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College Advice I Wish I’d Taken

nytimes.com

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Re: College Advice I Wish I’d Taken

#51

Post by BurningFrog »

yeukhon wrote: post #36
CalChris wrote: post #33

I agree with everything in the article. However, it was written from the Liberal Arts POV and I was in Engineering. Get all your reading done before class. Class is review. If you have a paper due get a draft done a week ahead of time. Then you can hammer on it over the week. Shop for TAs the first week. In a big lecture class, your TA will make the class. Avoid bad teachers. I never didn't get into a class. But I dr…

> If you're in STEM you'll have to take some LA classes for breadth. Make these count. These aren't classes you have to take. These are classes you get to take. I regretted I didn't. I consistently find myself unable to have any meaningful conversations with anyone on anything outside of Computer Science (even then I am only comfortable discussing security and infrastructure; ask me about compiler I can tell you the…

Maybe you need to lower your requirements for participating in conversations. Most of us talk freely on stuff we didn't study at University level.

Why not read a few books and watch a few documentaries and start chiming in?

Re: College Advice I Wish I’d Taken

#53

Post by yters »

ROTC can get you a scholarship and a great job out the door, plus loads of opportunities and leadership experience during your career no one else gets.

Plus you are defending an entire country. And much of our country's leadership class comes from the military, so it gives you a bigger say in where our country is going.

Re: College Advice I Wish I’d Taken

#54

Post by emodendroket »

hprotagonist wrote: post #14

My top 3. 1. Show up to office hours. Even if you sit there and do nothing, TA's notice -- and TAs will absolutely spill the beans on what to prep for for exams, even unintentionally. 2. If you're so brainfried that you can't study any more, go to the gym. Not only is exercise generally good, I'm real convinced it's good for memory consolidation too. 3. If you're attending an expensive private university, networking…

> 1. Show up to office hours. Even if you sit there and do nothing, TA's notice -- and TAs will absolutely spill the beans on what to prep for for exams, even unintentionally.

Just showing up and hanging out in the TA's office when you don't have any question seems kind of weird to me.

Re: College Advice I Wish I’d Taken

#55

Post by emodendroket »

sndean wrote: post #26
hprotagonist wrote: post #14

My top 3. 1. Show up to office hours. Even if you sit there and do nothing, TA's notice -- and TAs will absolutely spill the beans on what to prep for for exams, even unintentionally. 2. If you're so brainfried that you can't study any more, go to the gym. Not only is exercise generally good, I'm real convinced it's good for memory consolidation too. 3. If you're attending an expensive private university, networking…

> 3. If you're attending an expensive private university, networking is effectively what you're buying. Exploit ruthlessly. Even if it's not an expensive school, email / talk to all your professors, classmates, lab partners, etc. I didn't start doing that until my 3rd year. For me it was: My mentor's friend -> internship -> first job

Even if you've already graduated it's not too late to reconnect with people.

Re: College Advice I Wish I’d Taken

#56

Post by emodendroket »

yeukhon wrote: post #36
CalChris wrote: post #33

I agree with everything in the article. However, it was written from the Liberal Arts POV and I was in Engineering. Get all your reading done before class. Class is review. If you have a paper due get a draft done a week ahead of time. Then you can hammer on it over the week. Shop for TAs the first week. In a big lecture class, your TA will make the class. Avoid bad teachers. I never didn't get into a class. But I dr…

> If you're in STEM you'll have to take some LA classes for breadth. Make these count. These aren't classes you have to take. These are classes you get to take. I regretted I didn't. I consistently find myself unable to have any meaningful conversations with anyone on anything outside of Computer Science (even then I am only comfortable discussing security and infrastructure; ask me about compiler I can tell you the…

If it's any consolation I feel like an extremely narrow focus on CS and related topics to the exclusion of anything else is a common affliction on HN.

But, anyway, it's never too late to start reading literature or history or whatever else really. I think I've read more stuff in the past few years than I ever did in school.

Re: College Advice I Wish I’d Taken

#57

Post by mto »

Well, apparently being good at college is not a requirement for becoming professor... But I don't get that US GPA system. If B is the second best grade from 5 available grades, and GPA goes from 1 to 5 with 5 best, shouldn't this translate to 4/5 then?

We here usually just average the grades from the courses. But on the other hand, nobody cares about that score and it's not written anywhere officially. Because teachers are different and schools are different, a C with one Prof could still be better than an A with another one.

Re: College Advice I Wish I’d Taken

#58

Post by mto »

mto wrote: post #57

Well, apparently being good at college is not a requirement for becoming professor... But I don't get that US GPA system. If B is the second best grade from 5 available grades, and GPA goes from 1 to 5 with 5 best, shouldn't this translate to 4/5 then? We here usually just average the grades from the courses. But on the other hand, nobody cares about that score and it's not written anywhere officially. Because teache…

Ok nevermind, seems there is the max 4 and max 5 system.

Re: College Advice I Wish I’d Taken

#59

Post by mto »

rb808 wrote: post #5

I didn't go to college in the US so I'm a bit surprised: A's come with perks - seriously? Maybe when you're 6 that is a thing, when you're 20 I thought you'd grown out of that. Asking questions in class - I hate these people, 50-200 people have to listen while some prima donna wants all the attention. After one of my intro sessions, a freshman from Idaho blurted out: “Awesome class! It’s like you stuck my fingers in…

Well it was up to 700 for me. At least in the first years. Also felt the questions were annoying there. Especially because it was so basic stuff you can find everywhere in the internet. In the specialized courses in the master there were often only 2-20 people and this was completely different, with topics that are state of the art in research and material you can't find online so easily.

Re: College Advice I Wish I’d Taken

#60

Post by pdimitar »

qntty wrote: post #3

Like most college advice, this is a combination of "what my professors wish I would do" and "what future me will wish I did". Good advice doesn't just tell you what you will be glad you did later, it directly addresses the real problems that you have now . It's not easy to give because it requires that you step into someone else's shoes. The last one suggesting seeking out emotional support is probably the closest to…

You'll have to forgive a more mature person for not wanting to give advice on how do you deal with "what do your boyfriend's friends think about your poetry about your boyfriend". As en example, my wife is fully excused for not being excited about a discussion between two kid girls discussing what outfit should their Barbie wear today.

The "job" of the more mature person is to tell you that you're focusing on insignificant shit right now and that this is a problem. And to also tell you what are more significant issues you should be focusing on. How do you solve your problem however is entirely up to you.

They're not there to hand-hold you, they are there to give you perspective.

Still, if you wish to elaborate, I'll gladly give you my opinion about your current problem -- if your comment included yourself, I mean.

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