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WOOOOO FREEDOM! GOING OUT EVERY NIGHT!

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Juice, Sep 6, 2011.

  1. toejam

    toejam
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    I think a couple points above are bad advice, or a little too common sense. Obviously taking your classes seriously and treating them like a job, as you should, is the way to go. But we can't all be in the top 10%, can we?

    Don't work in a bar: It's an OK way to make money that will fit with just about any class schedule, but I don't think it's a great way to go. I worked in restaurants and bars through college, and yes, it's a good way to meet some people that don't go to your school, get drunk, and sleep with them while making a decent amount of money on the side. If you don't need the money, it can also be a huge distraction, be it from your schoolwork, your college friends, etc. Which leads me to point 2.

    Get an internship: Preferably two, or three. I went to a top school, and got good grades, in a slightly less than useless major (economics). However, I spent my summers working in the same restaurants and bars I worked in during the school year. Guess who thinks his current job is a total waste of his life? I'm essentially paying my dues now, when I could have spent 2 months in an internship and started a few rungs up the ladder right out of school.

    Your internship will probably be stupid, you may not do much, but unless you spend your whole goddamn day reading reddit and being antisocial (which I assume is S.O.P. for most of you), you'll at least get an idea of who works in a particular field, and if they like it. You'll also have something to spin for your interview the following year, rather than some bullshit exaggeration of your charity work.

    And just pick a field. Odds are, you're going to dislike wherever you end up first, so it doesn't matter, just do SOMETHING.

    **Damn you Nom, you stole my thunder! Plus, everyone wants the fraternity social chair in their group. Who else is going to buy the beer for the office fridge? The disgruntled receptionist? I DON'T THINK SO.

    Practical slacker advice:
    If you aren't going to your classes, make sure you have a friend in that class: I did very little work in school. I also skipped plenty of classes (don't!). There is only one class I scored below a B in: intro stats, which is possibly the easiest excuse for a math class around. The professor published old exams for practice a couple days before the real exam, so I figured I didn't need to ever go to class. I didn't. I had an A average rolling into the final, which unlike the previous exams, was completely different than the old exam. I would have known this if I had a friend to warn me. Whoops! That was a fun final.
     
  2. Kubla Kahn

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    I had a different experience working at bars. It was actually less distracting for me since you only worked weekends but it really didn't feel like your weekend was wasted. For a part time gig for money during school, tending bars is top of the chain (dealing, notwithstanding). Generally I agree with you about restaurant culture, as I mentioned.
     
  3. PetrPuck

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    This can't be said enough - go to class. Just by showing up you will increase your chances of earning a better grade.

    See if you can share textbooks with friends who are taking the same class - I did this all the time and saved a lot of money that way. If you both need the book at the same time, you can always copy the relevant pages.

    Don't assume that because you were able to get by in high school barely cracking a book, similar behavior will fly in college - it *may*, but if it does, you're probably overpaying for the education you are getting. Develop a good study/schoolwork habit and don't break it for anybody.

    During freshman year, it's easy to screw around and fall behind. If you do, you will spend the rest of your college career digging out of that hole from a GPA standpoint. When the time comes for job interviews during junior or senior year, recruiters will look at your transcript, and they WILL ask you why you got a D+ in your freshman anthropology class.

    Focus on the company you keep - college is not the end all be all, but you will probably make a few lifelong friends while you are there. Make sure they're good ones. That being said, break out of your comfort zone with friends - in high school it's easy to be clicque-ish and narrow minded about people that are different than you are. If you're like that, stow that shit when you get to school - most of people I met in college always made at least one friend that, by their own admission, they never would have hung out with if they met in high school.

    Chances are you will break up with your high school boyfriend/girlfriend by the time your first fall break rolls around. Long distance relationships are hard at any age, but when you are 18 and in a situation where you have a new level of freedom and are meeting a ton of new people, some of whom you would like to fuck and hopefully would like to fuck you, well... let's just say in that case absence does NOT make the heart grow fonder. Certainly try to make things work, but be realistic with yourselves.

