# Heading to College Soon: Tips?



## MrShatter (Sep 28, 2010)

Any advice for a college freshman? Moving up in the world and what not.


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## FlightsOfFancy (Dec 30, 2012)

*Major Selection*
--Make a list of about 5 possible (even if you have one decided) careers you'd like
--Watch a few lectures on youtube.com to see which bodes best
--Check out salary on salary.com/bls.gov

*Social
*--Don't get turn't up on weekdays, unless you DO NOT have a class the next day 
--Don't get into hard drugs
--Do join a club 
--Do see if you can find a roomate match. It makes life a lot easier

Overall, have fun, but remember that this is money and is a large stepping stone.
GL


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## The Hungry One (Jan 26, 2011)

1. I definitely agree, join a club or even a fraternity. My INFJ friend rushed APO, a service frat, and loved it.
2. Don't jump into the hardcore classes first semester. Take maybe one to see what they're like. I found college classes difficult compared to high school classes. I think it's the formatting.
3. Google calendar. Saved my life. First week of class, mark down all the important dates from syllabus onto Google calendar or something like. I marked all my midterms and finals three weeks in advance. These things are a huge part of your grade in college, at least for science classes :<
4. Figure out cleaning, toilet paper, and other roommate duties, pet peeves, and responsibilities in the first week. 
5. Look for the student marketplace and buy your textbooks second-hand and cheap. 
6. If no meal plan, I live(d) on bananas and shamelessly went to club meetings for food. 
7. Do not get into any MMOs or video games or TV shows during the school year, and especially not during finals week. 
8. Get to know your adviser and the people at career services.
9. Talk to your professors. 
10. Don't lose touch with your high school friends.


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## platorepublic (Dec 27, 2012)

Don't ever, EVER, hesitate to do something because you are too shy or think you could fail. Not many years away you will look back and be ready to give everything to get a second chance.


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## platorepublic (Dec 27, 2012)

Ok just a few more tips for you in general:

- Get exercise to be part of your daily routine.

- Exercise your brain continuously: Keep it busy. Play poker or chess, or solve crossword puzzles, or strategy games. Keep it buzzing.

- Travel. Seriously. As much as you can. Especially to conferences.

- Food/Beverages: Learn, experiment, try out, taste all different types of foods. You eat 3 times a day if not more. Everyone on Earth follows the same routine, get to know food and you can break the ice in so many situations. Besides, its very tasty!

- Cooking. Learn it. It's fun. You will get to enjoy food more and the company that comes with it.

- Learn about Finances. Even if it might be boring, or not applicable immediately to you, learn about finances. To make money, you need to understand money, unless you luck out (which very few people do).

- Start saving. Get into the habit of tucking a few Dollars every week. Try to build up savings for a rainy day.

- Music: Appreciate it. Read up about it. Listen to as many different genres as possible. Everyone loves music.

- Invest in property. As early as you can. Property in the long run, will always give you a profit.

- Self-Pity - It will eat you up. Don't feed it. Cannot stress this enough. 

- Be Happy in whatever you do. If you're not, why push yourself through it (be it life, work, personal relationships, hobbies, etc.)

- Read. Read as much as you can, especially History and People. So many things will make sense to you.

- Trivia: As trivial as it may sound (no pun intended), trivia is a great knowledge source and can come in so handy in life when doing small talk or trying to break the ice.

- Love the Outdoors. The more you are out and away from your desk, the greater the chance of enjoying life and meeting up with people (accidentally and/or by choice).

- Face Your Problems: Don't delay. Paying attention to problems at the earliest will prevent them from snowballing into something much more bigger with disastrous results.

- Aesthetics: Though this one is a tough one to master, try to learn aesthetics, knowing how to differentiate between the good, the bad and the ugly.

- Dress/Attire. Learn to dress well. It pays back in multiples in life.

- Frugality. Learn it early enough in life. You'll thank yourself later on in life.

- Bide your Time: Decisions and opportunities will come forth a plenty in your lifetime. Think it through. For most cases, never make hasty decisions. Give it some time and see what/how you feel towards making that decision. Patience is indeed an art.

- Management: Learn and read up as much as you can about being a Manager, Management Techniques, etc. Even if they may not be applicable to you right away.

- NO: Learn to say No. The earlier on in life you master this trait, the better of you will be. It may be a sour thing to do, but you will feel better afterwards. Most people hesitate or are too courteous to say No, and end up burdening themselves.

