Almost forgot: Find Chris Williams' sister-in-law and hit on her.
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Tips and things to do in college
- Thread starter gocy444
- Start date
There is a time and a place for everything and it's called college. Try it all, but don't forget the real reason you are there.
Make friends with as many girls on your floor or in your classes as possible. For every one girl you meet and hang out with you'll meet three of her friends.
Once you start skipping classes you won't stop. Unless you're in classes you can easily skip and still keep up with don't skip too many right away.
Start stockpiling alcohol now. The hardest part of freshman year for me was finding people to buy alcohol for me.
Be careful with dorm parties. If there's ever one with more than 8-10 people it's going to get written up, especially in Maple.
Don't be the person that is too eager or not eager enough to meet people. Keep the dorm room door open, ask guys to play basketball, etc. but don't be the annoying guy who is a little too desperate to make friends. You'll meet more people in your first two weeks at ISU than you will in the next couple of years so be ready for it and have fun.
Lastly, never ever take Hot Damn shots with Lucca.
Once you start skipping classes you won't stop. Unless you're in classes you can easily skip and still keep up with don't skip too many right away.
Start stockpiling alcohol now. The hardest part of freshman year for me was finding people to buy alcohol for me.
Be careful with dorm parties. If there's ever one with more than 8-10 people it's going to get written up, especially in Maple.
Don't be the person that is too eager or not eager enough to meet people. Keep the dorm room door open, ask guys to play basketball, etc. but don't be the annoying guy who is a little too desperate to make friends. You'll meet more people in your first two weeks at ISU than you will in the next couple of years so be ready for it and have fun.
Lastly, never ever take Hot Damn shots with Lucca.
A lot of really good advice in this thread and not sure if I can contribute much more but I will reiterate a few points that I found most important.
1. Take care of your business, you're paying for the education, don't **** it away. Al's advice was perfect.
2. After you take care of your business, party your wheels off.
3. If you can get a job, do it. Avoid student loans if possible. I missed a two spring breaks and went home two summers to work and save. I graduated with no loans and it has paid dividends. I had a low paying job out of college but was still able to afford a boat payment because I didn't have to repay a student loan.
4. And definitely wrap it up. Nothing could derail your college experience faster than GoCY444 Jr.
5. Enjoy it, it will be over faster than you think (probably my biggest regret). I focused a little too much on the degree. Don't get me wrong, I didn't miss many parties or week night bar deals. But I could have gotten a little more involved in other activities.
1. Take care of your business, you're paying for the education, don't **** it away. Al's advice was perfect.
2. After you take care of your business, party your wheels off.
3. If you can get a job, do it. Avoid student loans if possible. I missed a two spring breaks and went home two summers to work and save. I graduated with no loans and it has paid dividends. I had a low paying job out of college but was still able to afford a boat payment because I didn't have to repay a student loan.
4. And definitely wrap it up. Nothing could derail your college experience faster than GoCY444 Jr.
5. Enjoy it, it will be over faster than you think (probably my biggest regret). I focused a little too much on the degree. Don't get me wrong, I didn't miss many parties or week night bar deals. But I could have gotten a little more involved in other activities.
1). If you are lost on a course or even just some tips writing a paper, visit the professor during their office hours. This does two things, the professor will probably remember your name if they grade the papers, 2 they will tell you the exact things they are looking for and help you write the paper for you in this way.
2). If you have a professor you like, check into some of the other classes they are teaching different semesters. Tell them you enjoy their class and ask what they are teaching next semester. Building a professional relationship like this can turn into a mentor, and a professional letter of recommendation.
3). Have fun, Leave your door open in the dorms from the moment you get home from class till you go to sleep at night. I had the best times in the dorms just chilling with some guys that stopped by.
4). Experience everything. As other have said, don't make a list, just be open to new possibilities.
5). Walk around campus at night with friends. It is a beautiful campus with lots of great things to enjoy(we even got ontop of Beardshear hall one night), oh and it works great on the ladies.
