Thread: Tell me about college

1. Get involved in a group/club/etc. Find a way to meet people with similar interests who you can hang out with and just take your mind off of school after studying. If you don't have a car, it pays off to make friends who do.

2. If you're staying in the dorms and hate your roommate, don't wait and hope things will improve. Move. It'll save you a lot of grief and stress in the long run. (I had three different roommates my freshman year... then I switched to single rooms after that.)

3. Get a fan. If your room doesn't have airconditioning (as mine didn't), it helps a lot. It's also great for helping to drown out the noise of people outside or in other rooms. I used it just about every night even in the dead of winter. (Also, if you live on a higher floor, heat flows upwards, so you'll get the risidual heat of the rooms below you, so you may never have to turn your heater on at all. Just bear that in mind.)

4. Really, try not to do everything at the last minute. Some people (such as myself) work well under the pressure of a deadline approaching, but it really is a lot less stress if you keep up on your homework and especially your reading. If you have classes that require reading a lot of books, you don't want to end the semester/quarter/trimester with 1,000 pages unread. Some teachers (you'll find out who) place a lot of emphasis on reading the books. With some classes, you really won't need to read them, but make sure you know which class is which.

5. Try new things. My school had Judo classes and a Judo club. (By the way, SO much fun!) They had a fencing club, a math club, probably had writers groups that I didn't know about. Usually you can get a list of clubs from wherever your "student services" are, often in the Student Union building or its equivalent. Also, meeting different people will give you different ideas as well. I had a friend in another dorm room and I met the guy who lived across from him and we started watching anime together. Through meeting other people (who really weren't connected to each other, but we met by word of mouth), we ended that semester with six or seven people who'd hang out for a half-hour or more on Saturday nights... usually more.

6. Call home. Your mom likes that. (Not everyday, though. That's unhealthy.)

7. Figure out early on what classes you need in order to graduate. Write out which ones you need to take and how many credits you need to get in whatever areas. That way you'll also be able to know how many elective/fun classes you can take. Getting to your senior year and having a bunch of classes that you still haven't taken (or even won't be available until after you're supposed to graduate) is not cool. So yah, plan ahead.

8. You can have fun without drinking/drugs. Frat/house parties aren't the only places to have a good time. Billiards, anyone?

9. Being a student has perks sometimes. Find out what those are. Subway gave away a free cookie if you showed your studnet ID.

10. If you pay for certain services, use them. Use the gym and use the bus.

11. Getting done with a semester feels really, really good. If you get stressed out, just remind yourself that it's not that far away.

Um, that's all I have for now. Let me know if you have any further questions.... Oh! Yes.

12. DO NOT MESS UP ON YOUR FINANCIAL AID INFORMATION. I filled out my FASFA myself once and accidentally put my parents' income as my own. Needless to say I was offered a lot less than the previous year, and even though I fixed that, I still had to pay quite a bit more out of pocket. Not fun.

Thanks for the advice. I especially like the the one about knowing what required classes I need.

I didn't think this thread would only have 1 reply, though. I guess when you get all the info in 1 response you don't need others.

Originally Posted by i make it rain

I didn't think this thread would only have 1 reply, though. I guess when you get all the info in 1 response you don't need others.

Hmm... it is kind of lonely in this thread.

Oh, and one more thing: Laundry advice.

Collect quarters. If you use a laundry room that requires quarters, you're going to need them... a lot of them. Also, as far as laundry goes, you can cram quite a bit in a washer machine, but the more you shove in a dryer, the longer it's going to take = more money. Figure out what you can just put on a hanger or throw over a shelf or something and air-dry it. You'll have less to put in the dryer, allowing what you have in there to dry faster.

On a personal note, shower daily (and after working out) (and wash your hair), and do your laundry often enough. I can't say how many people I've had to sit next to or sit behind where I've had to bite my tongue and keep from asking them to leave.

Oh, and a final thing I remembered. If you're on the top of a bunk bed or if you're bed is lofted, get one of those shower caddies and hang it off of the side of your bed. They're a great place to put a small notebook or book or TV remote or other small objects you don't want to crawl down to get

And marching band is fun. A lot of work, but fun (if you enjoy band).

