Brooks writes for SMU's Student Adventures - Student Adventures

Brooks, Dallas

Brooks is a senior majoring political science. He is from from Plano, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. Instead of heading abroad or seeking out an internship, like many of his friends, he decided to use this summer to focus on academics and raise his GPA.

June 6, 2007

My medieval history class is going well. Philosophy is a little slower and somehow different than I expected. After yesterday’s crazy lecture (complete with thunder and lightning at opportune times to reinforce key points of the lecture – totally coincidental, I might add), I’m still grappling with the notion that maybe I’m not giving these readings enough thought. I realize it’s a PHILOSOPHY of LAW class (which basically means thinking really hard about a really hard topic), but I just don’t think it’s been that difficult to grasp what the authors are saying. Yet, every day my classmates keep engaging my professor in these long, drawn-out sparring contests over one point of minutia or another, which really interrupts my train of thought. Oh well. If I do well on the test on Friday I’ll either prove I know what I’m talking about, or I’ll really foul things up and start to doubt to what degree I’m actually understanding what’s being discussed. And that will just not be a good thing.

To take my mind off of that, I was glad to get away this afternoon to have my one-on-one with my hall director Jen. She is interning at SMU for the summer for Residence Life and Student Housing as she is working on her Masters at Western Illinois University. Did I mention she’s really cool? We went to this very eclectic coffee/tea place near campus and got to talk a little about what’s been happening on my floor, what plans I’m making for programming, and a little about what I’ve been up to with classes and in my personal life.

A couple things are worth mentioning here: First, RLSH is very good about checking in with Student Staff members (as we’re called) to make sure everything is running smoothly within each floor community of a building and with each student staff member him or herself. It’s a way for each RA to communicate both positive and negative things on a one-on-one basis with his or her hall director, and also provides an opportunity to build a strong, trusting relationship where sensitive issues can be conveyed easily. While it may sound strange, this type of interaction is crucial so that residents and RAs alike can be safe in their environment and enjoy their residence hall experience; so residents that might be having trouble in one area or another an need assistance from one of our countless campus resources; but also so that outstanding students can be pinpointed as potential campus leaders and can be set up with the right resources and contacts to help them develop and excel. RLSH has a great system of recruiting students to serve as RAs and student staff throughout the department, and it is those students, along with dedicated and motivated professional staff, that really keep things moving around residence halls and throughout campus.

Second, during the summer, the seemingly hundreds of student organizations that provide such a huge part of the color and vibrant nature to our campus are by and large inactive as much of their membership is away until August. To that end, we RAs and others in RLSH are working hard to put on programs to make sure everyone is interacting and getting the most of all SMU and the surrounding community has to offer. Over the course of the summer, we are very fortunate to have been afforded an opportunity to have part of the Dedman Center, our brand new athletic and fitness facility, reserved just for us to host a sand volleyball tournament and movie night/barbecue. In addition, we are holding movie nights in the hall every Wednesday (complete with popcorn, candy and soda – just like the real thing!), and the RAs are doing some of our own programming as well.

Tonight, I took a few of my residents to a well-known wing restaurant called Pluckers for their weekly Quiz Night. It’s popular not just among SMU students but with nearly everyone in the younger set living in the Greenville avenue area. We had a blast. We then made it back just in time to catch Old School with Will Ferrell, Luke Wilson, and Vince Vaughn for the weekly movie night feature.

More tomorrow!

Update: June 5, 2007

So, I ended up feeling better this afternoon so I went to my LSAT class and met my other instructor Janet. She’s awesome. Very direct and to-the-point, but still very energetic and enthusiastic about the LSAT – which might be weird if you consider that she’s really excited about something most people would categorize as one of the hardest tests EVER. Anyway, we worked on logic games and I finally started to become comfortable with them after about the third example. Like I said, I think this isn’t going to be too scary. I just hope I’m not being hopelessly naïve about it.