2). If you have a professor you like, check into some of the other classes they are teaching different semesters. Tell them you enjoy their class and ask what they are teaching next semester. Building a professional relationship like this can turn into a mentor, and a professional letter of recommendation.
3). Have fun, Leave your door open in the dorms from the moment you get home from class till you go to sleep at night. I had the best times in the dorms just chilling with some guys that stopped by.
4). Experience everything. As other have said, don't make a list, just be open to new possibilities.
5). Walk around campus at night with friends. It is a beautiful campus with lots of great things to enjoy(we even got ontop of Beardshear hall one night), oh and it works great on the ladies.
Ok young padawan, if I had it to do all over again (and I wish I did) these are the pitfalls I would avoid and the opportunities I would persue. I basically had two seperate college experiences. One before I figured out who I was, and one after. After was better.
1. If you have a HS girlfriend, have a fun summer and then have an honest talk with her. Chances are you aren't going to end up with your HS sweetheart. Trying to make it work will make you both miserable and you will miss out on the college experience. Unless she is your soul mate or you are both going to ISU together (still not advisable) break it off. My first year at ISU I was the guy that went back to Des Moines every weekend to work and see my GF. The spring of the same year she cheated on me and dumped me. By then I had missed out on really making friends with anyone on my floor. On top of that I was depressed over how the cheating ***** treated me so I wasn't someone who people would want to be friends with that much. I ended up having a different roomate each of my first 4 semesters because I didn't make friends that well.
Keep yo oor open and make friends with guys on your floor. Both the other freshmen and the older guys. The older guys will know where the parties are. They know where the hook ups are. They know how and where to tailgate.
2. Get involved. In anything. After my first year I got involved. For me it was Marching band. I met friends that are still my best friends and really started to find out who I am. I went to parties and met girls. Heck, I met my wife in band and we started dating after a band party at my house. Getting involved was one of the best things I ever did.
3. Figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life. I started out as a Computer Engineering major. It took me two years to figure out that I really didn't want to do that for the rest of my life. I changed to MIS and actually enjoyed it.
Once you find out what you want to do, apply yourself. I slacked off a lot when I was in CPRE, and I payed for it later. I worked harder in MIS and it payed off.
Do everything you can to get an internship. I didn't and it made it much more difficult to get a job.
4. Have fun. Go to football games with your friends, go to parties (but not too much). I spent too much time in my room playing video games and watching TV. Once I got out and did something I felt better about myself, I met girls, and I had fun.
1. If you have a HS girlfriend, have a fun summer and then have an honest talk with her. Chances are you aren't going to end up with your HS sweetheart. Trying to make it work will make you both miserable and you will miss out on the college experience. Unless she is your soul mate or you are both going to ISU together (still not advisable) break it off. My first year at ISU I was the guy that went back to Des Moines every weekend to work and see my GF. The spring of the same year she cheated on me and dumped me. By then I had missed out on really making friends with anyone on my floor. On top of that I was depressed over how the cheating ***** treated me so I wasn't someone who people would want to be friends with that much. I ended up having a different roomate each of my first 4 semesters because I didn't make friends that well.
Keep yo oor open and make friends with guys on your floor. Both the other freshmen and the older guys. The older guys will know where the parties are. They know where the hook ups are. They know how and where to tailgate.
2. Get involved. In anything. After my first year I got involved. For me it was Marching band. I met friends that are still my best friends and really started to find out who I am. I went to parties and met girls. Heck, I met my wife in band and we started dating after a band party at my house. Getting involved was one of the best things I ever did.
3. Figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life. I started out as a Computer Engineering major. It took me two years to figure out that I really didn't want to do that for the rest of my life. I changed to MIS and actually enjoyed it.
Once you find out what you want to do, apply yourself. I slacked off a lot when I was in CPRE, and I payed for it later. I worked harder in MIS and it payed off.
