Attending College in the Fall, I need bad advice!

In My Humble Opinion
21

Ooh ooh! I’ve one more bit of advice that I forgot. The best bit I can give you:

When in a lecture, try really hard to understand and follow what is being said, don’t just write it down. Your lecture noes will be so much better cecause you will have written them in such a way that you, not the lecturer, can understand them. The amount of times that I got lecture notes off people that just didn’t make sense you wouldn’t believe.
When you get to the end of the year and have to study the crap nothing will wrongfoot you as much as having notes that don’t make sense because you mis-transcribed a variable or an equation or whatever. Also if you learn it in the lectures, even if you’ve forgotten it, you’ll (a) know that you can learn it, and (b) have the residual learning squirrelled away in your brain,which willl make it so much easier to get the second time.

Oh, a corollary to this is: actually go to the lectures. Tough one that.

22

Dangerosa, that was an excellent point - even though it probably won’t be, assume college will be the hardest educational experience of your life. College, for me, is actually easier than high school - but a good part of the reason for that is that I got in the habit, very early, of acting and scheduling as if it were tremendously difficult. Thus, I was able to get my work done, get good grades, and still have plenty of time to make utterly laughable attempts to get laid.

Some other advice: There are some people, in addition to professors, you really really need to be friends with.

Some of those people are in the IT department. Trust me, there will come a time when you spill beer on your keyboard - or worse - or your roomate kicks your CD-ROM drive when it’s open and snaps the tray because he’s drunk, or something like that. When this happens, it is very useful to be on good terms with IT, so that you can wander in and ask - very politely - if you could borrow a keyboard or spare part. Keyboards, in particular, they’ll often just give you - IT always has a bunch of keyboards lying around from donated/junk machines. So at the start of the year, make a point of dropping by, learning people’s names, and volunteering to help out. They probably won’t let you volunteer in IT - my school won’t, for liability reasons - but the fact you offered will get you big points.

If you ever intend, even once, to consume alcohol in your dorm, or hang out with people in your dorm who are drinking, or even to let someone throw out a beer can in your room, make damn sure you’re on good terms with the RAs. Not just your RA - all the RAs in the building. Say hi to them when you pass in the hall. Ask them how their day is going. When they’re on lobbey duty and everyone else is at a concert, give them your leftover pizza. And always, always, always be polite. If you do all these things, RAs will try very hard to avoid busting you. Not that they’ll ignore their duty, but they’ll be less likely to check a bag you’re bringing into the building, for example, or to knock on your door because “the music is on too loud” and see the beer pong table. Little things like that, which don’t seem like much but add up to the ability to get away with a LOT of stuff you might not be able to otherwise. And if you do get busted, having an RA on your side, talking about what a “Good kid” you are can make a huge difference.

Finally, be friends with the cafeteria ladies. If your school doesn’t let you take food out of the cafe, they’ll be more likely to look the other way and ignore suspicious styrofoam trays you stole from the snack bar. And if you lose your student ID, having a friend in the cafeteria can keep you from being denied access and going hungry.

Oh, one more thing: if you can be the person who always helps the other students in your dorm with their computers, this can be very useful.

23

More “good” advice-

Getting laid will be a big part of your life, not necessarily because you’re horny, but because everyone else is.

On move-in day, HELP EVERY CHICK YOU CAN!
Not just the cute ones, because the unattractive ones have cute friends and they’ll be more than happy to hook up the sweet guy from down the hall who carried their quarter-ton shoe collection.

Talk to everyone you see for the first week- after that, they’ll have made a decent number of friends and will no longer be amused talking to random strangers (unless they’re drunk, in which case they won’t remember you next time anyway).

Mr. Excellent makes an excellent point- do whatever you must to make your RAs love you, because sooner or later it WILL be their call as to whether the campus police are banging on your door or not.

24

Corollary to the corollary: if you for some reason simply can’t make it to your lecture, you still may be able to attend the same lecture being given for a different section of your class. This is when knowing your professor’s schedule can come in really handy - if you were too hung-over to go to you crack-of-dawn chem lecture, but you know there’s another lecture for the same class by the same prof in the afternoon, odds are very good the prof will let you sit in on the later lecture and not penalize you for missing a class. He’ll almost certainly let you do this if you’re a good student who doesn’t make a habit of it.

By the way, here’s the quickest way to be thought of as a good student: participate in class. 90% of success may just be showing up, but that’s still 10% short, so participate. Answer questions when the prof asks, and ask intelligent questions of your own. If you can refer to the reading assignment when you speak, that’s even better - nothing warm’s a professor’s heart more than knowing someone actually did their homework. And if you base your question/comment on unassigned reading on the subject that you just did for your own edification, the professor will think of you as one of those extra-special, really awesome students.

