From the Road

Hi everyone! Well I’m part way through week 2 of recruiting. Last week I was in Southwest Nova Scotia staying at the beautiful White Point Beach Resort. What a gorgeous place! I was completely blown away by all the Bunnies! I met some great students who I know would just love the Mount and I look forward to seeing many of you again at Open Campus Day!
For the rest of this week I will be traveling to Kingston, Courtice, Whitby and Toronto. I’m staying in beautiful downtown Ottawa right now and it’s spectacular! I will keep you updated on my travels and try to post some pictures as I travel to high schools in ON to meet some future MSVU students. Please contact me if you have any questions or if you would like to know if/when I will be traveling to a high school near you. melanie.leblanc@msvu.ca.

*Fun Story of the Week*
I will try to post fun stories as they happen…they made me laugh so I hope they do the same for you (even if it is at my expense!).
Tonight I went to the parking garage with another recruiter and we heard a very strange noise coming from a few cars down. We went to investigate and thought that it sounded like a small animal. We looked everywhere and couldn’t find it. Using some keen skills we determined that it was the sound of a kitten (a VERY loud one). We narrowed it down to one car but couldn’t find the cat anywhere. We decided that we couldn’t just leave the scene and we went to the front desk and told someone that works at the hotel that they should check it out and that we had to run to visit a school. He looked at us like we were crazy but said, “Umm sure… I’ll look into it.” When we got back we went and asked and he said “Oh, ya… we found it, it was a kitten…he’s out back.” Immediately I thought he was mocking us and put the most “that-was-offensive-face” I could muster and he said “No I’m serious!” He proceeded to go out back and bring the cutest kitten ever to us! As the rest of the story goes, he went and looked, saw nothing and thought we were crazy, but then other people were telling him too…and finally two guests of the hotel realized the sound was coming from the ENGINE where the kitten had hidden!!! Apparently he must have been in there for a while. Thankfully he is safe now and we are trying to help find a home for him. I will try to get a picture!

Anyway…that’s the story of how I helped save a life tonight!
Ciao for now!

Open Campus Day!

Hello future MSVU students.

Questions? Concerns? Just want to take a look around campus? Then our Open Campus Day is just what you need.

Here's a short video from last year's Open Campus Day! A day where you can experience what MSVU student life is all about.

Open Campus Day '08 will be held on October 31st.

Stay tuned for registration information.

The Final Countdown

2008-2009 MSVU Representatives (clockwise from centre: Courtney Barnhill, Heidi Tattrie, Melanie LeBlanc, Suzanne Hayes, Karl Turner, Kutay Ulkuer)

The signs of a new school year about to begin - boxes being loaded into the bookstore daily, syllabuses for classes printing off in the print shop, housekeeping staff dusting out the residences, and the new MSVU viewbooks arriving in the Admissions Office. This is my favourite time of year as I get to see all of the students I met during the year arriving on campus in a couple weeks, and then after that I get to hit the road for another year of meeting new students ready to learn about MSVU!

In the Admissions Office we've been busy getting ready for the fall recruitment season - that's when we travel around Canada and the world attending career and education fairs. I, Heidi, will be spending most of my time driving around Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and getting to know many of the local potential students. To help me out we also have hired a recruiter named Melanie LeBlanc who was a Public Relations co-op student in the Admissions Office last fall - she organized the Open Campus Day and all of the tours last fall - she also did a bit of recruitment too - and she is graduating this fall. Melanie also travelled around Nova Scotia this summer with Coralee and Nicole attending community events and parades in the newly decorated MSVU car. Melanie will be mostly in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and PEI - but also spending some time in Ontario.

As for the other Admissions staff: Courtney Barnhill will be travelling around several spots in Canada talking to students about transferring to MSVU. We have a lot of articulation agreements with different colleges where students do the first year or two there and then transfer their credits to MSVU - this year she'll be in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI, Newfoundland, Quebec and some Caribbean islands (she's got a tough gig, ha ha). Kutay Ulkuer will be doing his Around the World in 80 Days tour (well more like 50 days actually!) and making stops in China, several countries in the Middle East and Turkey. Our Manager, Karl Turner, will be visiting some Maritime stops, as well as Bermuda. Suzanne Hayes is our Graduate Admissions Advisor and will be going around the Maritimes a bit talking to people interested in doing their Masters at MSVU.

So we've got a very busy few months of living out of suitcases, sleeping in hotel rooms, flying and driving to different locales each week, and talking (lots of talking - although luckily we all talk a lot anyway so it's not an issue for us!) ahead of us but we all love getting to meet the prospective MSVU students along the way and see Canada and the rest of the world so we don't really mind at all! I'll be keeping this blog updated with pictures and details of my trips so watch for when I make it to your town!