- Last but not the least, Deliver on Your Word. For your word is worth more than your weight in gold. For you would be known by this trait.


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## Yobi (Jun 17, 2013)

Pick a standard outfit to routinely wear everyday for class and don't spend a lot of time over testing types of clothes you would like to wear. Dress professionally or wear graphic t-shirt but don't over-do it with a tie and everything. 

Don't text in class or walk around with your phone everywhere you go. You will miss opportunities to socialize with people that are important. 

Look for ways to get involved. If you are taking ceramics, clean the slab board every-day. You want people to notice you. For all you know these people will be your future employers. 

Make sure to say I'm sorry a lot! People who are honest are noticed in good ways and people actually empathize with you and try to help you out. 

Don't be worried about stuff like "What will happen when my parents find out I door-dinged this guy's car?" and over-think what to do. First thing that comes to mind, do it! and leave your contact information. Just think about how few honest people there are in the world! That should help boost your self esteem about wanting to make the right choice.

Hold doors open for people consistently.

Make sure to eat brain food and not fast food. Fast food may be the reason why you fail on tests. Trust me, healthy food does have an impact on your brain.

Eat at regular hours. Sleep at regular hours.

Go around and socialize with everyone at least once about something.. It shows that you give equal treatment.

Sit in the back of class until you get adjusted to your surroundings and watch how other people communicate with each other.

How about this so far?


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## senlar (Jan 8, 2012)

This is from personal experience.

You will have personal freedom for the first time in life but you must manage this.

1) MUST - get enough sleep 7+ hours. Yes you can get by on 5-6 but you will be living all day like a zombie and this affects memory AND grades. Get into a sleeping schedule (i.e. stop studying by 9, do something relaxing until 10 or 11).

2) Eat healthy. You're going to have the temptation to buy salty snacks and candy and chocolates. These must be limited as they affect your state of mind. 

3) Review your notes on the same day after class - don't procrastinate (same day)! Make this a habit. Also review your notes again a day or more after class. These 2 reviews plus the original lecture means you reviewed everything 3 times. This is helping you to put things into long term memory.

4) Ask others if they want to study with you or if you can study with them. It is vert important. College is not like high school. You will not understand everything on the first time you read it or hear about it in lecture. Some people are naturally good at understanding the science part of a lecture. Some people are naturally good at understanding the math part of a lecture. Come together and both of you will understand the whole lecture and do MUCH better in tests.

5) Study before a test. Try to review each page of notes at least twice. Study with OTHERS! 

6) Learn to relax. Make a habit of relaxing regularly several times a day. Read something on the net, talk with someone, drink water, walk around the campus for 15 minutes, etc. You will avoid stress related problems and your brain and memory will be better.

7) Ask a big brother/sister or counselor or graduate in your family if possible what courses or majors or minors to take. Simply BEING in college and getting good grades does NOT mean you have a good future. You may need to change major / minor and you might also want to ask someone older who has graduated about what courses you should take and when. Some students have a tendency of selecting useless degrees (like psychology - if you're serious about becoming a psychologist, you're fine; if you're just studying it so you can stay in college and party, you have no future than if you did not even have a degree). Some students have a tendency of taking too many difficult courses at the beginning or leaving too many difficult courses for the end. Try to spread them out. 

8) Save money. Take out only enough money for the day and some emergency money in case you get lost some place. Whatever you do not spend, save it at the end of the day. Make a plan for the money you save. Save one part "long term savings" (most of it). Use one part for small trivial things to buy any day (like something small to eat from a convenience store). Keep one part for something you will buy for yourself at the end of the semester (like 25% of the total saved). The more money you save, the more money you will have at the end of the semester to buy yourself something! Keep the "long term savings" for as long as you live. You will need it in case of illness or loss of job or natural disaster or buying a home or a car, retirement, etc.

Everyone once in a while, make a list of things (small and large you have bought). Prioritize them according to how important they are to you. Then cut out the most expensive items you can do without. 

It is really important to learn to save money. The best way to become wealthier is to cut unnecessary costs no matter what your career is.

9) College is much more ingroupish than high school. There is a much more "us vs them" mentality in college than in high school. Seek those who seek you. The opinion and feelings of your friends is much more important than others. You are around them most of the time. So the negative feelings of other groups matters very little.

Actually this is a lesson for life as well.

