Going to be heading into my first College semester in the Fall

[Plow]

Go to class.

Always.

The rest is easy if you do that.

Really.

[Kri]

so true. been through 2 schools first i never went to class and got Cs. now i go to class, and i get As lol.

[Talus]

To echo what other people have said, if you were thinking any kind of health field, particular medicine or nursing, it's pretty competitive. I know for medicine (M.D. aka allopathic schools) the average matriculant had a 3.7 cumulative GPA and a 31 MCAT this past year (max MCAT is 45, but people are raaarely over 40). If you're going to get in the high 90s on average in your classes (at least the BCPM ones that count for medicine, biology/chemistry/physics/math), you can say goodbye to going out 4 nights/week.

For osteopathic medicine (D.O.), it's a little more forgiving, considering the way they calculate your GPA, they do grade replacement, i.e. if you get an F in a class, repeat it and get an A, they count the A. Allopathic schools average the grades, so F+A = C (0.0+4.0)/2 = 2.0. It's competitive either way, and it's the same for nursing.

[Darkslitter]

You'll find you have a lot of free time, but use it wisely. If you don't understand something make sure to learn it before the homework on it is due/you have a quiz or test on it. If you go to class and pay attention, you'll probably find this won't happen all too much to be honest.

Also, try and form study groups to work on homework/projects, especially if it's a CS class. It is so helpful if you're stuck and can't figure out why your code isn't working to have someone there look at it.

Don't flip out if you get a low grade on a test. Most of the time your grade is based on how well the class does. So if you got a 70% on a test and the class average was 55%, then you probably got a B. Nearly all of my classes have curves on them.

Don't always be in your room, go out and meet people, go to the events your dorm is hosting, join a club, go party, or something. No one will care that you're a freshman, and older students can help you with questions you have. Have fun and make friends. Just make sure that you're doing fine in your classes first.

If your campus is fairly large, my dorm is about a mile away from my classes for example, it would be a good idea to invest in a bike.

[Norelco]

My advice is simple...if you want to play hard, make sure you work hard first.

[Headspace]

Job market sucks, stay in school forever.

[Sanoske]

My girl is PreMed and she freaked when she got an 82 on her Organic Chem exam last week. If she gets anything less than a 90, on anything, she is not a happy person. I think she has a 3.7 GPA at the moment, and she complains it's not high enough.

She goes out maaaybe once or twice a week, and sometimes only when I drive up to drag her out of the library. The girl spends more time camped out in the library than anyone I've ever talked to.

Personally, I'm a double major in Journalism and Anthropology... but I slack off and still manage to pull Bs and As.

So yea, regardless of your ability to multi-task, unless you're Doogie Howser... get nice and comfy and the library.

[Demosthenes11]

1. stay in dorm your first year. Don't room with anyone you know. It's the best way to be forced to meet people. If you room with someone you know chances are you are just going to hang out with them all year and actually miss all the fun people / shit going on. If you room with a stranger or 2 (I had a triple) basically all of your friends pool together.

2. Don't think going to class is enough. Go to your prof's office hours and talk to them about random ass shit. Get to know what they do for research on campus and see if there are any opening for assistant stuff you would want to do. I never did this and can't do it for another semester because ...

3. Study abroad. It doesn't even cost that much more to do it and it will be a life experience you don't want to miss out on. The program I am going on in the fall is actually CHEAPER than to stay at my school for the semester, and I'm going to china... Any major can go abroad too, so don't think if you are a cs major you can only take cs classes away and such. I'm a math major and I'm taking 8 units of chinese and a few poly sci classes there lol.

4. Echoing what a few people have said, don't treat college like high school. Yea, you can do nothing every day and get Bs and Cs without studying and doing hw. It's stupid though. You are paying money to learn things, so actually learn them. Study an hour a night reviewing lectures and things even when no tests are approaching. It's rewarding as all hell...

there are more but I have class! This is all coming from just a lowly sophomore but if I had done some of these things I would be in a much better position than I am now lol. I get to play a little catch up next few years because I been masturbating for 2 years

[Woozie]

Go to class.

Always.

The rest is easy if you do that.

Really.

This is probably one of the best pieces of advice you can possibly get about college. Trust me, the temptation to not go to class is extremely high, but you'll be much happier in the end if you force yourself to go anyways.

