Need advices? Need some help making the transition into post-secondary education? Come talk here! =D

- make a lot of new friends.. especially during the first few weeks!
+ do that by talking to the person sitting next to you in class
+ if you're dorming, leave your door open and get a chance to meet the neighbors
+ attend those events normally held in september to welcome the first-years.

- balance between studying and partying!
i messed up fall semester (got a 2.1) but i managed to bring it back up to a 3.0 by the end of the year. i didn't party but i definitely didn't study either. it was baaad..

- stock up on some drinks/food
if your school's like mine.. they probably way overcharge at the cafeteria

mmm.. there's probably more but that's all i can think of for now.
good luck! :]

so i'm going to UT (austin) in the fall. should i get a bike? lol

^ only if you don't want to walk. Scooters are more convenient but i think people look retarded riding them ^^''

best advice ever?

college is what you make of it.




that and wear sunscreen!

don't screw up or party that much

Your instructor can help you alot. that's my advice
don't hesitate to ask them questions!

- Don't be afraid to talk to your academic advisors and tutors, they will help you a LOOOOTT omg i love my advisors they're sooo nice and welcoming <333
- Ah yes, leave your door open if you're dorming. That's how you make friends EASILY. (My best guy friend made a mistake of not leaving his door room open, so he rarely made any new friends -____-; he's kind of shy also.... )
- Cup of noodles are good for emergencies (if your dining hall served bad food, or you have an essay due last minute and you can't run to the dining hall to eat, etc)
- Don't eat too much cup of noodles though, if you live off of them you're bound to get sick.
- DO NOT DO DO DO NOTTTT DO NOT ENROLL INTO 8 AM CLASSES. (seems freakin' impossible to wake up for the class for some reason, even when you had a 7:15am class everyday in HS.)
- Don't forget your flip-flops for the shower! Hahaha.
- MAKE SURE YOU BRING ENOUGH TOWELS, I remember I brought my laundry and all of my towels home to wash that weekend and I forgot to bring them back.. so I had to dry myself with my clean pair of sweatpants LOLOL
- The dining hall may be all you can eat, but make sure you control your portions, and don't forget to eat your fruits and veggies! (BEWARE OF FRESHMAN 15!!! My weight was fluctuating all year long haha not bad though, no Fresh15 for me :])

.. uhh i'll get back to you on this. there's a lot more but i can't think right now.

invest in people. ALL of my friends who finished undergrad agree that it's much more difficult to create and maintain friendships/relationships out of college.

Hehe, another question. So currently i'm enrolled to be a BHP and a pre-optometry major. thus my course are:

Business Administration 101
Chemistry
Biology
Microeco
and calc...

my advisor told me i may die, so is it worth going through a possible gpa meltdown for something i'm just considering? Like i'm not completely sure i want to pursue optometry... iono i'm freaking out rite now

do ur assignments. it may not be worth a lot of marks, but the exams are usually based on hw material (for me anyways, i'm in engineering). But at the same time don't spend hours stuck on a question. just ask for help. TA's, profs and classmates are good resources for help. It's not the end of the world if you fail. can apply for rewrites. rewrites > redoing courese. You save time and money

u should try to study earlier. don't leave things till the last minute, but allow room for changes that might occur.

never think it's stupid to go to counselling if you need the help.
if none of your friends or whatever are there to help you

what better way to tell alll ur problems to someone who gets paid to listen, and doesnt know ur circle of friends in the first place?

-make good friends with the TA's in big classes
-don't be afraid to talk to your profs. most of them are around to help, and really want to.
-attend class! don't think that your friends' notes will help you. trust me, once test day comes, you'll be so confused
-don't focus too much on studies. make an effort to go out and befriend people
-don't ever get your priorities mixed up, and even if you do, make sure you motivate yourself to pick yourself back up.
-stay open-minded. i'm not telling you to be all out liberal, but keep an open mind to other peoples' opinions. u'll learn alot!
-be nice & friendly, but don't let people walk all over you. keep your head up.

i'm kinda scared.. my high school was a big joke. i'm already dying in english 1A class O_O

i got a 85% on my first college paper, is that good? bad? =\

if you're in Canada... well at UBC... that's GOOD!

