Any advice for a freshman starting a university this fall?

Stay on track and don’t form bad habits.

Live the “Bender Bending Rodriguez” way of life: Drink, smoke cigars, eat nachos, dance, and never live in moderation.

Study on campus. If you go home and do it, you’ll end up getting distracted.
Talk to kids in your classes and make connections. They’ll have super helpful tips for you come exam time.
Don’t get behind!! Catching up is hard to do, especially if you’re on a quarter system.

@Sarcasm So true, but Bender’s lifestyle applies to all areas of life, not just college.

Keep every syllabus that you are given, and refer to them often. In fact, you might want to consider transferring the syllabus content to your calendar or PIM.

Go to the library and take the orientation course. Make sure you learn how to use the library’s on-line databases.

Find a quiet place you can go if you have any time between classes, so that you can catch up on your reading (unfortunately the libraries aren’t reliably quiet these days, but I am a grumpy old codger.)

Don’t binge drink; it can kill you. Drink the way you see grownups drink: to be social, not to get hammered. It’s ok to fire up a joint at a Friday night party, but if you find yourself smoking weed all day from morning till night, seek help and stop.

Give yourself time to have fun. Don’t pay attention to the people who bitch and moan about reading and writing assignments: you are there to learn. Stay open to new ideas. In big lecture halls, sit down front and shut off your phone.

Take detailed notes, and write them yourself. You’ll remember them better than if you just read them off the PowerPoint slides.

Enjoy expanding your Platonic circle of knowledge. It will last your whole life.

I loved college and you will too. Make sure you get your professor’s contact information so if you have any questions that come up after class or on the weekends, you can write him/her (or his/her student assistant). Take good notes and ask questions in class. Make friends with your classmates so you can eventually form a study group. Also, read the “recommended” reading material listed on your syllabus – this will give you an edge over your classmates. And, finally, have fun! Lots of it. College is a special experience. Enjoy it.

Join a club or other group. See what free/cheap services you can get as a student.

Don’t take night or late afternoon classes if you can help it. Other people will be done with class and they’ll want you to do stuff. Going to class is almost always the right choice, but hardly ever the one that’s made.

Skipping early morning classes should go without saying. 8am in college is a lot different than 8 am in high school.

Don’t be too cool for your dorm-mates. You’ll find they become your best life friends.

Remember that there aren’t really second chances when it comes to your education. Although it IS important to be social, make friends, and have fun, the really important stuff lies in the books you will read and the lectures you will hear.

I loved college so much that I can’t seem to stop going!

Never skip a class. I’m serious. No reason is a good enough one, so unless you’re physically unable to go, GO. If you make it a habit, it’ll stick. I only skipped one or two classes in my entire college career, and I had a much easier go than a lot of people. Someone else’s notes are never the same as going yourself.

A good tactic for actually motivating yourself to never skip is this. Look up how much tuition costs per term. Divide it by the number of class hours you have that term. Think of this number every time you think of skipping a class, because that’s how much it’s costing you (effectively) to gain from that professor’s knowledge. Make the most of this!!!

Live on, or as close to campus as you can. There is a lot that one learns in college that isn’t a part of the curriculum.

Don’t go home every weekend. See the previous point

Make friends outside of your major.

Don’t be afraid to change major or to take a while to declare. The people all around you who “have known since kindergarten that they wanted to . . .” will often be the first to change majors.

Especially if you are in a large university, find a few clubs/sports/activities to be a part of.

No matter what they are giving away, do not sign up for a credit card. Student loans will be enough of a debt load to get our from under in four years. Don’t make things worse with a load of credit card debt on top of it.

Find out from people in your major what the difficult classes will be. Try to spread them out so that you don’t really get hammered in a single semester.

Find out what a professor is really interested in and take the class that they teach on that. It will be one of the best classes that you have taken because the professor’s enthusiasm will be contagious.

Schoolwork is important. People are more important. Do not neglect personal relationships for schoolwork.

Date rape is real. Only drink a drink that YOU opened. Don’t let an open drink or cup out of your sight.

Go to class. Do well. Don’t get in trouble. Eat right. Sleep well.

If you’re ever strapped for cash, you always have plenty of fluids or organs to sell.

Study in the library, not the dorm. It’s too easy to get distracted there.
Figure out your priorities and stick with them.
Don’t get into bad habits.
Work out and stay healthy.
Don’t skip class unless you’re uber sick.
Go to office hours.
Stay away from alcohol.

That’s my best advice. Don’t be like me. I spent most of my freshman year in the library studying and being alone. when I got mono, NO ONE NOTICED. That’s how alone I was. Now I have very few friends and while I love college and am going back, you know I’ll be stuck in the library again because I have no one to hang with. It’s probably not going to change. So make friends early.

Drop out as soon as humanly possible. They are just trying to train you into a slave career, to be like everyone else. Get out of that and try to live your own life without being another clone to the system.

bring beer money…

@ABoyNamedBoobs03 AMEN!
@Sarcasm Maybe beer is what you’d sell your bodily fluids for?

1. You need to know where your classes will be held on campus. Get a campus map and plot them in advance. You don’t want to be searching on the first day and show up late. Figure out the best place to park too – where you won’t get tickets – and where to buy lunch.
2. You should also get your books early, in case they run out. Buy used ones if you can. Usually, you only want to keep the ones that are related to your major.
3. Get an organizer or planner to keep track of class dates and times and assignments.
4. Be friendly in class (offer to share your notes) so that you’ll have someone to study with during exam time
5. If you get a job, don’t try to work very many hours until after one semester. Otherwise, you won’t realize you are in trouble with studying until it is too late.
6. Look at all the syllabi for your courses. If you have several courses that require a report or paper, consider changing one.
7. Sign up early for one extra course as an alternative. That way, you can go to all your classes, find out what’s required in each and decide which one to drop. It gives you more options.
8. Get student loans. The loans may seem big today (a lot to pay back) but when you graduate, it will be well worth it – provided you only spend the money on education and living expenses and not supplementing your life style or going to a private school.
9. Definitely consider living in the dorms or with roommates if you can. It is an experience that you can’t replicate after college and you will cherish the memories.
10. If you do live in a dorm or have roommates, give people a chance as you get to know them. Don’t be too judgmental. However, if you are clearly at odds with your roomate, call the housing department to make a switch at mid semester.

Have fun, work hard, live on campus the first two years. That is all you need for advice.

Oh also… volunteer to do set work and help hang lights. It’s a great way to get to know the upperclassmen in the theater department and get people to know you. Audition, audition, audition.

just dont be too shy, and get involved, and dont be rude. i hate rude people!

ok in a serious note though.

have fun man, you’re going to make some mistakes, everyone does, worry more about learning from them than making them.
you’re probably going to drink more, do more drugs, and have more sex than you previously thought you ever would, just make sure you use your head about it, don’t be a fool, wrap your tool, as Mr. T would say
aside from that, party all you want but make sure you get your work done, you’ll definitely regret it if you don’t.
oh and, I hope you don’t mind only sleeping for a couple hours a night for a majority of the year.

Don’t be lazy, dont’ skip classes, it all snowballs….....

Become who you always imagined you could be, forget all the limitations and expectations of anyone you knew. It’s a wide world, hopefully you’ll meet people who blow your mind. Be open and be yourself, it lets down everyone else’s defense too and people just start to vibe together. Smoke some weed, don’t judge people, study, drink occasionally…..