Yeah, I have heard of the quarter issue. Why can't all campuses just have like a card you swipe or something that you can add money onto? It would make life so much easier.

Another problem I think I am going to have is eating. People say the whole freshman 15 thing but I think the opposite will happen. On Saterdays, I am sometimes too lazy to get food when it is a kitchen that is a few rooms away. I don't know how I am going to make myself go OUTSIDE (especially in Denver winter) to eat. I know I will have my fridge thing but still. I don't think I will ever eat.

Originally Posted by i make it rain

Yeah, I have heard of the quarter issue. Why can't all campuses just have like a card you swipe or something that you can add money onto? It would make life so much easier.

Another problem I think I am going to have is eating. People say the whole freshman 15 thing but I think the opposite will happen. On Saterdays, I am sometimes too lazy to get food when it is a kitchen that is a few rooms away. I don't know how I am going to make myself go OUTSIDE (especially in Denver winter) to eat. I know I will have my fridge thing but still. I don't think I will ever eat.

Well, I do know that some campuses use cards that you recharge. Also, my junior year, the resident's life office changed things and added a "laundry fee" in with room and board, so you paid an extra fee, but all of the washers/dryers were free. A little bit of incentive for doing laundry whenever you want

As far as food, just stock up. You can't go wrong with Hot Pockets, rice cakes (not filling, but a nice, healthy snack), minute rice you can cook in the microwave (bring a good sturdy bowl if you want to do that... bring one anyway), and/or leftovers from the cafeteria. Just stock up on a little of this and a little of that, and I'd recommend having a little drawer set aside just for foodstuff. Bring a can opener as well. It'll come in handy. Canned food is always nice to have in case you're running out of money on a meal card or you just aren't in the mood for anything else. If you like them and if your fridge has a freezer, pick up some frozen dinners from the store. Juice is also nice to have on hand.

I think you'll find eventually that you'll go get food not just to feed yourself, but also to just hang out with other people. If others hadn't invited me or I wasn't expecting to run in to a friend, there are times I wouldn't have gone. If you don't think you're getting enough food, though, put some in your room and snack on it. Granola bars, cereal (cheerios and frosted mini wheats ended up being my favorites), carrots, and other stuff is easy to pick up. You'll find stuff to eat.

I'd recommend not spending 1/3 of your meal plan on coffee however Yah, I'm an addict.

I recommend living in the dorms your first year. Be outgoing and meet people early to get to know as many people as you can At the beginning it's a good idea to go to a lot of parties and just put yourself out there.

Don't over extend yourself, but don't let go of any activities you really like.

Cook your own meals. I swear that's the best advice I can give any college freshmen. Buy pots, pans, plates and silverware and use the dorm kitchen to just get yourself in the habit of eating home cooked food.

My plan the first day is to just walk around my floor and see if anyone has their doors open. If they do, I will probably just awkwardly introduce myself. But I guess everyone is awkward the first day so I'll live.

I hope I can get myself to cook my own food. It will be tough because, as you read before, I am super lazy when it comes to stuff like that. Especially when I got Mommy's money on a card. I can give it a shot though. That is what college is about: giving things a shot. Even though I am not sure that is how you use a colon. It has been awhile since the ACT's.

Originally Posted by i make it rain

My plan the first day is to just walk around my floor and see if anyone has their doors open. If they do, I will probably just awkwardly introduce myself. But I guess everyone is awkward the first day so I'll live.

I hope I can get myself to cook my own food. It will be tough because, as you read before, I am super lazy when it comes to stuff like that. Especially when I got Mommy's money on a card. I can give it a shot though. That is what college is about: giving things a shot. Even though I am not sure that is how you use a colon. It has been awhile since the ACT's.

Sometimes if the dorms have a kitchen you can check out their own pots/pans. For some reason one rule the kitchens on our campus had (though I never used them) was that you weren't supposed to cook meat. Whether that was to prevent contamination or keep the crazy vegetarians happy, I'll never know.

...Oh, wait. I did use that kitchen a few times. Mmm, muffins!