Melanie LeBlanc and Coralee Malloy on the South Shore of Nova Scotia with our redecorated MSVU vehicle!

How to speak "university-ese"

One of the first things a new student at university might notice is that within a university there seems to be a whole other language being spoken - for example, what is the difference between a Bachelor's degree and an undergraduate degree? Is there one? How do you know if you're in a unit or a credit? I thought compiling a list of the most asked questions I get about terminology might be useful but this is by no means an exhaustive list, just the first few I came up with! There are plenty of words and terms I'm so used to hearing that I forget they're new to those just entering the university lifestyle. If you are wondering about any other terms, please comment and let me know and I'll do my best to translate it to English! Most of this information translates to most universities (particularly in Canada) but I will write it from MSVU's terminology as that is what I know the best!

Terms/Semesters: This is a time frame and generally mean the same thing. The fall term goes from September to December. The winter term runs from December to April. Then there is the Summer I term (May/June - this is known as a compressed term, or intersession); and Summer II term (June/July). At MSVU most programs start in any of these terms but the majority of new students start in the fall.

Credits/Units: These are how courses are measured. The terms are often used interchangeably however some schools work in credit hours, whereas others just use credits (or units!). At MSVU a full unit typically runs from September to April and a half unit just runs from September to December or January to April. When schools use credit hours usually 3 credit hours equals a half unit, and 6 credit hours equals a full unit.

Bachelor/Undergraduate: Yes these are the same thing and the first degree you get at a university. The concept behind the word undergraduate is that you are a student who has not yet graduated from university - therefore you're an UNDERgraduate. Most undergraduate degrees take three to four years of full time study to achieve. Once you graduate from your undergraduate status and go back to school then you can become a . . .

Master's/Graduate: These are both the same thing again and can only be done if you have already completed an undergraduate degree. Some Master's include a thesis which is an intensive research project in a very specific discipline - others have a non-thesis option. It generally takes one to five years to complete your Master's (if you do the thesis you're probably on the longer end of the time).

PhD/Doctorate: Again - pretty much the same thing and you need to have finished your Master's (usually with the thesis option) to go to this next level of education. PhD is short for Doctor of Philosophy but you can do your PhD in more than Philosophy! This can take anywhere from three to six - to sometimes even longer - to complete. Any of your professors who are called "Doctor" have achieved this very high level of education and are extremely knowledgeable about their area of expertise and usually love to talk about their passion, so if you share a passion with them feel free to pick their brains!

And of course there is Spring Break, Study Break and Reading Week (same thing except our week - as are most Canadian schools - is in February); and Residence, Rez, Dormitories, On-campus housing - yep, all the same. Here's a link from our academic calendar that can give you a few more terms to get familiar with: http://www.msvu.ca/calendar/GeneralInformation/GlossaryofTerms.asp

Basically just assume that the new word you're hearing you've probably heard somewhere else, but just with a different name. So - now that I've got you thinking - go ahead and challenge me - see if you can come up with a university-ese word that I haven't come across yet!

4 Steps to Take By Aug. 31

So the summer is upon us - time for some students to kick back, soak up the sun, chill with friends and relax; or for others to work a summer job (sometimes two) to start saving up some cash to make those tuition payments. Whatever you're doing this summer 2008 you're sure to be starting to plan out your year at MSVU. Here are a few handy tips of some final things to take care of before the fall arrives.

1. Plan Moving Day. Sort out living/travel arrangements - if you're living on campus, confirm your residence room with a deposit and start figuring out what you need to bring to decorate your space; if you're living off-campus get your move-in date set (try to avoid the Labour Day weekend if at all possible, it's the busiest moving day in the city!!); if you're living at home - figure out what busses you'll need to get to MSVU or when to get your parking pass.

2. Prepare for the First Week. Get signed up for a frosh kit (http://www.mountstudents.ca/) so you can skip the line-up on the first day; and plan to attend the orientation days that Student Affairs offers (www.msvu.ca/student_affairs/orientation2008/index08.asp ) to make sure you have everything in place for your first year at MSVU.

3. Socialize. Join facebook and become a Fan of MSVU and join the MSVU Class of 2012 group for incoming students - you can find out who will be in your class, who will be living in your residence, and all sorts of useful tips about MSVU before you even get to campus.

4. Register for classes. If you haven't done this yet - do it now!! The longer you wait, the fewer classes that will be available - and, trust me, the longer line-ups there will be if you plan to do it in person!! Get help choosing classes by emailing advising@msvu.ca or calling 457-6400, they can tell you everything you need to know.

Those of us still working away on campus over the summer love it this time of year as it's possibly the prettiest time of year with flowers and plants blooming all over the place, but it never feels quite right without the students. The students are the heart of MSVU and it's just not quite the same without you so we are probably looking forward to September just as much as you are!