In this episode, International Student Academic Advisor Emily Collins Garcia and first-year international student Julia Carolina explore the realities of academic well-being, the myth of the 'perfect student,' and how to tackle imposter syndrome head-on. Julia shares her experience navigating Brown University as an international student from Brazil, highlighting the immense value of academic coaching and proving that finding your community makes all the difference. Listen now for practical strategies on building academic habits and prioritizing your well-being.
Every student's journey at Brown is unique, and it's important to learn what that path can look like for you. Yet, it is entirely natural to wonder how your path compares to others, especially to that one roommate who magically wakes up at 7 AM to hit the gym, takes five classes, and seems to have it all together.
Are you ready to discover what thriving looks like on your own terms? In this episode, we unpack the reality of academic well-being and the myth of the "perfect student" that lead to imposter syndrome.
We are joined by Emily Collins Garcia, International Student Advisor, and special guest Julia, an international student from Brazil, to discuss the real process of transitioning to life at Brown University. From managing heavier course loads and navigating new classroom expectations to overcoming language and cultural barriers, this conversation is all about giving yourself grace.
Resources & Links Mentioned:
Music provided by Blue Dot Sessions, Greylock.
Host (Anastasia Dementieva) [00:07 - 01:25]: Hello, and welcome back to Worldview Wavelengths, the podcast by the International Student Advising Team in the college here at Brown University. My name is Anastasia Dementieva, International Student Program Manager, and I'm so glad that you're here. If you're new to the show, this podcast is designed to highlight resources, strategies, and stories to support international students as they navigate academics and finances in the U.S. While our primary audience is F-1 visa holding undergraduate students, anyone who's curious about our international community is welcome to tune in. Today, we're talking about academic coaching, a free, personalized, and highly interactive resource that is available to all students at the college. To explore what academic coaching really looks like and whether it might work for you, I'm joined by two wonderful guests, Emily Collins-Garcia, the International Student Academic Advisor, and Julia Carolina Carvalho, a first-year student from Brazil interested in economics and urban studies. And she will share her firsthand experience going through the process. Emily, Julia, thank you so much for joining us. Before we jump into our conversation, could you each tell us a little bit more about yourselves, your major, where your home is for you, and one thing that you're passionate about right now?
Julia Carolina Carvalho [01:26 - 01:46]: Yes. So my name is Julia Carolina. I come from Brazil, Brazil's first capital, Salvador. I'm a freshman, just got here in Brown, but I want to study econ and urban studies. And, I mean, my passion is always Brazil. So, like, you know, that's my passion. That's what I'm interested about.
Host [01:46 - 01:50]: I love that, and I think that's something that you have in common with Emily, perhaps.
Emily Collins Garcia [01:50 - 01:51]: From a different perspective, yes.
Host [01:52 - 01:54]: Emily, could you also introduce yourself?
Emily Collins Garcia [01:54 - 02:21]: Yes, I... My name's Emily Collins Garcia. I use she/her pronouns. I'm the International Student Academic Advisor. I was born and raised in Rhode Island, so I'm familiar with the area. Whether I like the snow or not, I am familiar with it. And what I'm passionate about today, I have a one-year-old baby girl, Joyce, and she is my passion, my love, my everything. So yeah, that's me.
Host [02:22 - 02:35]: I love that. Emily, let's just start about what is academic coaching. I know we talk a lot about tutoring and students may hear about different terms and different contexts, but what is academic coaching?
Emily Collins Garcia [02:35 - 05:01]: Yeah, so academic coaching is one of the many resources, as you referred to on campus, to support international students with really creating their own academic goals and creating kind of sustainable habits that are going to work for them in order to reach those goals that they have. So sometimes there are direct conversations on productivity and study efficiency and time management and organization, but sometimes there's larger holistic pictures that we talk about too regarding what some of maybe the self-talk is around perfectionism or imposter syndrome and or kind of those themes that can trickle into the work that we do and the way that we perceive ourselves within the Brown context. So specifically for me, I work with international students, and that can be any self-identifying international student. And we do group cohorts as well as one-on-one coaching sessions. And so in the group cohort, we have different themes. They're monthly meetings. And so basically how the cohort is designed is that I found in one-on-ones, we have different topics that come up with a lot of students at certain seasons, certain periods of the semester, like shopping period or midterm season and so forth. So I created a sequenced curriculum to address those different topics kind of well-paced out so that it's not like a whole bunch of information or a whole bunch of conversation on a lot of topics at once, but kind of like a different topic to think about, reflect on, talk about with peers to be able to connect that, oh, I'm not the only person feeling this way. And then having some things to try out in between the sessions, so within the month ahead. With one-on-one sessions, usually we start with essentially what the student hopes to get out of the meetings, what are their goals or priorities that they want to talk about. And then from there, it's very individualized. So we're still a lot of the time talking about the same overarching themes, but in the one-on-one session, you can consider it a more personalized type relationship where we're really talking about your schedule, your coursework demands within that semester, your friendship circle, and the relationships that you want to maintain outside of academics or your own personal well-being and how all those interact with your academic progress.
