Hello everyone, I hope you all took a little time out of your day to sign up for the Atkinson Centre for Mature and Part-time Students Orientation. As a mature student you might be returning to school after a long absence, and you may be experiencing a little anxiety when you think about trying to balance school, life and work, sharpening your academic skills, and finding your way to York’s vast resources. The Mature Student Orientation is a great place to start. It will talk about things pertaining to your activity-rich lifestyle which other Orientations may not cover.

The Mature Student Orientation will:

• Introduce the resources of the Atkinson Centre for Mature and Part-time Students.

ACMAPS has a mandate to support mature students from admission to graduation and has a number of user-friendly resources you’ll want to know about. Those resources include the Mature Student First-Year Experience Program, which is a 3-month program for mature and transfer students heading into their first year of university. You can learn more about the program by clicking here. You can also talk to one of our peer mentors for guidance on issues you may be experiencing or for a referral to other campus services. Also, if you feel like you need advice about your studies please stop by to speak with our in-house student advisor.

Furthermore, ACMAPS offers opportunities to surround yourself with people of similar experience by getting involved in the events that take place throughout the year. Please make sure to stay in touch with us by liking our page on Facebook and following us on Twitter.

 

• The Orientation will help smooth your transition to university.

A mature student’s experience of university is often far from that of students entering directly from high school, commonly because mature students have so many different roles to juggle (e.g., parenting, work, family life, community obligations, etc.) as they begin university. The staff at ACMAPS understands the challenges typical to a mature student’s transition and the Mature Student Orientation will help you strategize your response to them. We will also identify York University’s resource centres to help you further develop those skills.

Some of York’s resource centres include the Writing Centre (http://www.yorku.ca/laps/writ/centre/) where you can acquire advice about writing papers, Learning Skills Services (http://lss.info.yorku.ca/) where you can sharpen your academic skills, and the Learning Commons (http://www.library.yorku.ca/cms/learning-commons/) where you can learn how to conduct online research, construct a thesis for your essay and find supporting documents. There is also the Career Centre (http://www.yorku.ca/careers/), which holds workshops throughout the year to help you discover career opportunities and plan for your future outside of York U.

 

• The Orientation will introduce you to peer mentors who will talk about their own experience at school.

You will be formally introduced to the peer mentors who contribute to the ACMAPS office. This is a great opportunity to get to know some of the people who want to help you succeed. The most important thing to remember is that you are not embarking on this academic journey alone, there are people there who are willing to help you; you just need to speak with them.

 

• The Orientation will introduce you to YUMSO: a student club at York University that is ideal for mature students.

YUMSO is the York University Mature Students Organization. The best way to meet people is to join an organization. This organization is tailored towards mature and part-time students and is aware of the rigidity of your schedule. The best thing about it is the individuals you will connect with already know what you’re going through because they are facing some of the same challenges.

 

• The Orientation will encourage you to mingle with your peers to start building networks.

The purpose of the Atkinson Centre for Mature and Part-time Students Orientation is not to fill you to the brim with useful information and then send you on your way, it is also a place where you are encouraged to branch out and make friends. There will be food and beverages and plenty of good conversation. Don’t forget to talk to your peers as well as your instructors.

 

Along with attending the Orientation held by the Atkinson Centre for Mature and Part-time Students, it’s a good idea to attend the Orientations held by the academic colleges because they are program specific. Please click on the link below to register for Academic Orientations: http://orientation.yorku.ca/undergraduate-students-2/

They are listed by colleges, so if you do not know which college you are affiliated with you can click on the College Finder to view your program and find out which college it relates to.