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FELD'S TOPIC ON HOW NOT TO SCREW UP IN COLLEGE (AND LIFE) TOPIC
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Feldschlacht IV
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CloseI know a lot of you reading this are just going into college for the first time as freshman, so therefore you're fresh meat and don't really have a clue on what you're doing, even if you think you do. Some of you may even be into your second year at college, and still don't really have the hang of it yet; hey, it happens. Well, I'm going into my 3rd year in college, so I figured I may as well give some advice to first year students, or hell, this could apply to anyone, right? Well, listen up, because I'm going to give you some tips on how not to screw up in college.
ACADEMICS
Academics is the most important part of college, because well, that's what keeps you in college and pretty much why you went. On that end, there are a lot of ways to screw this up.
-First off, do NOT procrastinate! I'll be the first to admit that this is a big folly of mines; waiting until the last minute to do projects will catch up to you and destroy you in the long run. Stuff will come up delaying you, a problem will prove harder than it seems, or something else unforeseen may come up, making your procrastination blow up in your face. Don't do this. Don't do this. Time management is the utmost importance. Get a planner, and write everything down in it. Plan your days ahead of time; know what you're going to do the next day before you go to sleep. You can never get time wasted back, and you really learn this in college.
-Go to fucking class. Seriously. One 'perk' about college is that you can pretty much not go to class and no one will care or even notice. You can miss an entire weeks worth of classes and no one will be the wiser. But you're still paying for the class, and you're still missing the material, so guess what happens when there's an exam you have to go to? You're fucked. Sure, I think everyone can afford to miss a few classes (emphasis on few), don't force yourself if say, you're sick, but don't make a habit out of it. And no, you can rarely afford to study the material on your own, I tried.
-Get buddy buddy with your professors. Seriously! Be on good terms with your profs, so when you need to ask for help, or you need an accommodation or something, or hell, even your grade bumped up from a 89 to a 90, they'll do it for you. Professors are a lot cooler than high school teachers, for a lot of reasons, but take advantage of it. Take advantage of office hours, tutors, whatever you need. The help is most often there, get it while you can. Don't wait until the finals to approach your professors about a poor grade, hell, even if you're outright failing the class, if you're eager to correct it, you most likely can if you catch it early enough.
SOCIAL LIFE
Social life is yes, very important in college. Even if you were a friendless reject in high school, everyone finds some niche in college. You need at least a few people to kick back and chill with. Here's some general advice.
-DO STUFF! Join a club, start working out, go to college events, do something. Don't just hole up in your dorm all of the time. Trust me, it's very easy to meet people if you're around any given environment long enough. The thing about college is that there's all kinds of people out there. No matter what kind of person you are, you're assured to make some friends if you put yourself out there.
-If you live in a dorm, friends will be almost spoon fed to you. Leave your door open sometimes, be inviting. I made a lot of friends by people either poking their head in my room, or me doing the same to them. When you walk down the halls, try and take notice to what kind of neighbors you have, if you see someone that interests you, strike a conversation. Everyone is kinda awkward at first, but if you click, you'll notice. Don't be afraid to put yourself out there, you'll rarely get shut down if you're just walking around.
-Here's a good tip, say 'what's up', or 'hey' when you're walking down the halls in your dorm. If you get a good vibe in response, continue the conversation by asking things such as what year they're in, how are their classes, their name, and so on. Go with it, and take the conversation as far as you can. Before you know it, BAM, you've made a new friend. Believe me, I've met a LOT of people doing this. Also, if you're trying to meet members of the opposite sex, this works like a charm. Keep in mind it's all in the execution, don't look retarded while doing this.
HEALTH
If you're sick, you can't do shit. Here's some tips to stay healthy.
-Wash your hands. Seriously, when people get to college I guess they think that gives them liberty to just be funky. College campuses are among the germiest places ever. People are generally disgusting and soon you'll notice that people get sick left and right. One of the biggest reasons for this is that people don't wash their hands after they use the bathroom, or just don't wash period. Please wash yourself. Frequently.