    Try to obtain internships in your field of study. If you can't come by any, get a job, ANY job, to fill summer breaks. Stock shelves at the supermarket - at your age, no job should be beneath you in terms of making a buck. If possible, hold at least a part time job while in school, even if it's flipping burgers. If that's not your thing, make sure you are involved in at least a few student organizations, and if possible hold leadership positions. When it comes time to apply for full time work after school, employers are looking for somebody who puts themselves out there a bit and who can manage their time.

    And as others have said, get a degree in something marketable. If you must have a major in womyn's studies, then double major or at least minor in something more marketable. Remember, theres a good chance that cute barrista at Starbucks who serves you your latte every morning has some bullshit humanities degree and $80,000 of student debt. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but it's the truth.

    Lastly, have fun, but don't forget what you're there for.
     
  4. Jauntoclock

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    I'm just now starting my senior year in college, and I just now feel like I've found what works for me. Regardless, some advice that I would give:

    Academically:
    Do well in your classes early on. A 4.0 as a freshman is way easier to get than a 4.0 as a junior when you start to get into upper level, harder classes. Getting those good grades early means that you can get B's later on and they won't bring your cumulative GPA down as much. In the same vein, remember that a GPA is extremely easy to tank; a GPA is extremely difficult to raise, and it only gets worse the further you go.

    Order your books from Amazon and find that cool little "X new and used from $X" button. The books will be so much cheaper that it is actually ridiculous. Additionally, if you are planning on selling books back, do so right after you finish the class. If you wait, you run the risk of teachers changing the books they use, new editions coming out, etc. So if you wait, that Organic Chemistry book that you could have gotten $50 for will now net you $5. No shit.

    Socially:
    I should stress that I have not had the normal college social experience. Instead of staying on campus for the weekends and drinking Friday/Saturday nights like a lot of people do, I joined the fire department back at home, and would routinely drive back and forth for training and everything. But you know what? It's worked for me, and last year was my absolute happiest, partly because I was busy. Now I'm going to be moving into a fire house close to school for the year. My freshman year (and part of my sophomore) was pretty lousy because I did not follow the advice that I'm giving now.

    I guess the point I'm trying to make is to find what works for YOU. You are in college now, no one will ridicule you for being a geek/ uncool, but people will definitely pick up on it if you're acting fake. So if you're into LARPing or whatever that shit is, go find the club for it. It will make you way happier in the end. If you want to join a fraternity/sorority, go do it. Just find whatever it is that makes you happy and do it; you'll make a lot of friends that way too. And I would bet that the friends you make this way will be better friends than the drinking buddies you meet in your dorm. Just be sure that you don't do anything just because you think you're SUPPOSED to.
     
  5. Chirpy

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    Success in college is easy if you adhere to two simple rules:

    1) Go to class. Even if you sleep through it, 10% is going to get in your brain thus making the exams 10% easier already.

    2) Don't fuck anyone in your dorm (or if in an apartment/house, give it a good 1-2 block radius). Imagine the walk of shame every. single. time. you want to do anything: eat, pee, bang someone else. Fucking/hooking up outside of your immediate realm gives you a safe distance so you can do whatever it is you please without any negative feelings. Trust me.

    Really, that's it. In my experience, it all boils down to those two things. Be spontaneous, make mistakes, keep an open mind, and do what comes naturally. The rest of it is bullshit. I'm reading some of these rules and some of them scream taking it all too seriously. Do yourself a favor...don't.

    EDIT: Also, what sammerton said works too.

    *****

    I just got back from a vacation spent with two of my former college roommates. One I met Freshman year and hated immediately, the other I met Sophomore year and hated immediately. I kept and open mind, said, "fuck it, this is college" and decided I was an idiot. Best move I ever made. They turned out to be the best, coolest girls I've ever encountered. Now, one is in Europe, the other in New England. It's been almost a decade since graduation...I've seen them only a handful of times since then and STILL they don't have to say a word and I know what they're thinking. They are the mirrors to my soul. All simply because of the experiences we had in college that bonded us together.

    Lucky you guys who are just starting out...best years of your life are ahead of you.
     
