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What's your advice for college freshmen, HN? "What do you wish you'd known?" I'm particularly interested in surprising, non-obvious things that I am unlikely to hear from others or think of myself.
Thanks!
__ * Olin College, for what it's worth.
And remember there is more to life than just academics. They are important and all that, but cut yourself some slack and remember to have fun occasionally. If you treat the academic side of things as your job, then you need to have things outside of that to keep you sane and balanced, and to prevent your job and your hobby from becoming totally indistinct from one another.
This also feeds into the basic notion that most future employers or grad school admissions committees will appreciate the fact that you are actually a well-adjusted person. Learning how other people in the world operate is valuable. Learning to be social with lots of different people is important. Having hobbies that you actually enjoy are important. Learn public speaking! All of these things will work to your benefit in interview situations and in any kind of later academic or industrial career.
you can maybe skate by doing this in college, but if you want to keep your grad school options free and/or keep your scholarships, you'll have to be serious from the start.
edited to add: i'm not saying go full-tilt study crazy either though. just make sure that you expend the effort you need to do well. don't forget to have fun, meet people, and expand your horizons.
Get involved in stuff. Don't spend all your nights indoors hacking!
- Look for hacker-friendly internships in the summer. I really wish I had done internships instead of trying to breeze through college by taking Summer semester classes. My resumé still looks as if I'm straight out of college[1] and I graduated 3 years ago.
[1] In the sense that I don't have much experience out of my current employer where I've been working at since college.
Just have fun. Screw classes. Screw trying cramming for tests. Do well enough to learn while not stressing yourself out. College doesn't matter at all for if you can succeed in life. If you have the chops, you don't need the degree. But, you will never have a chance to live up life as you will in college. It is the most care-free and awesome experience you will ever have, and if you're lucky you'll make some awesome memories and lifelong friends.
But if you must do well in school. Spend your time wisely (I also had a 3.7 my last year in college as BS CS). Sit in the first row, do all your learning you need to do in lecture. Do homework between lectures so you can party harder at night and wake up whenever in the morning. GO TO OFFICE HOURS. Pros and grad students practically give away answers on tests at those things.
Don't lose your passion for the subject. I nearly did, because I got really, really bored near the middle of my degree (thankfully, my interest and love for CS was re-gained), mostly because I didn't follow the advice that I provide in the next paragraph. On the coding/academic side, apply what you learn early and don't feel like you should be constrained by what is being taught. Take every opportunity to code, learn…
Another thing to keep in mind is that you learn a lot more than academics in college; people also learn a lot socially, which is just as important.
If you're not enjoying it you don't have to do it. I switched course (admittedly from maths w/ CS to pure CS) after my first year and had a much better time. Get involved in stuff. Don't spend all your nights indoors hacking!