-Work out/exercise. Do this no matter what your fitness goals are. If you're a skinny twig or rather large, this is the perfect time to reverse that, if you're an average weight and size, do this to stay that way (The Freshman 15 is not a myth). Most, if not all colleges have some kind of gym or weight room, or whatever, and it's FREE TO YOU. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS. Male or female, fat or skinny, take advantage of this. Doing some sort of exercise is one of the absolute best things you can do for yourself.
-Eat right. With meal plans and such, a lot of people our age take advantage of this a little too much, and well, they get pretty fat. Watch your portions, don't eat just because it's there, and watch what you eat, eat some fruits and veggies, mommy isn't here to force you this time around. However, if your goal is to get bigger/more muscle like me when I was a freshman, take this advantage to get a whole bunch of food in your belly for free.
SEX LIFE
Everyone likes to run and hide when the 'S Word' is brought up, but let's face it, most people either A. Get their first sexual experiences in college, or B. Get the bulk of their sexual experiences in college. Unfortunately there's a lot of people that just don't know what the fuck they're doing. I'm pretty blunt about this sort of thing too, so be forewarned.
-Use a condom. Seriously, male or female even if you have the slightest intention of having sex, keep some condoms somewhere in your room. We all know the obvious applications and reasons why WE SHOULD USE CONDOMS, KIDS, but if you find yourself in a 'situation' there's really nothing worse than not having any condoms around, anywhere. Either you have to stop the whole thing (which SUCKS), you have to go to the store to buy some before you continue (which also sucks), or you go ahead and have sex anyway (which SUCKS THE WORST DON'T DO THIS). Keep condoms handy, somewhere.
-If you find a significant other in college, I highly recommend that you both get tested. That way, if you two decide to go "fuck condoms they suck" and go for the Pill or something, you don't have to worry about catching anything from each other, or if you two have oral sex (which if you have a significant other for any significant period of time this is going to happen, don't kid yourselves), there are no worries anywhere in the equation.
-If you have a roommate and he/she needs to exit the premises for a while so you can use the room, talk to him/her about it. Trust me, this is a universal okay thing to do that any sensible roommate will understand. Unless you're kicking them out in the cold, waking them up, or uh, intruding on their "time", this is perfectly fine to do. But please do it ahead of time if you can, and be reasonable about it. Don't leave them hanging for like 6 hours or something like that.
Of course there's a lot more but hey, I'll get to it later.
DISCUSS
ACADEMICS
Academics is the most important part of college, because well, that's what keeps you in college and pretty much why you went. On that end, there are a lot of ways to screw this up.
-First off, do NOT procrastinate! I'll be the first to admit that this is a big folly of mines; waiting until the last minute to do projects will catch up to you and destroy you in the long run. Stuff will come up delaying you, a problem will prove harder than it seems, or something else unforeseen may come up, making your procrastination blow up in your face. Don't do this. Don't do this. Time management is the utmost importance. Get a planner, and write everything down in it. Plan your days ahead of time; know what you're going to do the next day before you go to sleep. You can never get time wasted back, and you really learn this in college.
-Go to fucking class. Seriously. One 'perk' about college is that you can pretty much not go to class and no one will care or even notice. You can miss an entire weeks worth of classes and no one will be the wiser. But you're still paying for the class, and you're still missing the material, so guess what happens when there's an exam you have to go to? You're fucked. Sure, I think everyone can afford to miss a few classes (emphasis on few), don't force yourself if say, you're sick, but don't make a habit out of it. And no, you can rarely afford to study the material on your own, I tried.
-Get buddy buddy with your professors. Seriously! Be on good terms with your profs, so when you need to ask for help, or you need an accommodation or something, or hell, even your grade bumped up from a 89 to a 90, they'll do it for you. Professors are a lot cooler than high school teachers, for a lot of reasons, but take advantage of it. Take advantage of office hours, tutors, whatever you need. The help is most often there, get it while you can. Don't wait until the finals to approach your professors about a poor grade, hell, even if you're outright failing the class, if you're eager to correct it, you most likely can if you catch it early enough.
