Play by Play of a SLIS Student’s Week

Posted February 16, 2026 by Brooke Thomson

Hi readers! This week I thought I’d cater the blog towards any potential or admitted students. It can be hard to get a sense of what your days will actually look like at the school you’ve applied to, especially if you’ve never been there before. That’s the boat I was in when I applied! I remember snooping on these blogs from my computer in Florida trying to picture myself in the experiences of other students. If that sounds like you, I hope you find this helpful!

Monday
To me, the first day of the week is Monday. So we’ll start there! On Mondays I don’t have class, so I work part time at a restaurant for 5-7 hours. Depending on my mood and how work goes, when I’m done I’ll either fit in some schoolwork or become a couch potato. I’d like to say I’m a little more productive on
average, but taking two hours out of my day on the commute alone tends to make me tired. Sometimes a good round of couch potato is needed.

Tuesday
On Tuesdays I have LIS438 Intro to Archival Theory & Practice on campus from 11AM-12PM. On class days like this, I just enjoy my slow mornings with some breakfast and phone time before traveling to campus. The standard duration of most SLIS courses is three hours once a week. This is one of the required courses for students in the Archives Concentration like me. Class itself is lecture heavy (my preferred method of instruction), but my professor still asks us questions to keep us on our toes. Last week we learned about different types of archival institutions and talked about two assigned readings. Then when class ends, sometimes I’ll take the long way home for a stop at the neighborhood library to pick up some DVDs and books—or return the ones I already have. By the time I get back to my apartment I’m hungry for lunch so I do that first. Then it’s time to park at my desk, open the computer, and catch up on various tasks. It’s usually a weekly Discussion post for LIS505, two to three readings for LIS415 coming
up on Thursday (split over Wednesday as well), sending some emails, and job hunting. Once it starts pushing 5-6PM I tend to call it a day and close the computer. Then it’s time to crawl out of my room, make dinner, and catch up with my roommates. 

Wednesday
Wednesday is usually another restaurant work day, but I won’t be going in this week because I just got my LIS438 Field Placement! (More to come about that soon). So instead of working, I’ll be meeting my new internship supervisor at Boston College to discuss a plan for the semester. Once that’s settled, I’ll head to campus to start training for my new position as SLIS Student Ambassador. I’ll be giving tours, answering questions in a virtual message inbox, and chatting live with prospective students just like you. After that it’s back to the apartment for dinner, a bit of productivity, then some plop. 

Thursday
On Thursdays I have LIS415 Information Organization from 11AM-2PM. Unlike LIS438, this class tends to be an even split of lecture and group activities. For example, we recently had to break into randomly assigned pairings to create a presentation slide about a prominent figure in the LIS field, then go around the room presenting what we made in one big PowerPoint. It’s not often that we have pure lectures. One was last week, and Dr. Oh passed out chocolates to give everyone an energy boost during it. After that I’ll stay on campus to do some more Student Ambassador training. Then it’s off to the Museum of Fine Arts, where I’ll bring a small group of SLIS students together to enjoy the Lunar New Year Celebration. As Chair of the student association known as Panopticon, this is one of the arts-focused events we came up with for the semester. There will be traditional lion dances, special features on Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese artwork in the collection, and crafts as well. I’m very excited! And also nervous, but I’m sure it’ll go well.

Friday
I only have a synchronous session of LIS505 International Archives once a month on Fridays, and we already had our meeting for February. Up until now Fridays were my dedicated “get as much done as possible” day, but once I’m Student Ambassador trained I’ll be on campus giving tours from 10AM to 3PM instead. My tentative plan going forward is to set up shop in the library to still be as productive as I can, but I might add lunch at The Fens to the routine. There’s a very entertaining grillmaster down there
named Freddy who makes a good burger. 

Saturday and Sunday
Nothing interesting to say about the weekends here. They’re my dedicated restaurant-working days, and I do nothing but grab a blanket and watch TV until I fall asleep when I’m done with them.

And that’s my week! There are larger assignments as well, but they aren’t due for a couple weeks so I’m not focused on them yet. 

Honorable schedule mentions: squeezing in a movie on discounted Tuesdays and Wednesdays, walking around the MFA or the Gardner museum because they’re free and why not, grocery shopping at Stop & Shop, and snagging $3 onigiri from Maruichi.