The first year

[BristowBookworm]

I will be starting my first year of college in September, and was wondering if anyone had any advice. What's it like? What to watch out for? What do you wish you knew before you went?

 

[*~Celtic Jedi~*]

If you're living in a dorm it's easy to meet people. Even if you have to start knocking on doors, remember that the people you meet are usually as new to college life as you are. Also it is possible to cook real food at college. Forget living off of ramen and mcdonald's. If you have access to a kitchen use it. George Foreman grills are a good investment and they cook pretty fast, a pain to clean though- but the new ones aren't I guess. Also, scope out the price of textbooks before you buy. Check online as well as at your bookstore.

What to watch out for? Basically, don't be stupid. Don't open the door to strange people. Don't get drunk everynight and flunk your classes. It's good to have fun and relax with friends, but be careful. Carrying pepper spray is also a good precaution, I carried it my freshman year for walking across campus alone at night, but whenever possible I walked with friends.

As far as theft h34r: goes, things most often get stolen when a room is left unlocked and this can happen anywhere. It can even happen when someone is in the room sleeping. There have been instances on campus at my school where someone left the door unlocked and while the roommate was sleeping a laptops have been stolen. I think this is partially because when you live with a roommate you learn to drown out all background noise when you're trying to sleep.

One more thing. It's good to get to know you're professors in case you ever need someone to write a reference letter for you. It's better that they can speak about your personality rather than just saying "He/she was in my class, sat in the front and got an A". I honestly wish I'd done this sooner because now it's my senior year and I've got a high GPA, but I don't know that many professors for grad school ref letters.

And don't wait until the last minute to work on projects. I've waited until the night before several times, stayed up until 2 am and still gotten an A, but I've stressed myself out and then nearly fallen asleep during the next day's lecture.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

CJ

 

[xinli11]

I will be starting my first year of college in September, and was wondering if anyone had any advice. What's it like? What to watch out for? What do you wish you knew before you went?

[post="1468242"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]​

Don't they usually cover that kinda stuff in orientation, and aren't you supposed to ignore everything they say?

Having said that, here are a few things I've learned:

1) There's nothing to be gainged by binge drinking, particularly because you'll be totally suffering for the next day or two, and you won't even remember why it was worth it, because you'll have no recollection of what happened that night. You might also end up having the letters property of bonzo written across your butt for some reason.

2) Try out new things, college is abouot new experiences. So try everything just once, except for the drugs and that kinda sh*t. Believe it or not, there is a world outside of sex and beer, regardless of what the songs may say.

3) Classes aren't so important, don't get too stressed out by them. The curve will usually bail you out of tight situations. That's not to say you shoul ditch class 24/7 (which tend to be a consequence of being a lush. See item 1). Just that don't study 24/7, even if that's what you need to do to get As. Your grade, while still a popular benchmark of your accomplishments in college, no longer holds the pedestal position, it once did in high school.

4) Getting in good with a few teachers, especially in your major is a good thing. Recommendation letters can come in handy both for pursuing graduate school, and as a testament to your character on your first job interview. So dont go out of your way to piss them off, at least not the ones that'll come in handy.

5) ***holes are like coackroaches, they permeate every campus, and are hard to kill. So don't get flustered by them. Ignore them and get yourself a good group of friends who you can rely on, in and out of bars.

6) The freshman 15 is totally real! The cafeterias serve the worst food ever, but invariably, you'll find yourself scarfing it down on more nights then you'll likely prefer to admit. So, a proper workout routine is critical.

7) If you join a sorority, don't be fooled by the squeaky clean image most of them will try to present to you that first month during recruitment. Yeah, for 1 month, you won't even see most of the chapter members in a bar. THey are careful about that. But most of the time, that's just a front. Be prepared to get thrown into some interesting situations afterwards. Just watch yourself, and don't do anything too overly retarded, and you'll know what those are, if not immediately, then usually the morning after. Usually though, you make taht mistake once, and if you are smart, you won't make them again (at least not for a long while). Sadly though, even the most painfully learned lessons can be temporarily erased with enough alcohol. Again refer to #1, and recall bonzo.

8) Wierd people are not all creepy. College is all about diversity, and with diversity comes those will have walked so far down the nonbeaten path, that they'll seem wierd, but only at first. Some of them tend to be geniuses just waiting to be discovered. A little alcohol might be useful here to aid you in seeing things their way. But once you see the light, you can pretty much relate, even without the aid of alcohol.

That's about all I can think of.

 

[BristowBookworm]

Thanks for the advice. I won't be living in a dorm this year becasue the campus is close to my home, and its a small branch so i don't think they even have dorms. Thanks for the advice about making a good impressions on your teachers for recommendation because i really hadn't thought of that.