I will be going to college in the fall as an Information Systems Management major. What are some things I should do while there, and things that I should avoid?
1.) Beer 2.) Beer
Funny Ringo.
So Stccrd,
Do you need: “Bad advice”?, OR is it :“badly need advice”?
I was just being, well, stupid. I don’t need advice badly, and I don’t need bad advice. I just figured maybe people might actually not pass over my post, considering I have a tendency to kill threads rather quickly. (I bet that after this no one else posts)
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Don’t take more than 18 credit hours your first semester. Trust me on this one.
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Somewhat corollary to 1., if attending a large campus, make certain that you have more than 15 minutes between classes. There may not be time to walk to the next one if class runs over/it’s icy out/you have to use the facilities, and the bus will always be too full on those days.
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If living in a dorm, do not bring all your earthly possessions, unless you’ve grown up in a convent or orphanage. There won’t be enough room, and your roommate will definitely violate this rule.
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Do get a season ticket deal on interesting campus events or theater or what have you. Much cheaper and easier than standing in line because you’ve decided at the last moment you want to see Stomp.
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Don’t buy your books full-priced, or even used at the campus bookstore if you can help it. Get the ISBN numbers and check Half.com first, if you can find out the required books several weeks ahead of time. Off campus bookstores may also be cheaper.
As someone also attending college in the fall what do all of you reccomend be brought to the dorms?
Kitty
Sweats, soap, toothbrush and a towel, towel optional.
Most campuses:
Have free computers, some have many some few.
Have rental refrigerators, share cost with roomie.
Give you a bed, bed bugs extra.
Give you a rommate - with TV, beer, couch with flower pattern, table with one short leg, AC/DC posters, computer, refrigerator, beer, old lay-z-boy with stuffing coming out, beer, a rug from 1974 and extra sweats.
It’s more of a question about what not to bring. Make sure you call your roommate beforehand and discuss who brings big things like a microwave or stereo. Don’t take all of your clothes, honestly, if you have a lot. Laundry sucks and you get little dresser/closet space. But do bring a suit and a semi-formal dress. You never know. Forget furniture. I know that sounds silly, but you’d be surprised what I saw people cramming into their cells-er, rooms. Oh, and check with campus rules about what you are allowed to bring. Some have byzantine regulations on things like electric devices and bikes.
I highly recommend not renting a fridge, as the rental cost was the same as buying one when I went, they were all ancient and smelled of ozone, and the rental guys were obnoxious. YMMV of course.
Don’t tell anyone how cool you were in high school.
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to do any learning at college. College is there to get you laid, drunk, and high as often as possible. Your parents will be pleased to fund this.
The internet is a good source to find other people’s dissertations. Don’t worry, professors don’t know how to use Google. Copy and paste is your friend!
Beer and pizza provide the full nutritional compliment required by a young adult. Drinking beer and eating pizza are mandatory in class - be sure to bring a big one with extra pepperoni to share during your first lecture, and a twelve-pack of beer so you can offer some to your professor.
On attending college, you will instantly know more than other people who are only at the “university of life”. Be sure to point out that what they’re doing and thinking is wrong, because they haven’t learned it in a book.
Sleeping with your professor gives you an “in” to the intellectual rigors of the academic world, and is guaranteed to get you better grades. Try to sleep with several professors, and to play them off against each other to score extra marks.
Once you graduate, the world owes you a living.
There are basically only three things you do in college: Sleep, Study, and Party.
The catch is, you can only pick two.
Here’s what I wish someone would have told me when I was going into college (probably wouldn’t have believed them, though):
It’s not as hard as everyone says. You can do well without studying all the time…and all your grades do is either get you into grad school, or get your foot in the door for your first job. 2 years out of college, no one cares what grades you got. So have fun and meet people, that’s what college is for. You’ll most likely never be in a situation that’s so conducive to meeting so many different people that are your age again. Take advantage of it. It’s a lot of fun.
The thing is, you can do that and still learn a lot of stuff.
Avoiding the bad advice, things I’d recommend:[ul]
[li]Never, ever skip class unless you absolutely have to. Once you start it just gets easier and easier.[/li][li]Don’t schedule early classes if you don’t have to. In a couple of years you can, but right now play it safe and plan on staying up later than you should.[/li][li]Get a list of cultural events going on, concerts, plays, arts, lectures, and set aside time to go to them. [/li][li]Start doing your homework the very first day and do your best to keep up with it, staying as up to date as you can.[/li][li]Learn to shoot pool reasonably well and familiarize yourself with the etiquette of playing (and even betting) in a bar.[/li][li]Take judo, or some other martial art. College clubs are often sketchy in terms of membership & reliability, but they’re cheap and a fun way to exercise. Start your first semester and stick with it.[/li][li]Join a fraternity.[/li][li]Keep a record of things you do, so that when you go out interviewing, you can rattle off all the projects you did for school and extracurricular.[/li][li]Don’t take acid without doing it with a couple of people you can absolutely trust.[/li][li]Don’t wear school colors or logos around campus during your first year.[/li][li]Go to your professors’ office hours within the first week or two and speak to them and get to know them a little. Do this for every class. Go to them if you have problems or questions. Stop by just to chat.[/li][li]Sit in the center of the front row (if everybody is in the back, make it the second row).[/li][li]During lectures, be an active listener. While the professor talks, nod and respond non-verbally in a way that ensures she knows that you are really listening. This may be the best college advice you will ever get. Once I heard it from a prof. and started doing it, the classes became increasingly taught to ME, while every other student was just some slob sitting in.[/li][li]No matter how confused you are walking around campus, look like you know what you’re doing.[/li][li]If it can be avoided, don’t have a television in your room.[/li][li]If you know what your are going into, find out about lectures & presentations being sponsored by your deparment and go to them. Often academics will travel around to different schools to present a paper they are working on in order to get feedback and critiques. Attend those, even if they’re way over your head.[/li][li]Keep a book or easy to access homework with you at all times. College is full of a few minutes here, a few minutes there that really add up. Put those to good use.[/li]If you can do it without hurting your grades, party on some weekdays.[/ul]
Thoughts of a grad student:
– Whatever you think you’re going to major in now, it will change at least twice. (Well, actually, mine didn’t, but I was one of only two exceptions on my freshman hall.) Don’t look on required courses in other areas as stumbling blocks – think of them as free samples.