[Dmitry]

Just a word on going to class:

I went to a concert the night before a midterm in one of my classes, and didn't get back til 1AM so I didn't go to class the next day. My teacher gives essay questions for the make up midterm/finals instead of the 100 multiple choice ones (they're both a bitch either way).

He printed my exam on regular printer paper, had the questions at the top, and the rest was for me to use. I did 4 of I think 8 questions and wrote so small on the paper and couldn't keep going. I got a 45% which he said was the highest anyone's gotten on those.

Just go to class. lol

[Maguspk]

college is easy just go to class and don't be an idiot. Also you won't magically meet people in college it still takes effort just like it always does. Be friendly, smile and meet new people but it isn't going to be as simple as "rooming alone" or "going out partying".

[sephir]

I slacked off hardcore in high school and finished with a good average. When I went to university I thought I could just get by with the same mentality and within the first 2 months it hit me straight in the face. My average dropped 20% in the first semester just because I only learned form lecture material. My second semester was a wash because I had a very serious illness for most of it.

It took me until my 3rd semester to really wake up. By then I learned how to schedule my time better and to tune out distractions. I set aside 2 hours at night to do work and work alone. By doing this I was finally able to get 76% average which was quite a ways from the 63% of my first semester. Right now im staring at about an 82% average (awaiting marks on finals, 1 to more to go).

A big mistake people make early on is they believe in doing whats needed only to pass. This is ok if you just want an undergraduate degree, but the truth is, the real money is in your masters or PhD. My program heads often give out some literature for us to read, and one about 3 months ago was a study comparing earnings of people with: Undergraduate, Masters and PhD degrees in Bachelor of Commerce fields. Essentially with a masters you average to earn about 30% more than your undergraduate counter part, and PhD students will earn roughly the same.

My advice, schedule your time, and work as if your going for a post-grauduate program because that is what your goal should be.

[_chuchu]

In a nutshell, time management. Get an hourly planner and/or use Outlook. Studying in groups is one way you can meet people and network, too. Definitely participate in class and do ALL the extra credit available. If you've got group projects, try to make friends quickly with people you have seen or know work hard.

Reward yourself with going out and/or partying if you can confidently say you've taken care of business.

[Sepukku]

College is easy.

1. Don't be a slop drunk mess.
2. Go to class. Its occasionally okay to miss one here and there, but you learn the ropes very quickly. College is more of a test of basically how good are you at knowing what you can get away with. Some professors have an attendance policy, some don't. Usually skipping only flies with Gen Ed courses. With your concentration courses, they'll be harder after the first semester or two of into level stuff, and you want to establish a good reputation with the professors in your field.
3. Professors almost always will be reflexive to your needs. If you're swamped with other stuff, ask a professor if you can get around to a less important assignment in a couple weeks. They're usually cool.

I'm a history/social studies education major and I just finished a 15 page paper and in my HS and intro courses I've always used MLA citations, and had never used endnotes before. So on the end of the paper after the Endnotes portion and Bibliography, I left a half page paragraph for my professor admitting I did the entire paper, including research, in under 3 weeks because I've been so busy with things (and he knows, hes my advisor as well) and I had already talked to him about me being unfamiliar with endnotes, so i expect him to cut me slack. In the meantime, two professors for other courses gave me permission to do assignments that would otherwise be due now in the next couple weeks when I'm free. Its how things go. You'll learn and pick up on the flow of things quick.

Just establish a repoire with your professor, go to class, and don't drink all the time. If your professor never sees you in class, they ain't gonna do jack shit for you. As for TA's, thats the only part I have no advice, as I go to a university where there are none.

Edit:
Oh, and some professors will rule, some will suck. In my experience, they're on the positive side more often than not. But thats life, you get shitty waiters, you get good ones. You get shitty bosses, you get good ones, etc etc.

[Absolutely Virtue]

You guys have it real easy. I never had it like this where I grew up. But I send my kids here because the fact is you go to one of the best schools in the country: Rushmore. Now, for some of you it doesn't matter. You were born rich and you’re going to stay rich. But here's my advice to the rest of you: Take dead aim on the rich boys. Get them in the crosshairs and take them down. Just remember, they can buy anything but they can't buy backbone. Don't let them forget it. Thank you.

[Becian]

lol

[Kaeko]

I had to go through all the medical school applications last year. I'm a first year in med right now so I hope some of this helps - a lot of this info you will hear repeated if you go to a seminar on medical professions and applying I think. You mention nursing, so I don't know specifics. Everything I tell you here is certainly true about Med School though.

