education hadn't prepared me to function in this college. I felt inadequate, out of place, and at times I wanted to go home. At one point, I was panicking. I had several twenty-page papers to write, on top of my class readings and my job, so I went to one of my professors and said, "I am freaking out."

"This is the de-freak out zone," my professor told me. Together, we sat down at my computer and made a to-do list, and then scheduled out everything that had to be done and when I was going to do it during the day. On Tuesday after lunch I would study Spanish. Monday mornings I would write my paper for Psychology. Fridays I would rest.

So far, this has been the most valuable lesson I've learned in college. Time management is essential. I suggest that everyone get a daily planner or schedule using iCal or Microsoft Outlook. This semester my workday typically went from 9am to 10pm, and I am sure that I would've crashed and burned without my Outlook Calendar.

I am sure that there are plenty more things I will learn, but this is the one that I think helps allow for other realizations. When you are in charge of your time, everything else gets a little bit easier. Just a little bit.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, and if you have any questions about college (particularly Sarah Lawrence) fire me an e-mail!

Sincerely,
Connor Miller

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