Do everything you can to get an internship. I didn't and it made it much more difficult to get a job.
4. Have fun. Go to football games with your friends, go to parties (but not too much). I spent too much time in my room playing video games and watching TV. Once I got out and did something I felt better about myself, I met girls, and I had fun.
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I was just going to say these exact three things. Very good advice.
I would also add... be yourself. In HS a lot of people try to be what they think other people want them to be. In college everyone kind of seems to find their own type of person, regardless of how "cool" that is. And within every type are groups that party hard, and groups that like to chill. Whatever you like is fine. Just do your thing, and be a nice person.
Lay your schedule and classes etc... as a 40 hour a week job. So if you have a 9:00, 1:00 class find a place to study inbetween etc.... Set this up and around midterms put in some overtime.. Then your time is your time to have a good time and you will not flounder in class. I did this 20 years ago after my freshmen year. My grades went way up and I partied a lot more. The temptation is to go back to the dorm and waste time during the day -- then try to study at night --- that did not work for me.
Really important stuff here. If you didn't figure it out your senior year in HS, you should in college. Be yourself and surround yourself with people that accept you for who you are.
Also as said many times over. Leave the HS Girlfriend. She and you will be upset about it for a month or so, but trust me it is worth it x10.
Also very true. Right now your are a HS Senior at the top of the totem pole. Regardless of how popular you are or what you do, you most likely fit into some type of high school mold. When you get to college you start over and you have to figure out who you are. You may be surprised to find out that college you is WAY different than HS you.
Enjoy the journey because you can't go back. Have as much fun as you can while also setting up your future by being at least moderately dedicated to your academics.
Oh, and there will probably be an 8 am class or lab that will come up. Dont sign up for it. It will be the most difficult class to go to ever. Do everything you can to get a different time. Your grades will be much better for it. I had an 8 am physics recitation that I went to twice. I would have had a much better physics grade if I could ahve gone to one later in the day.
This. Student loans suck. Don't be afraid to have a part-time job to pay on your U-bill and for some beer $$. The less debt the better.
Make your earliest class be at 10am. No 8 or 9's.
Girls: Don't let them them monopolize your time. If one breaks up with you, go get another one. Show me the hottest chick in the world and you can be sure that someone, somewhere is sick and tired of putting up with her crap.
Hang out with your friends. These people will be friends for life. I graduated 12 years ago and my college friends are my best friends to this day. Once you graduate, you get busy with life and you hardly get to see them anymore.
Most of all, enjoy your time there. You'll be out before you know it.
This advice is all good, it makes me depressed though. lol, I just got out in December and wow, its like its been 20 years.
My simple advice is this-- when you drink, make yourself do something in the way of academics first. Consider getting blackout drunk a reward for your academic efforts. I got great grades in college and also drank more than my fair share using this method.
1 more tip that i forgot earlier.
DO NOT PARK ON CAMPUS ILLEGALLY. THE PARKING DIVISION WILL FIND YOU! this is coming from plenty of personal experience. i recieved 4 tickets my freshman year and then gave out hundreds my jr/sr year when i worked for them. this one tip can save you hundreds of dollars and will allow you to have more fun by buying booze
DO NOT PARK ON CAMPUS ILLEGALLY. THE PARKING DIVISION WILL FIND YOU! this is coming from plenty of personal experience. i recieved 4 tickets my freshman year and then gave out hundreds my jr/sr year when i worked for them. this one tip can save you hundreds of dollars and will allow you to have more fun by buying booze
I know a lot of guys who fell into this category. A lot more of them graduated and are doing fine than failed out (although some did that too). I wouldn't generalize much on that.
Of all my college buddies, the one is the most academically successful (currently getting his doctorate in Electrical Engineering) was also one of the wildest/hardest partying guys I knew. He's a genius, and he ALWAYS made sure his work was done before getting messed up (which was damn near every night).
