You’re paying big bucks to be here at Queen’s. You worked your ass off to get here and likely you’ll have to work fairly hard to stay here.
Add to that a desire to have a dazzling social, sex, and extracurriclar life and you’ve got a lot to look after.
You have to make your time here count. It’s not hard to have a great work / play balance. In fact, it’s what makes Queen’s so great. People here know how to work hard and play even harder.
Granted, working hard really is only half the battle. You have to know what you are getting yourself into. Getting a 90% average in PoliSci just ain’t going to happen – but it’s one of the most rewarding programs of study at Queen’s. In the mood for studying and headed to the second floor of Stauffer Library? Think again.
Go into your education at Queen’s armed with the advice of upper years. Your education here isn’t all about courses and grades and midterms. It’s about learning how to live on your own and how to create interesting new relationships.
study spots
Like it or not, you’ll be spending a fair bit of your time at Queen’s studying, and sometimes your ghetto house with eight million distractions just doesn’t cut it. We’ve compiled a list of some of the greatest spots on and off to campus to study.
The Common Ground
Otherwise known as CoGro, Common Ground is more than just your average study stop. Here you can enjoy a number of coffee-based beverages, along with smoothies, iced teas, and Italian sodas. They also have sandwiches (recommended: the Ham, Apple, Cheddar) and cake- really, really good cake. Located on the second floor of the JDUC, Common Ground has ample space filled with comfy sofas and armchairs, along with regular tables. It can certainly get noisy and rowdy here, but you are likely to bump into classmates who you can woo classnotes for say, the price of a Peachy Queen’s smoothie.
Fireside Reading Room
Located on the second floor of Stauffer Library is a big room filled with large oak tables and warm fireplaces. Honestly, why would you study anywhere else? The room looks out over the corner of Union and University and is a picture perfect spot for studying. It can be hard to find a table in here, especially if you want a whole one to yourself. So go early and stake a claim.
The Sleepless Goat
Located at 91 Princess Street, the Sleepless Goat, or just ‘the goat’ as regulars call it, is a workers cooperative coffee house serving up affordable fair trade coffees, desserts and vegan fare. They showcase local art on the walls and have lots of tables and chairs.
Starbucks at Johnson & Division
This Starbucks is one of the nicest coffee shops I have ever seen, as it is located inside a beautiful, old limestone building- something that was well incorporated into the store’s design. Here you will encounter the usual Starbucks fare, free wireless, and many, many students. This is a good place to study in the evenings, and is always a great place to enjoy an overly complicated drink while surfing the Internet.
Coffee and Company
Located directly across the street from the Johnson and Division Starbucks is Coffee and Company, a local chain. The selection is fairly wide here, and prices are moderate. The chai latte is well worth trying. Coffee and Co. has another location downtown at Princess and King that is far more elaborate has a good number of tables and chairs, plus the staff doesn’t mind if you stay for hours.
The Grad Club
A bar and music venues in the evenings, the Grad Club is an overlooked spot to get some daytime studying done. It’s a huge old mansion right on campus on the corner of Barrie and Union and has three floors filled with nooks and crannies for studying in. They have a limited lunch menu and cheap drinkings that flow all day long. So if that Pot Shard labelling is getting you down, just grab a tall one.
Indigo (Starbucks)
For some reason or another my favourite study spot is the Starbucks in the Indigo on Princess. Located on the top floor of Indigo there’s a small Starbucks with lots of seating and a great view of Princess street. Sure it’s nothing special, but the atmosphere is really great. They pack lots of little tables into a small space, so you are always bumping, literally, into a friend or a friend of a friend or a classmate. Plus, you are welcome to browse the selection of books at Indigo for inspiration or those well earned study breaks!
bird courses
Queen’s certainly offers some of the most stimulating and challenging courses out there; the majority of the courses I’ve taken at Queen’s were tough. However, there exists a certain batch of courses that are so hard to fail it’s nearly impossible. Read on …
Physics 020 (Physicists in the Nuclear Age): Aside from being, bar none, the easiest course I’ve ever taken at Queen’s, PITNA was a fabulous course. Boris, the prof, is well spoken, bright, and funny, and he makes the lectures fascinating. Now, I’m not sure how great this courses is going to look on your transcripts, but a 96% beside Pysics 020 can’t look that bad. C’mon, it’s ‘science’. Anyway, the course sort of delves into great physics minds of the 20th century and makes for some great dinner party conversations. If you’ve got the spare time take this course without hesitation. Everyone enjoys it.
Film 250 (Fundamentals of Production): In order to take this class you need to have Film 110, which most kids take in first year (it sounds easy, I mean you watch movies right?). Anyway, FIlm 110 is not a bird course. It’s not the hardest class there is, but it doesn’t fit into this category. Anyway, after 110 you have a wealth of film courses open to you. If you like being bored out of your skull and want an easy A, take Film 250. I guarantee you will learn next to nothing, make a short film, and walk away with a boosted GPA. Word of the wise, this is the most painfully slow moving class I have encountered. Take it in the summer session if you can, as the class hours are dramatically cut.
Health 131 (Basic Human Nutrition): This may have been the most useful course I took during my time at Queen’s – and it’s certainly up there with the least, err, challenging. After taking this course I walked away with a greater understanding of the human body, I knew how to eat well, and I got an A. The work load is light, very light. I took the course by correspondence in the summer and still managed a month long backpacking stint in Europe in the middle of the class. So, if you are at all interested in nutrition, calories, weight loss, or just general good health, take this course.
libraries
Queen’s has some amazing libraries, their collections are immense and their architecture stunning at times. Chances are you’ll be spending a fair amount of your time at Queen’s holed up in a study carrel here, paying your overdue book fees, or frantically tracking down that required reading.