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Forums - General Discussion - Leaving for college in two days... any words of wisdom?

I will be leaving for college in two days and will be living on campus for my first year at least. I'm going in freshman year undecided for my major but at this point I'm leaning towards a Bachelor's in History and trying to do a five year Master's in Education Administration, with hopes of eventually becoming a principal of a high school or an administrator at a university after teaching for 5-10 years. My financial situation isn't too bad; I've received the second highest level of scholarship my school hands out and my parents have set aside a decent chunk of money to help me out and of course I have student loans and plan on working part time. I'm also going there with my best friend from high school and we will be sharing a dorm together along with three other freshman who we've gotten to talk to.

Just wanted to know if any of you older more experienced fellows had any advice or words of wisdom for me. 

 

EDIT: So I'm the middle of my first Semester and it has been a rough transition, particularly Math which is kicking my ass. I want to thank all the people who gave me advice before heading off. Next academic year I will be transferring to Colorado State which is a college that suits me better than my current one. Thanks again for all the people helped me out. 

Last edited by Poliwrathlord - on 27 November 2018

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The biggest piece of advice I'd probably give out is that you'll need to be ready to take a lot more initiative for learning any concepts you don't immediately understand from a lecture. High schools (at least, in my experience) do a lot more to make sure that students understand every point of every lecture, usually by assigning lots of homework for every day. College doesn't do that so much; so if you're not confident in your understanding of something, it's on you to find problems of your own to solve and/or seek out classmates who can explain it.



Talk to your school counselor several times a semester. It's important to form a good relationship with whomever that is. They will make things much easier when laying out your goals for college, making sure you're taking the right classes, and whatever else you may need.



MTZehvor said:
The biggest piece of advice I'd probably give out is that you'll need to be ready to take a lot more initiative for learning any concepts you don't immediately understand from a lecture. High schools (at least, in my experience) do a lot more to make sure that students understand every point of every lecture, usually by assigning lots of homework for every day. College doesn't do that so much; so if you're not confident in your understanding of something, it's on you to find problems of your own to solve and/or seek out classmates who can explain it.

Yeah I was told that at my orientation. They pretty much said that if you don't understand something try to talk to your professor sometime after class to learn it and also you'll hopefully build a better relationship with them.

Thanks for your advice.



Poliwrathlord said:

I will be leaving for college in two days and will be living on campus for my first year at least. I'm going in freshman year undecided for my major but at this point I'm leaning towards a Bachelor's in History and trying to do a five year Master's in Education Administration, with hopes of eventually becoming a principal of a high school or an administrator at a university after teaching for 5-10 years. My financial situation isn't too bad; I've received the second highest level of scholarship my school hands out and my parents have set aside a decent chunk of money to help me out and of course I have student loans and plan on working part time. I'm also going there with my best friend from high school and we will be sharing a dorm together along with three other freshman who we've gotten to talk to.

rn

Just wanted to know if any of you older more experienced fellows had any advice or words of wisdom for me. 

Make sure to a get a major in something that has a market and will make you money. Student loans, unlike any other loans you can't default on. So you better be ready.



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Get to know your instructors, and be sure they know who you are. Good rapport goes a long way, and you'll have a better idea about what they personally respond well to. Some might be flexible with deadlines or offer input on unfinished assignments if they like you enough.

Sit at the front, attend every class, never drink to excess (or at all, if you can manage).

See if you can form/join a study group so you can quiz each other and help each other with areas of weakness. Whenever you explain something, you reinforce that knowledge. And sometimes it's faster to learn from someone who knows than to look it up yourself.



Tag. In the same boat as the OP and will read this later.



Study at least every week. If you ever catch yourself feeling bored try to use that time to study you might as well.

Go to tutoring if they offer it really helps if you can't seem to study by yourself.

Talk to people. I still have this problem of not talking but if you have any questions ask them.

If you're taking any general math classes and the texbook and professor suck, Youtube will become your best friend. Also ask like I said before. Also always do math homework or problem questions. It helps.

Rate my professor can help if you're looking for good profs.

I don't dorm so I don't have any tips for that.



Try to keep out of debt as much as possible.



Gonna keep an eye on this thread as I'm probably gonna be in a similar situation only about a year from now.



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