Start the Semester off Right with Student Resources at Texas State

By Amanda Hill
Blog Content Contributor

Congratulations, you made it through the hardships of preparing for college and are now a proud Bobcat. Are you excited?! I remember the thrill and anticipation of my first semester at college and know the weariness that comes along with starting a new chapter in your life.  But, not to worry.  Texas State has a handful of resources to help you get on your feet with your course-work and to prepare you for the “outside” world.  I will share a few to keep your GPA up and focus on productivity.

Writing Center

I can not even begin to tell you how many college essays, research papers and documents you will need to write as a college student.  Whether we are great writers or not, our writing can always be improved.  Visiting the writing center before the due date of your paper will enhance your overall GPA.

You can schedule appointments to guarantee a no hassle visit.  Just bring your paper, sit down with your tutor and get to editing.  They also offer workshops for essays, academic essays, science writing, etc.  You can attend workshops if you have trouble in punctuation or the eight parts of speech.  If you feel your essay is competition worthy, they offer an essay contest for any essay you feel proud of.  You can check out their schedule on their website.

For your convenience, you can email you paper to SLAC OWL.  A tutor will review your paper and reply with advise on ways to improve it within the first 48 hours.

SLAC

Business Calculus, Physics, College Algebra…  trust me, you are going to need help for some of these challenging courses to get your diploma.  The Student Learning Assistance Center (SLAC) is a center that allows you to gain academic support for any subject you could be struggling with. SLAC offers services such as: walk-in tutoring, supplemental instruction and online resources at no additional charge to Texas State students. SLAC is located on the fourth floor of Alkek Library.

For one-on-one assistance, you can contact SLAC for a personal tutor, or submit a request online in a particular subject.  Although this is not a free service, it is a great option to receive individualized attention on the subjects you seem you can’t get through.

College is hard, and nobody goes through it challenge free.  Take advantage of these resources to allow for a better GPA, and less ‘hair-pulling’ stress.  Knowing there is someone to help you get through the course-work you feel is impossible to understand is comforting.  Try it out and see how much your GPA improves after one semester.

Career Services

Let’s face it, most of us are here to obtain in a degree so we can achieve the career of our dreams.  A degree itself will not land you the job.  As a senior in college, I am experiencing the hardships of finding a position that relates to the degree I studied in college. The competition is fierce, and employers are looking for skill, experience and talent to go along with that thing we invest about $80,000 and four years of our life.  Your experience in the classroom is simply not enough to achieve employment.  Internship, interviewing, and networking are all part of this long process.

Texas State offers a career assistance service to help us through our stressful job search. Career services offers workshops, personal assistance and great tools to help get our lives together when it comes to landing that perfect job.

As a freshman, you have the opportunity to take advantage of the Personalized Academic and Career Exploration (PACE) center.  This will allow you to evaluate your interests and abilities for those who don’t have a specific area of study in mind to pursue.  This will make choosing a career path a little less daunting because the possibilities are endless. Advisors are also more than happy to speak with you regarding what you can pursue with your degree.

Career Services post advice and information on resumes, cover letters, salaries and interviewing on their website.  You can also take advantage of their job search engine, Jobs4Cats, to search for campus jobs, along with jobs related to your major.  If you are in need of a professional setting to do your job and career research outside of your dorm, Career Services offers a computer lab and a printer for your convenience.

Get started early to get your resume and cover letter updated and ready to hand to a recruiter.  Consistently looking for internships in an area that interests you and networking with recruiters and mentors will increase your chance of leaving college with a full-time dream job already in place.

Of course, hanging with your friends and chilling by the river will always sound appealing, but that will always be there this weekend.  Do not catch yourself falling behind and left scrambling your last year in college when that is when you should be enjoying it the most.  Make an effort to take advantage of each of these resources each semester and reap the benefits after you made it to the finish holding that diploma.