(topic)

I suggest helium.

Well, you need a method. Helium and balloons didn't work out too well for David Blaine- so I would scratch that. lol..

Now that we've had our laugh...

Absolutely, thjese two books: ONE and TWO (they're volumes 1 and 2) - you can get them used unbelievalbly cheap from Amazon. Packed solid with 100% written-by-students tested advice on all aspects of college.

It ain't like high school. The profs have office hours ... USE THEM! Many/most will even look over your papers in draft form and tell you how to get them much better before you actually submit them! (Is that just like cheating, or what?)

Okay, okay.

The best piece of advice I can give you as a college senior is- manage your time wisely.

Try to party only on the weekends. Try not to join a fraternity your freshmen year. Use protection. Say "Yes" when dorm-buddies invite you to hang out, or go somewhere. Don't be one of those guys that's in their room 24/7. Watch "Yes Man" if you need some encouragement in this area.

Most importantly, learn something. Read the books, be familiar with the campus library, and the hot co-ed that checks out your books.

p.s. Limit your time surfing the internet and chatting it up on here. (it's a waste of time)

I dunno. To me, half the point of college is learning that in life you have to figure things out for yourself. Tips are fine, I suppose, but none are so important as taking the leap of living away from your parents and immersing yourself into that wonderful world of libraries, dorms, books, and ideas.

That leap is what it's all about. Jump in. The water is fine.

BUT!

Here are a few tips.

Before I start, let me explain my bias up front. I don't think much of books written on the basis of asking college students for tips. I remain convinced that the real value of education makes itself apparent only years--sometimes, many, many years--later. Asking middle-aged people would be much better, I think.

So, my first ten tips, right off the top of my head.

1. Be respectful to others. Especially to professors. Always. Professors can, want, and should become your friends. But they are still people who have done a lot of work to become who they are, and they bask in the heart-felt flattery of acknowledging their hard work and expertise. They are not your equal. The books they have asked you to read--which will and should change your life--are books they have read dozens or even hundreds of times and for dozens of years. So avoid saying things like, "but my high school teacher said...."

2. Profs and office hours (since Ross brought it up): your professor is an intellectual adviser, not a therapist. Don't discuss your emotional/love/sexual problems with him or her. Ever. Not even if invited to do so. Don't bring milk and cookies unless you have already developed a friendship with him or her. Be sensitive to the fact that most professors don't even want to have office hours, much less spend several hours a day there. So get to the point and get out, unless invited to stay a while longer.

3. Don't cut class. But:

4. It is better to cut class than to sleep during a lecture. And:

5. It is better to cut class than to talk to others during a lecture.

6. Although 89.7% of all college students end up convinced that the whole point of college is to get drunk as often as possible and to have sex as often and with as many people as possible, being one of the other 4.9% is worth the money you and your parents are spending on college. In the end, four years of bars and prostitutes is 1,432% cheaper than four years at Harvard.

7. Take some math classes, regardless of your major. I didn't, and I'm sorry about that.

8. By all means, join a fraternity or a sorority. Then become a leader who understands the point of #6 and tries to influence the others to feel the same way.

9. Take at least one class in the humanities, regardless of your major. I did, and it changed my life.

10. Make the library your true home away from home.


I could go on all day, but I'll stop. Especially since I don't think we should give any tips anyway.

You mean: "The best piece of advice I, as a college senior, can give you...."

HA!





Sounds like excellent practical advice, to me.





Well said!

That's something I left out when saying you should spend lots of time at the library. It's not just for learning and research. It's also one of the most erotic places on campus, and was designed to be that way by very wise people. Seriously.





There's a great scene in an episode of the original Star Trek series that was downright prophetical. From Cogley's speech in the "Court Martial" episode:




Good stuff.

Go to the movies instead.

Or join the Coast Guard.

BTW: I left the best part out of the Star Trek quote because it took me until now to find it. Here's the whole thing again, with the most important part highlighted.



There. Much better in the complete form.

Study.

But have fun too. Try to get all of your assignments finished before you do any fun activities, but take necessary breaks after studying for 4 or more hours.

What will be your major or field?

There is some excellent advice here, but I'll add my $0.02.

1. Universities and colleges have many amazing people and activities. Get to know interesting people and join interesting groups and activities. There will be music, theatre, film clubs, engineering projects, ballroom dance, juggling and God only knows what else. Do some of them!

2. You will want to go out in the evenings and on weekends. You will have homework. This is a difficult conflict unless you manage your time wisely. Do your homework during the daylight hours whenever possible; this will free up some evenings.

3. Begin your assignments as soon as they are given. Thought requires time and revision. You will do a better job over a couple weeks than you could possibly do in a couple of nights.

4. Many students brag about "all-nighters". It may be a rite of passage but it's lousy work. If you study regularly you will have no need to cram. If you follow the advice in #3 you will not need to write all night. You need rest before an exam far more than you need a few extra facts.

5. More than anything, remember that learning is more important than grades. When you write a paper, take a risk and do something difficult. Your professor will reward you for the thought and analysis in a difficult paper and you will be rewarded by gaining something you could never get by playing it safe.

Enjoy!

John

Thanks for the advice everybody.



Business at Wake Forest University

How about both? Buy the books, you won't regret it.

Another tip (from those books) that I wish I'd known:

Do the homework for any day's class meeting before the class meets. You'll have to re-do it (or revise it), but you will have a very firm idea of the class material while others are hearing it for the first time.

Maybe the Amazon reviews don't give the right impression. I understood BOTH books to be advice from college kids about college. Is that not the case?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUB4j0n2UDU

Advice for any literature classes you may have- attend the class and take lecture notes. This is even more important than actually doing the reading. I actually went through a class or two where I didn't crack open some of the novels (though I don't recommend it.) The trick is knowing what themes the professor discussed and a few key passages relating to them.

Also, Mountain Dew and peanut M&M's are your two greatest assets the night before a paper is due.

Stay away from pot


experience everything (else)

Ahh... ok, maybe you won't need to study very much.


LOL. Well at least listen to the advice of the other guys, and best of luck.

Don't think you are smarter than those older than you and don't believe that you and your cohorts are going to 'change the world' and are the 'leaders of tomorrow'. There has never been a lack of leaders and clearly someone born in the year you were will be a CEO or political leader at some point in time and so will those born ten years after you and those yet to be born. Listen, study, and try to enjoy your college experience. My nephew just finished his first year and I'm afraid he took part in nothing of the college experience, he went to school and worked, sure he was top of his class but he never saw a sporting event or went to any functions. The main thing to remember is that college and the military exist to keep people your age from bothering the rest of us.

All of the above AND get a part time job (that works with your class schedule) so as not to over borrow from your folks! Even with one son doing it on the GI Bill and the other finding time to work (while maintaining a 3.85 GPA and carrying 18 units) my boys seem to cost me more now that all the years they lived in my house! (WORTH EVERY DIME to be honest)!