Now, before I begin, let me give you my background: I have a Bachelors in International Political Economy (where I went to school on a full academic scholarship) and a Masters in Business Administration from an engineering school. I'm not saying I'm smarter than you, I'm saying I've been there before and I don't want you to struggle in ways that I struggled.
So allow me to impart some advice for you to take at your own risk.
Before college
Since I know that a lot of you are still in high school, let me tell you how to get the maximum reward financially. My family wasn't very rich, so if I was going to be the first in my family to get a degree, I needed to get 75% of my schooling paid for. Here's some tips:
- If a school's rep contacts you, make sure you follow up. Reps make money off getting students to your school, and will usually sweeten the deal with aid.
- TAKE AP CLASSES! Especially in your senior year! This shows you are a go getter and you're not prone to the "senior slump."
- You get to send your ACT scores (I'm from the midwest so I take the ACT) to three schools, make sure you send it to three schools. Most schools in BCS conferences (aka big schools) aren't going to recruit you unless you are a stud athlete or genius. In other words, they aren't going to. If a smaller school has been recruiting you and you're interested in them, make sure to send your school your scores.
- Being able to functionally speak a foreign language looks really good.
- Fill up your extra curriculars and make sure you excel at them. I played football, basketball, and baseball in high school and lettered in all 3. You don't have to kill yourself athletically, just make sure you're doing something after class.
- Most importantly, whenever anyone from the school asks you what will be your determining factor, say money. I said this at the interview for my scholarship. Make sure to play up how you're not sure how you're going to pay for college.
In College
Since most people on this forum are men, I'm going to be giving advice for men. Want advice ladies? Suck as much dick as possible.
- Socially, your first goal in college should be to make guy friends, not to get laid. I made that mistake and it fucked up my social life for my first semester. Friends will last a lot longer than a fuck buddy. You have 10-15 years of that ahead of you, pump the breaks.
- GO TO EVERY CLASS. I cannot stress this enough. I don't care what the prof says about attendance, you go to every class and you take notes. Those notes are worth their weight in gold come finals.
- Do not buy books until after the first day of class. The prof will tell you which books are required and which ones are optional.
- Do not buy books from the bookstore. Buy them from Amazon and then sell them at the end of the semester. You usually will only be out 5-10 dollars instead of 50.
- Get off the computer and go to parties on Friday and Saturday.
- Speaking of parties, here's how to meet girls there: Go talk to them. No girl is going to fuck you if you don't talk to them. If they say no, who cares? There's plenty of drunk bitches there to talk to.
- If you fuck a fat chick, it happens. If you fuck a hot chick, brag.
- Make sure to use a rubber if you don't know the girl. I hope this goes without saying.
- If you suspect a party is going to be busted, go out the BACK door and go through yards and back to your room via back streets.
- You will fail a test for the first time in your life, get over it.
- If you have trouble with a class, talk to the prof/TA. They are paid to help you.
- Make sure to work a summer job.
- Shower once a day, brush your teeth at least once a day. Shave, unless you can grow a good beard.
- Work out at least twice a week: 30 minutes of weight lifting (upper body one day, lower body another), abs, and 30 minutes of cardio. In addition, do something physical over the weekend, even if it's just going for a walk.
- You may have to go on the 5 year plan (especially if you are getting a technical degree like engineering). Real life sucks, so go for it.
- Meet with your adviser to talk about classes, scheduling, and your thesis work (if a thesis is needed)
- Hit on freshman girls, that's what they're there for
- Make sure to do an internship/co-op. Ideally do it over the summer.
- Never stop meeting new people, you'll never know who you'll meet
- Don't stop going to house parties just because you're 21. Bars are fun, but they are expensive. $5 all you can drink will save your budget.
- Wal Mart is really depressing to shop at, but it's also very cheap. Get over it hipster.
- If you're not dating someone as college moves on, don't freak out. I didn't meet my current girlfriend until I was 24. Don't freak out about it. From what I've seen, being a parent in your early 20's doesn't look too appealing, but that's just me.