After class I grabbed a little dinner and then came back to the hall to chill out and play a little RISK with some of my residents from my floor. RISK is the greatest board game ever invented. Hands down. Gotta study!

June 5, 2007

I didn’t feel that great today, but at least I have a chance to catch up on reading tonight and maybe also figure out the rest of my week. I got soaked in the rain on my way back from class this afternoon so I’m going to have to get out of some wet clothes first. I’ll write more tomorrow when I’m not so literally “under the weather.”

June 4, 2007

Today was great. I had class until 4:00, then my RA staff meeting, a quick bite to eat with my family at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants, and then back to campus to study.

Like I said on Friday, having family so close is great, especially when there’s a free meal involved. But even if your family isn’t as close as you might like, take the time to get to know the people in your hall. You’ll be amazed at how quickly being homesick can go away when you get to know other people on your floor who are going through the same thing you are. Sometimes it’s also great if some of your friends with family who live in town will take you home with them for the night or for a weekend just to get the feeling of a family environment again. Above all else, family is usually only a phone call or email away.

On the flipside, if you feel like Mom and Dad want to be right there with you all the time (maybe a little too much) it’s also OK to ask for some space. Making the adjustment to living away from home is something everyone goes through, whether you live 5 or 500 miles away. Parents that always want to be right next to you, calling and asking questions every 5 minutes, and maybe even trying to live out some of their college experiences vicariously through you really hinders your development as an independent person growing into adulthood. These overbearing parents that almost seem to “hover” are called “Helicopter Parents.” It’s not a bad thing if you think you might have “Helicopter Parents,” but it is good for you to try and set some boundaries. Choose a time every night to call and agree to only talk at that time. Eventually, maybe agree to call or email only every other day. Eventually, they will understand that you need your space to grow and live a normal college life.

June 3, 2007

LSAT class from 2-5 p.m. at the Princeton Review office just north of campus on Central Expressway. My instructor Tim is hilarious. He’s one of those guys that is young enough to have a flexible schedule and living arrangement, and also someone who’s brilliant enough to have scored a 180 on the LSAT multiple times, so he has plenty of funny stories to lighten the mood when trudging through analyzing argument strategies gets tough. I can tell things are going to be fine. We didn’t get our results back, but I am much less worried about everything now than I was before. With all the preparation I’ll receive in this class, plus the fact that I don’t take the actual LSAT exam until September 28, I am starting to realize that this is totally doable.

A note on LSAT prep: DO IT. So many of my friends that graduated this past year are kicking themselves right now that they either didn’t take an LSAT course, or just didn’t take it as seriously as they should have. There are several ways law schools evaluate applicants, one of which weighs heavily on your LSAT score. Some schools actually publish their formulas for evaluation so you know what they’re looking for. Others are secretive and even have myths that surround their selection process...

(DISCLAIMER: The following is strictly hearsay and should not be taken as fact in any way. Stanford is a great school and I would be shocked to find out that this is true...)

OK: Supposedly, the Stanford Law School admissions board takes applications to the bottom of a staircase and throws them into the air. The ones that land on the uppermost steps are the applications that are read first. Everything else is filed away for...ahem...“later review.” Believe it...or not? Regardless of fact or fiction, law school admittance is a big deal. I’m hoping I do well enough to get into a good school.

OK. Gotta hit the books.

June 2, 2007

So, the exam wasn’t so scary. It did freak me out that there were such strict time limits on each section, and I had no idea what to do on the logic games section, but they assured us we’d be OK after the first few classes. I hope they’re right!