Hey, i also wanna do optometry, but are you taking all those courses all at once?? I mean you don't have to as long as you are managing a good pre-req gpa, and a strong science background you'll be fine.

take care of your body- vitamins, eating right, getting enough sleep, exercise. it sucks to be sick in the dorms with nobody to take care of you.

Time management.

jfdjafds

For math courses, do your homework, even if they don't take it up. It'll save a LOT of time when it comes to studying for the exam....and believe me, this is a good thing, especially since most classes you will only have four exams at most.

Definitely time management, too. Don't worry about finding a boyfriend/girlfriend right away....just stick to managing your time, making other friends, etc. first....

Don't procastrinate, that's everybody's problem =D

Be responsible
Be friendly
Don't be a jerk
Don't abuse other people, even if they seem like abusable =p
Relax, don't think too much bad things, it isn't what you really think
enjoy the free time

Yeah agree with don't worry about finding a bf or gf, especially the bf, boys will come to you. but if you really must find one, *cough* I'm free XD Haha
Man am I gonna get beat up by girls for saying that? =p =D

yea all those are just for this fall semester. I didn't realize that pre-optometry was almost.. almost as much as pre-med.

and i kinda do have to...pre-optometry is a strict regiment on its own in terms of classes that need to be done by junior year (so that i can be ready for the OAT and apply to op-school) and then to add in bhp... my schedule is pretty much set for me

my major is biomedical engineering and these are the courses i'll be taking

precalc

biology 152

intro to enginnering 101 & lab

chem. 101

do you think my fall semester will be hard?

you're going to have to tell us what biology 152 is..

wow how many credit hours are your classes? like at UT the first number means how many credit hours it is, like Bio 311, is worth three credit hours

i guess it's different for every school

but your course does sound a bit hard, precalc shouldn't be too bad but the sciences sound depressing, lol

I'm wondering... should I bring my computer AND a laptop?! because I don't want to overload my laptop with all my music and movies/dramas so I figured I should bring my computer up there for entertainment and a laptop for school purposes only..... any advice on this..?

Why don't you just burn all your music and stuff onto discs? And how much room do you have on your laptop? I think it'd be kinda inconvenient to take eeeeeverything with you..

well I thought... even if I bring my laptop around the campus and want to listen to music, I will have my IPod with me... So I guess it's not a normal thing to bring both computer and laptop to college.. lol

you can get an external harddrive that you can keep in your room so that you wont fill up your laptop but can still carry around (transport) every drama and song you've ever downloaded.

^ true..that also works.. reminds me of the days when people used zip disks..

either way, I would strongly suggest against carrying both laptop and desktop..

I went through the same problem: deciding whether to bring both desktop and laptop, and in the end i decided to only bring my desktop. One day I took my dad's laptop in my bag, and i'm telling you its suuuch a hassel! It's really heavy (gave me an aching shoulder), and it takes up so much space in the bag that there's no room for anything else. And when I actually think about it, I don't think i'll actually use the laptop in class. I mean, for simple notes paper is fine.

Also, when i went on the university tour, the tour guide told us that the boards they use are "smart boards", so whatever the prof or TA writes on the board, is automatically uploaded onto their computer. They can then email you the notes. Also apparently many profs upload lecture notes right before the lecture, so you can print it out, and any additional notes that you wanna make, just mark it with a pencil/pen .

ohh i know smart boards, my HS used them and the teachers uploaded the notes onto our school sites but i don't know if my college will do that.. at the moment i'm not sure what classes i'm taking and how much notes and assignments i get so i'll just bring up my laptop..

