thoughts

College tips

Compiled during my freshman year at the University of Alabama: August '95-May '96

• Learn to parallel park before you get to college. If you don't, learn how when you get there. Otherwise, you'll be desperate to find a parking spot (and when you do, it will probably be closer to Idaho than it is to Alabama!)
• Learn how to do laundry before you get to school. This will prevent you from having pink sheets. Corollary--do laundry about once every 5 days.
• Free time is more valuable than money. Corollary--sleep counts as free time.
• Keep a lot of quarters handy, for laundry. You will not find many people who have quarters. (This rule doesn't really apply to you if you have your own apartment.) By the way, quarters are also useful for video games and pinball machines.
• Get a computer. This is a lot better than having a system crash on you about three-fourths of the way through a paper.
• Get a good printer. Your computer will not be very useful for much more than games without it. It's worth it compared to having to go to labs to print stuff out all of the time.
• Give yourself at least 30 minutes when you first try to find your classes. I did this all the time, and it came in rather handy when I couldn't find Rowand-Johnson Hall.
• Try to get to bed at a reasonable hour. (Yes, I know you'll go to parties, but you'll have to sleep sometime.)
• Get to know someone smarter than you. This is beneficial for many reasons, not the least of which is that you'll always have someone to engage in great conversations with and learn something from.
• Learn how to play pool or ping-pong, or if you already know, learn how to play well. This will earn you a lot of friends in playing partners.
• Go out to eat every once in a while, or order in. It will remind you of what real food tastes like.
• Never cut your alarm clock off and go back to sleep.
• Unless the only mail that you want to get is your newspaper and your bills, you'd better find the time to write some people.
• Get a local checking account. It really doesn't work to carry cash around all of the time. There will always be a time when you need it that you don't have it. There are also some places that only will take local checks.
• If your college has a student recreation center, by all means go to it. There's nothing better than exercise to relieve a whole lot of tension from classes.
• Don't bring everything from home. Odds are that you won't have the time to enjoy all of it anyway.
• Never put anything off until the last minute. If you have this habit now, get out of it! It will come back to haunt you if you don't.
• Get to know your school's library (libraries) well during the first couple of weeks. It will save you the struggle of having to take a crash course in it when you need to find a book.
• Learn how to study while you are still in high school if you don't know how. If you do, you're ahead of the game.
• I would advise to not take more than 16 semester hours of credit in your first semester, or the equivalent quarter hours. And never never never take two honors courses at once!
• Sit in the first or second row. This will give your professor a face, not just a number or an obscure name to go by. It will also make the professor think that you are at least interested in what he/she has to say, which could come in handy when your grade is on the bubble.
• You might want to schedule classes at least 30 minutes or an hour apart. The reason for this is if you have classes that are 10 minutes apart and the walk between them is, say, 15 minutes, you're messed up. Plus, it's nice to have a little break after a class. If you're into just getting the day done, though, schedule them back-to-back.
• If your professor will allow it, get a micro-cassette recorder and bring it to your classes, especially lectures.
• You will have to do a lot of things concurrently. For example, as you already know, doing laundry is a great time to get homework out of the way while you're getting something else accomplished. It's also a good time to write letters.
• Get a good umbrella (like a golf umbrella). It's essential if you have to walk to classes. Little ones don't help much, especially if there's a good wind blowing.
• Get season tickets to your team's football games.
• Find a nice church that you enjoy to go to on Sundays.
• Don't stop reading your Bible when you get to college. It's still the most important thing that you'll read.
• Build your vocabulary while you're in high school. You will be surprised at how many words you've never heard before will be said by your professors.
• You will, believe it or not, get homesick at college. Go home every once in a while. (You won't believe how much better the food will taste, too.)
• An "A" paper in high school by no means is an "A" paper in college. Professors are much more demanding and more restrictive. (My computer programming professor took a point off of my program grade because I didn't provide a blank line in between two parts of the output.)
