I only applied to one place and got accepted AND a considerably higher scholarship than i thought i would get. (...This is very good as it was the LAST college accepting applications. ) And its a private school, but I dunno if that means anything.

(my housemate got accepted a bunch of places I hear, and she was in either the third or fourth quarter of her class [well, she went to a smart people high school, but here its easier to get into college on what your rank is]) If there's a school you REALLY want to go to though, apply NOW. They wouldn't let her in one school SOLELY because they don't like transfers. Okay for me though because then I probably wouldn't live with her.


Nothing is worse than a teacher you hate. Nothing.
no one cares about high school, you can just leave class if you so desire (unless your teacher is EVIL) and if you're alone and not cool, everyone else is too since you're all new students.

Don't take higher level classes in your first two years.
You may end up hating your school, AND YOUR CREDITS WON'T TRANSFER.

its not that bad, and is actually alot of fun.


...This didn't make much sense, but it is nearly 6 in the morning for me. X___x
and yay fishies!! I was almost in marine biology, but I like architecture more.

Dagnabbit! I agree with everything Stormy has to say....lol

From a professors point of view, here are some tips to stay on their good side:

1) Never interupt a lecture or discussion with the question, "Will this be on the exam?"
- it makes the prof immediately feel like a day-labourer, and all the joy of the subject matter drains from the lecture

2) The main reason people hate a class is false expectation....if you want to enjoy a class, do not go in with preconceptions...let the prof teach you the way they think you will best learn...you might just discover something you didn't already know

3) Talk to your prof as soon as problems arise....the sooner you get the prof involved, the more likely they are to be able to help you

4) Remember that profs teach because they love the subject matter.....you do not gain any respect from a prof who spent the last twenty years reading Plato when you blurt out in class, "Plato is STOOPID."

5) Most profs do not judge what you think, but rather why you think it. Give good arguments and reasons for your position and you'll do well in Humanities, even if it is something the prof strongly disagrees with.

6) Most of my colleagues have VERY fragile egos. They have spent years engaged in what is considered a very impractical pursuit, and after so much disparagent and criticism they do not appreciate hearing it from students (even if they are right!). Treat your prof like a spoiled child and you'll do fine.

7) When you get a mark you think you do not deserve, go talk to the prof. But DO NOT demand he regrade your paper. In 10 years of teaching, I have yet to see a single re-marking result in a change of grade...it just doesn't work that way. All it does is make the professor mark all future assignements with a fine tooth comb, resulting in much lower marks, much more thoroughly defensible. So, go talk to your prof with this attitude, "I thought I did a lot better, so can you help me improve so I do not make the same errors on the next assignment?"...if you make the visit about learning and improving (future) rather than an evaluation of the profs marking competance (past), your next papers by that profs will likely be given the benefit of the doubt....i.e. you'll do better. (I am not saying this is the way it SHOULD be, just saying that it is generally the way it actually is, and you are attending school in the real world).

8) If you need more time to write a good assignment the BEST thing to do is show up at office hours with the rough or unfinished copy....explain the work you've done so far, pose a conceptual problem (real or made-up) that the prof is competant to help you resolve, and THEN ask if you can have a little more time to work through the problem and write a better essay. If you do it that way you will almost ALWAYS get an extension, and the prof will mark the paper easier (since they take some proprietary joy in their own contribution to your work).

Rae wrote:

Wow. Such great advice from everyone. I, too, will be bound to college in the fall so I'll definately check this thread out often.

Stormcrow wrote:

Eh...watch what you eat, the freshman 15 is real.  And try to get some exercise as well.

What is that?

I think it's where you gain 15 pounds from eating the food.

Let me put in my two cents! (Well I guess with the world’s economy being the way it is, and adding to inflation . . .)

*Buahaha*

1) Jobs are a pain the first year, unless you’re crazy, so save like there is no tomorrow! Because there are more things to a class then: fees, books, and tuition. Depending on the class (IE: like an art class.) you could have to buy materials daily.