^ man i just feel sick, ive got 3 power lects in a row next fall, wondering how i'll deal

Have a beer, *hands a keystone. It wont be your last.

Don't be afraid to try new things. Don't be afraid to talk to people. I met a lot of my friends in random places last year like at the bus stop or even in the elevator. Everyone is trying to make new friends also.



I think your semester should be fine as long as you keep up with the work. Don't slack off too much and fall behind cause that's what I did first semester and trust me you don't want to have to deal with that. Chem. should be fine I think and precalc. shouldn't be too bad. Oh and don't forget to go to your professor or TA if you ever need help cause that's what they are there for. What school are you going to anyways if you don't mind me asking b/c I go to U of I in Champaign.

Live by these three words - Work, Rest, Play.
It should be all about balance between uni and your social life, otherwise you will feel really burnt out when the exams come along.
Time management is also very important, it screwed me over a couple of times during the mids and finals.
Networking would be beneficial, especially when you happen to miss any lectures ot tutorials.

This might be late for now, but for next quarter or semester.. be sure to look up the teachers on RATEMYPROFESSORS.COM!!! Most community and universities are on there.. It is SOOO helpful. Not that many people know about this but everyone should use it. It helps you pick the right teachers that are good for the course that you want to take and what not with other students comments and advices about them. CHECK IT OUT!!!

so what exactly happens on the first day of classes? do most people bring their textbooks and laptops to school or is it just kinda one of those days where it's like a intro to what we'll expect for the year?

mm..I think depending on the class you take, most people don't bring textbooks to class ever..it's not like high school where teachers teach out of the text.. Chances are, your profs are going to give you notes that complement the textbook to give you a fuller understanding of the material.. you can choose to bring your laptop if you wish..

some profs are easy-going and just give you a quick introduction, then will let you go on your merry way, but there are some who start off the first day with an intro and a lecture..

wow thanks for all the advice... i'm getting nervous for college now... but i feel somewhat more prepared reading all this

So how did modding and college work for you XP
I'm kidding~

But thanks for the heads up.. I already visited my campus.. it reminds me so much how I need to work out more T_T

The first day of classes is nothing. Not only do you generally not need to bring the text to class, some people won't even have bought them yet. And most people don't bring laptops to class. I never saw anybody do this when I was an undergrad.

^ but I have o_O..a bunch of people I see do it o_o

^ i think the laptop thing really varies from school to school and even within different majors within a school. like at bentley it's required to have a laptop which is why they provide you with one. i'm not sure how it is at my school so i'll see if a bunch of people have laptops or not

Lol... I'm going to die..

I have bio and chem in the first year.

^ you're not the only one :[ I do too!

Time management! Time management! My biggest mistake was always not paying attention to deadlines and being a procrastinator.

-always pay attention to deadlines and start your work early. The sooner you start, the sooner it's done.

-if you're doing a paper, get several peers to read over it.

-ask the teacher's assistant (TAs sometimes mark papers, and then the instructor will go over them a second time) or the instructor to give you a few pointers when in doubt.

-make use of the library as there is often a wealth of information there.

-don't overload yourself with too many difficult courses in one term.

-take the time to de-stress and get appropriate sleep.

im so scared about starting college. thanks for all the advice {:

here's my first semester:

BISC 120. General Biology: Organismal Biology and Evolution
CHEM 105A. General Chemistry
IR 100. The United States and World Affairs
CTWR 140. Writing and Critical Reasoning

and my second semester might look something like:

BISC 220. General Biology
CHEM 105B. General Chemistry
EALC 315. Advanced Korean I
MATH 125. Calculus I

do i have a tough schedule as a freshman? (i'm pre-med)

no waaaaaay.. don't worry jo, you'll be fine

you actually seem to have a fun one

lol, ok thanks. i'm just worried about all the labs i have to do... bleh. lol. oh well, yay for trying to go for a B.S. in Biological Sciences lol