  6. scootah

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    Use Condoms. Kids are annoying and expensive, STD's are lame, and pulling out on time doesn't work all that well. You're at college, so you should be able to figure out why by yourself. And don't rely on the fucking pill. The list of things that fuck up it's effectiveness is insane, and top of that list is you have to take it consistently at the same time. College girls and that kind of responsibility? Not a safe bet. The pill should be insurance for when the condom breaks and you don't pull out in time to bust on her face.

    Get shitfaced and have fun on whatever recreational substance is on offer, shitty booze, classy booze, weed, pills, whatever. Just keep a handle on it so that it doesn't fuck with your classes and so that it doesn't become the way you define yourself. Stoners, drunks and ravers are all lame. But you don't have to be any of those things to enjoy getting fucked up from time to time. You will get hangovers - toughen up princess.

    Consider how you want to live after College. Consider the jobs that you want. Think about if those two things match up. Then consider your degree, and if it will get you a job at all, if it will be a job that you want, and if that job will support the life that you want to live. If it wont - consider changing major to something that will.

    Someone is paying a fucking fortune for your education. You, your parents, your scholarships or whatever - someone is paying, and paying a lot for this. Get fucking value from it. Go to class. Read the books. Think about the shit that you're studying. Most likely, you will never have the time or energy to just learn about shit again after you leave college, certainly not with the ease that you can do it at college. Get the value out of it now. Cut corners on the cost of books where ever you can. But still, read the material. Pirate the e-books, get it from the library, hell steal a copy from the stoner kid down the hall who isn't going to class anyway. But put in the effort to come out of college having actually learned something.

    Ignore the people who tell you not to go. For every genius who succeeded wildly despite being a drop out, or having never been to college, there are thousands of gas station attendants and walmart cashiers who really wish they'd gone to college.

    Someone already said that Ambition is contagious. They're right. And ambitious people generate opportunity for other ambitious people. They form businesses, they talk about opportunities, they discuss ideas. They know people who know people who they can introduce you to. You create your own luck when you make friends with people who get shit done and want to go somewhere. Check out Generativity Theory as well.
     
  7. Sammerton

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    If you get your financial aid through direct deposit to a personal account (instead of straight to tuition), consider renting your textbooks instead of buying them. Chegg is what I've used the last two years and it's saved me a TON of money. I only bought texts I felt were going to be relevant to my career in five years (three books, total) and all the rest I rented.

    Instead of spending $885 this semester, I spent $236. No way in hell buy-backs make up that difference. In short, rent if you can. More money for bad decisions.
     
  8. Disgustipated

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    A lot of the following comes from personal experience and those of people in the same degree (law) and in Australia, so whether this applies universally or to you I really couldn't tell.

    - First year is a bitch. Whatever you think you know about learning, especially if coming from high school: you don't. I failed a fundamental subject first year dismally and had to repeat it because I had no idea what I was doing. I'd coasted through high school getting top grades without having to put in an actual effort. I had no idea how to study. I underestimated the sheer mountain of knowledge I had to process and how to structure my learning in way in which to retain and use it. Luckily, I was able to learn very quickly from my mistakes.

    My point is, don't underestimate things. No matter how much you think you may know how to do something, start at the very beginning and work your way through.

    - Become self responsible. I know it's a dirty topic in today's society. In high school you have constant direct contact with teachers who push you to get things done. In college, this doesn't exist. A due date is a due date. Lecturers generally couldn't give a fuck who you are. If you get a quick spoken reminder that something is due, consider it a high privilege.

    - Don't expect feedback. You'll get told you're wrong. Chances are that you won't get told why or what the right answer is.

    - Turn up to everything and participate. Tutorials may seem shitty and worthless. I'll give you two reasons why they're not. First, it's not unheard of for a part of the course grade to be dependent on attendance. Obviously, if they take attendance it's a dead giveaway. I've seen as much as 15% of the grade being attributed to tutorial attendance and participation. And yes, that last past means don't be just a chair warmer. The second reason is that as much as I thought they were largely worthless, occasionally the person running it would give some insight that wasn't readily available somewhere else and would turn up on the exam. That's the other way they know you went and paid attention. Skip tutorials at your own risk.


    This may all seem like a bit of a downer, but it's stuff I wish I knew when I started.
     
