<p>I'm going to college next year. What are some of the things you wish you knew or you wish you have done in college, after college, and finding jobs? any regrets???</p>
<p>You are entering a period of life where you will try different things, make mistakes, change your mind, and generally experiment and stumble around for years before settling into some sort of adulthood. It may take a decade or more before you reach the settling down stage. There is nothing wrong with this. </p>
<p>Despite the above, it doesn’t hurt to think about the possibilities and plan accordingly. For example, if you’re unsure whether you want to major in political science or psychology, it makes sense to take the prerequisite courses for both majors. If you think you might want an internship in X industry, it makes sense to go to your career center early in the academic year and find out how and when you apply for such internships. If you have a difficult exam on Monday and don’t feel fully prepared for it, it makes sense to avoid spending Saturday night partying and all day Sunday feeling hung over when you could have been studying.</p>
<p>You get the idea.</p>
<p>As for regrets, I regret that I got married at 21, two days after graduating from college. I think the guy in my life and I would have been better off simply living together and seeing how the relationship developed (or didn’t develop) for a few more years, while we did some more growing up. We might have ended up married anyway, but if we did, the decision to get married would have been made by more mature people.</p>
<p>Take advantage of opportunities, but get some sleep too! Everyone has regrets. Don’t hang on to them.</p>
<p>join a club and get involved!!</p>
<p>Take special efforts to eat lots of fresh food, especially fruit, every day!! Stay away from the processed and fried stuff. Your waistline will thank you.</p>
<p>And remember that beer is quite caloric. :)</p>
<p>ALSO: And this is more important – if you find you are depressed, or having difficulty concentrating, or are feeling stressed, don’t hesitate to go to the student health center and get help.</p>
<p>Explore the community around your college. I went to undergrad in what I now know is a GREAT college town. But I really almost never left campus until the summer I stayed there to work. Get out your freshman year and check out the stores, restaurants, parks, etc. near your campus.</p>
<p>I went to an art college with a wonderful faculty. I wish that I hadn’t skipped classes on occasion for no good reason. Now, I pay lots of money to take classes with talented artists and teachers. Now, I appreciate that opportunity and realize it is something to cherish.</p>
<p>Being in college is your chance to benefit from the wisdom, experience and talent of your professors. They won’t all be perfect but you will get something from each one of them. Don’t minimize that opportunity by skipping classes.</p>
<p>One night stands really aren’t worth it.</p>
<p>If you’re going away to college, and even if you’re not, make an effort to befriend other students right away. Join a club or organization that will help you feel connected to the school.</p>
<p>Whether that guy saying he loves you really means it or wants something else.</p>
<p>Whether everyone is really doing it. Actually I don’t wish I knew, just wish everyone would stop saying it to get everyone doing it.</p>
<p>If the birth control is going to be reliable. Haven’t even addressed this one yet.
Agree with sylvan re: one night stands. College junior D of friends is expecting, will deliver this summer. She and the young man have no intention of a continuing relationship. This is a lovely, intelligent girl and a nice young man. It happens.</p>
<p>If pot is really harmless. I disagree. If pot smoking is better than alcohol or vice versa. I say neither but then I’ve had my fun.</p>
<p>You get the idea. So the things I wish I knew can take place at college but are an education of a different sort.</p>
<p>OP: I hope you learn the answers in the right way. Best wishes to you!
My apologies if you were looking for entirely different responses.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The day you start college is the day you start building your resume for a future employer. So get involved on campus, hold leadership positions, intern, etc. ECs are just as important on your future resume as they are on your college applications plus they can be fun and open new worlds of ideas. If you’re unsure of your major, ECs can help you find your passion (leading to a career) you never thought of before.</p></li>
<li><p>Your FICO credit score starts at age 18. Get 1 credit card (unsecured credit) and 1 small, short-term secured loan (both probably co-signed by parents) under your SS #. Have both auto-drafted from a savings or credit so they will never, EVER be late. After the loan is paid off, LOCK your credit access with the 3 primary bureaus (protection against identity theft). Employers will check your credit score before hiring you.</p></li>
<li><p>Peer pressure will continue in college as it does in HS. It’s okay to say ‘no thanks’ and the more you do say no, the easier it becomes. If others tease or judge you for it then you’re with the wrong people. Be careful who you choose to hang with as ‘guilt by association’ is the norm.</p></li>
<li><p>A single, immature stupid mistake can ruin your future (e.g. drinking/driving, riding with someone who’s been drinking or has alcohol in the car, trusting a girl who ‘says’ she’s on birth control or is but has missed taking for several days, condoms regularly fail, etc.). Educate yourself on STDs, drugs and alcohol. Never accept an open drink you did see prepared or leave a drink to come back to later. Spiking happens more than you know. Basically, ‘think’ before you act but if you’re drunk or stoned, you can’t make rational decisions. </p></li>
<li><p>Follow the well-known rules of your online profile. Google yourself. Un-tag yourself in compromising photos in Facebook. Again, employers will check you out before hiring. Just because your FB page is locked doesn’t mean that your friends’ pages are too.</p></li>
<li><p>The only stupid question is the one not asked. If not in class, take advantage of a professor’s office hours to get additional help. If you’re struggling with a class, get help EARLY such as a tutor or competent classmate.</p></li>
<li><p>Take the SAT and ACT multiple times. Start your college applications and essays over the summer and apply Early Action. A higher percentage are accepted from the EA pool than the Regular Decision pool (i.e. with the same stats, your chances of acceptance are higher with EA).</p></li>
<li><p>Since you’ll have your applications done early, start hunting for scholarship money. Some deadlines are very early, like the fall of your senior year. Also, scholarships aren’t just for freshman. Many are out there for sophomore year and up.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t procrastinate on projects or upcoming tests! Keep up with the assigned work because if you get behind, it’s very difficult to catch-up.</p></li>
