Kalato Kinato
Profile Info:
Current city: Victoria BC
Year arrived in Canada: 2014
School(s): University of British Columbia
Academic program(s): Mechanical Engineering
1. From your experience transitioning to Canadian life and culture, do you have any advice for new WUSC students?
Making new friends turned out to be a challenged to me because I was too absorbed into my school work. I turned down invitations from friends to either go to a party or do some outdoor stuff because I deemed them unsafe for me or I wasn’t interested in them. That was where I was wrong. When someone invites you out about 3 times and you turn all of them down, they won’t invite you out again. That is how your social life starts to decline and friends start to decrease. I would recommend that, you stay open minded and embrace new adventures or start new ones instead of just focusing solely on schoolwork. You can find these new adventures from students’ clubs, through friends in your class or if you play any sport, you can meet a lot of people with different backgrounds
2. Do you have any advice on choosing academic programs and careers for later success after school?
Choosing an academic program seems easy or the idea that you can do any program at the university makes it even easier, but it is challenging if you are undecided on what program you really want. If you don’t know what program to take, this advise is for you: programs at the university can be overwhelming if you don’t know what you exactly want and this is where I would personally advise you to not hesitate about taking a break from school, talk to your WUSC contacts at school about how you feel and what options are available to you instead of trying to figure it out all on your own. when you don’t know where to start, join a program at a college level which is less expensive and get a diploma after 2 years. You can always transfer to university after if you really want a bachelor’s degree. Do your research before choosing a program. Ask yourself how your career interests, life goals and academic skillsets align with that program. Doing a thorough research will help you anticipate employment opportunities or challenges and how you can go about getting a job in your field.
3. How can new students cope with loneliness and feeling out of place when they first arrive in Canada?
There are so many activities that you can be a part of in the community or at school. Some of the activities include volunteering, joining student clubs, sports and free dancing classes around the city or at school. Just try to socialize and choose what interests you. During club days at school, explore all the clubs in areas of your interest and sign up for the ones you like the most. Remember time management is a key factor when juggling life and school, you need to be sharp at since time flies. You don’t want to overcomit yourself to extracurricular activities and fall behind with schoolwork
4. From your experience, what does it take to succeed in Canada? (Measuring success in academic and professional terms).
The way I measure success is by being in control of your happiness, your mental health state and your overall physical and financial health. This can be achieved by being communicative, asking for help and not shying away from talking to people in your support network about challenges that you are facing. Take control of stuff you can control. You need to be sociable so that you can have a good social network. Your network will help you find jobs in Canada and that is the path to success. Another point is being open minded, the willingness to learn and asking questions when you don’t know because you will never know if you don’t ask. Or you will learn it too late.
5. What challenges do you think hinder new students from succeeding in Canada?
Take on too many responsibilities and commitments beyond our capacities
Insufficient financial literacy - improper use of credit cards and excessive use of calling calls
Not reaching out for help when needed
Not willing to take a step back and look at where things went wrong and taking a different path
6. Seeing how credit scores are important in Canada, do you have any advice on managing money or building up a credit profile?
Credit cards are important but can be dangerous at the same time if they are misused. Using a credit card and not paying it back can ruin your credit record. Always make an effort to pay off your credit debt in time. Try budgeting your monthly expenses. Buy a book that you can use to keep track of your monthly spending. This book will help you identify where you spend a lot of money and what can you do to stay within your budget.
7. Do you have any ideas on how new students can manage expectations from friends and family back home?
It is important to know your situation well. People back home can be demanding sometimes, it is necessary to know your budget and have disposable income before helping.
8. If you can reflect on your personal journey, were your aspirations met? What would you do differently if you were to start over again in Canada?
I haven’t met my aspirations yet, but I am almost achieving them now. I would take some time off school after my first semester to get myself familiar with the environment, redefine what I want and then go back to school after I know what program I am interested and easy to network in.
