Tuesday, August 27, 1968 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Pag Fve Tuesday, August 27, 1968 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Poac.Five LUCY KENNEDY Success via, loophole When I was a sophomore I was going to transfer. Many people around me were thinking of doing the same thing. The core of my advice is don't-don't transfer. Find a reason to stay here and stay because once you've been at the University you won't be happy anywhere else. A small co-ed liberal arts college in New England (Middlebury College to be exact) was, I thought at the time, the perfect escape from the impersonal pressure to the big "U." I was accepted, but the admissions director's first question was, "Why would you want to transfer here from the University of Michigan?" With this question burning in my mind, I looked around for some reasons to stay. I found quite a few. The advice of a graduating senior on how to live 'the good life at the University may carry little weight in comparison to the pundits of parents and counselors, but for what it's worth, I offer suggestions on how to -live in. Ann Arbor and like it for the first two years as well as the last. / The University community is set up to provide you with every opportunity for mental growth; but, as I discovered after my proposed transfer, you often have to fight for good academics. The .major fight you must wage s with yourself. You must accept the fact that you are here to learn and find the area in which you can learn most. The most efficient system the University has designed to learn and grow is classroom teaching and hard studying--just like high school only more so. Classes are about 60 per cent worth attending. You will soon judge which teachers or courses fall into the other 40 per 'cent. If you're going to cut however, make sure you or a trusted buddy makes it to class at least once a week to see that the course is fol- lowing the syllabus (they frequently don't.) To get the most out of classroom learning follow one com- mand: "DON'T BE INTIMIDATED."' Registration, the first major obstacle to good courses and teachers can be hurdled with a thorough knowledge of the loop- holes in the "ironclad" bureaucracy and a certain amount of brassiness. If you find some reason to be unhappy with the courses you have signed up for during orientation, changes are not as difficult as they seem. Departmental advisors at registration are often harried but quite helpful. Many are graduate students and they can give you the straight dope on a course or a professor. Fre- quently courses you want to take will be listed as closed, but per- sistently sitting in on a class may get you in in the place of a "no show." There are, however, few courses yu can replace in your freshman year if you plan to keep up with distribution courses. One sticky area, I strongly advise getting out of the way as quickly as possible is language. If you place out of some language don't be noble and start a new one. With the possible exception of Latin, which you don't have to speak, introductory language courses are difficult. Plan to either work hard and actually learn the language or forget about grades and just slide through; but make sure you find out early what is required to get a gentle- man's C. If as a literary college student, the language requirement or any other part of your program sems to be completely out of your spectrum, at least investigate changing schools. Like dropping or adding courses, this is not as difficult as the University likes to make it seem. For a major change of this nature or the threat of real academic trouble, I strongly suggest for literary college stu- dents Assistant Dean James Shaw who has agreed to act as an ombudsman for student's academic problems: Deans or depart- 4 ment heads are good advisors in any school or college if an aca- demic convolution threatens. It takes more, however, than, finding your way into the best courses for you to get the most from the University's learning opportunities. After talking to the man from Middlebury, I dis- covered many classroom adjuncts that will undoubtedly prove of more long range benefit than the courses that get me my sheep- skin. Some students go through four years of school without talking to a professor-ddn't be one of them. Most professors are quite accessible and worth the effort of getting to know. Go to ridiculous sounding things like quad faculty dinners. Professors and equally learned people outside of academia are Involved in Ann Arbor cultural events. Go to as many as you can afford. Cheap culture is to be dbtained from the better part of the student body. Be open; get to know people despite apparent gruffness. The future Arthur Miller you're rooming with may be scared too. 'As you are doing Call this maturing, however, you will be treated as an adult, in the sense that people will expect you to separate the good from the bad advice. Seek your own direction and find a means to attain it. Guard against upperclassmen like me who tell you wisely the first day of class to wait and buy your books. We wise-guys may have bought them all by the final. Counseling takes new direction: Advisors used as resource only Natural Resources forms artificial environment 'Unknown U from Bach to By NADINE COHODAS While most students are well aware of the University's social activities like football games, homecomings, -winter weekends, and special concerts, many aca- demic happenings go unnoticed. During the past year in several' of the University's colleges new research, curriculum development, and college restructuring have taken place. The School of Architecture andI Design recently changed its stu- dent-participation rules by allow- ing student representatives to sit on departmental committees. The, students officially exercise only an advisory capacity but have equal influence with the faculty in making decisions. The students selected by class- mates with faculty approval pri- marily are in a position to help implement . curriculum changes and course additions. Last October, the Architectural Research Laboratory was awarded a $27,000 contract by the Defense Department to use modern tech- nology And materials in solving the nation's housing problems. The research yielded a plan for low-cost housing made of fiber- glass casings that require little upkeep. Military personnel will be the first to use the new three- and four-bedroom homes. The Natural Resources School has extended its research during the year and has added a new Ph.D. program in urban and regional planning. A team of scientists under the direction of Frederick Smith, chairman of the school's depart- ment of wildlife and fisheries, has been .organizing an ecosystem study program for the Interna- tional