<p>Now that the acceptances are in and decisions are being made, I thought it'd be helpful to share a few tips on life at LC and RH. I know from experience a few helpful ways to adjust, and I've noticed a few other current students/ parents of students trolling around who might have some good insights! Here's a few of mine, I might add more as I come I remember them:</p>
<p>LC:
-Join Urban Plunge, it's a great volunteer cause, helps you get acclimated to the city a few days early, and sends you into classes confidant because you've already formed friendships
-Explore, the first weekend of school I took a couple hours to walk around the area, within 10/15 blocks. It helped me figure out what was available, places I could go besides Fordham, good grocery and other utility stores, etc. It's really helpful to know the environment.
- seamlessweb.com it's a delivery site with all the restaurants in the area. The on campus dining has extremely restricted hours, especially on weekends, and it's always good to have backups.
- Don't lose your ID. The security guards can be strict about them and your meal plan is tied to your card. It's an annoying process to get it hooked up to a new one.
- DO NOT BOLT YOUR DOOR. This is so important I'll repeat: DO NOT BOLT YOUR DOOR. You will have the temptation to stick the bolt out when you go to do laundry or take out the trash so you don't have to bring your keys/ unlock the door. This is a 70 dollar fine on the first offense if RA's catch you and sadly they are good at this.
- Bring cleaning supplies. This is the first time living away from home in a place with a kitchen and bathroom and I certainly was not aware how quickly 5 people can go through one trash bag/ ruin a sponge/ use a roll of paper towels/ use a pack of toilet paper/ clog a shower drain/ dirty a run. It's seriously crazy and really best to overstock or else you may end up with say... a shower that doesn't drain so you have to wait for maintenance to fix it before you can shower again. Not where you want to be. XD </p>
<p>RH:
- Don't got to ATM's at 2 in the morning. All students get security reports when a student on either campus has an issue. All but one of the reports I got this year were for a student mugged while leaving an ATM in the Bronx at an obscene hour. These declined as the year went on.
- Don't race out of the dining hall. It's very open and hanging out for a few minutes often leads to bumping into an old/new friend.
- Go to the dining hall in groups. While it can be a great way to socialize, the dining hall can also be lonely if you go alone, so get together with people from your floor/ dorm before you leave.
- Bring frisbees. Necessary for when the weather gets nice.
- Use the RamVan. It's cheap and you still have all of NY only 20 minutes away. If you have some free time take the van to LC and explore. The van is also a great way to get to other places in the city because the Columbus Circle subway station is only one block away.</p>
<p>GENERAL:
- When teachers say courses have optional attendance (especially with core classes), don't believe for a second this is true. While they may not penalize absences, they are taking stock of which students do show up, and those are they ones they'll help with grades/ participation in the end.
- ratemyprofessor.com is the most helpful website on the internet. It has reviews for most of the teachers here so you can tell in advance who is considered a great teacher, who is advised to stay away from, who is a tough grader, etc.
- Wrapping paper applied carefully makes great wallpaper that stays up all year and has easy cleanup at the end.
- Bring a fan, the heating units can be very tricky.
- The majority of teachers only give a midterm, final, and 1-2 papers (or some similar variation of this) to make up your entire grade. Know that you'll only have a few opportunities to earn your grade and very few opportunities to make up for a poor one.
- Just because a teacher "never checks we did the reading" doesn't mean they won't ask you to explain a specific random concept of it in detail on the exam.
- Don't freak out. It's your first year of college, no matter what happens you have 3 more years. It's a learning process, and college will get easier as you go along, as well as more fun and interesting since you'll be given increasing liberty in your classes.</p>