Some graduating seniors will be heading to grad school, some are beginning a career, and many others are simply heading home for the summer to regroup. Whatever your future plans are, make sure you take advantage of the services UMass offers to make the transition to the ‘real world’ that much easier.
1. Back-up old emails you want to save!
The IT Help Center does not preserve your email indefinitely: once you graduate from the university there is a ticking timer on how long you have until all those old emails are gone forever. Google Apps at UMass are University-managed, so your account is not permanent. Luckily, you can use a third-party desktop mail client for archiving your university mail, calendar, contacts, and more in one easy-to-use tool. See instructions below:
2. Use your free printing!
Every semester, the university provides $5.00 to each student’s UCard for free. This $5.00’s is only usable at the on-campus printers. Use leftover printer-money for printing resumes, job-applications, unofficial transcripts, or even just funny pictures for your little corner of your future office’s cubicle!
3. Install the latest Windows software while it’s still free!
Many students already know and take advantage of UMass’s relationship with Microsoft in order to install a free operating system during their time here, but few consider the cost of installing a new operating system when you have to actually pay for it. Make your computer like-new again by reinstalling Windows or upgrading to a newer version. Checks out the IT Help Center websites for more information about more free and discounted software.
4. Update your information on SPIRE!
This is important for saving you some time and headache later on down the road. SPIRE access is the quick and easy way to access your unofficial transcript after you’ve graduated, and making sure you’ll still have access to SPIRE saves you hassle down the road. Update your email address to something that isn’t ‘@umass.edu’, because you won’t get to keep that address much longer.
5. Check out Atomic Learning!
Atomic Learning is available to all members of the UMass community for free after logging in with your NetID. There, you’ll find tutorials on hundreds of commonly used programs and features. Job search asking for experience with Joomla 3 in creating and managing a website and you have no idea what that is? Search Atomic Learning’s tutorials and feel confident in knowing you can handle it.
Good Luck and Congratulations!