10) The threats to your success in college are: 

1. mismanagement of finances - not planning your daily expenditures & not living in a safe margin LESS than the money you have. 
2. mismanagement of time - too much hobbies, too much time on friends
3. bad stress management - if you practice relaxing a few times a day for a few minutes (just sitting, looking outside a window, walking for 10 minutes in a campus park ), then this will not happen
4. lack of structure - just because your parents are not there does not mean that you leave all civilized structure behind. Get enough sleep. Go to bed at the same time. Clean up for some time every day at the same time. Make sure to study every day at the same time. Eat more healthy food and less often salty, sweet foods.
5. social stress - people are more aggressive and selfish in college than in high school. Separate and keep distance from those who cause you stress. Stay with those who like you.

If you avoid all of the above, I think you will have avoided most of the causes of failure when people become independent for the first time in life.

This is from my experience. I hope this is useful to you.


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## CaptSwan (Mar 31, 2013)

Here are a few advices:

1) Whenever you go out drinking with people; always have your drink in your hand; even if you go to the bathroom. 
2) If you should ever try some halucinogens; never do it alone. Always have a friend there to keep you on ground.
3) Make a budget.
4) Always keep a condom in your dorm room. Doesn't matter if your female; that gives no excuse to whoever you take to your room.

The rest, has been said already. Hope my advice helps you in some way. Apologies for the bluntness of them.


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## farfaraway (Feb 15, 2013)

Most of the good ones have been taken already:

-Get a credit card as soon as you can to build credit history. But don't ever charge more than what you can pay off every month. 

-Call your roommate before moving in, and find out what you both can bring in terms of big items. You don't need two TVs, for example. If you bring one, she can leave hers home and bring a mini-fridge instead.

-Hook up with guys if really all you want is sex and nothing more. If what you want is a relationship, don't kid yourself.

-Talk to people who have the job you want when you are finished with school. And ask yourself if you can see yourself doing that for the next 50+ years.

- Take some kind of a public speaking or debate class


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## The Wanderering ______ (Jul 17, 2012)

-Always ALWAYS study your notes after class.
-Write your notes don't type them
-HELL don't even bring a laptop if you don't need one
-Try to refrain from eating fast food(yes its cheap but still it WILL slow you down)
-If you have a kitchen try to eat rather healthy but cheap meals or don't be afraid to go to family to eat if you live within distance
-Ramen Noodles are super cheap and besides sodium aren't that bad
-Exercise in your down time when you AREN't studying or going to class
-If you meet someone don't be afraid to approach, if college has taught me anything its that everyone is just as afraid to approach as everyone else
-Other than that have fun

Oh and remember don't listen to people when they tell you college is going to be the most fun thing you are going to do in your whole life because it isn't unless you let it. I remember how the people who hated high school talked about how college is the best thing ever, but it just isn't. I mean you can party all the time but seriously when are you going to have time for that, and if you go to a school like mine you won't be able to party that much anyway. Besides you don't need to go to college to party. You can to a club, a rave, join groups, just do stuff and you'll have fun. Honestly I've had more fun not being in college than being in college and I have a friend who flunked out of a college with tons of women and he has been enjoying himself more having his absolute freedom than anything else.

Basically college is like high school with much more responsibility falling on your shoulders. If you want to base the majority of your life in college then go ahead, but if you want to be like me and not do that then that's fine too.


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## Zombie Devil Duckie (Apr 11, 2012)

@CaptSwan gives solid advice!!

Don't trust your future to your adviser, it's a good way to end up getting screwed and having to stay another semester because you missed 1 important class. It's your responsibility to review the graduation requirements for your college.

Find out which books are being used for the semester and then look on the local Craigslist and Ebay for cheaper versions. 

There is always an arbitration process. 

If you get into academic trouble don't panic, but don't try to keep it a secret. Make sure you talk to your Professors and anyone else who will listen.

Speaking of which.... College is difficult. The classes are hard. It's not uncommon for an A+ student to get shitty grades their first semester because you aren't prepared for it. You might have BS'd your way through Liberal Arts classes in High School, but in College it's no joke. Believe it or not, in Philosophy class, there is a right answer and a wrong answer, lol.

You will probably gain a few pounds. 

In your dorm you'll have Wi-Fi, but be careful not to connect to a rogue access point (i.e. non-official wi-fi). If you use a rogue access point you risk having someone intercept your user name and password... which means they can see everything you have access to (email, facebook, etc...)

It's up to you... but don't do things just because It's college". You can really mess yourself up in College if you aren't careful. It's your 1st time away from home on your own and you don't have enough common sense to avoid danger. Think I'm kidding? Ask to see your Colleges "CLEARY ACT NOTIFICATION" for last year. 