  9. Frank

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    Pfff, those savings won't even put a dent in your drinking expenses if you're really balling... seriously though, I'm a huge beer snob and I don't get the advice of drinking good beer, they're fucking 18, if it's not paint thinner it's good enough, they don't even get real hangovers yet. Drink whatever cheap/free swill piss you can, relentlessly mock the "sophisticated" retards that drink good beer as college kids, none of you have enough money for the difference to be worth the cash and if you do, go get your advice elsewhere, you probably know smarter people than us.
     
  10. AlmostGaunt

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    Disclaimer: this advice applies only to humanity students.

    1). Learn to write a tight, competent essay. This is the single most important thing you can do in Uni (workwise at least). State your premise up front. Many people build up their evidence para by para and then state their conclusion at the end. You will lose about 20% of your potential grade if you do this. State what it is that your essay will prove, and then ensure that every para you have does this. Retype the intro in slightly different words for your conclusion. Also, I would strongly recommend writing the intro first, not leaving it to last. It's the hardest part to write because it will structure your entire argument. If you fuck it up, or it's too vague, or you don't have one, your essay will be a meandering pile of shit and you will lose marks. Write succinctly and make sure you are answering the essay question.

    2). There is a solution to absolutely any problem that befalls you, Uni rules-wise (eg missing an exam, handing in an assignment late, general fuckup). I don't mean this in the karmic hippy sense, I mean it in the 'Uni's have incredibly lax rules with huge leeway for the Profs to help you if they are so inclined' sense. Get to know your Professors, even if just through actually saying something useful in tutorials etc, and they will bend over backwards to help you. If you are that guy that comes to class baked, or plays Angry Birds on his phone, or thinks he knows better than the Prof, the Prof will hate you, and you have fucked yourself for limited gain. It astonishes me how many of my friends have repeated units because they wouldn't just go to the Prof and say "I apologize, I made a stupid error and misread the date of the exam. Is there anything, anything at all I can do to stop this from impacting my academic studies? I know it was wrong and it will never happen again."

    3). Write to your Professor's biases. Yeah, yeah, the Prof is a radical feminist who thinks Sylvia Plath is the greatest poet who has ever lived, and you can write a cogent and powerful argument that one of her most lauded works is actually terrible. Congratulations, you've just spent a bundle of time making sure your research is spot on and there are no logical flaws in your arguments; you're still getting a bare pass. Humanities marking is biased as fuck; don't martyr yourself.

    4). Meet interesting people. I am a fairly clean cut, ordinary middle class guy. My friends in Uni spanned nerdy Asian girls who didn't drink, through to salvia-loving freaks with metal horns surgically implanted in their heads. If you are at all subversive, it's harder to find these people once you are out of Uni. Also, don't buy into any subculture lock, stock and barrel. The trenchcoat and beret wearing idiot philosophy students are just as hopelessly enmeshed in groupthink as the dreadlocked stoners playing hackysack in the quad, or the guys in polo shirts with thin gold chains around their necks drinking heineken. Move among the groups, be friends with all of them, but be wary of any person or group who genuinely believe they have found the one true path as a 19 year old Uni student; they are significantly less knowledgeable and intelligent than they think themselves to be.
     
  11. Volo

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    Really? You want a bunch of near fuckin' idiots just experimenting with whatever they can get their grubby mitts on? Jesus Christ, most of these kids are barely capable of *insert useful and important life skill here*, and you expect them to be able to snort a gram of cocaine, or firebomb a blunt packed with hash, or beer-bong a bottle of lemon gin, and have it not fuck them sideways? Some people can deal, most people can't. Don't risk it, unless you can get the info you need about what you want to do.

    **Some examples being cooking meals without a microwave, holding a job for more than a week, having rent on time, and wiping their asses with one stroke**

    FOCUS: Don't Sweat Every Little Thing. It's never as bad as it seems, and even if it is, you still have to get over and past it.