2) Party, but don’t let the party take you over. That goes for drinking. If it’s at a place with red plastic cups, RUN!!! (It’s not fun unless Grey Goose is there anyways, and not one is foolish enough to serve that in plastic!)

3) Never go over the five class limit, even if they look easy. I did that my first semester: dropped two, did a play for one, failed one, and barely passed my Western Civ. class. Oh the horror of a 1.7 GPA!!!!

*Yeah! I admitted my grade! At least I did a hellah lot better this past semester.*

I third that! I was very lazy in highschool, but the school work was easy. So I was lazy at first in college, but then the work started to sneak up on me and I was overwhelmed. My GPA rotated from 2.6 one semester, to 3.6 another semester, depending on how lazy I was or how much effort I put into things in the beginning, and how much I studied. Setting up a daily study plan is a very good idea. And don't start on projects/essays the night before!

I also lost my ACT scholarship by being lazy. The first semester, I got a 2.6, below the 3.0 limit for my ACT scholarship. The next semester, I went without the scholarship and got a 3.6. Then I wrote a letter to try and get my scholarship back, since during my first semester I was having bad family problems and I used that as an excuse. Since I got a 3.6, I got it back.

All was fine, but then in my third semester with the scholarship... I got a 2.9. So close to 3.0, but I still lost my scholarship again.

And then this last semester, I got a 3.5

Last edited by SleepDebtFairy (05-29-2007 02:08:51 PM)

Oh. If you don't know what you're doing and thus, think the work is unfair, for the love of god, do NOT start whining and complaining in class. One girl I know wasn't even trying and she'd just sit there going WAH all class. The professor is a very nice man, but she made him evil and snappy. (it was a very basic drafting class.... she said she had no reason to learn about drafting )


I've had teachers that get mad at ME for being sick (I had a horrible case of my insides bleeding this last year. Thanks to my shitty doctor, I never got to REALLY find out what was wrong. ) One chewed me out in class because I went to the hospital and missed her class. (note: she's EVIL. We're doing out best to not let her back. She never even helped us, just barked orders. ) Another was understanding, but I still couldn't get full credit cause I missed several in class assignments. One was fine as long as I got my work done (the aforementioned nice man), another and his wife (both teachers) would feed us and let us come to their work and even took me to the hospital once *happy tears*

One teacher I had taught. Everything. Twice.
we studied it all because she was all THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.
we weren't tested on any of it. nothing.
We all failed. she didn't understand it and got mad at us.
Of course, we caught on to her, and only came to class every other day.
She associated this with ME for some reason since I missed most the begining, got mad at me, and I got mad back, thus killing my chances of a decent grade. Blarg.
I have to retake art history AGAIN


And I gained no such weight my first year.
...This being said my school food is TERRIBLE and I think I ate less.
One fo my friends at UT also seemed to have LOST weight. O__o


Are you living on or off campus?

+ oh one more thing.....participate in campus activities, sometimes you get free food and free stuff....yay!

I think that people have done a really good job with suggestions.  My opinion in many things may be a bit different from many, because of the school I go to (I'm at a science/tech school, where in your first two years, you are required to take classes from all of the 6 majors offered.  There's 750 students.  Average graduating GPA is maybe 3.0, after a large chunk of people drop out.  There've been 4 4.0's in the 50 year history of the school.  Basically, it's a hard place, and a lot of people drop out.  Please note, I'm not trying to say that I go to the hardest school ever, and am thus "better" than other people, just pointing out part of why my opinions may in some cases differ quite a bit from others')

The bit about keeping up on work is VITAL.  Absolutely do not fall behind.  If you get sick, go and talk to your professors IMMEDIATELY, to see if you can get extensions and whatnot.  I did not follow my own advice, and so life sucked at the end of this past semester when I got sick, fell behind and then died more because that's when the whole "so exhausted that my body shut down and pretended that I had hypothyroidism" thing really got started, and my grades did in fact suffer due to the fact that I kept it all to myself, and didn't try to get help.