SOCIAL LIFE
Social life is yes, very important in college. Even if you were a friendless reject in high school, everyone finds some niche in college. You need at least a few people to kick back and chill with. Here's some general advice.
-DO STUFF! Join a club, start working out, go to college events, do something. Don't just hole up in your dorm all of the time. Trust me, it's very easy to meet people if you're around any given environment long enough. The thing about college is that there's all kinds of people out there. No matter what kind of person you are, you're assured to make some friends if you put yourself out there.
-If you live in a dorm, friends will be almost spoon fed to you. Leave your door open sometimes, be inviting. I made a lot of friends by people either poking their head in my room, or me doing the same to them. When you walk down the halls, try and take notice to what kind of neighbors you have, if you see someone that interests you, strike a conversation. Everyone is kinda awkward at first, but if you click, you'll notice. Don't be afraid to put yourself out there, you'll rarely get shut down if you're just walking around.
-Here's a good tip, say 'what's up', or 'hey' when you're walking down the halls in your dorm. If you get a good vibe in response, continue the conversation by asking things such as what year they're in, how are their classes, their name, and so on. Go with it, and take the conversation as far as you can. Before you know it, BAM, you've made a new friend. Believe me, I've met a LOT of people doing this. Also, if you're trying to meet members of the opposite sex, this works like a charm. Keep in mind it's all in the execution, don't look retarded while doing this.
HEALTH
If you're sick, you can't do shit. Here's some tips to stay healthy.
-Wash your hands. Seriously, when people get to college I guess they think that gives them liberty to just be funky. College campuses are among the germiest places ever. People are generally disgusting and soon you'll notice that people get sick left and right. One of the biggest reasons for this is that people don't wash their hands after they use the bathroom, or just don't wash period. Please wash yourself. Frequently.
-Work out/exercise. Do this no matter what your fitness goals are. If you're a skinny twig or rather large, this is the perfect time to reverse that, if you're an average weight and size, do this to stay that way (The Freshman 15 is not a myth). Most, if not all colleges have some kind of gym or weight room, or whatever, and it's FREE TO YOU. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS. Male or female, fat or skinny, take advantage of this. Doing some sort of exercise is one of the absolute best things you can do for yourself.
-Eat right. With meal plans and such, a lot of people our age take advantage of this a little too much, and well, they get pretty fat. Watch your portions, don't eat just because it's there, and watch what you eat, eat some fruits and veggies, mommy isn't here to force you this time around. However, if your goal is to get bigger/more muscle like me when I was a freshman, take this advantage to get a whole bunch of food in your belly for free.
SEX LIFE
Everyone likes to run and hide when the 'S Word' is brought up, but let's face it, most people either A. Get their first sexual experiences in college, or B. Get the bulk of their sexual experiences in college. Unfortunately there's a lot of people that just don't know what the fuck they're doing. I'm pretty blunt about this sort of thing too, so be forewarned.
-Use a condom. Seriously, male or female even if you have the slightest intention of having sex, keep some condoms somewhere in your room. We all know the obvious applications and reasons why WE SHOULD USE CONDOMS, KIDS, but if you find yourself in a 'situation' there's really nothing worse than not having any condoms around, anywhere. Either you have to stop the whole thing (which SUCKS), you have to go to the store to buy some before you continue (which also sucks), or you go ahead and have sex anyway (which SUCKS THE WORST DON'T DO THIS). Keep condoms handy, somewhere.
-If you find a significant other in college, I highly recommend that you both get tested. That way, if you two decide to go "fuck condoms they suck" and go for the Pill or something, you don't have to worry about catching anything from each other, or if you two have oral sex (which if you have a significant other for any significant period of time this is going to happen, don't kid yourselves), there are no worries anywhere in the equation.
-If you have a roommate and he/she needs to exit the premises for a while so you can use the room, talk to him/her about it. Trust me, this is a universal okay thing to do that any sensible roommate will understand. Unless you're kicking them out in the cold, waking them up, or uh, intruding on their "time", this is perfectly fine to do. But please do it ahead of time if you can, and be reasonable about it. Don't leave them hanging for like 6 hours or something like that.