Take care & have a good 1st Semester!!


-ZDD


p.s. Don't post shit on Facebook that you don't want your future employers to see.


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## Swims In Starlight (Aug 1, 2013)

On my third year of college, and ready to give advice! I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did!

*On School!
*
- Know how heavy of a workload you can handle when signing up for your classes. If you had a good work ethic in high school and want to continue pushing yourself, go for it. If you were a slacker in high school...you're not going to magically change in college. 

- What everyone else said about advisers! I was one of those dummies that let my advisor screw me over. Luckily, I went in with so many hours that I would graduate a year early anyway...but still. It stings when you think you're close to being able to make money and not be so poor anymore. Sit down with your degree plan. Know it better than the back of your hand. Lock it in at the first chance you get so they don't have you taking extra classes.

- Always check rate my professors to see your options. You do not want to sign up for the grumpy old dinosaur with no sense of humor.

- Don't be afraid to go into your professors office hours if you're struggling in class! They want to see you succeed if they see that you are trying! But don't go in there if you've missed a thousand days of class, or if you are wanting extra-credit...or if you don't even have the most basic grasp of what they are talking about. Prepare yourself before walking in, or it's a trap.

- Take advantage of the student-assistant study groups they have on most college campuses. These are graduate students who often work closely to the professors, and know what will be on their tests. They can be a lifesaver in a class that you have difficulty understanding. I couldn't have made a good grade in physics without visiting the center.

- Don't get so involved in social life or work that you miss your classes or have no time for studying. You will suffer. I have seen so many people flunk out because they couldn't tell their new cool friends "no." Say no to study groups when you have the urge to be social, as well. You'll just get distracted and won't absorb any information.

- Keep yourself organized in whatever way you think is best. I love my accordion binder with folders in the slots. Do not throw away material that comes from core classes, because you're going to need it for more advanced classes. Details get fuzzy after a few months. 

- Take a mental break off from studying by hitting the campus gym. Your money goes towards a membership, and it's going to be the best opportunity you'll have your whole life to get in shape. If you're nervous about learning the ropes, many college gyms offer small, personal classes to teach you!

- Buy used textbooks from students or buy older editions. You really don't need the new edition as much as you think you do. If there isn't something in your book, study group with someone with a newer book. You're going to save a lot of money this way. Thousands, actually. I guarantee it. 


*On Social Life!*

- If it looks interesting, try it. If you're afraid that you're going to suck, take comfort in the fact that everyone else will probably suck as well. Except for that one person who's a natural. But then, you make friends through mutual hatred 

- The first people you meet probably won't be your best friends in college. Don't get too attached.

- Don't be passive aggressive with your room mate. If you have a problem, face it. If not, it's going to fester and explode like a really nasty pimple. If your room mate is legitimately crazy like mine was (talked about killing me in her sleep lol), don't be afraid to request a room mate swap. It's inconvenient, but it's better than being miserable.

- Your friends are going to want you to go out to eat constantly. While this is great fun (and tastes a helluva lot better than the cafeteria), you should be careful and watch how much money you're spending. Instead of going out constantly, suggest taking turns cooking dinner/dessert and having a movie night. Pizza is also a cheap option if everyone is willing to chip in. Beware the mooch. They're not your real friend.

- Be SO careful going to clubs and bars and other social spots if you've never had the experience before. I'm not trying to keep you from going, but have a game plan. Know who the designated driver will be if you're going to drink. Many campuses have a group dedicated to picking up drunk people with no way to get home if you're stranded. They won't rat you out if you're underage, so you should have no worries there. Never completely leave your group of girls at a dark club. There are some creeps out there, believe me. And obviously, don't take a drink from a guy if you don't see it go straight from the bartender to the dude. You don't know what he could have slipped in there while you weren't looking. Resist the urge no matter how delicious looking he is. Yet again, creeps. 

- Call your parents every couple of days so they don't start randomly calling you every hour of the day  

- Skype your friends from home. They still matter, too 

*Most Importantly...
*
- If you are having a difficult time for any reason, part of your tuition goes towards counseling. If you're under so much stress that you can't handle it, GO! It sometimes just helps having someone to talk to, and why not go while it's free? Trust me on this one. You want to have fun in college, not be so stressed that you cry yourself to sleep every night.


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## Sir Monocle (Jan 8, 2011)

Just one from me:

DON'T take all the hard classes at the end. Do two hard and two easy per semester.


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