Host [05:02 - 05:34]: I love how it all comes together. And I really love the fact that we have Julia here with us today, who obviously participated in academic coaching. And you're still doing academic coaching, right?
Julia Carolina Carvalho: I think I'll use it as long as I'm here, Brown.
Host: And you can keep using it! And actually, that's a very good point. Before we jump into your experience with it and how the process has been for you over the last few months, I want to just quickly ask you, what are some misconceptions about academic coaching? Because one of them is certainly that it is just like, a one off kind of thing. But what else is there?
Emily Collins Garcia [05:34 - 07:10]: Yeah, absolutely. So I think actually one of the first things you just kind of addressed it to coaching really is a relationship. So actually, I think if you hear Dean Chang from the CRC, you'll hear her when she talks about coaching mentioned that it's usually at least three meetings in order to really sustain a coaching relationship. The first meeting, you're really getting to know each other, right? Really trying to figure out what's initially on someone's mind. And then with the continuacy of meeting, you really start to see what's adapting, what's working, what's not, and why. And this kind of allows for a relationship to unfold. So one of the biggest misconceptions, like you were kind of just inferring to, is that it might be something that's a quick fix or something that I have a problem. I have something that's a challenge or urgent for me, and I'm going to go to coaching to find a solution for it. Where really, if you're a student who has goals around your academics, and that can include finding balance between your academics with your personal life, coaching can be for you because it's really about thinking, visualizing what is the life that you want to be living and what you want to be leading with in your life, and then how to get closer to that, even if it takes a little bit of time. So to kind of summarize here, it doesn't need to be that there's something urgent or a challenge to utilize coaching. It's more about living with intentionality and defining what that means for you.
Host [07:10 - 07:16]: I love that. Yeah. And Julia, why did you choose to start with academic coaching?
Julia Carolina Carvalho [07:30 - 08:08]: Let's speak in Portuguese. Yes. And then I was struggling a lot with the transition between, you know, coming from high school, going to coming to college in another country. I did not think that I would struggle so much with English. I really got a really high grade in my fluency test. And then I was struggling a lot. And then I was like, oh, I did not forget about Emily, I guess, because of the connection with Brazil. I need to reach out to her. And I knew I had no idea exactly what academic coaching was. I had no idea what we were going to do, but I knew that I had to go for it.
Host [08:08 - 08:27]: I love that. And I think it's such an important point as well. The academic coaching can come into a student life from many different elements. Like there's not one path into it, but it could be a great starting point to then understand, OK, what do I do next? So that's a really good example of it. Do you remember your first coaching session?
Julia Carolina Carvalho [08:29 - 09:04]: I think I'm not sure if I remember the first meeting, but I remember the feeling before and after it. And like I was really overwhelmed. I was like talking with my friends like it's so difficult. I don't know what I'm doing. Like I've always been such a good student and now I'm struggling so much and feels like I'm lost. And I remember that I talked to Emily and like one of the first things that she taught me was that. You don't actually have to read the whole book, you know, and I'm like, wow, I'm so relieved. So I just remember that this like this contrast of feeling before and after our first meeting.
Emily Collins Garcia [09:05 - 10:33]: Yeah, I remember our first meeting. I do. Well, one thing that I really, really admire that I want to make sure I mention here today about the way that Julia approached coaching in the first few meetings, she knew what she wanted to speak about and everyone approaches it a little differently. It's not saying that you have to do it this way. but she would come in and say all right this is on my mind this is what's happening um i'm dealing with xyz i think it's because of this and then we would just have such a flow of a conversation and so i actually found that our conversations were very well paced because it kind of felt like time management and organization was the first topic that you came with to put it kind of like holistically. And then it kind of felt like you were getting this rhythm by meeting two or three. And then it's switched over to reading strategies and then writing strategies. And then from there kind of shifted with more of goal setting and so forth. So it was very cool to see the evolution of our conversations because Some of those initial time management organization strategies, you're still applying today, right? We just talked about this last week that like you got it down even with a new course load in a way that works for you. So yeah, I do remember like vaguely though that it was initially like organization, how to apply within this new context here at Brown because you have systems in place from high school. It was just learning to adapt it with a new environment. Exactly, yeah.