- Once a year, take a crazy trip somewhere. I went to WM 23 and 24 and had a great time. It took a lot of begging, borrowing, and stealing, but it was worth it.
- If you haven't tried weed or shrooms, go ahead and try. Make sure to do shrooms at a concert and make sure you have a sober sitter. It's an expensive habit, so it should only be recreational.
- If you can, study abroad.
Last Year
- Your adviser will be helping you a lot, make sure to utilize them.
- You may have to kill your social life in order to get your thesis work done. It's worth it.
- Don't stop meeting people, even freshmen. Knowing people younger than you will keep you younger. It's always fun to go back as an alumni and have someone to hang out with.
Location: FandanGOAT Club House with the rest of FandanGOAT Nation
Posts: 2,820
Re: College Advice From Someone Taking a Look Back
Going to college next year so this is some good stuff.
My only regrets in high school is not doing as good as I could. While I did stay in Honors throughout HS, my grades were usually towards the lower 90s due to me not studying and not really doing HW as much as I should have.
Re: College Advice From Someone Taking a Look Back
You grizzly ole' veteran. Junior year here at an ACC school. I'll try to steer clear from sounding like a prophet, however, one piece of advice I could give is if you don't know what you want to do straight out of high school, don't rush yourself. Go to a CC, take your gen. ed's, and hopefully you'll have a moment of clarity. No need to rack up debt only to realize your major isn't what you want to do. Universities strive to make revenue/profits to provide services. Although most are non-profit, it's still a business.
Lastly, as a general rule of thumb, STEM degrees are the most desired degrees that employers look for. Accounting, finance and econ aren't too shabby either. I think education is a beautiful thing, but some of the liberal art degrees just aren't worth it and will only lead you to dead-end jobs.
Good thread. Enjoyed the read. LOL'd at the freshman sl00ts.
Re: College Advice From Someone Taking a Look Back
I emphasise that meeting people crap
Worst thing to do in university is to settle into a rut with the same people. Keep taking chances, say hi to everyone, talk to everyone. even if its for the stupidest reason
you wont believe the number of close friends i made over the dumbest reasons ever.
Re: College Advice From Someone Taking a Look Back
People are much happier because they are in school for something they want to be in school for, not some bullshit subjects someone THINKS you NEED (haven't used fucking algebra since exiting high school, nice waste of time). At least that is what I found. They are more open and friendly and willing to hang out with anyone, no matter who the fuck you are, or how long they have known you.
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MARKS FOR ROWDY RODDY PIPER Detroit Red Wings Just when you think you know the answers, I change the questions. You ever notice Hulk Hogan’s got no hair on his chest? Only friend he’s got that DOES is Cyndi Lauper.
Re: College Advice From Someone Taking a Look Back
currently a sophomore and freshman year, you need to be social. meet people, go to parties on the weekends, meet more people, become friends with people. as a freshman, become friends with older kids so they invite you to their parties.
go to class too. if you go to class, you already win half the battle.
- You will fail a test for the first time in your life, get over it.
You're going to run into professors (and bosses) who are completely fucking retarded. My last boss was a complete micro manager and she was everything that encompassed a stereotypical "Woman in Charge." She had a major inferiority complex due to the fact that her goof-off brother was the CEO and ultra-rich. She fired me at random because she didn't want to train me and wanted to bring in someone else (aka I got railroaded).
Bitch can fuck off. Luckily I have a very good memory and can (and will) post her number to shitstorm on Tor in a year or two.
Re: College Advice From Someone Taking a Look Back
Even with the pending curve I still fail. I want to say "okay I'll just do better on the next exam" but I know no matter how well I take notes and study I'm still going to get a C at best after the curve. This nigga trippin. Can't drop the course, btw.
BIO 100: "Impossible Tests Edition"
Quote:
- You will fail a test for the first time in your life, get over it.
lel. Certainly not my first college class, and certainly not my first time failing.
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Last edited by Ghetto Anthony : 09-11-2012 at 10:48 PM.
College Advice From Someone Taking a Look Back
College Advice From Someone Taking a Look Back
