Time flies fast and yes, it definitely does. I still remember my first day, one freezing cold day, at INTO Mason; meeting with many international students, exploring around the campus enthusiastically. Reflecting upon these 3 months of learning in this accelerated pathway program, I’ve come to ask myself with two questions; what did I learn from this program and how do I utilize that knowledge to thrive in my graduate program?
I’ve gained much knowledge and learned new skills during this program from assignments and coursework I had to do. For instance, plagiarism research paper assignment in PROV-504 enlightened me about academic integrity in western culture. Not only did this pathway program hone my skills in academic context such as reading and writing academic papers, thinking critically and public speaking and but also it facilitated my adaptation to cultural differences. Based on my experiences from this program, I perceive that the imperative factors of thriving in graduate school are deliberate time management, reading smarter and socialization.
First, managing my time wisely will help me reckon with loads of readings and assignments that I have to do in the graduate school and. Although assignments can be overwhelming, planning ahead and following it will reduce the likelihood of stress (Badke, 2003, p. 57). Secondly, reading smarter using specific strategies is of the essence when I have to read a lot of articles and evaluate them. According to Hjortshoj (2009), successful students realize that the purpose of reading differs and employs appropriate strategies to meet that specific purpose (p. 54). Thirdly, I believe socializing both formally and informally is one of the key factors to succeed since my graduate program, business management, is cohort-based learning system in which I have to do projects in groups and need to cooperate with faculty members for the internship that I have to complete as part of the graduation requirements.
In a nutshell, this pathway program has provided all the resources and fostered the skills that I need to have for thriving in my future academic endeavors.
References
Hjortshoj, K. (2009). The transition to college writing (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Bedford/ St.Martin’s.
Badke, W. B. (2003). Beyond the answer sheet: Academic success for international students. Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, Inc.