Anyway, I’m the RA on call tonight so I can’t write too much. Throughout the course of the evening, I’ll make several rounds of the building to make sure everything is being kept to a low roar and that there aren’t any strangers availing themselves of the invitation to waltz in a carelessly propped door. Don’t get me wrong; SMU residence halls are very, VERY safe. We rarely ever have incidents in the hall throughout the course of a night or even several nights on call, but eventually something minor is bound to happen. Residence Life and Student Housing (referred to as RLSH or “relish”) does a great job of educating students that each building is their home and that they should, first and foremost, make sure the building is secure so that we do not have uninvited or unauthorized people wandering around. As an RA two years ago and so far this summer, I have never had to escort anyone out of the building (although we did have a few avian visitors once who dropped in that had to be asked to leave). Overall, my experience as an RA has been great and I would recommend it to anyone.

June 1, 2007

Second day of class: awesome! I’m really getting into these classes and I think I’ve figured out something I had been resistant to for a while. I used to think the students who brought their laptops to class were nerds and just legitimately couldn’t bear to be away from technology for five seconds. But, taking notes for two hours by hand is a tough job. That’s why I’ve decided to start taking my computer with me whenever I head off to class or to the library to study. I have all of my notes right there and I don’t need to worry about multiple spiral notebooks or wishing I hadn’t lost those pages I ripped out of one notebook to put into another. Everything is right there at my fingertips.

This weekend should be interesting. I start my LSAT class on Saturday morning at 9:00am with my first diagnostic exam. I’m petrified. I have no idea what I’ll do if they pull me aside and tell me “I’m sorry sir, there’s no amount of help in the world that will make you do better on this exam.” I’ll just have to wait and see. Also on tap for the weekend is a possible trip home to see my family in Plano and then class # 2 at the Princeton Review for LSAT prep. I’ll let you know how that goes.

One of the great things about living close to home is that family is never far away. I’m on duty tonight and tomorrow, so my little brother, who will be a senior at Plano Senior High School in the fall, picked up dinner and came down to keep me company for a while. As the on-call RA, we are supposed to remain in the hall from 8:00pm until 7:00am the next morning, so running out for food really isn’t an option. It was great that he was able to come down. Maybe he’ll be an RA someday himself...?

May 31, 2007

To begin, I have to address something I neglected to talk about in my first entry. Bear with me and don’t be afraid because some of the information to follow may be completely new and unfamiliar. You have been warned.

First, taking summer school does allow you to spread your classes out over time so you can take less hours during the regular term. You may even use it as an opportunity to get some of your core classes out of the way so you can spend more time during the year focusing on the classes in your particular area or areas of study. Sometimes professors in the department of your major may take time off during the summer to work on their own research or to send manuscripts to publishing houses, or they may also participate in one of the many great programs SMU offers for students to go abroad during the summer or to our campus in Taos, New Mexico. Taking classes during the summer is supposed to be a way for students to get ahead. To that end, taking fewer classes at a time with more intensive study in each gives you an opportunity to boost your GPA, which actually puts you ahead in another way as well.

With all that said (and here comes the scary part...), summer school just isn’t as bad as people make it out to be. The benefits are obvious and you can’t go wrong. Oh, and before I forget—how does the phrase “Financial Aid” sound to you? That’s right! SMU now has opportunities for students to seek financial aid during the summer, and even for study abroad programs. Visit the SMU “Summer in the City” page to get more information.

OK. On with the blog. Today was the first day of classes for Session I, which runs until June 29. In case I hadn’t mentioned this yet, summer classes are generally held every day (Monday through Friday) and are taught in two hour blocks. That way, students end up with about the same amount of class time as they would have during the regular term, although the material is disseminated at a faster rate. Some students like having a day in between to process and digest information from lectures, but I actually like the faster pace because I find I retain more information when I have less time between classes to forget it. I sometimes wish I could work out my schedule that way... Anyway, no more digression.

Books in hand, I first made my way to my Medieval History class (HIST 3350) with Dr. Jeremy duQuesnay Adams. To give you an idea of the life and work of this professor, Dr. Adams received his Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral degrees in History all from Harvard. He came to SMU in 1974 after teaching at Yale, and has since become a fixture at our great university. Dr. Adams has been recognized numerous times by SMU students and faculty as a great educator, and to that end has received the “M” Award, the SMU Outstanding Professor Award, and the Perrine Prize of Phi Beta Kappa—all the top honors possible from each institution. Wow.