If you have a roommate, find out what they're bringing before you go out and buy stuff that both of you can use. It can also be nice to make friends with people who cook or live in a house where you can use their kitchen. (But don't be a moocher... nobody likes a moocher )

College is when you start to make yourself into the person you really want to be. My freshmen year, I didn't think about it and just spent my mom's money on cafeteria food. The thing is, its unhealthy and it promotes bad spending habits. Home cooked meals are the way to go.

Yeah, I went around the dorms my first night and introduced myself to people with somebody I met in preregistration. I made a couple of acquantances that way, but most of my friends comes from activities I involved myself in, just seeing an open room with people playing videogames or seeing people playing ultimate frisbee in the lawn or anything like that.

Originally Posted by Omnius Deus

College is when you start to make yourself into the person you really want to be. My freshmen year, I didn't think about it and just spent my mom's money on cafeteria food. The thing is, its unhealthy and it promotes bad spending habits. Home cooked meals are the way to go.

It depends on the cafeteria. Yes, the majority of our was unhealthy (though not always untasty), but we had a great salad bar and fruit and soups. It was buffet style, though, so it's far too easy to load up your plate with a little of this and a little of that. So limiting how much you put on your plate and balancing everything nutritionally will be good skills to have.

(Eating at the cafeteria all the time always makes you happier to eat a home-cooked meal when you get one, though!)

Did any of you guys keep the major you started with all the way through? I am planning on going into Bio. Then either going to grad or med school to go into medicine. Right now I am leaning toward medical research over clinical work. I like to have my whole life planned out. But according to statistics, odds are that isn't going to happen. I am not sure what question I am leading up to. Maybe I am just wondering what some of your experiences have been with changing a major or maybe somebody you know changing a major.

Does anyone have any experiences, anecdotes, advice, heedings, knowlege, or anything else worth noting that could be passed down to us college bound kids

Basically overall besides the common sense thing the most important thing for me is ask questions and don't accept things are foundational until you are convinced you can put them into practice and understand them fully. Do what they say to pass the test. But avoid getting brainwashed by any dogma existent which you don't understand or doesn't make sense. They don't educate you to do this so you have to educate yourself how to be educated by knowing what you know and knowing what you don't know. Telling reality apart from fantasy.

College is when you start to make yourself into the person you really want to be

I wouldn't say that is the only reason or the main reason but one thing is for certain. You start to make yourself into a person despite college.

I didn't think about it and just spent my mom's money on cafeteria food. The thing is, its unhealthy and it promotes bad spending habits.

And yet it's a place of education at the same time.

Originally Posted by Amethyst Star

shower daily

Get a fan, call your mom. Obtain food. Do the washing? This is getting disturbing do we need an instruction manual on how to exist Amethyst? Hold the hand rales. Don't shower with the hair dryer. Don't put the cat in the microwave.

I make it rain friend Hope this helps good luck.

Originally Posted by Minervas Phoenix

They don't educate you to do this so you have to educate yourself how to be educated by knowing what you know and knowing what you don't know.

This sentence is CRAZY. I first read this at my normal speed and I was so confused. CAN A BROTHER GET SOME COMMAS? But seriously, I think I get what your saying and please correct me if I am wrong. Don't just sit there and feign that you understand what is going on. You may think you get the piece of it that you are working on, but especially if it is foundational, make sure you get the big picture and be sure that you have the basics on lock.


Thanks for the advice

P.S. You should make that sentence into a bumper sticker or something.

Originally Posted by Minervas Phoenix

Get a fan, call your mom. Obtain food. Do the washing? This is getting disturbing do we need an instruction manual on how to exist Amethyst? Hold the hand rales. Don't shower with the hair dryer. Don't put the cat in the microwave.

I sat next to people who smelled like a cesspool. I just have a feeling that there are some people who don't shower, or don't shower enough, and I'm hoping that someone reading this will realize that some people do actually smell as well as they can see. As for the other advice (well, all of it, really), it's based on my personal experience with other people and with my school. They're things I either noticed in myself or in other people.