Of course there's a lot more but hey, I'll get to it later.
DISCUSS
All 100% spot on.
As a fairly recent college graduate, I have a few things to add.
Get as much out of college as you can. You or someone else is paying the big bucks for you to be there, and in general, no one is going to hold your hand and guide your learning and growing process. You have to be proactive, ask questions, criticize, think outside the box. Impress your professors who are competent and can give recommendations and advice. (There are many, many incompetent professors. Avoid them if you can... appease them if you can't avoid them. Become best buds with the right kind of prof. as feld said.)
Most employers frankly don't give a crap about GPA. Theoretically... one can get straight "A"s in college and still be totally unready for the real world. GPA isn't your new god or anything, but at least try and maintain a 3.0 bare minimum. If you're trying to go to grad school, then GPA is vastly more important. But after you get your first gig, that's your true time to prove yourself, because experience trumps education most of the time. There are some fields where the opposite is true, however.
If you're majoring in underwater basket weaving, hope you have a rich spouse or a game plan for making money. The vast majority of complaints of young adults in my age group: I spent all this time and money getting educated and I can't find a good-paying job. Frankly, some majors just don't pay. Yes, you should do what you love. Money will not make you happy. God will not judge your wealth. Living in excess is no way to live, etc, etc. However, struggling to make ends meet makes you very unhappy.
Don't take out more loans than you need. Too many idiots keep a huge chunk of extra money. This is ONLY good if you plan on using that extra money for a down payment on a house, a car, or another major expense that usually requires financing. And ONLY if the student loan interest rate is low enough. (5% or lower) Don't be one of those idiots who graduates with 50,000+ in debt from a bachelor's degree because they spent too much beer money. Student loan debt is easy to manage, (i pay a paltry 100 bucks a month) but debt of any kind is bad.
The 2nd "topic" in the title is redundant, lewl.
As a fairly recent college graduate, I have a few things to add.
Get as much out of college as you can. You or someone else is paying the big bucks for you to be there, and in general, no one is going to hold your hand and guide your learning and growing process. You have to be proactive, ask questions, criticize, think outside the box. Impress your professors who are competent and can give recommendations and advice. (There are many, many incompetent professors. Avoid them if you can... appease them if you can't avoid them. Become best buds with the right kind of prof. as feld said.)
Most employers frankly don't give a crap about GPA. Theoretically... one can get straight "A"s in college and still be totally unready for the real world. GPA isn't your new god or anything, but at least try and maintain a 3.0 bare minimum. If you're trying to go to grad school, then GPA is vastly more important. But after you get your first gig, that's your true time to prove yourself, because experience trumps education most of the time. There are some fields where the opposite is true, however.
If you're majoring in underwater basket weaving, hope you have a rich spouse or a game plan for making money. The vast majority of complaints of young adults in my age group: I spent all this time and money getting educated and I can't find a good-paying job. Frankly, some majors just don't pay. Yes, you should do what you love. Money will not make you happy. God will not judge your wealth. Living in excess is no way to live, etc, etc. However, struggling to make ends meet makes you very unhappy.
Don't take out more loans than you need. Too many idiots keep a huge chunk of extra money. This is ONLY good if you plan on using that extra money for a down payment on a house, a car, or another major expense that usually requires financing. And ONLY if the student loan interest rate is low enough. (5% or lower) Don't be one of those idiots who graduates with 50,000+ in debt from a bachelor's degree because they spent too much beer money. Student loan debt is easy to manage, (i pay a paltry 100 bucks a month) but debt of any kind is bad.
The 2nd "topic" in the title is redundant, lewl.
maladroithim
1495
My best advice is that it is important to have as much sex and drink as much beer as you can. College is for delaying the start of your adult life; it is NOT, as Harmonic and Mog claim, a place of learning.
Some of us will have to work for a living, so no. ::)
Although abley has a point, if there's any time to sew your wild oats, college is it.
Although abley has a point, if there's any time to sew your wild oats, college is it.
