Any advice for an about-to-be freshman in college?

duo8675309 · #1 08-02-2009, 06:55 PM

I move into MTSU on the 28th of this month. Me, two of my best friends, and another roommate will be sharing an on-campus apartment together. We've already gotten to know the roommate through facebook and can tell he will fit in perfectly with us. I'm just wondering if anyone has any good advice? I've heard all the basic stuff - study first, party second, learn to organize my time, ect. ect. I'm looking for some real, anecdotal advice from personal experience. I'm really excited but I'm also extremely nervous. I have the tendency to become very anti-social if i'm around a lot of people for an extended amount of time. Luckily we each have separate rooms with separate keys, so I should still have my privacy. Just looking for some helpful hints is all.

madbassplaya · #2 08-02-2009, 06:59 PM

The one thing I can give you advice on is communication. You are going to have problems with your roomates from time to time. I don't care who you are and how well you know them. You will have conflict at some point. Be honest and talk it all out. Don't bottle things up and resent them.

Also, I had to learn to study in college. High school was very easy to me, college at first wasn't. I had to adapt to it. You will learn new study habits that will help you.

tplyons · #3 08-02-2009, 07:00 PM

Step out of your comfort zone and get to know people. I met some of my best friends my freshman year in the dorms that I would have never met if I didn't walk around the dorms talking to anyone who's door was open.

carl h. · #4 08-02-2009, 07:09 PM

Music Major?

tplyons · #5 08-02-2009, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by madbassplaya

The one thing I can give you advice on is communication. You are going to have problems with your roomates from time to time. I don't care who you are and how well you know them. You will have conflict at some point. Be honest and talk it all out. Don't bottle things up and resent them.

This is a very big +1.

After my freshman year, I lived with the same four guys for the remaining three years. Problems happened, and we called house meetings... talked things out without ganging up, and to this day we're the best of friends.

Yes, you may get to know other people in college, but you get to know yourself even more.

Ziltoid · #6 08-02-2009, 07:15 PM

Subscribed

duo8675309 · #7 08-02-2009, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carl h.

Music Major?

Minor. :P I can't bring myself to base my career off music. I'm confident in my skills now, but it just doesn't seem like good job security for me. I'm majoring in media design. Maybe not a whole lot better, but I love Photoshop and I love playing bass. Photoshop/Illustrator/Flash/*insert media program* seems more lucrative. Not to mention I want to keep my music fun. If whether or not I can pay my house note is based on how well I play bass then that takes the fun out of it. I'm minoring in music strictly to learn more about it.

Fassa Albrecht · #8 08-02-2009, 07:18 PM

One thing I'd add to the whole communication thing is to write all the important stuff down. Agree cleaning schedules, bill payments and all that when you move in, write it all down and get people to sign it. That way if there's an issue you can get this info out and people can't argue.

Another thing that is a good idea is to make sure there's a clear distinction between 'social' time and 'study' time. If you're preparing an assignment, the last thing you want to be dealing with is the rest of the house partying.

A nice idea might be to do some social stuff with other people in the dorm, even if it's going outside with drinks and snacks. That way people meet each other and you'll get a nice time out of it too.

jambassist · #9 08-02-2009, 07:30 PM

I'll tell you what I tell everyone else. You walk into class the first day and you get a syllabus. That has all the readings, papers, tests, midterm, final, etc. that you have to take care of for the semester. Do the work or don't do the work. This isn't high school and no one's looking over your shoulder. Your freshman adviser doesn't know who you are. If you get called to their office because you're doing bad in a class, you already have a problem. I don't care what school you go to, the help is there if you need it, but you have to ask for it.

I'm not trying to come off as a hard ass, but you asked for advice from people that were there and I was. Your first priority, and really your only one, is studying and getting good grades. There's plenty of time to have a good time, party, etc. However, don't let it get out of hand and don't run your school work around a social schedule. Find the middle ground and you'll do well. It sounds easy, but you'd be amazed at the people that can't do it. I wish you well.

nortonrider · #10 08-02-2009, 07:38 PM

95% of the crap that you are about to learn.......... you will never use in the real world.

tplyons · #11 08-02-2009, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nortonrider

95% of the crap that you are about to learn.......... you will never use in the real world.