    You're going to have shit roommates, whether dorm, apartment, or house. You're going to run out of money for food/booze/condoms/everything. You're going to fuck up a class or two, or three. You're going to have your heart broken by some girl and/or boy, in all likelyhood several times over. You're going to get shit profs who won't give you a break. Some fuck is going to steal your books. You're going to come up short on rent by accident. You're going to get screwed over by any number of people in any number of ways. You're going to do a lot of shit you regret. You're going to make an ass of yourself so often that it might be tough to look yourself in the mirror. Fuck, you're probably going to pick a bunch of classes you didn't want, or didn't need, or both, just because you weren't paying any attention when you chose them.

    Deal with it.

    How you deal with this shit is going to greatly influence the kind of person you become, sooner rather than later. Learn to adapt. Learn to be flexible. Learn to be hard. Don't be a part of that army of stupid fucks who can't get their shit together because they doesn't understand that life isn't fair. Understand it and overcome. It's going to get worse before it gets better, and if you don't learn to appreciate what good things you have early on, you're never going to recover from the first time you got thrown under the bus, let alone the next hundred times.
     
  12. JWags

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    This is basically an edited copy and paste of what I sent to my cousin before he went to college last year...

    My most important lesson academically was time management. Its not the drinking at night or partying your face off on the weekends that kills your GPA, its the f-ing around at 5 in the afternoon before dinner or at 8 when you're just hanging out playing video games. I nearly flunked out my first year and I rarely went out except for the weekends. However, I played tons of video games and watched tons of TV/movies down the hall with kids in my dorm. By junior/senior year, I would go out 4-5 nights a week, was super involved with a business organization, and was flirting with Deans List each semester. It wasn't that I was suddenly smarter or a bookworm, I just studied smarter. I still didn't go to the library, cause it was too quiet and I got distracted.

    Be shameless about meeting girls, and stay friends with them. Just cause they don't want to date you now, doesn't mean that won't change in 2 years. My success rate with girls I knew/met freshman year doubled in later years.

    The point about campus police and most police in college towns in general is that they are their for your safety, not to fuck up your party or harsh your buzz. They weren't concerned with busting dumb freshman for underage, it was about making sure parties didn't get out of control and you weren't messing with the surrounding areas. As long as you're doing nothing wrong (in this case drinking falls under that), they're your allies. I got to know a couple of cops by name my last two years and they would roll up to parties that we were having that were clearly out of control. People puking in the street, WAY too loud music, etc... And after brief conversations about getting it a bit more under control, they were on their way. I can tell you from being at enough other parties of my friends and others, we should have been ticketed and would absolutely have been if we had a uncooperative or combative attitude toward cops that alot of college kids do.


    Freshman year is the groundwork. You may meet your best friends/wife/etc later in college, but freshman year is where you create that social network that allows all that to be possible. I probably only talk regularly with 1 or 2 kids from my freshman year dorm. But my 3 roommates and most of my good friends from college are tangentially related to those freshman year connections.
     
  13. RCGT

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    Quoting wisdom:


    Other than this stuff, I guess my advice would be: become the person you want to be. Anxious socially, but feel you're really an outgoing person? Try throwing caution to the wind and just talking to people. Always thought you could be a great actor, but everyone you said that to in high school laughed at you? Fuck that noise, join the theater club. As a corollary, don't let who you were or how you related to people in high school affect your college relationships. I came in thinking everyone was going to look down on me, because I was isolated from people in high school... but four years on I'm a fairly popular guy, friends with a lot of people on campus, and it's awesome.

    Also, associate yourself with the people you truly enjoy being around. This seems like a no-brainer, but I think we as a society have learned to put up with a lot of people who really and truly irritate us. While this is a valuable skill, it saps your energy. So give everyone a chance, don't judge a book by its cover, you can find friends in unlikely places - but when you know who you can't stand, don't be around them. Don't be afraid to be yourself.

    And the last thing is, work your ass off at something you love and is marketable. I'm currently taking like three different classes on the same basic topic, because I'm very interested in religion's effect on US foreign policy in the Middle East, as a branching-off topic of international security. I'm at one of the best universities in the United States for this kind of thing. All my readings dovetail with each other, and I can add them to the body of knowledge I already have on the topic and take that across classes and into practical application. I can't tell you how interesting this stuff is to me, and I want to make a career out of it. Nothing beats knowing that what you're learning actually matters.
    Find the best school for what you want, the best professors (preferably no-bullshit people with real-world experience), take them, work your ass off for them, talk in class and office hours, and learn something. Wherever you go is going to be expensive as hell. Don't just sit there paying hundreds of dollars per class session to play solitaire and daydream about the girl sitting next to you.
     
