College as a Freshman

[Dark Knight Of Lodis]

I'm looking forward to college a lot. I have friends all over the place, and now we're going to have some awesome times. Pranks, causing trouble in public, crazy parties, clubs, and plenty of hot girls all over the place.

But one thing I CAN'T stand is my damn school schedule. I got the shaft on that one. Every day I have Math from 3-3:50 which is prime working hours, I guess no full shifts anymore. Every other day, I have class from 9 30 - 11 and then 3-3:50, which means two classes thrown in my days so that I can't go out and do something for "the day". Damn schedules, I can't wait til next semester. How's everyone else's college experiences? Am I the only freshman in college here?

[Rodak]

Wow.

College.

I have several college experiences, all of them very positive. Sure, there were troubles like the ones you mention... but those were the best troubles of my life!

I started college courses in my Junior year of Looney Bin (they threw me out of high school for being crazy and locked me in a looney bin which let me work at my own pace) and wound up in college a year early.

Then I took a year off. No reason. Big mistake.

When I went back my Father lost his job and asked me to help him run a business.

15 years later he wanted to retire and I wanted nothing to do with the business, so I went back to school at age 35 and finished out two Associate Degrees (Chemistry and Philosophy) and promptly ran out of money.

I have not been able to afford University ever since (I refuse loans at my age... I'd be an indentured servant for life!).

I made out OK, but if I'd finished all of it when I was young I'd be far better off now.

Stay In School!!!

Take it from an old hippie, do it while you're young.

Good luck with it.

Peace.

[thetruecoolness]

Well my schedules have never been too bad, except that one time I had classes for about 6 hours in a row and 8 total hours that day, damn you physics lab, but othet than that it hasn't been too bad. I've been able to maintain a 3.5 my whole time, and I'm about to enter my Senior year at Ga Tech (definitly not the easiest school to maintain such a grade point at, esspecially in Computer Science). Last semesters schedule was really sweet as I didn't have to wake up till 2PM on MWF and not till 11:30 on TR and was still done with classes fairly early.

As for those wild college parties and such I don't know much about them as I have never been the party type, or all that social for that matter. But I do hear of them and know such things exist if thats your forte. Just remember drugs have an inverse relationship with you grades, the more of them you have the lower your GPA gets. And I know someone who was pretty smart in High School fail out with a 0.0 his first semester because of marijuana and such, and another one who got kicked out recently but was able to get back in, though he just had a bunch of 151 and everclear, and was lazy.

So as for advice, get out there and have fun, kind of wish I would have done more of that but I don't think I missed out too much. Of course don't have too much fun because the work will catch up with you before you know it, and it's really important to get a good GPA your first couple of semesters to get some breathing room. I would stay away from the drugs, except for maybe alcohol though I personally don't enjoy that one either as it does nothing for me and just tastes bad. But college can definitly be a lot of fun, just make sure you finish, or you'll always wish you had.

[The Final Rune]

Happy Bunny said it best:

"College prepares you for real world, which also sucks."

Okay, so I'm a little pessimistic about the whole thing, but then I've had a rather ghastly time of it myself.

Hmm, kay serra serra my rear!

[Rodak]

I found it!

I was looking for this list of my evaluation of various courses when I made my last post, but could not find it

Here are some reflections on College Courses:

Fluid Dynamics was a drag.
Electrostatics was repulsive.
Cryogenics was cool.
Spectroscopy was grating.
Ultra-High Vacuum Technology sucked.
Optics was enlightening.
Pathobiology was sickening.
Plasma Physics was hot.
Acoustics was humdrum.
Nutrition was distasteful.
The ACS Exams on any subject were detestable.
Machine Shop was boring.
Quantum Chemistry was uncertain.
NMR Spectroscopy was pulsating.
General Chemistry was too elementary.
Relativity Physics was transforming.
Calculus was a transcendental experience.
Engineering Mechanics was too stressful.
Thin Film Technology was superficial,
but Aerodynamics was uplifting.

There was another page which has been lost to The Great Void, but that may be for the best.

Peace.

[Dark Knight Of Lodis]

Thetruecoolness, when I say parties I don't mean drugs. Drugs aren't my thing. I mean having an awesome time just going crazy. The only problem I foresee with me in college, is messing up the balance between school and fun, and having too much fun and too little schoolwork.

Rodak, I liked that list. lol. I thought the play on words was creative and funny.


