Well, i have to ask about college life....

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>Hey guys, As my first post here i want to ask as many questions about college in one thread so i dont become annoying. I've been reading here and just looking around and this place has one of the most well rounded "group" here. So its been awile since someone asked questions about college not regarding academics. I am a senior in Hs, and can't wait for college. So, my questions are more social, because I dont know if i can be without one. (A social life that is.)</p>

<p>Now the fun part: </p>

<p>1.) Computer, laptops in general. Im looking at an Apple MacBook with all the bells and whistles, im like that, sorry. Do people really get use out of there laptops AS A WHOLE opposed to just the use of word, powerpoint ect.</p>

<p>2.) As I dont have to take a job up at school (hopefully) and im going into pre-pharm, is there going to be a good social life, i know i have to study, hard, but can there be a good balance between to two? Because as of any college student, I want to meet and make friends with as many people as humanly possible.</p>

<p>3.) Would any of you recommend a camera? (For thoes crazy moments)</p>

<p>4.)Parties- Im not crazy but some once and awile would be good. Im hoping once a week or so? Is this possible or not? Keep in mind that i can do pretty good with studing and I will not have to take up a job.</p>

<p>5.)Freshman and friends. As I said i want to meet lots of people, (More people, more partys, more opportunities- girls and free stuff, and more stuff to do.) Is it easy to do? Just go out there? How did you guys meet friends your first year?</p>

<p>Ok, I have a billion more, but i cant think of them right now, so thanks for answering these right now and i really aprecheate it.</p>

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<p>I think a couple of your questions could depend on the college you choose to attend, but one thing is for sure...YES, bring a camera. Obviously, I'd suggest digital...but anything will do. ;)</p>

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<p>Ferris State University-Its one of 3 colleges in Michigan that teaches pharmacy. Ones in Detroit (no) and the other one (UofM) i didnt get in.</p>

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<p>1.) Computer, laptops in general. Im looking at an Apple MacBook with all the bells and whistles, im like that, sorry. Do people really get use out of there laptops AS A WHOLE opposed to just the use of word, powerpoint ect.</p>

<p>I am typing this from one of the lounge areas of my college right now on my laptop. Although I am rarely on campus during lunch (my house is like two miles away) I usually bring the laptop if I know I don't plan on going home (like if I am staying for a workout or something). I use my laptop a lot for presentations in Public Speaking. Currently I have an iBook G4. As my desktop grows older the laptop is becoming my primary computer more and more. I get my use out of it when I'm on the road period, though. If you really like computers like I do then you'll get your money's worth. Otherwise you should consider an iMac since it will be cheaper.</p>

<p>2.) As I dont have to take a job up at school (hopefully) and im going into pre-pharm, is there going to be a good social life, i know i have to study, hard, but can there be a good balance between to two? Because as of any college student, I want to meet and make friends with as many people as humanly possible.</p>

<p>Not familiar with pre-pharm, but I've found having a social life can be difficult (at least for me). I don't have an enormous amount of work, but I don't know a whole lot of people and I'm not a partyer. Mostly I rely on church to get me social opportunies even if most of the people are much older.</p>

<p>3.) Would any of you recommend a camera? (For thoes crazy moments)</p>

<p>Yes, and a good one. I refuse to get a cell phone camera because they are horrible. Get a Canon PowerShot A510 or 520. Affordable and good pictures. I don't carry it around all that often and use it mostly for eBay pictures, but I'd probably take it to something that would be memorable (like if a big name politician who I liked would come to give a speech).</p>

<p>4.)Parties- Im not crazy but some once and awile would be good. Im hoping once a week or so? Is this possible or not? Keep in mind that i can do pretty good with studing and I will not have to take up a job.</p>

<p>You can probably find one on a Friday or Saturday night. I'm not much of a partyer at all, most of my parties are held by my friends or I and we usually only have 20 people tops, never alcohol, and no drugs of any kind. If there's any loud music, it's probably me blaring ATB (the greatest group ever) over my speakers--none of this rap crap or anything. So I may not be the one to ask about how to find parties, but I know they exist.</p>

<p>5.)Freshman and friends. As I said i want to meet lots of people, (More people, more partys, more opportunities- girls and free stuff, and more stuff to do.) Is it easy to do? Just go out there? How did you guys meet friends your first year?</p>

