It’s difficult to bring up journalism these days without hearing the term, “fake news.” Although Donald Trump claims to have coined the term in 2016, fake news has been around
When making the transition from high school to college, the prospect of a new workload and new levels of stress can be daunting. Coupled with the effects of the pandemic, stress can lead to missed deadlines, anxiety and other negative mental health effects.
However, with proper expectations and management, you can reduce the negative impact stress has on your college career. Here are a few tips on how to manage and reduce stress levels.
Set a regular study schedule
In high school, there is little flexibility; classes take place eight hours a day, and you have to squeeze homework, a part-time job and any extracurriculars into the few remaining evening hours. In college, classes take up far fewer week-day hours, meaning that students are left largely up to their own devices when it comes to creating a study schedule.
There is no end to the advice after college starts. Some of it is helpful and some, not so much. Everyoneâs college experience is different and what applies to you might not matter to someone else. However, here are 10 things I wish I knew before coming to UT in no particular order.
1: Textbooks
Most classes will require a textbook or workbook of some sort, while others have something called inclusive access this just means that the materials are covered in tuition and a separate purchase is not required.Â
Donât buy your textbooks until after the first class. There is always the option to drop a class and professors might not update their syllabus. Itâs impossible to know if you will actually need your books until after the first lecture. Plus, there is always the possibility of finding free PDF versions, too.
Graduates seated socially distanced at the first-ever commencement ceremony at Neyland Stadium on May 8, 2021. Seth Chapman / The Daily Beacon
Though they will not be on campus together, students from the Class of 2021 and the Class of 2025 have a unique shared experience: they both spent their senior years adapting to and overcoming the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The senior class that graduated in May included many notable campus leaders and volunteers, each of whom left UT older and wiser and more prepared for their lives because they weathered the storm of a global crisis. Because they will not be around to tell the incoming freshmen what they learned, a few seniors shared their advice for the newest Vols here.
While the COVID-19 vaccine has now become available to the UT community, this does not mean that the pandemic is over.
Active COVID-19 cases are nowhere near as high as they were in the fall 2020 semester, but in the past couple of weeks, new clusters have emerged at UT.
For reference, a cluster is defined as âat least five positive cases and/or at least 20 close contacts as a result of one event or in one concentrated location,â according to UTâs COVID-19 website.
On March 25, clusters were found in both the Phi Mu and Sigma Kappa houses in Sorority Village. On March 26, there was a cluster found in an off-campus private residence at the 1800 block of Melrose Avenue, and on March 28, another clusterâs point of origin was at various off campus gatherings: the 700 block of South 17th Street and the Kappa Kappa Gamma house.