Yeah, I did NONE of the academic stuff, and pulled out a 90%+ average in university.
I procrastinated like crazy (I have AWESOME stories about this), skipped a lot of classes (or didn't pay attention)(again, a lot of neat stories), and practically none of my profs knew me.
I was one the Dean's List all 8 semesters, taking a full course load (5 classes), and never had a semester with an average lower than 89%. My lowest marks were in English (79% and 73%) and my highest marks were in math and stats (97% - I got this twice). I took Computer Science as my major.
I got letters from the Economics, Physics, and even Religious Studies departments saying that I should join their departments because of my high marks in their classes. I think Anthropology, too.
It wasn't until about my last semester before I was contacted by the Computer Science dept - it was to tell me to apply for a national scholarship worth ~$17,000. I did and I got it. Woohoo me.
I procrastinated like crazy (I have AWESOME stories about this), skipped a lot of classes (or didn't pay attention)(again, a lot of neat stories), and practically none of my profs knew me.
I was one the Dean's List all 8 semesters, taking a full course load (5 classes), and never had a semester with an average lower than 89%. My lowest marks were in English (79% and 73%) and my highest marks were in math and stats (97% - I got this twice). I took Computer Science as my major.
I got letters from the Economics, Physics, and even Religious Studies departments saying that I should join their departments because of my high marks in their classes. I think Anthropology, too.
It wasn't until about my last semester before I was contacted by the Computer Science dept - it was to tell me to apply for a national scholarship worth ~$17,000. I did and I got it. Woohoo me.
That doesn't mean everyone can coast by, though. You basically just agreed with me that you have to get out of college what you want/need. Just like you, I slacked off like crazy on the stupid core classes, but still had a high graduating GPA. But it's not like anyone has ever cared what my GPA was.
What do you mean by "core" classes?
Plus, I went through the co-op program and they ALWAYS cared about your marks (employers, that is). And then, my first job outside of university, she said point blank it was because I had co-op experience that I was hired. So yeah, marks matter.
And I worked hard at school - I just didn't do any of the stuff Feld suggests.
I:
-Read the notes over and over
-Did all of my assignments
-Crammed for exams and finals
-Worked 10 hours a day on the weekends in the labs on assignments and projects
-made sure I understood the material.
Plus, I went through the co-op program and they ALWAYS cared about your marks (employers, that is). And then, my first job outside of university, she said point blank it was because I had co-op experience that I was hired. So yeah, marks matter.
And I worked hard at school - I just didn't do any of the stuff Feld suggests.
I:
-Read the notes over and over
-Did all of my assignments
-Crammed for exams and finals
-Worked 10 hours a day on the weekends in the labs on assignments and projects
-made sure I understood the material.
Blind
2262
This is actually a pretty informative topic! The insight is appreciated, Mog/Harmonic. :]
To anyone who has been in college for a significant amount of time: Is transferring a relatively common thing? Say hypothetically I fucked around a lot in High School and pretty much blew off the work the first two years there, considerably limiting my options, and I ended up at a college I have no interest in. Is it easy to pull off acceptance into a different school if you manage to maintain a competent GPA, and how exactly does the transfer of class credits work? Will it vary by the college, or is there some sort of standard?
To anyone who has been in college for a significant amount of time: Is transferring a relatively common thing? Say hypothetically I fucked around a lot in High School and pretty much blew off the work the first two years there, considerably limiting my options, and I ended up at a college I have no interest in. Is it easy to pull off acceptance into a different school if you manage to maintain a competent GPA, and how exactly does the transfer of class credits work? Will it vary by the college, or is there some sort of standard?
author=BlindSight link=topic=1796.msg28625#msg28625 date=1219967040
This is actually a pretty informative topic! The insight is appreciated, Mog/Harmonic. :]
To anyone who has been in college for a significant amount of time: Is transferring a relatively common thing? Say hypothetically I fucked around a lot in High School and pretty much blew off the work the first two years there, considerably limiting my options, and I ended up at a college I have no interest in. Is it easy to pull off acceptance into a different school if you manage to maintain a competent GPA, and how exactly does the transfer of class credits work? Will it vary by the college, or is there some sort of standard?
