One of ASU's Best Kept Secrets

Where will you spend the majority of your time this semester?

The average student spends between 12 - 15 hours/week in class.  Professors often use this as justification for filling the other 25 hours of your 40 hour 'work week' with homework, study guides, projects and term papers.  Do you want to spend 25 hours/week studying on top of going to class?

I know that I sure didn't.  When I was a freshman, I decided that I would rather spend 10 hours/week studying effectively somewhere on campus rather than 25 in an apartment full of distractions.  That's when I found one of ASU's best kept secrets - Noble Library's Silent Study Room (or SSR, as I call it - not to be confused with the Society of Skeletal Radiology, which actually exists by the way).

For those of you who don't know, Noble is located on Tyler Mall in the Northeast corner of campus just across from the Goldwater Center for Science & Engineering.

Unlike Hayden Library, Noble is less well-known, less crowded and closer to most of the parking structures.  On top of that, it has a wonderful, Silent Study Room on the 2nd floor.

Now, you might be asking yourself, "Why is Noble's Silent Study Room so awesome?"

I'll tell you.

Not to mention, the computers in the Silent Study Room run way faster than those in either Hayden or any of the various computing commons locations around campus.  Plus, look at all this desk space!  Throw in the comfy chair and the fact that the desks aren't splattered with graffiti and I'm sold.

In short, it is a quiet, comfortable, less crowded place that is close to many of the classes on campus, has faster computers, comfy chairs and you know what else?  It's quiet.

I'd love to hear what you have to say.  What/where do you think is one of ASU's best kept secrets?  Comment below!

"Oh, the Places You'll Go!"

Coming out of high school, I felt like I had a pretty good handle on the world.  I’d just graduated at the top of my class, had a scholarship to ASU and, despite having no idea what I wanted to do for a living, felt pretty confident about the future.  Then I walked into my first semester of classes at the W.P. Carey School of Business and got a reality check.  I barely understood what studying “Business Management” meant, couldn’t figure out which textbooks I actually needed and wondered why everyone kept talking about internships—and worried whether I should be searching for one myself.

 Tools to Succeed at Your Fingertips

The faculty and staff of WPC know that coddling us into denial about how prepared we are for life would only trip us up in the long-run.  Fortunately, though, they provide us with all the tools we need to succeed.  Each student has access to their own “My WPC” dashboard that links them to resources and information regarding news, scholarships, academic advising, career counseling, events, email and more!  They also periodically send out newsletters with internships, events, and scholarship opportunities.  I, personally, have received multiple scholarships, an internship and became a WPC 101 instructor because of that newsletter.

What If You Don't Know How to Use the Tools? 

That is precisely why WPC gives us access to other students who were in our same position only a few years ago.  Tutoring programs such as SI Study groups as well as comprehensive mentoring programs like the Business Ambassadors are just a few of the many ways to connect with other, more experienced students.  Not to mention WPC 101, an introductory class taught by qualified peer facilitators (consisting of sophomores through seniors in the business school) that want to help their fellow students get the most out of their college experience.

So despite the fact that most freshmen have no idea where to start, WPC gives them the tools they need to succeed and the experience-driven guidance to use them wisely.  The decision is ultimately up to us, though—will we use the tools and guidance available to us and reach the potential they keep telling us we have or won’t we?  I hope that we do because, as Dr. Seuss put it,

[i]

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[i] Seuss, D. (1990). Oh, the Places You'll Go! New York: Random House.

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