<p>It's hard. So many freshmen are unsure of who they are. My best friend at college is actually an old buddy from high school...we've known each other for like seven years. My other close friend is another high school buddy who I met about four years ago. I've met everyone else through classes. Before I transferred I had about six close friends at my old school. For the record, I was pretty popular in high school.</p>

<p>It seems in general that the more popular someone was in high school the worse off they are socially in college.</p>

<p>And as for girls--I'm going to be holding off until the fall so I can get one of the freshmen before college corrupts her. So many freshman girls become floozies almost overnight at college. And then they start drinking and they get all ugly and whatnot. I'm going to buy that t-shirt from Abercrombie that says "you looked better as a freshman" sometime because it is SO true...</p>

<p>Oh yeah--the girls I like the best in the world? All of them are still in high school.</p>

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<p>1.) Computer, laptops in general. Im looking at an Apple MacBook with all the bells and whistles, im like that, sorry. Do people really get use out of there laptops AS A WHOLE opposed to just the use of word, powerpoint ect.</p>

<p>As another poster put, laptops do get plenty of use. I'm in the Star Bucks right by school on a PowerBook G4 right now. It works well, although the aluminum cover sucks... oh well!
But yeah, laptops are necessary in many classes, since some will require you to type a ton of notes that would be almost impossible to keep up with (legibly) by hand!
In addition, they're great for research, distracting oneself during boring lectures (err... DON'T do that!!!), and doing homework whenever there's an opportunity.
Btw, you'll also want to be sure you have a wireless networking card in your computer</p>

<p>2.) As I dont have to take a job up at school (hopefully) and im going into pre-pharm, is there going to be a good social life, i know i have to study, hard, but can there be a good balance between to two? Because as of any college student, I want to meet and make friends with as many people as humanly possible.</p>

<p>Most students still take student employment positions for pocket-change as well as to assist with tuition, gas, food, etc.
And yes, you can certainly have a great social life along with studying hard and succeeding in school. Simply set your priorities and live by them. Figure out your strengths and utilize who you are to succeed in school. For more on this concept, I would recommend StrengthsQuest by Chip Anderson.</p>

<p>3.) Would any of you recommend a camera? (For thoes crazy moments)
Yup, get a digital.</p>

<p>4.)Parties- Im not crazy but some once and awile would be good. Im hoping once a week or so? Is this possible or not? Keep in mind that i can do pretty good with studing and I will not have to take up a job.</p>

<p>haha..once a week isn't particularly "occasional"!
If you're drinking and so forth, then no, not really, you'll find that booze takes its toll (especially if you get caught!). Otherwise, if you're going to mostly "dry" (i.e., alcohol-free) parties, your social life shouldn't hurt your academic life--and may even help it!</p>

<p>5.)Freshman and friends. As I said i want to meet lots of people, (More people, more partys, more opportunities- girls and free stuff, and more stuff to do.) Is it easy to do? Just go out there? How did you guys meet friends your first year?</p>

<p>A lot depends on who you are and what your personality is like. I worked in the Office of Student Success this last year which oversees the Orientation program. I found that most of the students I worked with easily adapted to school. Two of the girls in my first Alpha group clicked from the beginning while the rest quickly found friends outside the group. While students often had questions about academics and majors when they met with me, they never really needed help with things such as relationships and so forth. (My position was a sort of peer mentor for personal development.)
As far as girls go, my school has been ranked very highly by magazines in terms of our ladies, however this is probably not a good reason to pick a university! (And definitely not something Admissions advertises!)
Anyway, though, it once again varies by your personality and school. Past patterns of how your relationships have gone are likely to determine future patterns of behavior (yeay for psychology!). In other words, if you've found getting dates easy in the past, you are likely to find it easy in the future in college as well.</p>

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<p>Well, all I will say is that college is A LOT of work. So yes, it will be hard to create a balance unless you refuse to do work of course. Some people find shortcuts or whatever around doing so much work (putting down 'half-ass' answers on worksheets, etc. or just simply going through it all too fast so that they can go do social stuff). Some people neglect the work altogether and just party most nights. I don't think the latter is a good idea, but depending on your major, you may have to deal with so much work that you will end up having to decide on whether you would rather have more of a social life and thus not do as well in college or find some miraculous way to do both. I, for one, can't stand some weeks in college (like this one, lol) where everything piles up all at once and then you get bored the week after with nothing to do. Pretty annoying. College is notorious for that. So it's a matter of personal choice when it comes to the work and social life. ;)</p>