Try to make friends, especially if you're living on campus.  If you're an introvert (like me), you should still try to make some friends and be social, at least some of the time.  But don't be friends with someone if it's just because it's convenient if you don't actually like them.

One thing that I don't agree with:

Raven Nightshade wrote:

2. Don't sign up for unnecessary classes just because the professor's good, cool, or interesting. Engineers shouldn't sign up for a Creative Writing class just because the professor happens to like anime...and will let you turn in fanfiction.

Yeah, if you're already taking a ton of other classes, you probably don't want to, but if there's room in your schedule(and you actually think the class might be interesting, not just that you like the prof), you absolutely should take unnecessary classes.  Don't kill yourself by trying to take way too many classes just because you want to take some outside of your major, but if you let your major completely dictate your choice in classes, you aren't likely going to enjoy yourself as much, and that's important too.

I had other things I thought I was going to say, but I can't seem to get them into words, so I'll end here.

Colleges are a veritable schmorgasboard for credit card companies.  You will be offered any and all kinds of credit cards with the pitch of getting your to "start gaining credit".  This is a lie, because credit card companies prey on college students, giving them a chance to go to town with a credit card because "mommy and daddy" will bail them out. 

If you give in, guess what?  Mommy and Daddy aren't going to bail you out (as you are an adult) and you just went and destroyed your credit rating.  This is coming from someone who did exactly that when she was in col,lege.  Remember, each instance of bad credit stays on your report for SEVEN YEARS after you've paid it off.  It's the gift that keeps on giving. 

One credit card for emergencies with a $500 max credit limit is good if you can be responsible enough to keep it strickly for emergencies.   You'll find credit card offers like every weekend on campus, little kiosks set up offering prizes and shit "just for applying".  You might be thinking, oh I can apply, get my cool gift and then just cancel the card when it comes before it's even used.  Do not do this.  Simply applying for cards and then immediately canceling them shows up on your credit report too and it helps your credit into the toilet.

Just remember - plastic bad!

Wow...can't believe I forgot this.....SO IMPORTANT, so, although it has been posted already, let me reiterate:
"+Turn your work in, even if it's crap. "

Sounds like a bad idea, but a 40% is mathematically and socially better than a 0.
If you do not hand anything in, and then ask for a chance to do a make-up assignment, there is very little chance.
If you hand in an obviously crappy assignment, and then explain why you screwed up (an honest anecdote is always better than a solid lie....."I really dig this guy, and he asked me out, and it was the first time this semester I have been asked out, and though I knew I needed to get this done, I HAD to go on that date.....can I write another assignment to make up for...I promise it will be off a quality that doesn't wate your time") you have a much better chance of being granted a do-over assignment.

Not all community colleges are created equal.  I work at an excellent one.  To be fair, it's rated in the top five in the nation, so I'm sure not all are up to this standard.  Ironically, my experience has been the reverse of Giovanna's.  The CC I attended was an awesome place where I made good friends, and the universities I've been to have been pretty lousy places filled with professors either beat down or arrogant, endless administrative hassles, and banal coursework.  In fact, I have to go back over there this afternoon and settle those morons' hash AGAIN!  They lost my enrollment this time.

I've gone mostly to a community college for ... um, years.    And I've enjoyed it.  I've had one or two just generally not-very-good teachers, one or two excessively boring ones, and one or two mean ones.  I've had few complaints and I've been happy with the quality of the education.  Keeping in mind that the focus is more on practice than theory.

Basically all I do is give my professors the respect they're due as intelligent human beings.  I don't ask for special treatment or make excuses.  I've found this allows me to get along well with my teachers, even if I never attend class.

Last edited by rhyaniwyn (05-30-2007 07:00:38 PM)

Another advantage of college over high school is that many of the classes have real content.  I taught high school briefly, and you guys who are there right now aren't wrong when you complain that it's bullshit.  Some college classes are bullshit too, but most of them involve actual thought.