Host [10:35 - 10:38]: Awesome. And do you want to share some of the strategies that you have been using?
Julia Carolina Carvalho [10:39 - 11:44]: Yeah, I mean, I think it was really important to learn some new strategies that are just specific to college work. So, for instance, like reading strategies, how to think critically about a text material, how to do research papers and, you know, that kind of stuff. But there was also so I learned a lot. We tried different strategies, you know. We saw what worked, what didn't. And there was also a lot of learning about how I work best. So, for instance, I love Google Calendar. I love using that resource. And I realized that initially I would say... I would determine that I would use one hour to do a certain task but then I would use more time than that and I would feel frustrated so I realized instead of like uh setting a time for a task I just have that on my calendar and that helps me feel much more productive and you know so those are some of the things that I learned with all the reflection that we did and that it's something that I'll probably take for my whole life you know so yeah
Host [11:45 - 12:05]: I think you bring up a really important point that not all strategies work, right? Like you said it yourself, I love the fact that you try different things and some work for you, some might have not worked for you, but you stuck with it. And I know that you're still doing academic coaching. So how has it changed into this new semester? What are some of the specific things that you're working on now?
Julia Carolina Carvalho [12:05 - 13:24]: Yeah, that's a great question. Because initially when I went for academic coaching I had things to solve I had issues to talk about and like how do I feel better about um studying at Brown and then I feel like I I started the second semester feeling much more confident okay I know how to do this you know I know the strategies I just have to put them in practice and I know that the more I read the more you know it will get better it And so now what we're doing is thinking about what are my academic goals and how can I use the resources that Brown provides me, offers me to best achieve those goals. So it's a different conversation, but it's as exciting as it was before. For instance, one of my goals is to improve my language skills. And we're thinking about how what are some strategies, like how can I practice those languages, even though I'm not willing to dedicate that much time to it because I have to do a bunch of readings for my classes and econ and all of that. So it's just thinking about what are my goals, thinking, reflecting a little bit about, you know, just my life and what feels important to me right now. Priorities, right? Yes. Yes. Yes. That's really important. And so that's a little bit how it changed.
Host [13:25 - 13:51]: Awesome. And I think it also ties into something that Emily said in the very first question, which is about sustainability and building sustainable habits. So it almost sounds like in the first part you were getting to that routine that grounds you. And now it's like, OK, how can I even optimize it more? But in a way that is sustainable. Right. Because I'm sure we've all had all nighters and like we all studied for a test the night before. And, you know, you might do well on the test, but like that is not a sustainable way to do that.
Julia Carolina Carvalho [13:51 - 14:12]: Yeah. I love that you mentioned that, Emily, because I see that that's a really big misconception that people have. A lot of my friends, I always tell them, like, have you talked to Emily? If they're international student, I'm like, and even like I told you that, like when someone's struggling with anything, I just say to them, I'm just going to say one word for you, Emily. They know what I mean.
Host [14:13 - 14:15]: You should start having business cards and giving them to Julia!
Julia Carolina Carvalho [14:16 - 14:35]: Yes, exactly. And then they'll say, oh, but I don't have anything to talk about. You know, like you can build habits that are more like healthier, more sustainable, regardless if you're not even though you're not struggling with one particular exam or class right now, you know. So that's really important.
Emily Collins Garcia [14:35 - 15:19]: Yeah, I think one of the recurring things that I say time and time again with students is, you know, they'll explain that I pulled an all nighter, but I got an A. And the question I go back to, but how was it during the process of getting to the A? And that's where it usually comes up. Well, it really didn't work and I got sick right after or all of these other effects from the choices that the person made to get the A. And so I think that's just an important point, too, is it's not just about potentially like the academic outcome in like a grade form, but also about the experience and longevity of these habits that can prevent burnout and prevent just feeling like it's like feelings of overwhelm to refocus.
Julia Carolina Carvalho [15:19 - 15:55]: And may i just add something real quick it's i one of the things that i love the most about what we've achieved so far is that i i've never pulled an all-nighter since i got to brown i absolutely have time to like if someone says to me oh do you want to have dinner with me right now if It might be the case that I told myself I'd be doing something in this one hour during lunch, dinner. I'm going to have dinner with them because I know I can because I have time to reschedule things. So like, you know, this is so it feels so much better to have this freedom of feeling overwhelmed with all the things they have to do. You know, so this is definitely one of the things that I learned through coaching.
Host [15:56 - 16:21]: I love that. And I think that's a skill that goes way beyond school. And I know we said that these are really life skills, but it truly is because, you know, time, we will always have 24 hours a day, no matter when in life. And knowing how to use that time in a way that is effective and in a way that we have the freedom to really do the things that we want to do and that we love doing and not feeling like we have to give something up is just really unparalleled.