  14. Chirpy

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    I teach college. Therefore if you want advice on academics, I can offer you some solid knowledge.

    Don't do this

    or this

    pompous hispter whiny bullshit.

    While there are many fucktards in the teaching profession, they are not the norm. Sucks to be you if you get one who thinks his shit doesn't stink, however most professors are pretty fair. An exam is an exam. An assignment is an assignment. If you miss it...well, it's college. There's a life lesson in being responsible. I don't pick and choose who I like or hate. Truthfully, I, like most professors, don't really make a personality judgment on a student as we are just trying to do our job: to educate. You either want to be educated or you don't. It's that simple. Will I bend a little more for a student who works hard versus one who plays angry birds? A little, yes,* but that's because chances are the kid who fucks around probably won't pass my class anyway, so why waste both our time?

    As for writing to a teacher's bias...come on, really? That's your advice? You don't think a person who reads this stuff for a living can't see through your bullshit? It's papers like that that make me pour myself a nice tall gin in the midst of grading and make me visit my hairstylist more often than I should for a color touch-up. Puh-lease. That's why God invented rubrics: to take out the bias of the subject and merely grade on the merits of the assignment. Rubrics are a wonderful tool...know them, love them, question them. They work.

    Here's real advice on how to deal with a professor:

    Go to class. Do your work. Communicate if you're having an issue/miss class and be honest and sincere. Find one you like and respect, talk to him/her, and work extra hard for him/her--makes asking for a recommendation that much easier later on.

    Ugh...I need a drink.

    *If the student is conscientious enough to contact me ahead of time and with a really serious issue. Other than that, no way in Hell am I going to go against shit I said on the first day of class.
     
  15. NotaPharmacist

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    Most people couldn't tell you what is marketable on a long-term basis if it has no bearing on their field. Case in point, my physicist father who didn't see how the humanities would work out for me (they did). If you're interested in something, ask people in the field how they make a living, including as many non-professor adult types as you can find (use your campus career resources or something similar for alum connections). You can find a way to make a living in almost any sector, if you know how to find the niche that people need.

    But broadly marketable sectors (not knocking RCGT because his investment is unreal and sets him apart) will often lead to a lot of competition. Likely, you're not that special.
     
  16. Aetius

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    I appear to have had the opposite experience from some of you fine folk. Freshman year was a cake walk. I took max load both semesters, in electrical engineering, and came out with a 3.8 at the end of the year. I also met more people and was more social freshman year (for obvious reasons). It was later on that I got complacent and fucked up a few classes.
     
  17. silway

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    Some more random tidbits:

    Avoid Debt - I am 31 and my life is ruled by my debt from college and law school. Now, I recognize that some debt may be inevitable, but try to at least keep it as low as possible. If i had known then what I know now I would not have gone to Northeastern. I would have gone to a much much cheaper undergrad and saved a fortune. Employers barely care where I went to law school, they don't care at all where I went to undergrad. Don't take out the maximum debt, don't go to high priced schools, don't saddle yourself with debt. That includes credit cards, btw, I highly recommend against having one in college.

    Sleep Before Tests - I eventually discovered that getting a good night's sleep before a test was more valuable than last minute cramming. When you're tired your ability to remember material and your ability to make connections degrades and those are the abilities you need on tests. If you must cram, I recommend sleeping first and waking up early so that you're at least rested while studying.

    Take Your Shoes Off - Ok, this is another test taking tip and kind of quirky, but it worked for me and my entire educational success is based on being a good test taker. Anyway, when you go to take a test you sit down, fill out your name and whatever other logistical stuff you have to. Then, right before you start thinking (reading the first question), take your shoes off. It relaxes you. Do it enough times and it will actually train you to relax as an association. And relaxation is key for test taking.
     