I think I've talked to you about this, but anyway.
Yes, it's very common. I myself am a college transfer student.
Yes, it's easy to get into another school if you maintain a good GPA. SATs are not applicable in most transfer programs.
Transfer credits will vary from school to school. Some schools will be very strict about it and some won't. I recommend fulfilling common liberal arts electives (common requirements are a few humanities classes, one-two social science/math courses depending on the program, PE, and so on). You REALLY need to communicate with the school you want to transfer to find out the full story, though. They'll be able to tell you which classes will transfer and which will not - and it'll vary from school to school, so if you are interested in multiple schools ask all of them.
Kentona, you must have missed the part where I said "There are some fields where the opposite is true, however."
By GPA not mattering, I mean employers (such as morgan stanley or a school district) not being impressed by "magma cum laude." They were more interested in experience, personality and ability than education in my personal experience. God... I guess I have to say "in my personal experience" as a disclaimer after everything. Sweeping disclaimer: everything everyone says has exceptions all the time ever.
By GPA not mattering, I mean employers (such as morgan stanley or a school district) not being impressed by "magma cum laude." They were more interested in experience, personality and ability than education in my personal experience. God... I guess I have to say "in my personal experience" as a disclaimer after everything. Sweeping disclaimer: everything everyone says has exceptions all the time ever.
Neophyte
155
The advice Feld gave actually applies to life in general.
This topic could also be named "How not to screw up in life". But I guess college fits in a tad bit more, and like Mala said, is for practice!
You guys give some good advice, I need to stop slacking off.
This topic could also be named "How not to screw up in life". But I guess college fits in a tad bit more, and like Mala said, is for practice!
You guys give some good advice, I need to stop slacking off.
iamnot
48
Good advice.
Already been mentioned I know, but just throwing it out there again - make friends! Take risks! It is a lot easier to hide in your dorm room and never talk to anyone then to go out and meet people, but in the end it isn't worth it. Also, Try making friends at the start, the longer you wait to meet people the harder it is (people find their clicks early in the year, and it makes it harder to break into.
Also, I am a horrible procrastinator. :-X
Already been mentioned I know, but just throwing it out there again - make friends! Take risks! It is a lot easier to hide in your dorm room and never talk to anyone then to go out and meet people, but in the end it isn't worth it. Also, Try making friends at the start, the longer you wait to meet people the harder it is (people find their clicks early in the year, and it makes it harder to break into.
Also, I am a horrible procrastinator. :-X
author=Neophyte link=topic=1796.msg28636#msg28636 date=1219975528
The advice Feld gave actually applies to life in general.
This topic could also be named "How not to screw up in life". But I guess college fits in a tad bit more, and like Mala said, is for practice!
You guys give some good advice, I need to stop slacking off.
You're right, a lot of is good advice to carry with you through life.
Blitzen
3253
College, freinds, punctuality and condoms, are all overrated.
For us Joe Nobody's who pay thier own way and get average-good grades, post-secondary school is really hard work. Working 25 hours a week plus classes plus commuting is soul draining, and I would hate to spend any more time at school than I already do. Come to think of it, my job has probably been more of a social centre for me than school ever has or could be.
Fuck school.
For us Joe Nobody's who pay thier own way and get average-good grades, post-secondary school is really hard work. Working 25 hours a week plus classes plus commuting is soul draining, and I would hate to spend any more time at school than I already do. Come to think of it, my job has probably been more of a social centre for me than school ever has or could be.
Fuck school.
Does this include how to Deal with parents that won't let you do what you want in life and instead push you into something you can't REALLY do despite attempts of telling them for like 15x already and getting shouted at?
Blitzen
3253
author=Archeia_Nessiah link=topic=1796.msg28742#msg28742 date=1220057365
Does this include how to Deal with parents that won't let you do what you want in life and instead push you into something you can't REALLY do despite attempts of telling them for like 15x already and getting shouted at?
Tell your parents to fuck off (but be nice about it you still need them to feed you).
