So my first day in community college is this Monday (quarter system) and I’m a bit nervous. Do you guys have any advice on how to navigate the first day to start off the year right?
Smile, sit in the front, expect things to go wrong and try to handle them tactfully.
College is not so different from HS
Put your phone on silent, sit in the front, have fun. There’s not much you can do wrong. Don’t stab anyone? Try to join a club during club rush week, that’s a good way to meet other people with similar interests.
Oh yeah, I should have mentioned “don’t stab anyone”, thats a big no-no
:))
Study a campus map ahead of time and be sure you know what the building abbreviations mean on your schedule. Leave early so you have time to figure out where to go.
Ask for help if you need it.
This one may be obvious, but make sure you know what day your classes meet. On lots of college schedules, T = Tuesday and R = Thursday. More students than you can imagine miss their first Thursday class.
Don’t get discouraged if stuff seems complicated or messed up the first day (schedules, rooms, course materials, seating, etc). It will smooth out pretty soon.
Find out where all the labs are: writing lab, math lab, language lab, etc. They’re a great way to get free help. Make sure you go to office hours or at least let the prof know who you are. Going to class is half the battle. So many CCC students just don’t go.
Reddit is extremely helpful with those asking programming related questions, the cpp/python subs are pretty active; make sure you at least supply code before asking for help. StackOverFlow is great too but you will be discouraged from asking questions that you can search for on there. Good luck with your programming courses.
Relax, get your sleep, be yourself, come prepared (bring some blank paper and a folder to be able to write, store syllabi, etc.), eat a hearty breakfast, and bring snacks/water. Try to put yourself out there to meet people.
Don’t ask a professor anything that is on the syllabus. Have fun.
Get there early.
I echo the get there early sentiment: especially if it’s a popular class where there likely will be crashers. Coming early makes it so you get a (physical) seat in the class instead of having to sit on the floor or standing until the Prof kicks out the crashers.
Beyond getting to class early, get to CAMPUS early. Parking will be a madhouse for the first couple of weeks before it dies down to something that is at least manageable.
Thanks for the advice everyone! I’ll make sure to keep your words in mind as I start tomorrow. 