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<p>1.) Urh.. apples are evil, I hate macs.. but it's a personal choice I guess. Some people do use thier laptops & tablet pc's in class, but usually it's just a hassle because especially in science & math classes.. you can't type all those messy formulas very easily. Most of the time if people do bring thier laptop to campus, it's to work on a report between classes.</p>

<p>2.) You can meet friends in your classes. Just remember on the first day of class - they don't know anyone either, so just introduce yourself & ask if they've heard anything about the professor, etc.</p>

<p>3.) Um.. yeah, it's good to have some sort of camera for when you want to take pictures.</p>

<p>4.) If you want to party, party.. there is always some party somewhere going on - you just have to find it or have your own.</p>

<p>5.) As I just said, meet people in your classes. Classes are the best places to make new friends & meet girls (or guys).. you already have something in common - you're stuck in the same class.</p>

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<p>5) Or you could walk up to a random girl, at say, the cafeteria, and ask "hey aren't you in my ___ class?" "no? well, i thought you looked familiar. I'm ____ by the way, mind if i join you?" ;)</p>

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<p>1.) Computer, laptops in general. Im looking at an Apple MacBook with all the bells and whistles, im like that, sorry. Do people really get use out of there laptops AS A WHOLE opposed to just the use of word, powerpoint ect.</p>

<p>They get used for anything you would use a computer for...I personally have a desktop and a laptop but that is what best fits my own needs. Anyone who just wants basic computing without games/graphics/high processing work and stuff is going to do well with a laptop (especially an apple). They make it easy to free up your deskspace for other things or to take away from distraction if you have a paper to write.</p>

<p>2.) As I dont have to take a job up at school (hopefully) and im going into pre-pharm, is there going to be a good social life, i know i have to study, hard, but can there be a good balance between to two? Because as of any college student, I want to meet and make friends with as many people as humanly possible.</p>

<p>You'll be fine. You would probobly be fine if you had a job too (and it woudl be another place to meet people). I go to Uchicago and there is plenty of free time for everything. Just dont be like the guy who replied earlier...if you dont live on campus, you WILL have less time and you WILL have more trouble meeting people. Dorms are great things because they put you close with a bunch of people who are also looking to meet friends. If you want to go out, you just step out your door and you are in the heart of campus.</p>

<p>3.) Would any of you recommend a camera? (For thoes crazy moments)</p>

<p>Well, if you like taking pictures of things, yes. My dad is a photographer so I am biased towards having a camera, but a digital camera is great for putting photos on facebook and stuff.</p>

<p>4.)Parties- Im not crazy but some once and awile would be good. Im hoping once a week or so? Is this possible or not? Keep in mind that i can do pretty good with studing and I will not have to take up a job.</p>

<p>You'll be fine here as well. If you live on campus, parties will never be for away and nobody else will be studying friday and saturday at least (here they even shut the library completely down friday).</p>

<p>5.)Freshman and friends. As I said i want to meet lots of people, (More people, more partys, more opportunities- girls and free stuff, and more stuff to do.) Is it easy to do? Just go out there? How did you guys meet friends your first year?</p>

<p>Dorms Dorms Dorms. Most of my friends live here, it certainly helped that we had a week of orientation to meet each other but it lets you build friendships way faster than meeting people in random places or clases.</p>

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<p>Hell yes bring a camera.</p>

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<p>is internet access free at your schools, and if it is, how fast is it?</p>

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<p>Free at most, if not all, schools. Fast enough...800+kb/s down (ucsd) in the middle of the night unless it's midterm/paper/finals time and everyone's online ;).</p>

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<p>Thanks you guys for the great comments. </p>

<p>Xe<em>Ln</em>Ag_A- Yes free high speed internet as stated above me.</p>

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<p>definitely high speed internet... many schools probably also have wireless available many places around campus (my campus has it everywhere).</p>

<p>The only time the network is slow is when "X class gets to register for classes at 8am" and 1/4 of the school tries to access the same website at the same time.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>go for the macbook... I've got a powerbook, and I've always been a mac person.</p></li>
<li><p>you can have a good balance</p></li>
<li><p>if you want a camera, get one. Most people seem to have one.</p></li>
<li><p>you can definitely go to a party once a week</p></li>
<li><p>IMO, the best way to meet people is to join organizations. Then you can meet them when they're sober and are more likely to remember you.</p></li>
</ol>