And get involved in as much as you can. I swear to you, it was my practical experience in college being part of student government, running a marketing club, investing in our investment club, and running our habitat for humanity chapter that got me my job... not my grades and my studies.

ErebusBass · #12 08-02-2009, 08:04 PM

The best advice I can give is to go to class.

It sounds simple, but you'd be surprised how many freshmen let their hangovers get in the way of it.

Drag your *** to EVERY SINGLE class, whether you want to or not. Do all of the little assignments, crack that textbook open every once in a while, and the rest is a piece of cake.

After two years of college, my cumulative GPA is ~3.75. I don't even feel like I work that hard, and there's plenty of time left to party way too much.

And don't lose the syllabus. It's hard to find out where you're going if you ditch the map.

Chipsonfire · #13 08-02-2009, 09:31 PM

One thing I always tell freshmen (and I've met a lot over the years) is bite off more than you think you can chew. If it's too much, you can fall back and drop a class. But if it's not, you just learned a little more about yourself. At the same time, learn to know when it is too much.

Also, get comfortable with the idea of meeting great people, and watching them drop out of college. Some of my best friends did this; it's a fact of life and you'll have to get used to it. Other than that, have fun, do well and listen to the other advice on here.

Vic Winters · #14 08-02-2009, 09:57 PM

No serious relationships. Especially with those in another state.

kserg · #15 08-02-2009, 10:12 PM

step off my kool aid

Sheldon681 · #16 08-02-2009, 10:44 PM

I agree with the tip about going to class. If your attendance is good, you'd be surprised how much slack profs will cut you if they think you're giving it 100%, And that means being in class and handing in all assignments, etc.

And I'm not sure how things will be at your school but at mine, right before finals the profs would spend a class reviewing what was covered during the semester. Many people blew this class off, but this was the one where most profs told you pretty much what would and wouldn't be on the exam. When they skipped sections in the book, it's because it's usually not important. When they zeroed in on something, you took note of it. So for the sake of attending a 1-hour class, you could usually save many more hours by not having to study the material that wouldn't be on the exam. It ended up being a great return on investment, time-wise.

jmarcus2 · #17 08-02-2009, 11:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by duo8675309

I move into MTSU on the 28th of this month. Me, two of my best friends, and another roommate will be sharing an on-campus apartment together. We've already gotten to know the roommate through facebook and can tell he will fit in perfectly with us. I'm just wondering if anyone has any good advice? I've heard all the basic stuff - study first, party second, learn to organize my time, ect. ect. I'm looking for some real, anecdotal advice from personal experience. I'm really excited but I'm also extremely nervous. I have the tendency to become very anti-social if i'm around a lot of people for an extended amount of time. Luckily we each have separate rooms with separate keys, so I should still have my privacy. Just looking for some helpful hints is all.

1. BE YOURSELF. You're the expert on you.

2. Get to know people who are interesting, but DIFFERENT from you.

3. Don't sweat the small stuff, and stay away from drama queens of either sex or any orientation.

This supposed to be a great time in your life. Be excited and enjoy it before the real life suck factor kicks in!

Intenzity · #18 08-03-2009, 12:01 AM

wear a condom.
always.

GearHeadBassMan · #19 08-03-2009, 12:10 AM

be safe. know your limitations, or you'll soon learn them.

I'm going into my senior year, and I'll say, have a blast the first couple weeks. enjoy the new freedom and revel in it. You'll know when you need to settle in and focus on class.

I'm also a comm major and although I don't ever think I'm learning anything in class, when I go to do stuff like edit a photo or record a snippet of something, you realize you can do stuff you never used to be able to do, it's really great.

Also, yes, go buy a box of condoms. seriously. Don't walk around expecting to use them, but have them.

(saved my ass a few times)