Emily Collins Garcia [16:21 - 17:42]: Yeah. The other thing I definitely want to specifically speak about is the strategies that Anastasia, you had asked about. I think you also underestimated how far you've come with answering that because I know you talked about the Google Calendar and that was a wonderful example. But I've also seen the way that you've managed your productivity really well with task switching. Yeah. So I remember there was a few meetings that it felt like you were writing a paper for the entire Sunday and you did such a wonderful job of finding strategies to task switch to keep your energy and focus maintained. Yeah. The other thing that I really, really have found wonderful about our meetings and also with other meetings is like thinking holistically about what you want from the class. And I know you have such a big love and passion for Brazil. And so it's bringing back what you're studying in econ and urban studies to your home country. And like you implement moments after class just to write short reflections on how that relates back with Brazil or how that relates back with some of the things that you want to further your studies. Really, really amazing the way that you've been able to apply that so that it feels like there's more meaning to the classes that you're engaged with.
Julia Carolina Carvalho [17:43 - 18:37]: Yeah, no, definitely, definitely. I also think it's I'm really excited about what we're doing with Obsidian, which is like a tool that you can use to write down your thoughts, ideas, and knowledge more effectively so you can create connections between knowledge. That goes far beyond what we're learning in class. It's not about getting an A. It's more about how do I make sure that I'm, you know, able to create connections between different knowledge, different, yeah, like different ideas. And how can I contribute better to not just conversations in class, but also conversations, you know, overall? And so this I think this is also interesting because it's something that is not really related with class, with academics. It's more about a personal goal that I have for myself. And I know that I can use resources here around to help me. So I also think that's maybe like a strategy, a thing that we're working on that is worth highlighting. Awesome.
Host [18:37 - 18:50]: Great. Well, I love hearing about your story. And I want to ask you, Emily, you work with a lot of students from really all over the world. What are some common themes that come up in academic coaching that maybe we haven't touched upon today?
Emily Collins Garcia [18:51 - 21:58]: Yeah, I think initially a lot of students come for time management. I feel like that's kind of what brings a lot of people in the door. But whenever someone talks about time management, it usually leads to conversations on what I call the all or nothing mindset. And this is needing to do everything one way or not at all. Or I did a study block for three o'clock and it's 3:15. So oops, sorry, God, I just completely not do this project and go hang out with friends instead. So I call it the all or nothing mindset. And I do think it stems from perfectionism and it stems from kind of some deep, really, really deep rooted ideas. just patterns in behavior. And so I think with that being said, when we start to dissect what seems to be quote unquote an issue, procrastination, managing my time effectively, study session efficiency, just generally prioritization with all the other competing things because we have so many students here at Brown who are engaged with really, really wonderful things. And it's just being able to know how can I still call my family back home with the time zone difference and making sure that I'm able to still wake up and have breakfast and like all of these things that go into academic well-being. I think it's thinking about how we can work towards progression through small steps and really thinking about what that means for you and not your best friend or not your friend who's taking five classes or not, you know, your roommate who wakes up and goes to the gym at 7 a.m. Like, what do you want in your life? And a lot of the time, this is the first time students are living independently or living really far from their family who might be checking in, but in a different way. And even if this isn't the first time that a student's living independently, Brown in and of itself is such a culture within the U.S. culture. So it's kind of navigating multiple cultures at once u.s culture all the cultural context that comes along with it and then also just the brown context and and navigating relationships here and classroom expectations and so forth so Long-winded kind of answer with that, but I would say some themes that I hear is definitely perfectionism and navigating transitions. And then for the students who are outside of their first year here at Brown, who still utilize coaching, a lot of the time, It's about applying strategies that they maybe had from past semesters and applying them to a higher course load demand. So as students start to dig in deeper into specific concentration requirement courses and the workload starts to increase, it's about how to maintain some of the habits that they've built in their first year, knowing that they really do need more time to study, that it's not as straightforward as maybe it was in the past.
Host [21:58 - 22:26]: Nice. And I smiled when you said whatever your roommate does and, you know, your cousin's cousin. And there's a lot of that, like these phantom ideals of what a model student looks like. And I guess I will plug the academic cohort here because that is definitely a helpful group setting to see that these themes are recurring and you're not the only one who thinks like, oh, my gosh, everybody's better than me. That is imposter syndrome, right? Does this resonate at all with you, Julia?
