First year at MRU: Survival guide

Liam Rockliffe, Features Editor | 

Whether you’ve lived in Calgary your whole life, or are coming from out of town, university is a new frontier. While the lockers and classes may still be reminiscent of high school, university holds its own unique challenges. Professors, textbooks, new facilities and resources, and even just navigating the school are daunting things we all must encounter and explore to become fully fledged undergraduates.

This guide aims to help newcomers navigate early university life, and hopefully, even returning students will find something valuable.

Professors and Class Structure

University Professors are nothing like your high school teachers. At Mount Royal University (MRU) all professors are experts in their own respective fields and can often provide very valuable advice and information on their classes and life in your program. Since MRU has smaller class sizes, a lot of the time, the relationships between students and professors are much closer than anything at larger campuses.

On the first day of classes, each professor will review what their class will look like for the semester. They will outline materials, how much time should be allotted for their class, and what the tutorials and labs will be like for their class, (usually the first class of labs goes more in-depth into the lab itself). They will also, most importantly, outline important dates such as tests and quizzes and roughly when each subject will be covered in their class. I recommend marking down at least the quizzes in an online calendar so you’re never caught unprepared.

Textbooks

Textbooks are one of the most concerning things to new students, with heavy fees associated with them it is often assumed that without the textbooks listed in the syllabus, students may be unable to pass the class. However, professors usually go over the required resources on the first day of class, and many will even indicate that they don’t plan to use the listed textbook.

Textbooks are generally, even if not recommended by the professor, incredibly useful tools to use to study – as they are one of the few reliable resources pertaining exactly to the course they are connected to. But not having textbooks, unless they’re tied to an online homework or quiz system, won’t directly affect your grades.

There are many alternatives to buying textbooks from the MRU Campus store. Online marketplaces often post near-perfect condition textbooks from students from previous years for low prices, and these posts can even be seen on student’s Snapchat and Instagram stories. There are also several Facebook groups fully dedicated to selling MRU-specific textbooks. Students who have taken the class many a time will even just keep their textbooks after they don’t need them anymore, so it never hurts to ask higher-year students in your program if they can spare any. Some textbooks can even be found online in completely usable forms, for low or minimal prices, these websites are not hard to find.

Facilities and Resources

MRU has an incredible amount of facilities and resources available, that are usually free, to students partaking in a full-time course load (3 or more courses). 

The most notable, and used out of these facilities is the MRU Cougar’s Recreation Centre. After scanning your One Card at the entrance to the “rec centre,” students will find fully kitted change rooms with (limited) free day-use lockers. These change rooms also sport saunas and showers. There is also a 25 by 25-metre salt water swimming pool, six squash courts, a full rock wall with auto belays, lead climbing, and bouldering, and of course a state-of-the-art fitness centre. This fitness centre has a way to target every muscle group and usually has duplicates of machines. There is also a full 200-metre track, and several courts perfect for volleyball and basketball.

These courts are often used by MRU’s intramural teams. From basketball to hockey, intramurals are a great way to meet new people and play the sports you love competitively. These teams can be easily accessed via the Cougars website.

Outside of athletics, MRU offers all types of resources. Academic advising is one resource I recommend every student to use at least once. Advising helps make the confusing requirements of courses a lot more manageable and can get you on track to obtain what you want. Counselling, work support, and safety support are all available and can be found on the MRU website.

Wyckham House 

One of the main centres for student resources is Wyckham House, located on the west side of the main building. Wyckham has a massive food court on the first floor, as well as inclusivity and resource rooms (such as a nap room and free breakfast room) on the second and third floors. In the basement of Wyckham, there is a pharmacy, optometrist, dental choice, student benefits, and of course, the office of The Reflector where anyone is free to email or bring a pitch for the next issue.

Wyckham also has a bar called West Gate Social House which sells alcohol at the legal lowest price allowed in Alberta. You can also purchase a whole meal for the price of $7.25. It is ran and operated by the students for the students.

Navigation

MRU has some of the most fascinating architecture out of any school in Calgary, but this artistry can make it an absolute mess to navigate where you’re going. Here are the most basic tips to navigate the school, but the only way to be confident in the school is to spend time adventuring, and make sure you find your classes before the first day.

Every class or hall that has a single letter (such as A or E) is connected to the main building and can be reached by taking a hall from Main Street (the hall you probably picked this paper up in). However, if a room starts with two letters, it will be located in one of the many outbuildings MRU has (a class with EB would be in the east business building). MRU has three floors in the main building and the first digit in room numbers is the floor that the class is located on. For example, E1050 would be in the E wing and located on the first floor. Maps are available and can be very useful tools for your first year, especially to locate outbuildings. Or, don’t hesitate to ask security or another student for some help. We’ve all been there.

With these resources available to all students, and many more listed on MRU’s website, the first year can go by incredibly fast and smoothly. The best way to learn about MRU and what university life holds is to do your own research and ask questions from the people who know.

Liam Rockliffe is The Reflector’s current Features Editor. He is majoring chemistry, loves geology, and is a man of the outdoors.