  18. Bourbondownthehouse

    Bourbondownthehouse
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    Disturbed

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    I graduated (on time!) in May of this year, and I started my career in my chosen field two weeks after graduation, because my new boss gave me that time to move. My advice:

    -This isn't intended to be as shallow as it sounds, but make sure some of your friends are useful people. In your first year in the dorm maybe its the guy with the fake I.D., but later it should be someone who's dad sits on the board at X inc/hospital/whatever. No matter how voraciously you take in learning materials etc in school, its going to eventually come down to who you know.

    -If possible go visit your friends' hometowns. I met people from NJ/FL/TX in school and when they would go home for the summer I would try to make a short trip to see them. I stayed and ate for basically free at their families' homes and got to meet the parents and hometown friends they would tell stories about. Some of my greatest travel experiences for sure.

    -FUCKING WORK. If you are on a full ride for astrophysics or some shit and need to study 10 hours a night or you will lose funding this doesn't apply to you, but for the vast majority, get a job. I worked somewhere all four years of school, it is a great way to meet people who you wouldn't normally see in your normal routine of classes and partying. Not to mention it looks good on a resume and provides you with that sweet sweet cash money.

    -Take some sort or class/seminar/something about finances. Your fancy new degree may land you a fantastic job, or you could make 30k a year like me. Learn about how to invest properly for your future.
     
  19. RCGT

    RCGT
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    Emotionally Jaded

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    This is basically what happened to me, down to the same GPA. One of the things I've learned is that motivation and mindset are absolutely everything when it comes to studies or most endeavors that require hard work.
     
  20. The Village Idiot

    The Village Idiot
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    Porn Worthy, Bitches

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    Here's my advice to the large majority of you who are going to your first year of college.

    If you took out loans, Drop out. Immediately. Cut your losses. No, I'm not kidding. If someone else is footing the bill, ignore everything below.

    The current 'official' unemployment rate is at 9.1%. The 'official' unemployment number does not include a whole host of categories, and the true number of people who are not working full time with livable pay is significantly higher, anywhere from 14-18% depending on what sources you look at.

    Now, you're incurring somewhere around $30,000 (if you're lucky) in debt for a four year degree. Most of you are like me, probably majoring in some bullshit major that will not immediately lead to a job in your field. You will require either entry level positions or further schooling to find a job.

    So for your $120,000 you may have bought yourself the opportunity for a $30,000 job (if you're really lucky) or an opportunity to incur further debt (like me) in the form of grad school.

    Meanwhile, let's take a look at what you forego. Instead of losing $30 k a year, let's say you work a $10 an hour job. That's 20 K a year. You will be 50K ahead per year you work a barely above minimum wage job instead of going to college. Assuming you get out of college in four years (again, if you're lucky), the $10 an hour worker is $200,000 ahead. Actually, more, because the interest on those loans (again, if you're lucky) is somewhere around 5-7% or an additional 6K a year.

    I can hear you thinking 'Ha ha VI, the joke's on you, I'm a college grad, I'm going to make more than $10 an hour!!!!" And right you are. You'll make (if you're lucky) a whopping $35 K (or 17.50 an hour) at the entry level position with your bachelors in bullshit. So, you'll get back to even with the 10 an hour worker in about 8 years. You'll be 30, and financially in the same exact place (if you're lucky) as the kid that started working at 18 and managed to avoid getting one raise in 12 years.

    Surely, I can't be right, can I? I offer the following challenge: look at the stats from your prospective schools. What types of jobs do people make? How is the data collected? What is excluded. I only offer this opinion because law schools are getting sued because of false and misleading statistics.

    My further advice to you is work for a bit, and if you find a field you like, try to find a job that will pay for your schooling.

    College is great, don't get me wrong, I like education and think it's a worth goal unto itself. But most of you (like me) went to school because we thought we would be better off financially. While that will be true for some folks and some majors, you damn well better make sure that there are cognizable job prospects out there for you with your major when you graduate.

    My thumbnail estimate is at least 60% of college students are wasting their money if they're seeking financial stability in the future.

    If you're going to college to 'find yourself' - save the money, stay at home, and be a waiter. Trust me, you'll thank me later.

    Oh, and this advice isn't from someone who did it right, it's from someone who did it all wrong.