Just realized I forgot to post my annual advice to college students before the school year started – but well, it's never too late to start:
- GOING THE FUCK TO CLASS
- GOING THE FUCK TO BED
- DOING YOUR FUCKING HOMEWORK
THIS IS THE MAGICAL TRINITY OF NOT HATING YOURSELF OR FEELING YOU'VE RUINED YOUR LIFE
YOU CAN ASK OTHERS FOR HELP
@0xabad1dea at some point a few years back I was advising a junior and I realized that if the roles were reversed I probably wouldn’t take the advice seriously.
Some things camnot be taught, they have to be learned first-hand.
@0xabad1dea The funny thing is, one good bang of my head against the brick wall and I got the lesson PDQ... Once I realised I probably wasn't going to pass that EE class I changed majors so fast my grade card that quarter said CS. I mean, yeah, there went a dream, but if my brain wasn't up to the dream? well... these CS profs are nice and helpful and whatever and why am I still over here in EE getting shafted? There was never any ego in it. I guess I'm weird that way... that and I suppose, 20/20 hindsight, I was having too much fun with the computers to have _too_ many regrets leaving EE...
But yeah, I never thought I "knew better". I knew _damn well_ I didn't "know better"...
Funny thing, by the time I *did* think I knew better, I was damn well _right_. But that's a whole different story having little to do with college.
@0xabad1dea I went to university after 5 long years of being trained and then working as a banker. I had one. Single. Motivation: never having to return to a bank.
I treated my studies as my new 40-hour-workweek with crunch time at 80 hours. It paid off, I graduated top of my class *and* I had fun doing it.
The guys coming in directly after school? Most of them started partying hard and studying very little. Most didn't last long.
@Laird_Dave @0xabad1dea i wish skip year was more common in america, i feel like having a year relief from academia wouldve done me much better to focus on college
but my parents were pretty... uh... abusive about me taking a year off
@fairydoctor @Laird_Dave @0xabad1dea
That point about skip year is good. When you graduate HS you've had, what, 8 - 10 years straight of classes and are signing up for 4 more of yet harder classes.
One other thing I'd suggest that hasn't come up yet is that people should read all their textbooks the whole way through. Not take notes and memorize, but just read the whole thing at least once so you vaguely know what's in it and can fit the lessons in class into a greater context.
@0xabad1dea For the record, I am a college professor who boosted your OP because it is 6000% correct and I am telling my students these things all the time.
(You said “trinity,” but imo the last one is the most important of all: you can ask for help. Even if you are not going to class and not sleeping and not doing your homework, you can still ask for help. Maybe especially if.)
@0xabad1dea Yup.
By the time I finished my degree I was pretty sure I could pass any exam in any subject - even ones I wasn't studying... but part of the formula was "go to every single class, take notes, and understand them".
So I guess that's kindof contradictory.
I'd also recommend keeping your ears wide open for the lecturer mentioning books outside the curriculum, reading them, then name-dropping them in essays/exams etc.
@0xabad1dea
I usually find that giving that advice at the start of the year does little good: before the first assignment, EVERY student is perfect in their hearts and has vowed that This Year I Will Be Good.
I tried to schedule my advice on 'how to homework' for about a quarter of the way through the first semester.
Still didn't work, but I felt they were hearing it more.
@0xabad1dea My mom was the first person in her family (Canadian farmers) to ever go to college
She left school because she did not realize you could get help, or even drop classes if you were having trouble. She was just like, I failed some tests, guess that’s it
@0xabad1dea Also:
IF YOU FEEL LONELY, GET OUT OF YOUR DORM ROOM AND GO BE AROUND PEOPLE!
MAKE CONNECTIONS!
BE WISE WITH HOW YOU SPEND YOUR TIME, MONEY AND ENERGY!
EXPLORE NEW THINGS!
YOU CAN NEGOTIATE WITH YOUR PROFESSORS!
JOIN A CLUB OR EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITY IF YOU HAVE THE TIME.
FRESHMAN 15 IS REAL. MAKE SURE YOU TAKE CARE OF YOUR BODY AND WATCH WHAT YOU EAT.
