Priority: Impression?

If I didn't know any better, I'd think that my faculty at UWI is doing anything they can to make the first years more comfortable so that they'll give a good impression. Now, while I'm quite happy that they took some of our complaints and improved on some things for the first years, I'm not at all appreciating how we've been placed at the bottom of the To-Do list for everything that they do.

Where are the books that we second years need? The university bookstore has only ordered 10 of the each of the 3 texts that we've been recommended, whereas the first years have ALL of theirs. Not to mention, only first year books have been placed on the shelves, leaving second year books in the store room at the back. Gee. I feel so utterly special.

After about 3 months of school not being in session, they were able to get the first year timetable to them at a quite timely manner: before the start of the semester. We, on the other hand, got ours the weekend before the new semester and found out on the first day of classes that it still hasn't been finalised. Ridiculous.

All lab manuals have been prepared before the start of the semester...for first and second years. Wonderful! So why did the first years receive their timetable, lab manuals and whatever else in a rather lovely little folder while we were merely handed three little booklets and emailed our yet-to-be-finalised timetable?

I can understand that the faculty wants to make sure the first years are fine but I see no need for being pushed away. While I'm sure we aren't, I feel very much like a last thought. Some of us are just trying to help out the first years in getting settled, opting to be their med brothers and sisters since we are aware of how the faculty and its lecturers operate. Yet we're being shoved away. They no longer want us to be their med siblings, for what reason I cannot understand and want to hand them over to the 4th and 5th years! I've never spoken to my 4th (now 5th) year med sister since the day I met her. She doesn't even remember me...walked right past me on the road once. And we're right next door to the first years, so who better to help them?

So it's the end of the first week of the new semester and I'm against what the faculty is doing already. It's all so very very frustrating.