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Submit your Dear First Year Me letter!

What advice would you give your first year of university self?

The Chair for Women in Science and Engineering of Ontario is currently seeking participants for its second "Dear First Year Me campaign", which aims to provide first-year university students with valuable advice and insight to help navigate the start of their university career.

More specifically, this consists you (students or recent graduates) writing a letter to your first year self, with advice and wisdom that you think would have helped you then. The letter can also highlight something you are glad you did looking back or things you would suggest doing. Your audience for this will be First year’s (women and men) in STEM fields of study.

Your advice can be related to the university social, classes, studying, and labs - anything related to student life. Your letter is your creation, so feel free to add your own personal touch! 

The letters will be posted on our website’s blog throughout the fall (September to December) and shared through our social media accounts, using the hashtag #DearFirstYearMe.

Here is an outline of what your letter should include:

  • Your name, degree(s) and school(s)
  • Social Media Links (LinkedIn / Twitter) if you have it and will share
  • What they do now
  • An interesting fact, a hobby, etc.
  • Photos!
  • A paragraph (about 200-400 words) about what advice you would give your first-year self in the form of a ‘Dear first-year me,” letter.
  • Information for a short bio to go at the end of their letter (3-4 sentences)

Please note that your letter can be written in French or English.

Submit your Dear First Year Me letter to [email protected].

You can see the previous "Dear First Year Me" feature on our here.

We will send you all the links to your letter once it is posted, and you may share it on your own social media if you wish to do so.

We are looking forward to hearing back from you!

Through outreach and professional development activities, research, partnerships, thought leadership and online initiatives, we work with industry and academia to educate on the value of diversity for innovation, to inspire women to thrive and to celebrate the contributions of women in science and engineering.
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