His lecture style, as he describes it, isn’t like other professors who simply lay out an outline and follow it to the letter, leaving students with little more than a skeletal construction of the topic at hand. He equates that style of teaching to examining the tiles on the floor – each one is more or less the same, they are arranged in a uniform pattern and it would be possible (with patience) to count them all up if you really wanted to. Rather, Dr. Adams likes to approach topics “like stones in a path through the forest. You could never count them all, but as you wind your way on this path, each stone builds upon another until you reach the end. And at the end is a great castle with knights, a damsel in distress, and even a dragon! Now, which one sounds more interesting to you?” A fair question considering many students could just as well sit at home and watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy over and over and learn absolutely nothing. I’m really looking forward to his class.

My other class this session is the Philosophy of Law (PHIL 3374). Compared to my history course, these two classes could not be more different. The professor, John Harris, is a much younger man with a Ph.D. in Philosophy and a flair for getting down and dirty with the subject matter at hand. Dr. Harris is not above using colorful language to get his message across, something one might find in many philosophy classes nationwide. This course is a primer for some of the concepts students might find in their first experiences with law school, and many students enrolled in the class are in fact pre-law students or are at least considering law school as a post-graduate option. Since I too am looking at law school, this class is of particular interest to me. Over the term, we will look at various legal scholars’ approaches to the law itself, beginning with defining “What is Law?” Good stuff.

Getting back to Virginia-Snider Hall (where I’m an RA), I find cheer teams checking in and out, students coming and going to class and everyone pretty much taking in the remarkably decent Texas weather. I think everyone knows that the “Dog Days of Summer” aren’t too far off, so today is especially nice. I think I’ll head to the quad for some reading and maybe grab dinner later on with some friends. More tomorrow!

Note: I’ll talk more about some of the more specific details of campus life as the summer progresses, including my experiences as an RA, some tips and tricks studying, things to do and see in Dallas and other ways to make the most of your time during the summer. If you have any specific questions, please feel free to let me know. I’m happy to go into more detail or give suggestions on anything.

Introduction

My name is Brooks and I’m a senior political science major from Plano, TX—a large northern suburb of Dallas. I have absolutely loved my time here at SMU, even though I didn’t stray too far from home. (Besides, seeing my family, getting a little help from Mom with laundry at busy times of the year, and eating a hot meal every once in a while isn’t so bad, right?) It’s so hard to believe that three of the best years of my life have already come and gone, but I know I am well-prepared to meet the challenges the “real world” has in store for me. I owe that to a great education and the countless wonderful experiences I’ve had being totally engaged in all that SMU has to offer.

Instead of heading abroad or seeking out that highly-coveted internship like so many of my friends, I’ve decided to take this summer to focus on academics. I’ll be taking six hours of class each summer school session (two three-hour classes each for the months of June and July, totaling 12 hours) and also attending an intensive preparation course for the LSAT, which I will take in mid-September. Taking classes over the summer will help lighten my load during the fall and spring semesters, and will give me the opportunity to focus on my coursework so I can boost my GPA. Although summer school courses are accelerated, they still give students an opportunity to spend time with their professors and delve deeply into topics that are of interest to them. In addition to taking classes and my LSAT course, I am also a Resident Assistant (RA) in the Virginia-Snider residence hall on campus. I served as an RA two years ago in Cockrell-McIntosh and loved my experience so much that I asked to come back for the summer. I am really looking forward to living, working, and having a little fun with my residents and helping them enjoy their summer as well.

Stop by and check out my blog for all the latest on what I’m doing on campus this summer. I am always open to questions, especially from students who are skeptical about taking summer classes or prospective Mustangs looking to take summer school to get a jump ahead over their classmates. Feel free to email me at blpowell@smu.edu.

Have a great summer!