Do you have any general business student or wellness questions?
Explore our FAQ below to get your questions answered!
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Health & Wellness
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The University of Alberta offers tons of resources for students that are having a difficult time managing their mental health. I have linked a few specific resources based on different needs. Just remember that you are not alone, school is a stressful time for everybody!
Free UofA mental health workshops covering different topics with a mental health professional in a more casual setting. There is also a spot to request topics that you would like covered: https://www.ualberta.ca/current-students/counselling/workshops.html
Counselling services offered by the UofA:
https://www.ualberta.ca/current-students/counselling/services.html
Resource to find therapists in edmonton area:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/therapists/ab/edmonton
https://www.ualberta.ca/current-students/counselling/services.html
Support for 2SLGBTQ+ students at the UofA:
https://su.ualberta.ca/services/thelanding
Peer Support Centre:
https://su.ualberta.ca/services/thelanding
Sexual Assault Centre:
https://www.ualberta.ca/current-students/sexual-assault-centre/index.html
Some resources and hand-outs provided by the UofA, organized by concern:
https://www.ualberta.ca/current-students/counselling/resources/index.html
Free support and resources for mental health and substance use:
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Healthcare services offered to students, staff and family members:
https://www.ualberta.ca/services/health-centre/services/index.html
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Don’t buy food on campus, make it at home
Unless it’s an emergency, try your best to make food at home instead of buying it on campus. Fast food can get extremely expensive when you buy it too often, which can quickly become your biggest expense when you’re buying lunch at HUB every day between courses.
Find cheap foods that fit within each food group
Finding some cheap foods that fit within each food group, allows you to “mix and match” affordable ingredients to keep a balanced diet. Try to aim for Canada’s Food Guide Plate, with half of your plate fruit and vegetables, one quarter of your plate whole grain foods and one quarter of your plate protein.
Examples of cheap fruits and vegetables: Frozen vegetables, carrots, canned vegetables (corn, tomatoes, mushrooms, etc.), cabbage, bananas, oranges, broccoli, onions
Examples of cheap whole grains: brown rice, whole grain pasta, whole wheat bread, oatmeal, crackers
Examples of cheap proteins: eggs, chicken, ground beef, peanut butter, nuts, greek yogurt, cheese, canned beans
Create a “meal plan” that uses a few cheap ingredients for lots of different recipes (then find key recipes you enjoy that you can make over and over again)
Another way to save money when grocery shopping is to go in with a list of a couple foods that can be used to create a variety of different meals together. By choosing a few key foods that make a bunch of recipes, you’re buying less ingredients you will only use once and will maybe even go to waste when they don’t get eaten. When doing this, you can also find a list of healthy meals you can make again and again with slight variation. For example, one of the meals I make most often is chicken, brown rice and frozen vegetables with a couple different sauces I’ll use to mix it up. However, the meal stays cheap, healthy and easy to make. There are also a lot of different AI tools you can use now that allow you to plug in a list of ingredients you have and it will generate meals based on the ingredients provided. I use this AI recipe generator but you do need to create a free account to use the tool.
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Although it is difficult to set a sleep schedule as a student, your sleep habits are more important than you think. Less sleep leads to burn out, decreased memory retention and poor cognitive function. So, by sacrificing sleep to study, your study session will actually be less effective. In order to make sure you get a good sleep:
Make sure you set aside time to study during the day and develop a sleep schedule that you know that you’ll stick to.
Develop a bedtime routine so you spend less time laying in bed stressing about school instead of sleeping. Find an activity that does not involve using a screen, such as reading, until you are actually tired and able to fall asleep.
Study and eat at a table or desk instead of your bed, since your mind will then associate the space with work instead of sleep.
If you cannot fall asleep within half an hour, leave your bedroom and spend time in a different space until you are tired. This encourages you to associate your bedroom more directly with sleep and eliminate time spent laying there, stressing
School and Academics
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No you do not need to be a business student. All students are welcome! We sell them every weekday from 11am-2pm in the Carruthers Student Commons on the first floor of the business building!
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Academic success workshops for study strategies, tips for writing papers, time management, etc: https://campusbridge.ualberta.ca/ASCpublicEvents.htm
UofA individual learning strategy consultations: https://www.ualberta.ca/current-students/academic-success-centre/learning-strategies/appointments.html
UoA tutors: https://www.su.ualberta.ca/services/infolink/tutor/registry/
Book private study rooms: https://www.library.ualberta.ca/services/book-study-spaces
https://apps.ualberta.ca/roombooker/roomschedule?buildingId=1
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Student Organizations Instagram Accounts
Business Students’ Association
Get Involved Alberta School of Business
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Organization and Scheduling
Having schedules and tasks written down makes it easier to find where everything you want to get done fits into your schedule. A lot of the time, having a visual representation makes everything seem a lot more organized and manageable.
Cheap daily planners and calendars are easy to find on amazon
I use this notebook since it’s very detailed and allows me to create daily/weekly/monthly to-do lists and priority lists so I know exactly what needs to be done first.
There are also great free planning resources online that let you create your own schedules and planners. I like to use Notion since I can make my own different schedules and planners that fit my specific needs
Stay caught up now, instead of catching up later
Although it can be hard to stay on top of all of your school work, it’s better to get the work done sooner rather than later. This lets you get help when you need it and not the day before the exam when it’s too late to reach out to your professor. It can be hard to decide when to study or how much time you need to do classwork though, so preplan a time that you will use each week for course work, review and exam prep. That way, you don’t have to make time to study, the time is already set aside for you.
Take time for yourself
Burnout is so real and can make staying on top of courses really hard when you’re getting to the end of the term, so don’t feel ashamed to take some time to just watch TV or nap for a couple hours. Sometimes, it can even be necessary to put off social events just to chill by yourself for a bit. Saving some time to just rest and do the things you enjoy can seem really hard, but is actually really worth it when you’re trying to balance your personal life with school, work and other commitments.
Know your limits
Everybody has different limits that make burnout more likely to happen. Some people can take 5 courses while surviving perfectly fine and others are more likely to succeed when taking 3 courses (I am definitely in the latter group.) Soooo many people take extra time and extra years to finish their degree, so don’t feel ashamed or embarrassed to go at your own pace. It’s more important to feel less stressed during school and accomplish everything you want to, rather than trying to meet other people’s expectations.
Ask for help
Asking a professor for clarification or using some of the resources UofA offers, instead of taking hours to try to figure out a concept on your own, can sometimes save you a lot of time. By just getting help when you need it, you can spend more time studying for other courses, working, spending time with friends or just taking some time for yourself. There are several academic resources linked on this page if you need help.
Prioritize your mental health
It can be really hard to succeed in school when you are struggling, so don’t hesitate to reach out when there are so many resources available. Your health is the most important thing. There are several resources linked on this page for people struggling with mental health.
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The newly built Carruthers Student Commons on the first floor of the business building is the best place to meet other students in the business program. Sitting at large community tables allows you to have a conversation with the people next to you in a low-stress environment. Joining a club within the business faculty is another great way to meet new people and be involved in the program. As well, all of the different business clubs hold events throughout the year, so you are able to get involved without even joining a club. Most events are advertised on club instagram pages, which I have linked above in the How do get involved in the UofA Business Community section above!