As for my first semester classes, here's my schedule:

Monday-Wednesday-Friday

10:00-10:50AM Criminal Law
12:00-12:50PM College Writing I
01:00-01:50PM Administration of Justice


Tuesday-Thursday

09:30-10:45AM Forensic Sciences
11:00-01:50PM Forensics Laboratory (Thursday)
03:00-3:50 PM Elem. Algebra & Trigonometry

I guess it's not too bad, I managed to finish before 4 every day, but I still would have liked better.

[vespuleth]

wait... i thought you were a marine?

[thetruecoolness]

I was just going by the normal definition of a college party as the type you speak of is quite the rarity, unless it involves a baptist group. Not of course saying these are the only people who can, just that it's the norm. But you can still find people intersted in doing drug free parties, it's just going to be harder to find in most colleges.

As for favorite classes mine would have to be Graphics, as learning to program in Open GL and write ray tracers and stuff was really cool, most fun I've had programming in a long time. Software Engineering and Intro to Object Oriented Languages were not bad either. Of course most of the time how fun a class is really depends on the teacher and then the actual subject matter.

But yeah learning to balance fun and work is hard for most people, I tend to be a little too much toward the work side, but it's not too hard to get used to, just try not to skip classes in subjects you aren' really good at, and of course in ones where attendance is mandantory, as there will be a few and some people still skip them.

College isn't all that bad, takes a lot more work than high school and you really don't get anywhere near as many breaks, but as long as your motivated even a little you should be able to make it through no problem. Just watch out for the classes where your whole grade is determined by 2 tests and a final, those are the ones to really study for.

[Dark Knight Of Lodis]

vespuleth said:

wait... i thought you were a marine?

I was signed up to go into the Marines, and trained for awhile with them, but got discharged after eight months for my toes not bending up as far as they should. I was pissed, but I decided to not let it ruin my life and signed up for college.

[Dark Knight Of Lodis]

Thanks for the advice, thetruecoolness.

As for the parties, I've actually never seen any drugs going on openly at any parties I've been to, (unless you consider alcohol a drug) I don't put alcohol into the same category as drugs, though, as drugs ruin your life easily, while you have to be a constant drinker for alcohol to do that.

[thetruecoolness]

Yeah alcohol is fine, just stay clear of the 151 and everclear, though a lot of times it can lead to dangerous activities like diving into a 1 foot deep fountain. But yeah I don't usually drink as all alcohol just tastes nasty to me, and honestly it just makes me really tired, so it doesn't do anything for me. Of course unlike the other drugs some alcohols have been proven to be healthy, in moderation of course (this is mainly wines though). So have fun in college, don't know if it will be the best years of your life but it should rank up there.

[Dark Knight Of Lodis]

Did I say my schedule was the worst part? Scratch that...I just got my financial aid letter back, and it only covers $700. I need to take out a loan, which I guess almost everybody does, but the simple fact that you pay interest makes me pissed off. lol. I've seen college loans that severely reduce people's standard of living, even if they are making decent money.

I signed up for some thing where you can work for the school and they both pay you, and reduce your costs. Sounds good to me, hopefully it's worth the time I put into it.

[Rodak]

You could always do what I did (except you can do it while you are young) and just go to Community College.

There is nothing wrong with them. I am a better Chemist than many with Bachelor Degrees. I only have my Associate Degree because I ran out of money. But I ran out of money because I paid my way through school. No loans, no scholarships and no grants. Those were for Full Time Students (I could not afford to go full time).

But at Community College I paid $67 per credit. I had no idea our local University was charging almost ten times that amount.

Your first two years can be had far less expensively and the quality of education is equal to (or even superior to, due to smaller classes and more dedicated teachers) an expensive University.

Trust me... when you get out into the Job-Hunting world, all they care about is whether you have a piece of paper stating you went to college and, more importantly, what you know about the work for which you are applying. They never ask if you spent all four years at the same school or started off at community college. Heck... I only attended Community College and beat out folks with Bachelor's degrees for my current job. Because I was able to talk chemistry with the boss and keep up with him. That's all they care about.

So don't go broke just to get a degree. Check into your local community colleges now, before you waste even more money on courses you could be getting at the same quality for less than a third of what you are paying now!

Good luck with it.

Peace.

[Dark Knight Of Lodis]

One step ahead of you, Rodak. That's where I'm going, but I still don't like taking out a loan.

I already learned about that trick you're telling me about, 2 years at community and then the next 2 at a "Brand-name" university for the degree. Thanks anyways, though.