<li><p>For me, I treated college like a job. Sunday night through end of class on Friday was for classwork. Weekends were for having FUN!</p></li>
<li><p>Lastly, remember that college is fun, stressful, and life changing! But remember those back home are hurting and missing you terribly! Stay in touch and call often for no other reason than to just say hello.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Merry Widow,
Your post above is priceless. I am cutting and pasting it into an email to several friends and both our children-who are rising seniors. Great wisdom and advice. Bravo!</p>
<p>her 4th bullet point essentially blamed females for ‘bringing down’ a man. that same old eve tempted adam and brought him down archaic mentality. men (even young men) are every bit as responsible as young women for teenage pregnancy. hello???</p>
<p>I wish I’d have gotten more involved. I had this sort of stupid '70s attitude…thought only dorks got involved in things like clubs and student government. But it was my loss. </p>
<p>Although I don’t see too many kids doing that today-- if anything, they seem over-involved!</p>
<p>*Although I don’t see too many kids doing that today-- if anything, they seem over-involved! *</p>
<p>Right from the cradle, it seems. But don’t get me started on that…</p>
<p>Recently some colleagues and I took a young aspiring copywriter out to lunch. She had all the ECs, internships, etc. But she had typos in her resume, including one in her title sentence. ECs and internships are great. But be sure to sweat the details, too. (That’s what we told her. Presumably the typos are gone now.)</p>
<p>Advice:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Keep up with your classwork on a regular basis. That way the next lecture will actually make sense and save you from having to learn yourself what you should have learned in class. Finals are much easier if you really know the stuff. (Once I figured this out, studying for finals took almost no time, just a quick review as I already knew the material)</p></li>
<li><p>Get involved in your major. From lab work to whatever. It makes all the classwork make much more sense. You’ll get to know the professors better and they make great references.</p></li>
<li><p>Do something fun. Sports, clubs, greek organizations; whatever peaks your interest. Just don’t get in too deep that it prevents you from doing your classwork. Being a little overextended helps one focus on being organized.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>When people who get good grades brag about how little they study - </p>
<p>Maybe they learn very, very quickly, or can pick up material very quickly in one or more specific fields such as math or a foreign language, or read quickly with good recall</p>
<p>Maybe they have seen the material before (taken a similar course, done lots of reading)and don’t need to study as much, or have a good background in fields related to courses they take</p>
<p>Maybe they have very good study habits</p>
<p>Maybe they are studying far more than they realize, just not all at once in the library</p>
<p>Maybe they are studying far more than they want anyone else to realize</p>
<p>Maybe they are not challenging themselves with classes (have organized their schedules to take classes only in areas in which they can excel, take minimum number of credits, or have few if any EC’s)</p>
<p>Maybe they do not self-sabotage with procrastination, excessive partying, all-nighters, and such</p>
<p>It is hard to get a credit card in your own name if you are still financially dependent on your parents under the new credit card laws. But when D turned 21, the bank where she has kept her savings and checking accounts for years offered her a card. She pounced on it, and is building her credit rating by carefully paying on time each month (and keeping her finances intact by paying the full amount off each month).</p>
<p>Don’t make any major life decisions before the age of 25. There is evidence that that brain doesn’t stop maturing until then.</p>
<p>One of the biggest ones is to use college to find out what you want to do as a person, use what is there and around the college to actually see what is out there, rather then listening to everyone else on what you should do. As was true in my day, but especially now, try not to go in with the mentality that college is all about the career you might be in, use it to determine what you might want to do, and as a stepping stone to it, different mentality. And please don’t let others tells you what you should be doing, if you want to be a doctor or lawyer that is great, but don’t let mom or dad or your best friend tell you to do it and do it for that. </p>
<p>Use it to explore and if something doesn’t work out, try something else. Plenty of kids switch majors/focus, and that is okay, many schools used to encourage kids not to declare majors until Sophomore year…and also understand that making mistakes is part of things, while I am not encouraging stupid behavior, trying a major, or taking a class that doens’t work for you, or joining a club or checking out things going on are wonderful things, and even sometimes bad experiences teach things. </p>
<p>While obviously doing well is important, I also would encourage you not to turn college into a monastery, where the whole focus is only on the ‘serious stuff’, human beings relax and play for very real reasons, and the kids going through school all so serious, who treat it as an experience if they let down their guard a bit or do something goofy, is ‘wasting time’ often come out on the other end as people with problems IMO, I have interviewed kids like that, even several years down the road, and while they were accomplished, they also tend to be the kind of people who don’t work well with others, and as managers are disaster areas, because they have no concept of anything but ‘serious work’. </p>
<p>Also try to get to know kids different then yourself, whether they be different majors, kids with different beliefs, from different countries, kids into different things whether it be anime or whatever, kids your parents might not approve of (goth, alt types, gay kids, whatever), it can be a lot of fun just to sit and chew the fat. I was fortunate to go to a school with a very diverse population in the middle of what was then still an interesting area (NYU), so I got to experience a lot and have some fun, and learned a lot about myself in the process. </p>
<p>More importantly,. use the experience to learn that there are many ways to do things, many different approaches, and that making mistakes is part of the game. Be smart, use common sense, and don’t lock down on anything too early, there is plenty of time to do so:)</p>