<p>I am a high school senior going to RPI. Tell me stuff about college I should know so I don't screw up bad like some people did. :)</p>
<p>There is always some fun event going on, and some friend who would like you to go to it. You can’t take them up on the offer all the time.</p>
<p>There’s nobody forcing you have good study habits, not even your homework schedule. You can’t just do everything right before it’s due.</p>
<p>When I first saw this post, I chuckled a bit to myself. One of the reason was because in college you WILL make a lot of mistake. I’m about to end my first semester at Georgia State University and I have already made plenty of mistakes. Making mistakes can be a good thing IF you learn something from them. </p>
<p>With that being said, I do thing there are a few things you could do before you come to college. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>If the budget permits it, buy a laptop or bring one you already have to every lecture. You will be able to take really good notes on your computer instead of with pencils and paper.</p></li>
<li><p>Read the book “How to Become a Straight A Student” by Cal Newport. I found many of the techniques worked for me but some of them don’t so make sure you take everything you read with a grain of salt. </p></li>
<li><p>The next thing I would do it is try to find good professors. I know it sounds so cliche but a bad professor can really impact your grades. For example I’m taking basic algebra right now and my average in the class is a C. Plus, the average in the class is also close to a C. If I were smart and had met other upperclassmen who had her in the previous years, I probably would’ve switch professors. With that being said, I have EXCELLENT professors in my other classes and I have straight A’s in them. As much as most people don’t like to admit it a professor can make or break your grade and impact how well you do in the class.</p></li>
<li><p>Remember do not procrastinate on projects. Do them as soon as they are given to you. Its hard to write a 3 page paper at midnight on the day its due. Remember this rule “inch by inch and it will be a cinch but yard by yard make things very very hard”. Take multiple little steps instead of doing large chucks at the last minute. </p></li>
<li><p>Buy a planner and use it.</p></li>
<li><p>If you can afford to, live on/within two miles of campus. It makes commuting much easier and it makes it easier to get invovled on campus.</p></li>
<li><p>Get involved on campus. Join a club and become active in it.</p></li>
<li><p>Deadlines are important so make sure you complete everything on time - including scholarship applications, financial aid etc.</p></li>
<li><p>Learn the best study techniques for you and use them. Gone are the high school day where you could read a chapter the day before its due and do well on the test. In college, you will have to study your *** off to get a good grade. Do it will and do it early.</p></li>
<li><p>Get to know your professor. I think my professor has opened up so many doors for me. Right now, we are working on a project together because she trust me so much. It helps a WHOLE lot to know your professors well and keep in contact with them.</p></li>
<li><p>Pick “easy classes” your first semester. If you sucked at chemistry in high school avoid taking it your first semester in college because the coursework is much harder. Also, pick classes that are interesting to you because you will be less tempted to skip the class.</p></li>
<li><p>Do not skip classes. There were plenty of times when I was tempted to skip class because it wasn’t mandatory and my math professor doesn’t even teach. However, I probably would’ve failed the class if I wasn’t disciplined enough to show up because she gave away extra bonus points on certain days of classes. Plus, in my other classes, the professors would often give a lecture on something that wasn’t in the book but will be on the test. I rarely meet people who get A’s in their classes and don’t attend everyday.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I believe those are all the tips I have for right now. I did most of those techniques and I will probably have a 3.5-3.8 GPA when its all said and done. Always remember that you do not have to be smart to do well in school but you do have to be disciplined and work hard.</p>
<p>Great tips, thanks!</p>
<p>Don’t have any preconceived notions of what college will be like, just take it in stride once you get there.</p>
<p>I don’t want to wait @_@</p>
<p>Pick easy classes throughout your entire college career. Avoid “hard” professors like the plague. Play the Pass/Fail policy like a cheap piano. GPA manage, AT ALL TIMES. Know the academic policies at your college upside down, inside out, forwards and backwards, and every which other way, and take advantage of every loophole you see.</p>