• Bring a hat or two. There will be days when you don't have time (or just don't want) to take a shower in the morning for the sole purpose of having your hair look good. Besides, if you're going to ride a bike, it keeps your hair from getting messed up.
• You might as well memorize your Social Security number. It will be your identification, nay, your identity up at college.
• Whatever college that you go to, this is certain: any merchandise with its logo will cost at least 50% more than identical merchandise without it. Alabama umbrellas look cool, but they cost $15. A regular umbrella costs about $8.
• There is lots of free stuff available at Alabama. It will probably be the same wherever you go. At any rate, take advantage of the freebies.
• If you are a morning person, schedule 8:00 classes. If you function better in the afternoon classes, schedule them then.
• If you are a girl, always walk with someone if it's dark. Or for that matter, take the escort service (the college that you go to will more than likely have one). Actually, this is pretty sound advice for guys too. If you are a girl, by all means bring Mace, pepper spray, or tear gas (yes, I know one who has it). This is so even if you have someone with you, you've still got a last line of defense.
• If you are going anywhere that has cold weather (this constitutes just about anywhere) make sure that you get some thermal boots. Sportos are a good choice because they work really well for rainy days too.
• A really long one, for an important academic topic. If you find yourself in a situation where you have to cram (and I hope that you don't), use the following guidelines. First, unplug the TV. Second of all, unless you don't believe in it, get a caffeine-loaded beverage (or two, or three...) to stay awake. Dr. Pepper is my favorite, although I've heard that double expressos work well also. Third, stop studying after about every 30-45 minutes. Any more and not only will your head explode (a freak fact of nature), but you really won't retain anything more. Give yourself a little break (but not enough to make you fall asleep), and start over again (reloading on double expresso if necessary).
• Don't be scared if a class seems harder than you thought it would be in the beginning of the quarter or semester or whatever. You'll be okay.
• Don't believe those stores that tell you that "we'll buy your books back for up to 60% of their original price." This only occurs if rare Spanish doubloons are found in the books. Don't expect any more than 20% at the most. I just sold two books back for $8.00 that originally cost me over $70 because no one's using them this semester.
• Get your exercise somehow. Don't get lazy and think that all you'll have to do is walk or bike to class and you'll get your exercise. Try to do something physical at least for 30 minutes a day.
• Save any book that deals directly with your major. This is a good reference for later. It can also save you $50-70, as it did me (I used the same book two semesters straight; good thing I didn't sell it).
• Dress the part up at your college. What I mean is get one or two (or in my case, 21 or 22) shirts or sweatshirts with your college's name or logo or both.
• Always have something to eat for a snack around your room or apartment. This will come in handy late at night.
• If you realize during the day that you'll need to stay up late that night and you've got a little time during the day, take a nap. For every 15-30 minutes that you nap during the day, you'll be able to stay up an extra hour or two. This, of course, ranges with different people.
• Don't feel compelled to call your parents every day or whenever you do something. On the same note, don't give your parents any reason to think that you're not calling because you are doing something (bad, I mean).
• If you go to a college that gets snow or ice days off, don't do much or any homework on them. While this seems like I'm telling you to forget about your studies, think about it this way: 1) you wouldn't have had that day free before; 2) it'll be made up later on anyway, so 3) go ahead and enjoy it with your friends.
• You will, every once in while (meaning about twice a day) get really lazy and not want to do anything. You will pay for this in the end if you do it too much. Go ahead and work for an hour. Or do something fun that helps you in your work.
• If you don't understand something in class, bite the bullet and ask! Don't just think that "well, everyone else gets it," or "the professor will think I'm dumb." Trust me: at least one other person in the class will want to ask the same question. And what's the professor there for, anyway? To teach you, right? So if you don't understand something, he/she hasn't taught you until you understand, right? So ask questions.
• Get involved in a campus ministry program as soon as you get up to college. Unfortunately, I've wasted a good semester by not doing that. Don't make my mistake; that's what these things are for, anyway.
