College Tips

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sage
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Yup, it’s a quarter system. I just can’t wait for 5th-week midterms! (*Ahem*)
 
Ratemyprofessor.com is your best friend :)

Let's repeat that:

Ratemyprofessor.com is your best friend


The quality of your professors is the most important part of how you will like your classes, which is to say how well you will probably do in them. Pick good professors!!!
 
In a lot of cases, you don't really have a choice in professor. Many of the chemistry/engineering courses I took were only offered once a year, and whomever taught it was who we were stuck with. Also, sometimes only one section of a course will fit your schedule, in which case you have no choice in professor. It's nice when you can choose, but it's not always a guarantee. In any case, check ratemyprofessor.com anyway. It can give you a bit of insight into each professor's style, and that is always helpful.
 
In a lot of cases, you don't really have a choice in professor. Many of the chemistry/engineering courses I took were only offered once a year, and whomever taught it was who we were stuck with. Also, sometimes only one section of a course will fit your schedule, in which case you have no choice in professor. It's nice when you can choose, but it's not always a guarantee.
indeed. RMP still does offer you the ability to know what the prof is like before you walk into the room. Sometimes the comments people leave help - ie, when someone says "the powerpoints are your best study aid" or "he doesn't write his notes anywhere so don't skip unless you have someone's notes"
 
apparently a lot of my advice has already been said. So here's one that hasn't: if your college has an international student's program, try to get involved in it, either doing a semester abroad or making friends with the xisting international students in the college. That way you'll probably have a place to stay if you ever go outside the country to visit. I made really good friends with a German girl and a French guy, so in 2000, when I travelled Europe, I didn't have to spend much on hotels :)

If you're not commuting, make sure you find a friend with a car, that way you'll avoid the college noob hangouts and you'll even be able to go to the supermarket and not have to carry your bags in public transportation.... I speak out of experience here. Nothing sucks more than having to carry bags full of cans when it's -20ºF outside.

Try to avoid excess internet. My first year of college since I was so lonely (I was an international student, so the closest thing to home was about 4 hours away by plane); and to make me feel better I turned to the internet and chatting about. I lost a lot of hours of sleep.

Homesickness happens. Deal with it. Make friends, stay in touch and all. But don't go all boo-hoo all the time and try to avoid going home whenever you have a break. Try to travel around, even if it's sleeping in shady motels in shady cities. It's pretty fun.
 
I seriously hope you're joking. If not, you're the biggest douchenozzle I have ever seen.
His profile says that he is only 15. His advice probably comes from watching Van Wilder or some such...
Sometimes the comments people leave help - ie, when someone says "the powerpoints are your best study aid" or "he doesn't write his notes anywhere so don't skip unless you have someone's notes"
This reminds me of something...Don't take anyone else's "advice" :lol:. I mean, if someone says "You don't need to go to class" or "This class is incredibly easy", don't listen. There are people in every class that think it's "easy". Case in point: freshman year, I had a friend who told me that Math 307 (differential equations) was "easy". He was a bit of a slacker, so I figured I'd do fine. Not the case. As it turns out, this person was really, really good at math, but not much else. I struggled through the course (the professor was awful, which didn't help) and never listened to my friend again :lol:. Just go into each course with the mentality that it will be a very difficult class. Diligence never hurts, but complacency certainly can.
 
Glad to see you're taking Engineering courses Sage, I'm going into second year Mechanical Engineering, so I can offer some academic advice.

- DEFININTLEY make lots of friends within your faculty. Not only will you have people to sit with in class (this really helps in classes where you're there just to take notes), but they will make an excellent study group. Just make sure you're adament about studying when it needs to be done instead of goofing off.

- At first, attend all of your classes. Get a feel for your prof's teaching style, get the course outline (always handed out the first class), and see if their class notes deviate from ones posted online. Also, some profs will encurage attendance at lectures by helping out those who show up (my Economics prof was big on this idea).

- That being said, you don't need to attend lectures if you feel you're wasting your time. One of my friends never showed up at any Calculus II lecture, and did very well. But, DO NOT use this as an excuse to goof off (do some work for the class), and make sure you know someone who attends all the lectures who will be willing to pass announcements on to you.

- Calculus will start off easy. But it gets hard. Really hard. Be prepared for this. Physics and Chemistry can be exceptionally difficult courses, but depends mainly on how hard the profs want to make it. Vector Mechanics is another engineering course to be worried about.

- Make sure you do at least some work every day. At least one hour a day when the workload is light.

That's the academic side. As for the other side...

- Be ready to meet all sorts of different people, virtually anywhere, especially during Frosh/Orientation.

- Living with a roomate can be a weird experience, but it can also be quite enjoyable. But try to iron out any disagreements as early as possible.

- Headphones are your best friend if you're rooming with someone. I'd suggest buying a good pair asap if you're not on a tight budget.

- Remember, studying is your highest priority. But that isn't any excuse not to have a good time, just make sure you're prepared for all your midterms and finals (although most people stop socializing almost completely when exam time hits)

- And if you're living away from home for the first time, you'll never completely readjust to moving back home at the end of the year. Believe me, this was not a good summer for me.
 
