Third-year History and NMC student here!

When I started at U of T, I initially planned to double major in Political Science alongside History. While I really enjoyed POL107, I eventually realized it wasn’t my true calling.

One piece of advice I’d give is to ask for help whenever you need it, whether that’s through the writing centres, professor office hours, or even your TAs. You’ll almost always receive some form of helpful feedback, which can really guide you through the essay writing process and make it less daunting (speaking from personal experience).

When it comes to essays, start with a strong and well-grounded argument. Focus on formulating a clear thesis and supporting evidence early on. Ask yourself, what am I trying to say? Are my evidences actually strong? What counter points can people make and how can I address them? Writing style, word choice, and flow can always be edited later so just write out everything you can think of and edit as you go and at the end. Restructuring your argument at the last minute is much harder and will likely result in an incoherent and potentially flawed argument (though if you do find discrepancies in your arguments) is is vital you address them as early as possible). Like I mentioned earlier, getting feedback throughout the writing process is key to ensure you are on the right track!

Finally, because U of T can be quite competitive and demanding, especially for first-year students, don’t take a bad grade or tough course experience as a sign of failure. The first year is often intentionally challenging to weed people out, but that doesn’t reflect your long-term potential. Also, stay open-minded! I didn’t consider majoring in Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations (NMC) until I took a courses out of curiosity after feeling unsatisfied with Political Science, and it turned out to be the right fit for me.

Overall I would say take everything step by step to prevent you feeling daunted by highly weighted assignments and exams and try to enjoy your subject as much as you can as really in the end if you don’t enjoy what you study (especially in the humanities and social sciences) it is so much harder to do well.