<p>Follow this rule: if the prof’s lecture is unintelligible within the first week, drop the class right away. If it’s too late to drop, pass/fail it. If it’s too late to pass/fail it, petition the Dean’s office to pass/fail it.</p>
<p>By all means, procrastinate if it works better for you. I like to do everything in one sitting and I don’t like to ever leave things incomplete (because I’ll never get around to actually completing it). I also prefer to do it right the first time, instead of going back over and over and over again. I’ve done fine doing things at the last minute.</p>
<p>I’m going to shatter the illusion right now: college is a 4 year (or 3 or 5 or 6 year) course on how to circumvent nonsense and how to “get by” doing the minimum amount of work.</p>
<p>^^^^^^</p>
<p>Don’t listen to the people who tell you things like that. And don’t think that you can avoid them.</p>
<p>Know your limits on drinking.</p>
<p>Have fun. Don’t forget to have fun. Of course you should keep your priorities straight, but take risks. This is the time to make mistakes.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not especially.</p>
<p>I’ve written longer papers overnight before. Papers in the range of 5-6 pages, written in one sitting, in about 6-8 hours.</p>
<p>If you know how to BS, you should be able to crank out a decent paper in one sitting. Honestly, I never write papers in more than two sittings.</p>
<p>Don’t ever take classes you know nothing about for a grade. Ever. See my note about playing the pass/fail policy like a cheap piano. I’m going to add the audit policy and the drop/add policy here too.</p>
<p>College is too expensive to be ruining your GPA taking unnecessary risks. Remember that your high school GPA goes away pretty much the second you enter college, but your college GPA will NEVER go away. Your undergrad GPA will stay with you FOREVER unless you go to grad/professional school, and even then, your undergrad GPA won’t be erased from existence (my mom had to get a UG transcript from the early 80’s when she interviewed for her latest job).</p>
<p>Oh, and get some work/internship experience over the summer, and if you can swing it, during college too. Network, network, network. It’s never too early. Start from day one. </p>
<p>Oh, and teach yourself how to cook. And stop caring what people think.</p>
<p>Know what works for you.</p>
<p>Know your limits as to the classes you can take, dont overload yourself</p>
<p>get a facebook</p>
<p>dont try to compete with people you clearly cant compete with right now, academically</p>
<p>always use ratemyprofessor.com before you sign up for classes</p>
<p>and most important rule, see if your school has an entry on urbandictionary.com. if they do, 80% of whats said on there is true more than likely</p>
<p>Oh, RPI. If you’re a guy the ratio sucks. The frats are real fun there, everyone is kinda geeky. As long as you aren’t one of those always-on-the-computer-anti-social guys you should have fun and the ration won’t be as bad. Their mascot is the Engineers. So yeah, it’s geeky. And you’re likely an engineering major of some kind so it’ll be tough but that place has a real nice system because it’s not full of cut throat students and there’s a lot of study help.</p>
<p>It really depends on you if you’ll end up like futurenyustudent becaue I met some there that worked more than others, the others being this guy who slacked so badly and had As because he was so smart yet cool. Still, you’ll have help from friends and teachers.</p>
<p>Agreed on ratemyprofessors.com, but with one caveat: there’s some self-reporting bias on ratemyprofs.com. People aren’t going to take the time to rate a prof unless the prof was absolutely crap or absolutely amazing. Just keep that in mind. </p>
<p>If your uni publishes evaluations, there’s a tendency for students to inflate ratings. On a scale of 5 for instance, 4.85+ ratings are “good”, 3.5 to 4.85 is the danger zone, and any prof consistently rated below 3.5 belongs in the “should be fired” category. They might be more accurate than ratemyprofs.com. Remember that if you use the uni’s evaluation system, amazing=good, good=mediocre, mediocre=crappy, crappy=don’t touch with a 10 foot pole, and who gave this assclown tenure=don’t even think about it.</p>
<p>I like this thread, thanks for posting it! :)</p>
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<p>This is by far the best advice ever.</p>
<p>Responsibility sucks.</p>
<p>Don’t spend all your money on food right away!
(learned the hard way}</p>
<p>Always choose to go out over everything besides studying. Socialize as much as possible. </p>
<p>If you’re not studying or going out every night in the first month, you’re doing it wrong (well, I mean, sometimes you’re tired, but yeah).</p>
<p>Try to get along with your roommate and talk to them once in a while.</p>
<p>After a while, do something besides classes. Get a PT job, do research, find an internship, add something big to your life besides classes. It’s really important to try to see what life after college will be like that.</p>