• You'll have the temptation every once in a while (who am I kidding...all the time!) to stay up all night and talk with your friends or whatever. Just remember this; how long you stay up is directly proportional to how tired you will be the next day. Corollary: do it every once in a while, anyway, especially if nothing important is coming up the next day. It'll let your friends know that you're not anti-social.
• You may be tempted every once in a while (who am I kidding...all the time!) to skip class. I would advise you not to. It'll take you a good three days to make up anything that you miss because you don't go to class as much and therefore cover more in a day.
• The week before spring break (or quarter break, possibly) will be the time that your professors will schedule all of their tests, ask for all of their papers, etc. (I think it's because the professors probably figure that the students won't come back with as many brain cells.) You get the idea. You will be extremely busy this week, so I'd recommend getting ready for it. Try to study a lot and get stuff done before this week rolls around. You'll be a lot happier if you do.
• Basically the same thing applies to "dead week", or the week before finals. Don't believe that the professors won't ask for things during this week and that it's a free week. That just isn't true.
• Learn from mistakes and from other people's mistakes when it comes to picking professors. You'll find out which ones are the easy ones, hard ones, good ones, etc.
• If you get invited to an honor society, join it. This looks mighty impressive on a resume. And I'd suggest trying for a leadership position in the clubs and/or societies that you join.
• Buy a copy card if your university has them. You never know when you'll have to copy something and you won't have a nickel on you. They're usually pretty inexpensive (mine cost $ .30), and the convenience is worth it. I'd especially recommend this for someone who has to copy a lot of things, like an education major.
• Concerning going to school in the summer: lots of people do it. Even more don't. It can be a way to get hard classes out of the way (I've heard that the going is easier in the summer), and it can also help you to catch up in classes. By this I mean that if you need to take Calculus 3 next fall to keep up with your curriculum, and you're only in pre-cal, you can take Cal 1 and Cal 2 in the summer and catch right up. Obviously, though, this is a decision you'll have to make with your parents (who will have to pay for tuition for you here; unless you take a full load of courses during the summer, scholarships won't cover it).
• Get to know your campus. Not all are as big as Alabama, and there are some that are bigger, but you need to know the major buildings and the places that you will go often well.
• If you don't know computers well, get to know someone who does. They will end up as an invaluable resource. And if you know computers well, help other people out; you can get free dinners and other stuff this way. :)
• Write, call, or e-mail your parents every once in a while. This makes them feel like they still have a place in your lives instead of just a place in their wallets. Plus it's important to keep the family ties.
• If there is computer software available that will help you in a class and your computer can support it and it doesn't cost too much, I'd recommend getting it. It can save time in going to labs to get stuff done, and it can improve your grades in the long run.
• Try to find cheap entertainment up at college. There will be places that will try to give college kids a break by offering reduced-rate prices to do things, like going bowling for a buck a game or going to the movies for two dollars or something like that.
• You will find your faith tested like it has never been tested before. College life can sharpen your faith, but it can break it off too. Be careful.
• Get a good bookbag, one that is durable. L. L. Bean and Eastpak are two popular brands up here (I have a bookbag made by L. L. Bean, and it's very good). The investment will be well worth it, as you will have to carry around a lot of books (there's no such thing as lockers anymore).
• You might want to consider getting a file cabinet to hold your important documents. It's not a necessity, but you might want to consider it.
• Concerning going home for the summer: I'd start my packing early. This is because you'll find that you have to pack a lot of stuff that has accumulated over the nine months that you've been at college.
• Every professor should give you a syllabus at the beginning of the semester that will have important things on it like homework assignments and especially the date and time for the final. By all means, don't lose that piece of paper. Otherwise, you'll never know what to expect unless you ask your professor (in which case, they will more than likely say "look at the syllabus" or something helpful like that).
• If you have a tough final coming up, try to start studying for it about a week before it happens, at least. And don't study for it more than 30 to 45 minutes at a time.

parting shots 2001