YOUR PARENTS/GUARDIANS NOT BEING ON CAMPUS WITH YOU DOESN'T MEAN YOU'RE INVINCIBLE.
YOU ARE AN ADULT.
YOU HAVE MORE 2 LEARN
@rmd1023 @0xabad1dea Oh, one more thing! Admit it when the math is over your fucking head... and choose a major with helpful profs!
(that's how I went from electrical engineering, with Difficult Equations, to computer science, which is all ones and zeroes. (Well, and a little bit of probability and statistics - which we called Probably Sadistic, but it really wasn't actually that bad...) But yeah. EE and 17 hours had me at 2.0. CS and 12 hours had me a social life, a girlfriend, and a 3.4. DON'T BURN YOURSELF OUT.)
(OH, YEAH. Do NOT try to work full time, or even part-time, on a Seriously Full Load. If you need to work during class terms, limit yourself to minimum courseload. Ideally, get a job that helps your coursework. Or do the thing where you alternate quarters, one working full time for as big a bucks as you can get, one JUST doing school. That both will get you done AND look good on your CV. (That's "resume" in American.) )
I'm open to questions on these subjects, because I did not forget what it's like to be a Damn Poor Rat and not know what the fuck you're doing... and I will pay my hard-earned wisdom forward if I can. F this hazing of frosh, I want to HELP.
Down here we're wrapping up the school year and guess what? Still goddamn good advice. Some fucked-up situations are unfuckable even with just a few weeks remaining.
THIS. You may THINK you're a morning person, but there will COME A DAY when you are most definitely NOT. I was all about oh-g-ddess-ugly in the morning classes until my sixth quarter, when I had 3D integral calculus at 0800 with a prof whose English was... marginal...
And my body said NO. You're NOT DOING THIS ANYMORE.
Could NOT stay awake, could NOT understand well enough to do well. Damn near flunked.
I got better!
@0xabad1dea Not going to classes, skipping on homework, and hoping I could "wing" exams lead to me dropping out of my Master's degree.
I can't emphasize enough how good this advice right here is. You don't need to be a smart genious on the dean's list to make it through college. You just need to be there and do the work. That's a lot more important than being clever.
I'd suggest "don't go to a college where the incoming freshman class is bigger than the town you came from" and "actually read the damn syllabus" and "go to office hours once during your time in the class, it can be pretty cool."
@0xabad1dea Also, go to office hours. Build a relationship with your professors and your TAs. Your professors set aside that time for you, so they will be bored if you do not come in.
Ask them for help with anything that is unclear in class, or how to study for the exam. If you don't have any particular questions, ask them about their research. People like talking about themselves.
If you run into issues later, they will be more willing to help you out. This is also a good way to set yourself up to get good letters of recommendation or a summer job.
YOU CAN ASK OTHERS FOR HELP
Social anxiety.
PLUS
@0xabad1dea i was kicked out of college the first time for a "prior existing medical condition" and had been trying to get back into college for the last 12 years
briefly in 2019, i went to a community college to try again. i was barely holding it together (doing the above advice) despite my ailments, and then the pandemic hit. and then the west coast fires hit the same year
@0xabad1dea i essentially gave up on college until this year. after having the exps of the last 12 yrs, including some familiarity of college operations-- this semester im averaging a B+, despite being late on a few assignments (i email the professor immediately, im professional, and blunt with what's holding me up)
TLDR for anyone cruising the thread: put in the work and just talk to your professor when stuck
@0xabad1dea
Tiara's scene here is also very relevant.
“I was top of my class in junior high, you know. That’s why I came to Tsuwabuki—to rub elbows and improve alongside people who are like me.” She laughed at herself. “It was silly, looking back. To assume that everyone would have the same starting line. We all passed the same exam, so I thought, surely… But that was never the case. No one’s born equal. My best is someone else’s normal.”
@0xabad1dea Instructions unclear, I have no class, don't sleep, and am always behind.
Oh, wait, I'm not in college any more. I'm in my thirties and I have a kid.
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