25

A word of warning here: some people </me raises hand> just don’t have the wherewithal to get laid. Not because you’re not horny, or even unattractive, but simply because you’ve never seriously tried to get some action before. I learned the hard way my freshman year that trying too hard to get laid before - cheesy as it sounds - you’re ready to do so can be pretty awkward. As in, you can end up being the love interest of a neurotic ritalin-sniffing upperclassman, or being invited to actually get laid and end up simply freezing. So don’t worry about getting laid fast, and if you a pretty naive fellow </me raises hand> , you might be better off thinking of terms of maybe getting an actual relationship, rather than a one-night stand. Not that I’m some sort of prude, mind you - hell no! - but simply because the comfort level will be higher that way.

26

Try and find a few groups of friends, especially in a small school. People in your major, people studying other subjects as well as very studious folks and the half-baked crowd. It is always good to have people to form study groups with (no more than four people in a group or it won’t work.) crash parties with and to learn a little about other subjects.

If at all possible, get a life outside of college. I had a few jobs during school and being a waitress and bartender made me very popular. Restaurants gave me lots of leftover food and I put in in the communal fridge with a not saying it was for everyone to share. AND I could get a keg cheaply on short notice. The big bonus was that when everyone graduated, the students who never worked were really overwhelmed by the fact that they now had to face the big world out there and they had always lived in dorms and they had no cash. I had a job an apartment, so all I had to do was look for a better job, without completely starting over.
Also, try not to drink more than five cups of coffee a day.

27

Green Bean’s post was probably the most practical advice. These items will make you very popular. Make sure they are returned to you. You will also need shower flip-flops. Go buy them now, while you can find them. You won’t regret it. Also, you’ll need a good bathrobe.
On to less practical advice. Dry Erase board for the door seem to be very popular now. Always check out what the English department ordered in to the bookstore for the semester and buy what interests you. It drives the English profs nuts.

28

My bad advice is for you to remember that it usually only takes a couple hours to write a research paper, so there’s no need to worry about things like that until the last week of the semester.

More seriously:

Join clubs. But don’t let your extracurricular activities take too much time away from your studying.

Don’t overload on classes, especially at the beginning.

Don’t be a stranger to your instructors. Talk to them. Ask them questions. Stand out to them in a good way. They should know your name. Just don’t become a pest.

Try to learn about instructors before you sign up for their classes. If everybody absolutely loves or hates a certain teacher, there’s probably a reason.

Don’t be afraid to drop a class if the professor seems like he or she is going to be a jerk. But try not piss the professor off in the process . . . you may find later on that he or she is the only one teaching some class you must take to graduate. Also, drop the class in time to get a full refund.

Remember, eventually you’ll be expected to pay back all that loan money.

Work your ass off, but don’t neglect having fun.

Good luck!

29

[Dean Wormer]

Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life son.

[/Dean Wormer]

and don’t forget the sunscreen
:smiley:

30

It’s been said already, but I think it bears repeating:

Show up for class.

It’s not that hard, you just have to make yourself do it. You will have much less studying to do before exams if you have bothered to attend the lectures, and if you ever need help or favors professors will look upon you much more kindly. This can make it worthwhile to show up to class even if you can’t manage to pay attention. Just try not to look like you’re not paying attention. Make sure you are conscious and upright.

Do not listen to people who tell you attendance doesn’t matter, or that it won’t hurt you to skip once in a while. Under certain circumstances they may be right, but let me tell you that everyone I knew in school who lost their scholarship or flunked out had academic problems directly related to their poor attendance.

31

No matter how much you are tempted by the blood sucking credit card company that has placed a table on your campus lawn with free jumbo sized bags of doritos and beer mugs :rolleyes: DO NOT apply for any card, no matter how sweat the deal seems.

32

Although if they have those cheesy “college- the best six years of my life” shotglasses, we all recognize that the temptation may be too great.

Seriously, most of the people I know who have failed or will fail to finish college will do so because of credit card debt. I circumvented this by opening a student checking account and NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER applying for a credit card, even when the cute girl at the jewellers’ told me she’d buy me dinner if I applied for a Zales’ card. What the hell was I gonna do with a Zales card?

Oh, and drink bottled beer. Everyone will appreciate your class.

33

Try to be genuine with others, especially if you aren’t exactly sure who you are.

34

Don’t trust anyone too quickly.

Try not to make too many enemies.

Make friends with higher-ups (such as whoever runs your dorm and whatnot) if possible.