Biological Program. Subsidized by federal agencies, the program is designed to estab- lish six experimental environ- ments-coniferous, deciduous and tropical forests, desert and arctic tundra. Long range results from thef program are expected to help improve man's ability to manage, renewable natural resources, and to provide methods for improving environments. Another project in the Natural Resources School was the estab- lishment of the environmental simultation system known as the Michigan Educational Training and Research Operation (MET- RO). METRO is to be used in metro- politan planning, and is designed to build computer models that can aid politicians and decision makers in solving city problems. events The program runs on donations from several foundations which total about $50,000 a year. METRO originator and director Richard Duke explains METRO is set up like "war games." An IBM computer simulates a city environment and subjects re- act to that environment by play- ing a game with the computer. The subject attempts to find viable solutions to urban prob- lems. These solutions are subse- quently plugged back into the computer to test their success. The School of Music 'continued this year with its regular student concerts and highlighted the year with an opera directed, produced, staged, and casted completely by music school participants. During the summer, the Uni- versity works in conjunction with the National Music Camp, Inter- lochen, Mich., where students can take both music and academic courses for college credits. As an outgrowth of a Feb- ruary 1967 conference h ld here, the College of Pharmacy is in- stituting a program in clinical pharmacy. Dean Tom D. Rowe explains the program is set up to make the pharmacist more aware of the patient's needs rather than plac- ing the study emphasis on distri- bution of drugs. Rowe says the new program will help make the pharmacist a more effective "health profes- sional" and in the long run im- prove general health care. By LESLIE WAYNE The concept of the student regularly meeting with his coun- selor has been a bit shaken up this year, by several new develop- ments in the counseling depart- ment. Formerly, each student was re- quired to consult with his coun- selor about his general program. However, last year an experimen- tal program in group counseling allowed many students to waive these regular meetings. Group counseling,dbegun last year for psych students, brings 30 to 50 students. together with several counselors who explain the course offerings. If a student feels he needs no further coun- seling he can sign up for the courses immediately. However, if the student desires further counseling, he can make an appointment with one of the counselors. Although the program is pre- sently being evaluated early re- ports indicated that it has been "generally successful," according to John Pyper assistant chairman of junior-senior counseling. In a furter effort to dispense with some of the more irritating aspects of academic counseling, the literary college has instituted an optional counseling program. Under the terms of this program students may register for classes for the junior and senior year without having to meet with their counselor. -If his counselor approves, a student can submit his program for the next two years and meet with his counselor dnly when he wants to change his schedule. Both of these programs repre- sent the counseling office's philos- ophy that a counselor should be more of a resource person than a high school type guidance counselor. "Entering freshmen usually come in with the impression that the counselor should be his guar- dian," says James W. Shaw as- sistant dean of the lietrary college. However, at the University the student is under no obligation to see his counselor after the initial half-hour interview, ex- cept to have schedule cards ap- proved. The key to the counseling pro- gram is the student's own inia- tive. If the the student wishes, he can make an appointment at any time to see his counselor. The student on the freshman- sophomore level is not allowed to concentrate in a particular field and therefore does not have a counselor in his field. However, when he declares a major the second semester of his sophomore year, the student is able to choose a counselor in his field of inter- est "We are not a ritualisaic or- ganization in which a number of impersonal clerks are availeble to approve course selections madel by a number," Shaw explanis. "Nor are we a psychoanalysis cen- ter for 'solving social problems; our true function lies somewhere in between and we try to be avail- able when the students needs us." When a student needs more than academic advice, he will be referred to a more specialized agency on campus. Personal counseling services are also up to a student's initiative or a referral by the counselor. Such counselingincludes handling the emotional and physical prob-j lems than can interfere with a student's career. Health Service, for instance, isi available as a fulltime clinic forj the exclusive benefit of students, with a staff of doctors, nurses and technicians, a 60-bed infirmary and the facilities of University Hospital. The Buereau of Psychological Services has a staff of trained psychiatrists and psychologists who talk to students about prob- lems of social adjustments or academic difficulties. The Office of Financial Aid as- sists students who encounter emergency financial shortages or are under serious financial disad- vantage. The Office of Religious Affairs uses the services of thirty local chaplains as counselors in student concerns with religious and philo- sophical questions. The function of the Reading Improvement Service is to train students in adding to their reading speed and improvement of their study habits. The Residence Hall system also offers Resident Advisors and staff counselors, whose general aim is to assist students in making the best adjustment to University life and its demands. a n t d m n s STUDENT BOOK SERVICE THE SMALLEST STORE IN TOWN THEBIGS STOCK OF USED TEXTBOOKS (also new books, paper, notebooks, supplies) FOR ALLYOUR COURSES STUDENT BOOK SGRVICG 1215 South University SUBSCRIBE TO THE MICHIGAN DAILY ti, Y L A I!3ZU1 Music school concerts sing out often ( -- - . i A6F, -,Batt I Is Interviewing on Campus AUGUST 26430 You will find our store specially equipped to supply you with LAW case books and supplies. Our LAW section is staffed by law students to assist you. WE NEED SALESMEN The Michigan Daily is one of the few financially independent college newspapers in the nation. We have achieved this status by selling thousands 'of dollars worth of advertising annually, but we are not satisfied. 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