– Don’t skip classes without a good reason. Boredom and general flakiness are not good reasons; hangovers only count if you are in imminent danger of throwing up on the instructor.
– Don’t do stuff that is going to piss off the professor without a very good reason. (Prof is sexually harrassing you = very good reason. You can’t be bothered to turn papers in on time = not a very good reason.) Read your syllabus carefully, as it often provides valuable guidelines on how to avoid pissing off the professor.
– Asking questions and coming to office hours will not piss off the professor. Ask away, ask some more, and then ask for clarification if there is anything you don’t understand.
– Learning is not a result (the “right” answers or the “right” grades), it’s a process. Don’t sabotage that process. Especially, don’t cheat or plagiarize. Even if you get away with it, you’ll have essentially swindled yourself out of the cost of your tuition, which is not smart.
– You’re going to have to deal with people whose backgrounds and value systems are very different from yours. Try to celebrate this, but if you can’t, at least learn to tolerate it.
– Start saving your money now so you can spend a summer traveling. You might not get the chance later in life.
You will likely be leaving a lot of the people you know - and who know you - for people you have never met. If you want to get a fresh start in being a nicer person, not having the reputation you have, breaking habits, getting rid of a horrible nickname - this is a good time to do those things. Likewise, its a great chance to develop new habits - visiting the gym every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon after classes. Having a study schedule and sticking to it. Drinking far too much beer.
Assume college will be much tougher than high school and start your studying appropriately. It may not be, but its way easier to start off spending Saturday afternoons studying and every Monday night at the library than to have to stop spending Saturday afternoon hanging with friends and Monday night drinking - and end up majoring in Underwater Basketweaving because its was easier than Information Systems.
Be prepared to discover that you are way more interested in a career in underwater basketweaving and change your major three or four times.
Well, definitely not a kitty. Most schools have a total ban on pets in dorms, though some like the one I went to (although not until after I graduated, grumble, grumble) allow fish.
You really ought to do as suggested, and find out what’s on “do not bring” list before you get there. You can usually call for it from the housing office, or find out on the college’s web page- most have a “student living” section for that sort of thing. Every single year I was in a dorm I saw people lug things in, find out they’re banned, then having to lug them out again while their parents moaned about bringing the things home again. Moving in is stressful enough, don’t add to it by being caught unawares.
All of the above is true, EXCEPT:- beer and pizza will not provide your full RDA of all necessary nutrients. Large quantities of ramen noodles and whatever is 2 for $2 at McDonald’s will supply the rest, however. (pregnant or nursing women may also require a few shots of Jaegermeister each week)
On the “good advice” side, BRING A COMPUTER, even if the labs at your campus have 3ghz P4s with eelskin desk chairs and under-table oral sex providers. You will remember at several points during your college career, while drunk, that you have an assignment/quiz/take home test/doctoral thesis due at 8 am the next morning when the labs have already closed. Also, we don’t want the riff-raff seeing you on these boards if you’re using a computer in public. Also, AIM will be your new best friend and you won’t be able to function without seeing at least one random Jack Handey quote each day.
If you’re a girl, you won’t need a fake ID. If you’re a guy, you’ll get caught using one. Its now a felony in most states, so don’t bother- just make older friends.
If you’re thinking about rushing go ask questions on my “ask the Straight Dope Frat Boy” thread over there points
Before I left for college, my mom gave me 2 pieces of good advice:
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Don’t drink the sweet stuff. With sweet drinks, you end up drinking them more quickly. Also, it’s easier for someone to slip in extra alcohol. Because of this, you might end up much drunker than you intended, which can be a bad thing.
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Don’t skip class. Like the others said, this is a biggie. Even if you just go and sit there, you’ll be better off. You will soak something up. And if the professor announces something will be on the test, you’ll know. Don’t count on your friends to tell you. And if you’re having trouble, the professor will be a hell of a lot more likely to help you.
And to the question of what to bring:
Bring a small tool kit. This is an absolute must. You’ll end up using it way more than you ever expected. You should have:
Hammer
Screwdriver, flat head
Screwdriver, Phillips head
Pliers
Utility knife
Measuring tape.
Also, a roll of duct tape will always come in handy.
If you have money to spend on clothes, DO NOT buy the clothes the summer before college. The clothes that were cool in high school won’t be cool in college. Save the money, and do some shopping while you’re there.
But as someone said, make sure you have a semi-formal outfit or two. And you’ll need lots more loungy clothes and fewer cute outfits than you probably think.
Its more than ten years since I was in college, so do you mean to say they’ve replaced the 8Mhz 386s, Wise terminals and Mac IIs? And that the under-table cockpunchers have retired?
I’m gettin’ me some adult education!
Here’s my advice: enjoy it. Take the work seriously, but bear in mind that the likelihood is nobody will give a damn about your grade point average ten years or ten jobs or even one job after college. Don’t let result chasing ruin your life. (This advice, like a lot of advice is impossible to follow and easy to forget.)
Also don’t develop a heavy hash habit in your final year. 
I desperatly wish I could go back to college. 
Being a middle-aged, responsible old fart father homeowner husband ain’t all its cracked up to be.
But the pay is better! And I can make my own beer!