Julia Carolina Carvalho [22:26 - 23:23]: Exactly. Yeah, I mean, especially what you just said. I remember when I came here at Brown, like the first month, I felt so overwhelmed with the English, with the just transition, as I said before. And it was really nice. I mean, the Brazilian community is really united, really strong here. So I was talking with my other friends online. Brazilian freshmen that just got here. And we are all struggling with the same thing. And I think that was really powerful because I was able to see that it's not that I'm dumb. It's not that I'm stupid. It's a common struggle that everybody goes through. It was really nice to have the support. I guess what you just said makes a lot of sense. Being able to understand that other students are also struggling with the same thing, especially international students, because there's the language component. It's really important.
Host [23:23 - 23:33]: And if you could go back and talk to yourself when you were first going through all of these things, now that you have done this academic coaching journey, what would you say?
Julia Carolina Carvalho [23:34 - 24:12]: I think one thing that is really, really powerful that I learned with Emily and I think I'll take for my whole life is just thinking a little bit. There's a very systematic way that you like think or help me think. So it's like when we come with an issue, OK, what is wrong? So I'm always thinking about what what is this one thing that is preventing me from succeeding in doing this activity? And then it might be a mindset to like, what is this mindset? Is this really true? And I think it was something that I built. And I think that's really powerful. And I wish that everybody was able to, you know, have the experience to think through those lenses because it's really powerful.
Host [24:13 - 24:17]: And do you find yourself doing that even outside of the academic coaching meetings?
Julia Carolina Carvalho [24:17 - 24:23]: Yeah, definitely. Like, I think I'm a very reflective person. And that might be also one of the reasons why I love so much what we do.
Emily Collins Garcia [24:24 - 25:17]: Yeah. Oh, I've noticed it too. I call it monitor and adjust. That's what I call it is. And you've heard me say that meetings too, where Julia is really taking time between our meetings to monitor and to adjust whatever strategy she's applying and then more or less reporting back. And I call it the power of pause. A lot of the time, the coaching space is a place to like get off of the the wheel that a hamster is like spinning on like you imagine I imagine my head so many times we're on autopilot I guess that's a more trendy way to say it like you're on autopilot and you're just what am I even doing the day go by the weeks go by where I find that coaching can be a space to just come back and ground down into that kind of reflective state and really be thinking about okay how do I want to proceed from here in a meaningful way. So, yeah.
Host [25:17 - 25:35]: I really love that. So to wrap things up, Julia, and I know you said that your go-to is talk to Emily, but if there is a student who's listening to us right now who's a little bit on the fence about should they talk to Emily, let's put it that way, what words of advice would you give?
Julia Carolina Carvalho [25:36 - 26:05]: I mean, I've already thought about this. And I think what I'll say is, I mean, it might be the case that you're paying for this, for tuition, a lot of money. It might be the case you're not paying anything. In that case, you know, it's free. So why not use it? I mean, I always, I love doing that. Like whenever I find out that there's something that Brown offers, I'll just go there and talk to the person. If, I'm sure there might be something, I'm sure there's something that you're going to learn. And so, you know, it's free. Just try it. Try it.
Host [26:06 - 26:08]: Excellent advice. Emily, do you have anything to add to that?
Emily Collins Garcia [26:08 - 27:48]: Yeah, I'll just add that I do work specifically with international students, but international students also can meet with peer coaches. And if you're an international student athlete, there's also peer coaches that are assigned to each team. So if it feels like for you it would be more or less more useful or helpful to meet with a staff member, academic coach, then absolutely. But if you also feel like hearing from peers and getting the insights from that kind of peer perspective, that those opportunities also exist here at Brown. And so you can kind of pick and choose. You can have fun with it. We have students who sometimes use both, and they kind of – Get the input from me and get the input from peer coaches and then kind of find their own kind of mesh between everything. So, yeah, there's multiple opportunities. And finally, how to get engaged with those opportunities, how to sign up. Well, it's actually quite easy. The description of this episode should have some links to set up a one-on-one meeting. If you are interested in the group cohort model, you can always write to either me or to internationaladvising at brown.edu, and we can make sure you get the calendar invites for those. But for one-on-ones, just use the Calendly link. I do want to emphasize here, I meet with students at all parts of the semester. It can be beginning, middle, or end. And I also meet with students over break. So sometimes students want to really think about the semester ahead during winter or summer break. And I do have students who meet with me during those time periods as well to kind of prepare. So yeah, it's accessible, it's open, and just use the link in the episode.
Host [27:48 - 27:52]: Fantastic. Well, thank you both so much for joining me. It was a pleasure to talk to you.
Julia Carolina Carvalho [27:53 - 27:54]: Yeah, thank you for having us.
Host [27:55 - 27:58]: And thank you all for listening. We'll see you next time.