And don't knock holding hand rails. When it's 3am and someone's lit the 5th floor billboard on fire and you have to walk down the stairs in flip flops into the snow and then have to walk back up with wet feet among a horde of other students after having to wait for two hours while the police investigate the arson, holding the hand rails can save your life.

But if I may attempt to interpret what Minerva said: "Think for yourself." The majority of teachers will teach you what they know and understand and that can skew your view of the topic. They will give you good information, but it's up to you to figure out what you hold to be true and what to believe. It's not so much of a problem in classes like math or foreign language, but in history, philosophy, political, and especially religious courses, you'll encounter that a lot. So, decide for yourself whether JFK was a good president or not.

First year of uni, pissing about, getting drunk, and then learning... Second year, the situation is reversed. 'Nuff said

My sister once told me that the first year of university is a time when eveyone will be in the same situation as you. Nobody knows anyone, and everyone wants to make friends. So don't be shy.

Remember where and how you met people. In three years time some of the people you meet in the first week will be like horrible, horrible family. You will inevitably have a "do you remember when we first met" story. So its good to have first impressions remembered.

Find a few cheap meals you enjoy. Save some money.

Don't forget to learn. Unless you have a chance to do something more fun.

Originally Posted by Amethyst Star

And don't knock holding hand rails. When it's 3am and someone's lit the 5th floor billboard on fire and you have to walk down the stairs in flip flops into the snow and then have to walk back up with wet feet among a horde of other students after having to wait for two hours while the police investigate the arson, holding the hand rails can save your life.

But if I may attempt to interpret what Minerva said: "Think for yourself." The majority of teachers will teach you what they know and understand and that can skew your view of the topic. They will give you good information, but it's up to you to figure out what you hold to be true and what to believe. It's not so much of a problem in classes like math or foreign language, but in history, philosophy, political, and especially religious courses, you'll encounter that a lot. So, decide for yourself whether JFK was a good president or not.

Yeah, I had a summer camp where we stayed it dorms. There were a few actual students that were still there that didn't like us though. They pulled the fire alarm at 2 AM and at 5:30 AM on the same day. Then I got locked out of my dorm. And I was the only one with no roomy. There was totally some flip flop stumbing going on.

Thanks for the advice Minerva, athough it did take some decoding.

Originally Posted by bluefinger

First year of uni, pissing about, getting drunk, and then learning... Second year, the situation is reversed. 'Nuff said

Awesome. If senior year of college is anything like high school, the situation should reverse again.

Originally Posted by apachama

Remember where and how you met people. In three years time some of the people you meet in the first week will be like horrible, horrible family. You will inevitably have a "do you remember when we first met" story. So its good to have first impressions remembered.

Find a few cheap meals you enjoy. Save some money.

I thought the horrible family part was funny. I HATE the awkward remember when we first met story. UGH. I wish I could have like a billboard in my room and take a picture of everyone I met so I can remember them.

The problem with cheap meals is that there is a Chipotle and a Jamba Juice like a block away from me. They are both FANTASTIC places but expensive. I need to resist the urge to Jamba. And I will inevitable fail and lose all of my off-campus meal plan money in like the first month.




It will be so worth it.

Originally Posted by i make it rain

Awesome. If senior year of college is anything like high school, the situation should reverse again.

Not according to the list of modules on my timetable for the final year and the thesis I have to do. If anything, you can leave the pissing about out of the equation and simply the occasional getting pissed...

Originally Posted by bluefinger

Not according to the list of modules on my timetable for the final year and the thesis I have to do. If anything, you can leave the pissing about out of the equation and simply the occasional getting pissed...

Haha well done....bummer though.

Originally Posted by Amethyst Star

When it's 3am and someone's lit the 5th floor billboard on fire and you have to walk down the stairs in flip flops into the snow and then have to walk back up with wet feet among a horde of other students after having to wait for two hours while the police investigate the arson, holding the hand rails can save your life.

That's very specific lol.

I make it rain feel free to make what I said into a bumper sticker.

Originally Posted by Minervas Phoenix

That's very specific lol.

I make it rain feel free to make what I said into a bumper sticker.

Sweet. Then I can sell it to other people too. We will split the profit 50/50.