Listen to Neil and Alice talking about Neil’s first days at university.

Work in pairs and underline the alternative to complete what…

Neil said

1 I did feel comfortable / out of my comfort zone when I arrived.

2 I’m one of those men who is/ isn’t good at talking about their feelings.

3 I do think that university life can be more stressful/ more enjoyable than people realize

4 Now I’m quite good at budgeting/ I’m still pretty bad at that.

Alice said

5 The survey, completed by over one hundred/ thousand students, also found that almost 50%/ 70% of those that suffer from stress do so at least once/ twice a week, and 19%/ 9% feel stressed constantly. Stressed means anxious and worried.

Kirsty McMurron, student at Exeter University, said

6 When I first got to university I’d quickly realized that I’d forgotten how to cook/

to make friends.

7 I was trying to balance social success with academic success/ with my work

8 Dr Ruth Caleb, Head of the counseling service at Brunel University, said

Certain things that I think would be very helpful for students to have put in place are

an ability to do practical things of life – to do the washing/ to do their homework and so on,

being able to cook/ being able to drive a car.

Listen again. Are the sentences true (T) or (F) false? Correct the false sentences.

1 Neil was a hard-working student and did a lot of work at university.

2 Neil often turned to a student counselling service when studying at university.

3 Neil missed her friends and family when she arrived.

4 Alice thinks that stress means pressure or worry caused by a difficult situation.

5 Kirsty, a student at Exeter University, enjoyed her first days in college.

6 Neil was good at cooking at university.

7 Very few students use counselling services in the UK now.

8 Dr. Ruth Caleb, Head of the counseling service at Brunel University, thinks that budgeting is not very important for students in university life.

Work in small groups.

Role-play the dialogue between Neil, Alice, Kirsty and Dr Ruth Caleb.

Make use of the words/ phrases below.

to look through rose-tinted spectacles/ to be out of your comfort zone/ to get any counseling

to feel homesick/ to suffer from high levels of stress/ to be very good /pretty bad at…

to spend time on your own/ to do the practical things of life…

46 Read the answers of MIT graduates about time management.

Which answer below reflects your point of view?

WHAT DO MIT STUDENTS THINK ABOUT TIME MANAGEMENT?

Ken Meltsner, studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

“Sleep is for week, perhaps”

My theory is that everyone at MIT (and similar institutions) eventually hit a wall, a point beyond which being really smart and fast to understand new things doesn’t mean that you will do well. Either you figure out how to get beyond that wall – better time management, more focus on your area, acceptance that you simply aren’t the best in given area – or you have to drop out.

When did I hit the wall? Well, I was a lazy student, to be honest. Poor time management, various problems with distractions, my tendency to wait until the last minute to do almost everything, to skip homework and then plow through the entire course in the days before finals…

Tom Staglino, studied at MIT

‘They don’t think about it. It is second nature.

Indeed, all freshmen who are admitted have demonstrated to MIT that they can manage their time. That is one of the primary reasons for requiring all of those extracurricular activities in high school …in order to gauge how the applicant can manage their time.

Donny Wong, studied at MIT

I was no stranger to working hard and working late when I was in high school, and it was common to stay up until 1 a.m. But at MIT, this type of study habit was not only typical of most students but glorified. It was a regular thing to pull an ‘all-nighter’ at least once or twice a week when problem sets were due. And rarely were you alone in working strange hours to complete assignments. The common study areas in the dorms always had clusters of students working late on problem sets together, and indeed the student center was open 24 hours, and you could always find food, coffee or a place to take a napif you needed one.

But this taught me at the end, bad habits notwithstanding, is to do what it takes to get things done, no matter the personal sacrifice required. And I think this type of sentiment is something that most MIT students would share after they leave the university no matter where they end up.