35

Let me be the 1000th person to say it: Go to class. The single most important thing you can do in college is go to class. I think it would be almost impossible to get less than a B if you attend every class.

Next, if you have a HS boy/girl friend, break it off before you leave. You will see dozens of people who are miserable their first semester because of some long distance relationship with Joe/Jane from “home.” Almost NONE of these relationships last, and by Christmas break 99% are over. Save the phone bills and aggrevation and end it now. He/She isn’t that cool. Trust me.

Next, if you aren’t a big drinker now, take it easy. Drink beer, at least at first. Harder to get really sick off beer than booze. Not impossible, of course, but you have to work at it more. I learned that one the hard way when I downed the better part of a bottle of vodka in 45 minutes. Not good.

Next, take a light load your first semester, and take entry level classes. Even if you have tested out of all kinds of shit, take 100 level classes. I totally fucked myself over in college by taking 16 hours of 200 level classes my first semester because my AP credit tested me out of alot of entry level stuff. I would have been 100% better off only taking 12 hours my first semester, and 12 easy ones at that.

Next, find time to take classes that will enrich your life. The two classes that have probably impacted my life more than any other were two little seminars on music I took my senior year. I don’t waste much time these days pondering international economic theory, I do listen to an awful lot of music. Take some art classes, it will serve you well.

Don’t go home on the weekends too often.

Shower at least twice a week.

36

Get yourself 4 cinder blocks.

Move into the dorm. Have your dad, or another qualified burly male/unusually strong female, set your bed up on the cinder blocks. Voila, instant storage space underneath your bed, plus it just looks nicer and your bedding won’t drag on the floor :slight_smile: Slap an eggshell mattress on your mattress before you make your bed and you’ll get the best night’s sleep in the dorm.

Also I wouldn’t bring too much stuff for the first, say, coupla months of the semester. You may end up an insane roomie like I did and end up having to move out and if you have tons of stuff it will be harder.

Lots of posters and pictures will give the place a homey feeling, though. I knew people who would cut out random passages/pictures from magazines and put them all over the room. Be creative. Also you need a dry erase board to put on the front of your door so people can leave you notes. You’ll also need an answering machine and I suggest a cordless phone (in case you’re on the phone at 2am with someone and your roomie is trying to sleep).

If your room is not already carpeted, find yourself a big piece of remnant. Almost all carpet stores have these for cheap and sometimes they’ll give them away if you’ll haul it away for them. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t cover every square inch. Carpet makes the place look so much nicer and absorbs the cold.

Earplugs. Seriously. Weekend nights can get loud.

A REALLY LOUD alarm clock. Go to Wal-Mart and test them. You want something that will wake people in Manitoba as well as yourself, especially if you’re a heavy sleeper.

37

I should have mentioned, you can write in yellow high-liter on the walls and it will show up in the black light (which either you or the roomie WILL have) but probably (depending on the paint color)won’t show up in regular light. Good times. You can also fill your empty booze bottles with water and dump high-liter ink in them and they too will glow in the artificial sun that is the black light goodness. Get a lava lamp too. Chicks love lava.

38

Rhum Runner got one of the most important points right. If you have a significant other either break it off, or realize it is doomed. Out of the people I know not a single relationship from high school survived college. Those who entered college in a relationship went through a period of unadalterated misery.

Other than that have fun and go to class are the most important things to remember.

39

If you do not have unlimited monetary resources, it’s easy to live cheap if your room and meals are already covered. To get extra spending money the two best bets on any campus are the cafeteria and the department offering your major.

Cafe workers are always needed; other students sign up for work then try to get out of it to party, study, take off for the weekend, etc… I found that I could get close to full time hours just by picking up shifts from other workers. This might just apply to some schools, YMMV.

You can also apply in your major department for work-study; many colleges have programs that pay you to do office grunt work for the profs. The added appeal here is being able to learn the ins and outs of the department and exposure to the ones who control your destiny.

Oh yeah, and what everyone else said- GO TO CLASS, choose study over partying/sleep, take the right tools with you, don’t try to carry a relationship until you’ve adjusted to college.

have fun!

40

Everyone here has already said pretty much everything I would have written, but I do have one piece of advice. When you are there, of course, leave your door open. MANY people will come in just to chat with you and it’s a great opportunity to meet people. Also bringing a great multi-player gaming machine like an N64 never hurt either. :slight_smile:

After reading all of these posts about beer I have come to the conclusion that I am a dork. I probably have about 25 people at college that I would consider good friends and I know of 1 that has gotten drunk. The people in college that drink, for me and my friends anyway, are the other people that we whisper about in the comfort of our dorm rooms. :slight_smile: