College Tips

[Jaegermeister]

I'm at the library right now, taking a major brain break because I need it. I thought I would take this time to impart a few pearls of wisdom that I have gleamed from my first year at college.



College is a lot harder than high school. Professors expect you to do a lot more on your own. Your amount of "homework" ie written work to be handed in each class will most likely go down, because a lot of what homework is in high school is busywork. But, even though the written work will go down, the amount of reading and papers will go up. Be prepared to read, and to read a lot. This semester I read on average about 300 pages per night. Granted, my major may have something to do with that, but be prepared for it.



Go to class. Easiest thing in the world is to skip class. I say you shouldn't because you'll miss the matierial that was went over during class, and it will put you behind, and playing catch up in college is NOT fun. Also, most professors take attendance and start marking off for missed classes. Attendance grades are so easy to get. All you have to do is go there and sit.



Make good study habits right away. Even if you have an easy workload, get in the habit of going to the library, or at least doing work at a consistant time. If you just put things off until when you feel like it, you'll probably get behind, and let me say again, being behind in college is NOT fun. I know people say this all the time, and when I was a senior I thought "Yeah right, I don't need to do this.", but GO TO THE LIBRARY. Hands down, the library is the place that is most conductive for studying and really getting work done.



Eat well and remember to sleep. This is more common sense, but if you eat a healthy diet and get good amounts of sleep each night, you will have so much more energy. If you have energy you will be more likely to study and get work done. You'll be more alert and more receptive if you stay healthy. This will also keep you from getting sick too.



And the most important thing I can tell you to do is: HAVE FUN! Yes, you should work and study, a lot, but plan in relaxation time. Dedicating all of your time to studying is the best road I know of that goes straight to nervous breakdown land. Sometimes you may need to sacrifice a fun night, like for example instead of having fun tonight I'm going to the library, but take time to have fun. It's so easy to get bogged down in work and think "I can't take any time off from studying because I have so much to do" which is why you need to plan fun time sometimes. It will help you relax.



More to come later if you guys would like it. I have to get back to work though



TJ

[Feel_Me_Out]

good tips! and they're all very true. i may not have a busy workload for my classes at college, but chances are if i miss a class, id miss a whole lot and fail. plus here, if you miss 3 classes in a semester, the teacher can drop you and/or fail you. so keep going to class all of ya'll! lol

[chad]

Very good tips. I've only had 2 college classes this year during my senior year in high school. You can only miss 3 days here too before being asked to drop. We have 1 guy in my First Responder class right now that missed 3 or 4 days and now has a 5.75% in the class because it's all in class work.



With the work/homework, deffinently don't wait until the last minute. I only go on Monday nights right now, and I did start waiting to do my work until Monday afternoons. It's not worth it. Get it done IMMEDIATELY after you receive it.



Taking time off for fun is a must. If you don't take a break every once in a while to have fun, you will probably wear yourself out and get sick.





Very good tips TJ!!



Keep them coming.

[Jaegermeister]

One more that I thought of, although the people who are seniors now it's kind of two late. This deals with when you are looking at colleges. If you go and visit a college campus, make sure you eat a meal at that school. Some places will even pay for it. Think about it though, you will be eating that food every day of every week of every month for about nine months. Just think of how sick you could get of the food. If you don't think they have enough variety or selection, I would take that into consideration, because I would hate being stuck at a school with crappy food.



TJ

[nj100688]

thats why i want to go to a college in or near a big city so if the school has crappy food u can still get good food but u'll probably run out of money lol



i have a brother and sister in college so i've already heard about how hard it is. I'm already dreading the day i leave for college lol and i'm just in 8th grade

[Jaegermeister]

One more tip I have. I'm dealing with this now. When choosing a computer for college, there are benefits to both desktops and laptops. I want both a desktop and a laptop so that I can have games and things on the desktop, and the laptop to take everywhere. I'm not suggesting buying two computers, although I may well be, but from a work point of view, there is one major advantage to laptops. THEY ARE PORTABLE. No one at my school takes laptops to class, but laptops can be taken to the library which makes research papers much easier. You can research and type at the same time and you never have to go anywhere.



This is a lot of personal preference, and it depends on a lot of things. For example, I know I can't get work done in my room, so a laptop to type at in the library would be very beneficial for me. Just take into consideration that there will be times when you would want to bring your computer somewhere, and with a laptop, you can.



TJ

[Jaegermeister]

Ok, another tip. Your brain can only handle so much at one time. You really need to know your limits, and if you cannot work anymore, then just stop. There is a danger in this though, because there is a difference between not wanting to work anymore and not being able to work anymore. I'm usually good for about 8-10 hours before my brain just stops working right. You'll probably notice your attention span dwindle.



I'll use myself as an example. Yesterday I was at the library from 12-10 pm. I took short, 15 minute breaks every 2 hours or so. As the night went on though, my attention span got shorter and I started taking shorter breaks more frequently. Today I was back at the library at 12. About the same thing happened, except that today I noticed that my attention started wandering earlier, around 5 pm. By 9, I was literally spent, and I just couldn't work any more. Don't sweat it if that happens to you. Just call it a night, and then plan some other time to go and finish your studying. I am getting up 2 hours earlier than I had thought in order to do the work tommorrow that I thought I was going to get done today.



TJ