<p>Do you have any last tips for incoming freshmen in general? For example, items to pack (that weren’t listed online), attitudes to bring, go-to places for study… and anything I’ve missed. </p>
<p>Also, will all professors have syllabi for the class? And is there any specific way to address a professor or TA in person or by email?</p>
<p>Lastly, what should we expect from professors on the first day of class? Thanks :)</p>
<p>… Wait that wasn’t supposed to be “lastly” yet, lol. Is there any way to not look overly “freshman”? What do you find annoying with freshmen that could be easily fixed?</p>
<p>Here’s a few things. Buy a fender for winter quarter. You don’t want dirt lines on your backpack or shirt. There are bike pumps at the Bike barn and dorm areas, and they’re electrical. Tercero doesn’t smell too much like cow as everyone makes it out to be, or even Davis in general. Packing-wise, keep is simple – pretend you’re camping, and bring all that stuff in larger quantities. Don’t bring a huge stereo system or some other unnecessary things from home. The best is to not overpack…so bring what you would call your essentials and then go home and bring more stuff as you see fit. But if you do happen to overpack, there are storage closets your room gets access to that you share with one other neighbor. Attitude…bring an open one but also know yourself. For example, if you don’t like to party like me, then don’t. Don’t feel like there is a lot of peer pressure at college. You might feel it on your floor but it’s no big deal; people are really nice, but think about what lies outside your dorm. Many other types of people…many many. I personally struggled with finding a place to study since I’m really picky. Studying at the dorm was almost impossible for me (I had a triple in a double-sized room and my roommates were distracting). I tried the MU, library, everywhere! My ideal place to study would be in my apartment now, but in your situation I would pick the library. The entrance of the library has a bit of sound if you need some, and then it gets really quiet like all throughout everywhere else (it’s 4 stories, too). There isn’t a set way to address your professor or TA. For me, I just emailed the TAs usually because the professors are busy and people are pretty annoying with their repetitive questions, so you ask your TAs usually. If you have a question for the professor, you’ll need to see them at their office hours. TAs…I called all of mine by their first names because they’re all pretty young. Honestly, freshmen will be freshmen. It’s a not a bad thing. Seriously. People who know you’re freshmen cut you some slack and treat you nicer. It’s not a place where if someone finds our you’re freshmen, you’ll be dead meat. That’s so high school. Study, be open to things, know yourself, have fun, and take advantage of your freshmen status Good luck!</p>
<p>^ Thank you! that was quite helpful. and nope, no stereo at all, nor am I a partier XD as for the freshmen status, that definitely helps. no hazing takes some pressure off of getting used to such a large environment (compared to high school). thank you again! I can feel the anxiety starting to wear off, haha.</p>
<p>Oh yeah and in response to your other questions…
Professors on the first day go over minimal information in regard to the actual course content. They just explain the syllabus, introduce TAs individually, talk about waitlists, PTA numbers. Pretty boring stuff. Syllabi are made available a few days or even weeks before school starts through smartsite. That is where you will ALWAYS go to to find information posted by the professor: practice exams, announcements, rooms for finals, problem sets…etc. Oh yeah and just another small tip for all the freshmen…you dont necessarily need to memorize where all the buildings are, just remember popular buildings/areas…it’s also easier to communicate, I’ll explain why in a second. Know where the memorial union is (it has the CoHo and bookstore), chem 194, the shields library, Science Lecture Hall 123, and the Silo (across from unitrans bus area). You will pass these places by extremely often, so on the first week, grab some friends and walk around and take note of these locations BECAUSE when you look at the map to try and find Hunt hall or Veimyer hall, for example, you will discover that the MU is really close to both of these hidden-ish places, and you can bike to the MU first and then walk a few steps and find your classes. That’s how I did it, and I got to know the campus relatively fast in week or so. And one last thing, utilize the free tutoring at your relative dorm areas. I lived in Tercero and went to tutoring a lot for the chem 2 series. I performed quite well first quarter and got lazy and stopped going, and my grade dropped a little bit. All dorm areas have tutoring (they all have different schedules though). English tutors come about once a week, there’s like math and chem everyday since those are popular. What’s cool is you get to do your homework there/study and meet other people who may also have the same professor (most likely, too) and can help each other out, and if you find people in the same class but different professor, you can exchange info and whatnot because for chem, especially, professors combine questions for the final and they don’t include anything the other professors haven’t taught. So if you got peeps in other classes, you can make your life a lot easier. have fun</p>
<p>One more question: When will people who haven’t paid their bills be dropped from their classes? I know it’s the registration freeze right now, and I’m hoping to grab a different section for calculus.</p>
<p>nice stuff. I assume most, if not all, professors start class on time? I’m slightly worried because I have two classes that are quite far from each other, and I only have ten minutes to get there…</p>
<p>@JeSuis: I believe you are supposed to be dropped already, or soon. Deadline to pay is the 16th (today, I believe). If you sign up for classes again after being dropped, you will have to pay the late fee of about $100 first. [CSRG</a> | Late Fee Payment with Penalty](<a href=“http://registrar.ucdavis.edu/csrg/late.html]CSRG”>Class Schedule Archive) If you want a different section, make sure you WILL get in first. It’s not really worth dumping a decent class for a “better” discussion time. I mean you’ll get lucky sometimes, sometimes you won’t. You can try adding the new CRN and you’ll see that it’s conflicted, but it shows what WL position you will be if you add it. Since freshmen classes are popular because everyone takes the same thing almost, you will want to be around position 1-3 (4-5 might be pushing it) to be confident you’ll get in. And just a sidenote, since you’re living ON campus, you needn’t worry too much about late discussion if that’s the case. It may be a hassle, but it’s really not that bad if you live in segundo or tercero. Now if you’re a sophomore and live in a totally different area, you might be more apt to dropping for an earlier or more convenient time.</p>
<p>@possible: Professors usually start class on time. So make sure you get there as fast as possible (safely, too, of course). But honestly I had a 10 minute gap between Science lecture 123 and Wellman (near MU), which is considerably far…I got to my classes with 3-5 minutes to spare. Seating will be tight if the class is in a small classroom, but you can pull it off. What buildings are your classes in? I can give you an estimate in time.</p>
Good luck!</p>