Ev0
- DEFININTLEY - Calculus will start off easy. But it gets hard. Really hard. Be prepared for this. Physics and Chemistry can be exceptionally difficult courses, but depends mainly on how hard the profs want to make it. Vector Mechanics is another engineering course to be worried about.
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this doesnt sound too well as im taking physics and chem and happen to now that the proffesors are hard on their students and further maths includes all maths types like general maths and then advances them
 
This reminds me of something...Don't take anyone else's "advice" :lol:. I mean, if someone says "You don't need to go to class" or "This class is incredibly easy", don't listen. There are people in every class that think it's "easy". Case in point: freshman year, I had a friend who told me that Math 307 (differential equations) was "easy". He was a bit of a slacker, so I figured I'd do fine. Not the case. As it turns out, this person was really, really good at math, but not much else. I struggled through the course (the professor was awful, which didn't help) and never listened to my friend again :lol:. Just go into each course with the mentality that it will be a very difficult class. Diligence never hurts, but complacency certainly can.

This is sooooooo true....i am a similar victum...people said one of the first year philosophy is hell easy...but i find it hard....


regarding to chem and phys.....physics is challenging but it will be easy if you understand how the theories/laws/equations work....

chem...its a combination of memorization and understanding.....fortunately i dont have much problem with chem so far.....


sigh....i wonder what i will become if i choose engineering instead of biochem...i guess i will become a very different person....
 
sigh....i wonder what i will become if i choose engineering instead of biochem...i guess i will become a very different person....
Yeah, you'd be a person with a job :lol:.
Wow, more engineering students here than I thought.
That's because engineering is TeH wIn!!!1

Another thought: When selecting a major, make sure that major is actually useful. You don't need a degree in comparative Roman literature to work at Barnes and Noble. If that is truly your dream career, then just skip college and start working there now.

There's always people who say "don't worry about careers, if you like that field, major in it!". That's fine, but college is not just a place to screw around for four years; it's the start of your working career. The major you choose will likely set you on a path towards certain jobs. These jobs might suck, or they might be the best jobs ever. You don't want to find out that after four years, you're going to be working under someone who dropped out of your high school, do you? Again, a little research can help you out a lot on this one.
 
So do any of you guys have an opinion on bringing stereos & such. Because I have two receivers, 3 pairs of speakers, and 2 different CD players (not including my laptop). And I really don't know whether or not I want to have either the nicest stereo in school, or something that sounds like I'd constantly wish for what I have in home.

And I guess I should say, that I'm still in the market for a proper amp, becuase I got this old Onkyo receiver for free today.
 
So do any of you guys have an opinion on bringing stereos & such. Because I have two receivers, 3 pairs of speakers, and 2 different CD players (not including my laptop). And I really don't know whether or not I want to have either the nicest stereo in school, or something that sounds like I'd constantly wish for what I have in home.

And I guess I should say, that I'm still in the market for a proper amp, becuase I got this old Onkyo receiver for free today.



What?
 
So do any of you guys have an opinion on bringing stereos & such. Because I have two receivers, 3 pairs of speakers, and 2 different CD players (not including my laptop). And I really don't know whether or not I want to have either the nicest stereo in school, or something that sounds like I'd constantly wish for what I have in home.

And I guess I should say, that I'm still in the market for a proper amp, becuase I got this old Onkyo receiver for free today.
Get something that fits in the room with the space you're given. Don't be the jackass next door who has the 500w sound system cranked up late night. High power systems are wonderful but you'll never get to truly enjoy what they're capable of unless you want to piss off the neighbors
 
So do any of you guys have an opinion on bringing stereos & such. Because I have two receivers, 3 pairs of speakers, and 2 different CD players (not including my laptop). And I really don't know whether or not I want to have either the nicest stereo in school, or something that sounds like I'd constantly wish for what I have in home.
I just bought a nice set of speakers for my PC. I had tons of MP3s and CDs and just used that. Any excess equipment is just something more that some guy can steal.

And as emad said, don't be the guy blasting his stereo all the time. I don't care how good you think your music is, someone else is guaranteed to hate it. If you love blasting it then spend the money you would spend on a stereo on some really nice wireless headphones. I knew a guy who had some and would go to other floors listening to his music without ever bothering a single person.
 
Yes, the "speaker-blaster guy" is always annoying. I use these Sony earbuds at college instead of a speaker system - they have pretty phenomenal sound quality.
 
Yes, the "speaker-blaster guy" is always annoying.
We had one on our floor sophomore year. I strongly disliked his discourteous behavior, but we eventually became best friends :lol:. Especially once I hooked my guitar into his system ;).

But keep in mind that your neighbors are like semi-roommates. They can hear a lot of what goes on in your room, and they might sleep six inches away from your speakers. Always err on the side of caution in that situation.
 
Ev0
Glad to see you're taking Engineering courses Sage, I'm going into second year Mechanical Engineering, so I can offer some academic advice.
Who doesn’t love engineering? ;) Errm…

- Calculus will start off easy. But it gets hard. Really hard. Be prepared for this.
At least I’ve got a head start. :) I took one year of Calculus in high school (and did very very well in it) – I’m repeating the course only because I’ve basically forgotten everything. Most of it should pop back into place though as I go along.
 
Who doesn’t love engineering? ;) Errm…

even a senior (actually this is my 5th year now cuz i skip school to work for a year) pure science student (me) wants to go to engineering!!....this already shows that EVERYONE loves engineering
 
Yeah, why would anyone want to use their brain after they get out of high school, when they could just sit around with their idiotic friends and smoke weed instead?
 
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