1) GPA

Others have said it, and it's true. GPA matters a lot - in fact I can't believe how much it matters because the courses you take don't matter, just the number. I was a Biomedical Engineer in undergrad at a top 10 university for Engineering. My GPA counts the same as the guy that took History (no offense history majors) if we both get like 3.5s. So don't overwhelm yourself with classes that are difficult, even if you actually find them interesting. Do NOT double major unless you're a genius, please. I know this goes against the 'spirit' of what college is about (learning, experiences, etc.), but if you're serious about an M.D. or getting into a good Nursing, dental, pharm, etc. field, 'playing' your GPA a bit helps.


2) Your Major

What major you are does not give you any advantage or disadvantage when you apply. Picking an easier major increases your chances of maxing out your GPA and can likely give you more unique experiences compared to those you will be applying against in 4 years. That being said, it will put you at a disadvantage once it's take to take standardized tests because you're being curved against people that have spent the last 4 years of their life taking non-stop biology courses. Also, if you are not biology or biomed, you may have to be more proactive about learning the things you need to do to get into the field. Biology majors can be held by the hand, but going outside the typical majors, you may not be.

3) Extras

Any med field is extremely competitive - it doesn't matter which one. Simply put, there are too many qualified applicants, not enough school spots (even though the need currently far exceeds the output). You need to do things outside GPA to be truly competitive - research, a ton of volunteer work, shadowing hospitals, study abroad, being in the band, or competitive sport, etc. - something. My advice is START EARLY. The first 2 years of college, in generally any major, is significantly easier than the last 2 years. Start doing this stuff before you get overwhelmed later. I personally did research for a large part of my spare time (getting your name published on anything can help you tremendously).

4) Standardize Exams

I'm not sure how nursing works to be honest. I do know Pharm has a test similar to an SAT on steroids. Med has the MCAT. Schools generally weigh this heavily - the typical school does like 1/3 exam, 1/3 GPA, 1/3 extras for the average applicant when weighing people against each other. What's a 'good' score varies, but it's always curved against others you are competing with. It's sort of sad, but I think most students consider getting help from Kaplan or Princeton Review like a mandatory thing to be competitive nowadays. This is especially true now since most exams are going computerized so you can't even practice taking the exams at home on pen and paper. All I can say is try to get a group discount unless you're just really confident and want to practice on your own.

5) Personality and Interviews

Finally - all those things I talked about only get your foot into the door. In the end, its the interview that will make or break you. My friend had a 3.9 GPA, worked in a hospital for 7 years (since high school), and research, and when he first applied last year he didn't get in anywhere (6 interviews, went 0/6). Your personality and ability to act confidently, yet comfortably in an interview is key. There's really no way to practice this except to go out, enjoy yourself, and don't be a hermit. Most of the interviews I ended up getting didn't have crazy questions like "what would you do to fix health care", but just asked general things like what do you do in your free time just to understand your personality. They also typically are 'blind interviews', meaning they don't know your test scores or GPA, just your essays. Very little saves you from a bad interview, sans a 40+ MCAT probably (if you get this, celebrate early b/c 99% chance someone will take you just on this).

*******

It's a tough field to get in but if you just know what's ahead, you can plan accordingly. Studying your ass off all day for 4 years will end up hurting you because you'll be dull as hell probably, but partying for the first 2 years in college may just kill your chances. So just understand what's required ahead of time. As far as nursing specifically, it may be somewhat easier - in the US we need nurses so badly right now.

Also, if you happen to be like 1/64th Native American or some other under-represented minority (non-white, non-jewish, non-asian, non-indian), that is a huge plus as well. Being female doesn't help anymore though (my class has more females than males without considering gender).

[Purrrfect]

Go to class.

Always.

The rest is easy if you do that.

Really.

Fucking werd on that! Fail to do that and it is real easy to waste the next 8-10 years and get nothing out of it (versus school for 8-10 and ready for 6 figures). Close 2nd advice point: do the fucking homework. Srsly. Those 2 things will guarantee success.

[ozz]

I spend 21 hours a week at practice, party 2-3 times a week and after 2 semesters of engineering have a 4.0.

College is a joke

[tyven]

I spend 21 hours a week at practice, party 2-3 times a week and after 2 semesters of engineering have a 4.0.

College is a joke

you are the only person in this thread good at college