Advice to College Freshmen - Page 2

On September 12 2011 14:04 CanucksJC wrote:
You're lucky if you only took 5 classes in first semester. First year engineers now take 6-7 classes on average o_0. Everyone would prefer to underload their courses, but in most cases, they're required to take all of them at that specific time.

edit: NVM apparently some schools run on different semester systems

On September 12 2011 14:18 Waffles wrote:

first year engineer, and i have 6 classes. >.< tell me i am not going to die.

On September 12 2011 14:36 Loser777 wrote:
I'm thinking the 6+ classes is just some schools operating on a different system. Quarter system here: 3 classes + 1 audit that I have to skip which is totally standard at my school.

On September 12 2011 14:50 theonemephisto wrote:
On the flip side, don't be scared of branching out and pushing yourself. You'd be surprised what you can do with 24 hours in a day if you really try. I took 4 classes (quarter system, so 4 is the max), while swimming 20+ hours a week and still having a social life, hitting parties a couple times a week and hanging out with friends pretty much every day, and (barely) managed to get by. I don't swim anymore, but that year taught me that if I ever think I don't have enough time in my week to do the things I need to do, it's almost certainly my fault for being lazy or unproductive.

That said, focus on core requirements first year. Take 1-2 or 2-3 classes (depending on quarter/semester) that are interesting, useful for your major, and/or difficult. Then load up the rest of your schedule as full as possible with core classes. They're generally going to be easier than your major classes and (hopefully) will help you with useful skills (writing, research, learning to read articles or write proofs, learning how to think/organize thoughtsetc.), which will both make your freshman life easier and help the transition to more rigorous and demanding academics. And you'll thank your freshman self later, when you have the freedom to take less classes when the really hard ones come or change your schedule around to accommodate interesting ones.

And on a related note, make sure you really learn those skills. Learning how to write well is one of the first and most useful things you should learn in college. Research is a very involved process, and learning to read articles/papers in your field quickly and efficiently is a 4-year project on its own. If you want to go into a math field, really understand the proofs you're doing and spend extra time on them; intuition is the most valuable and hardest/longest thing to learn. First year is easy compared to the rest of college, and that's when you want to build a foundation of toolbox skills to rely on later. Information can be useful by itself, but the most important part is using the information given to develop skills for later.

On September 12 2011 14:54 Meborg wrote:
I'm doing 8 subjects in my first semester of my masters degree and I really feel like the gun is loaded and pointed at my head :D Well, Balls to the wall, and tough it out! It's all cool subjects anyway.

For first year students, just be yourself. Dont go looking for girl-friends too actively. Just ask some girls if they wanna form a study group with you.

On September 13 2011 03:55 phant wrote:
It's not hard if you do the homework.

As an engineer, with good study habits and knowing when to ask questions, you can have more free time then you know what to do with while taking a full load of courses.

If you figure out the homework yourself, you never have to study for a test. Since you went through the steps of properly understanding it you don't need to remember it, you can figure it out again when test time comes. At the most you have to do a quick refresher for about 30 min- 1 hour just in case. If you are working problems before taking a test, you are doing something wrong.

I've had a lot of people ask me how I do so well, and it's simply sitting down and plowing through the homework (you'd be surprised by how many people don't do the homework and complain about low grades). If you find yourself running out of time to do the homework, either you are in the wrong major or goofing off too much, or taking more than you know you can handle.

Of course, every once in a while you come across a question you just don't get. Go to your professor immediately and ask for a hint, not how to solve it completely, try to work it through and only as a last resort ask for more details.

If at any point you don't fully understand something no matter how hard you try, ask for help and make an effort to understand the concepts, not how to solve that particular problem.

On September 13 2011 03:57 BouBou.865 wrote:
The main tip is workout, right? Right Haji?

In all seriousness, that'd be my tip. Look good, feel great, perform great. It's that simple really.

On September 12 2011 19:01 Primadog wrote:
Solid advice from OP. Of course, circumstances will vary depending on your college and major, but it never hurts to keep yourself some breathing room in the first semester/quarter of your Freshman year. If it was too easy, just overload a tad until you find the right balance.

The first year is when you reestablish yourself, use the extra time to try out a few different things you haven't done before. Having that margin of error will go a long way.

On September 13 2011 01:35 Horrde wrote:
This is good advice.

I've had so many friends start as the typical reach for the top engineer or science student, burning out, and then 2nd semester they're a communications major or something with loads of free time. From one extreme to the other.

Treat yourself like a human being, not a mentally inexhaustible immortal. A hard college program should be treated like a marathon, and choosing to overload yourself is like missing the water stations

On September 12 2011 14:32 blankspace wrote:
Yeah I completely agree, if you have too many courses, it's easy to be too focused on finishing the tasks at hand instead of learning. Even if you get A's you might not retain much if you didn't obtain a real, deep understanding.

On September 13 2011 13:28 thedeadhaji wrote:







At my college, hardly anyone took 6 classes, including engineers. The percentage of students taking 6 or more classes was most likely around 0.1%.

This is also a school where you were not allowed to double major, because the course load was deemed too heavy. I have a hard time identifying and comprehending your situations where 6 classes is the norm for the average engineer. Only the true superstars could handle that at Princeton... I guess things may be different at different schools

On September 13 2011 03:55 phant wrote:
It's not hard if you do the homework.

As an engineer, with good study habits and knowing when to ask questions, you can have more free time then you know what to do with while taking a full load of courses.

If you figure out the homework yourself, you never have to study for a test. Since you went through the steps of properly understanding it you don't need to remember it, you can figure it out again when test time comes. At the most you have to do a quick refresher for about 30 min- 1 hour just in case. If you are working problems before taking a test, you are doing something wrong.

I've had a lot of people ask me how I do so well, and it's simply sitting down and plowing through the homework (you'd be surprised by how many people don't do the homework and complain about low grades). If you find yourself running out of time to do the homework, either you are in the wrong major or goofing off too much, or taking more than you know you can handle.

Of course, every once in a while you come across a question you just don't get. Go to your professor immediately and ask for a hint, not how to solve it completely, try to work it through and only as a last resort ask for more details.

If at any point you don't fully understand something no matter how hard you try, ask for help and make an effort to understand the concepts, not how to solve that particular problem.

On September 13 2011 16:43 Antifate wrote:
With the possibility of dropping classes, I personally feel that one should aspire to take higher, deeper classes to see if they fit in them. I had like seven hours of advising yesterday (choosing courses today!) and I heard a lot of, "Oh I took that and dropped because it was really hard/bad, and class X was a lot better," and I don't feel too apprehensive about dropping classes if they don't fit me. Despite my desire to take more advanced courses though, I've heard from nearly everyone that four courses is the way to go fall of freshmen year. I'll try to keep your advice in mind, and not feel too competitive when all my buddies are taking 5 courses, each more advanced than any of mine. :X I don't know how I actually feel about that. I suppose I'll need to get a wake-up call before I can really find out.

On September 13 2011 16:51 Game wrote:
I took three classes in the first semester of my freshmen year. It really allowed me the ability to adjust to college life accordingly, and was definitely the best decision I've made in a long, long time. Therefore, from my experience at least, and after reading this blog, this is invaluable advice for those that will start school soon.

However, the semester started like 3-4 weeks ago and would've been better advice given, had it been posted earlier.