<p>Biggest mistakes?</p>
<p>1) Going to a liberal arts college in the middle of nowhere
2) Not doing as many internships as possible
3) Wasting my time learning Spanish (too many people speak it, does not give you much of a leg-up in the job market)
4) Getting career advice from moronic professors who have no clue about the job market</p>
<p>Biggest mistake was going to EECS at UC Berkeley. I got scared constantly by the ugliness of the girls.</p>
<p>How to avoid it? Skip all the lectures. Go twice a semester: midterm and final.</p>
<p>Do you recommend getting an internship between Freshman and Sophomore year (Summer). I'm still not sure yet...</p>
<p>In my experience:</p>
<p>Caring about people too much. That sounds odd, but I learned in college everyone will do at least a couple things that are utterly reckless and stupid and misguided (including me). And I can't play self-righteous all the time. Sometimes people-- especially if they're headstrong independent college students-- will want to do dumb crap no matter how wrong you know it is and tell them not to. And sometimes you just have to let them make the mistake and learn. </p>
<p>So caring about people too much is not healthy for you either. Everyone in college is technically an adult (mentally its sometimes another matter) so I had to live and let learn. I'm no one's mother or keeper but my own.</p>
<p>Second: taking on too much, class-wise. Course overload in courses that I shouldn't have taken so early on in my college career. It challenged me, but lowered my GPA and I didn't have intro classes with people my own age like everyone else did. Maybe I felt smarter sometimes for taking harder classes than other people for my age, but then I realized I was just a nerd jackass for feeling superior over it. </p>
<p>Moral: 1. Sometimes you have to let people make their own mistakes. You're not necessarily more wise than anyone else, and you certainly aren't anyone's mother. 2. You should challenge yourself academically, but don't forget to pace yourself as well. It's not worth it to be stressed over advanced level classes you should have waited to take when you were older.</p>
<p>Some prestigious organizations might think you are too young and dont have enough academic experience, but who knows? I think ideally that this is the time to explore some different areas that you are interested in-its a lot easier when you are in college than when you are in the real world</p>
<p>I don't know what you are interested in but maybe getting internships at non-profits is an option. My feeling is start early, get a decent internship after freshman year, the following summer, get a better internship, and the summer after that, get even a better internship.</p>
<p>That would mean by the time you are a senior you would have had three internships. That would distinguish you in the job market.</p>
<p>I'm not sure if my opinion counts. I'm only a freshman in my first semester.</p>
<p>Mistakes I made: 1)Attending NIU. The college atmosphere is party party party. I knew this before, but I never thought it was this bad. I feel like a jackass because I'm the only one studying. 2) I haven't done this yet, but I'm an indepedent person. I usually don't follow the typical college student who drinks and does stupid stuff. I strongly believe that college is more than just beer. At NIU, either you party or you play Halo in the dorms...I do neither. 3) Asking girls out on dates. It's college and I'm a shy person, it's time for me to break out of my shell and show them what a true gentlemen is. 4) Procrastinating. Nuff said. The higher my GPA, the better chances I can transfer outa here. 5) Finding friends that will last a lifetime. I see my fellow classmates with a core group of friends, but I neither party hard or play Halo. I want a balance. How can you do that in an environment in which you don't "fit" in? 6) Deciding on a major. Either do what makes me happy or go for the money. What a shallow world I live in.</p>
<p>7) This one's an iffy. Either march drum corps or take classes/make money during the summer to help me transfer to UIUC. You only march drum corp till your 21. School will be always there.</p>
<p>Any advice?</p>
<p>Khipper,</p>
<p>There are failures and successes in every field. Keep on trying. A degree in journo is an asset.</p>
<p>Lots of threads discussing mistakes. I guess if all high schools organise mentoring sessions for pass-outs we would commit fewer mistakes.</p>
<p>Biggest one is sticking with a major which really didn't suit me for 3 years (I used to be a math major... ugh). I'm a 5th year senior now, and next year I'll be a 6th year senior because of this...
Minor ones are being a single-major in CS rather than double majoring CS and either sociology or women's studies (though this would have taken me to a 7th undergraduate year), and getting bad grades in my first few weeks of term this year because I was playing World of Warcraft all the time (stupid!).</p>
<p>SpiderGal, I agree with you 100 percent. </p>
<p>However, no matter how much collective experience we share, few 17 year olds will believe us or pay us any attention. Cliche as it is, experience is the best and, sometimes, the only teacher</p>
<p>My biggest mistake to go to an university where you have to commute instead going to an university that you have to stay in the dorms!!!!</p>
<p>My biggest mistake in college: confusing extracurriculars for coursework. If I had spent half the time studying that I spent working at the radio station and newspaper I would have been summa cum laude.</p>
<p>I thought I would learn from all these sharing of experiences, and I thought I was doing relatively well, but it didn't hit me until I got my first set of midterms back that I really need to study a lot more and stop "louging around" a lot less. I thought I wasn't procrastinating, but by not studying more, I was indeed procrastinating. :(</p>
<p>Indeed, unfortunately, experience is the best teacher.</p>
<p>My biggest mistake so far...somehow convincing myself before I got here that I could cut it as an engineer...who was I kidding? lol</p>
<p>Wannabaz, why do you think you are not cut out for a degree in engg?</p>
<p>Because I really hate science, yeah...and the main problem was that "actual engineering" really fascinates me, but I just couldn't handle all of the pre-reqs. They would have killed me...</p>
<p>Volunteering for the draft</p>
<p>I am in High School now and although im not in college yet I know that my mistake will be procrastination. I know it because it has been hurting me in HS and I know it will in college.</p>
<p>Anyone got any tips? This is serious.</p>
<p>My biggest regret? Not taking an AA seriously. Instead of going for the A.A program I decided to take classes geared towards my degree so I could transfer earlier and be on track to graduate in 4 years. Never happened do to a slip up in 1 class that ruined my gpa. </p>
<p>The one thing that really opened my eyes was when I took the semester off and was working full time at Wal-Mart being treated like crap for $7hr. </p>
<p>So yea I started back this spring and I will finish this summer. Only a semester late.</p>
<p>How to avoid this? Get an A.A! Even if you are at a 4 yr school it would be the best thing especially if you like to work for your spending money or mommy and daddy won't pay your way. Without it you will end up with crappy jobs.</p>
<p>having too much fun (slacking off) in my first semester.</p>