Advice For College Freshman

One thing I forgot to mention. I got a job working at the front desk of my dorm. It was only about 10 hours a week, but I got to know everyone in the dorm (men and women). I did this for 2 years in two different dorms. It really helps socially, trust me. You will also know the names of the chicks worth pursuing right off the bat. If you can swing it, do it.

DB

[quote]
Simply because, in doing so, you would be limiting yourself during what is not only your sexual peak, but also where the most numerous, convenient, no-strings-attached opportunities will present themselves.

Personally? I don’t think it matters - and I certainly wouldn’t base my decision on this matter upon what a message board thinks. If you wanna play the field, go for it. If not, more power to you.

Just make sure she’s worth it, 'cause you never know.[/quote]

Well said. If she is worth it, she really has to be worth it. And notice he said “play the field,” not seriously date.

I’d warn against a girlfriend at the begining of school, but playing the field is fine - I think it was what most people have been recommending. Here are the problems I see with an early, serious girlfriend, generally. Not all scenarios are the same.

  1. She is a relationship girl. She’s dating in the very beginning because she feels nervous and dependent. Having you as a bf enables her to always have someone around. Now, the same is true for you - you get to have her around all the time, too. Which brings me to the next point…

  2. If she is dependent, she might be around all the time. You are going to want time to yourself. Unlike high school, when, if you want time to yourself you can just go home, in college, there are always people around. Gf basically has 24/7 access to you. Which brings me to my third point.

  3. A gf can keep you from making all the friends you otherwise would have made at the start of school. Like many people have said, you should try to meet as many people as you can. Some you will forget about in a few months, some will become good friends. You won’t know until you meet them and hang out with them. Having a gf will prevent you from both meeting as many people as you can and from getting to know those people better.

  4. The gf is less likely to give it up. The majority of girls that are ready for parties and casual hookups are not the girls that are getting together with guys in the first week. Party girls stay single at first, because they have been looking forward to college and all the college stories they’ve heard about for a long time.

They know that a relationship will prevent them from living out their own stories. Having a gf will lay you less often than those girls, and the relationship will keep you from meeting those girls, also.

  1. Thinking back a few years to my college days, I can remember several couples that got together in the beginning, and they generally shared two characteristics: they weren’t very good looking or socially outgoing. The guy was dorky and needy, the girl was needy and average looking. Those girls weren’t necessarily ugly, but there were plenty better looking ones.

[quote]mike402 wrote:
Hey guys,

In a few weeks I’ll be heading off to college and I’m pretty excited. I’d like to hear any advice you all have for an entering college freshman. Anything from training/sex/diet/academics etc. Anything really. For those who have been there, or if you’re currently in school, I’d love to hear any advice. I’m sure I’m not the only one. Thanks guys!! [/quote]

Always be yourself.

Also always try to improve on your weaknesses.

Overcome speaking in front of the class. (It gets easier the more you do it)

Be a leader rather than a follower.

Have some morals.

Make quality friends. (the same goes for the girls you date)

Study hard and have fun!

P.S. Life is still fun after college.

There’s been some really good advice so far, here’s my two cents

ACADEMICS
-Go to class
-Learn how to do work during class, if you have an hour and a half lecture, you can probably get almost an hour’s worth of work done. You will save you a lot of time doing this.

-Familiarize yourself with all the requirements you need to graduate. Start working on general requirements as soon as possible, and look for stuff that will double count with your major. If you do this early, it’ll give you a lot of flexibility later.

-Study what you’re passionate about
-Take a class completely unrelated to your major (bonus if it’s a general requirement)
-avoid all-nighters aderal, they’re not necessary to do well at any school

SOCIAL
-Meet as many people as you can, as soon as you can
-Talk to an upperclassman and ask find out how people socialize. At my school, the first semester everyone hung out with people from their dorms, second semester a lot of people went Greek. At other schools people meet through classes or extracuriculars.
-Go out and have fun on the weekends, but stay away from hard drugs

GIRLS
-Play the field for at least the first semester, probably the first year. Then if you wanna get into a relationship, go for it. But I would avoid getting into something before you’ve experienced college as free man.
-Be aware that the game moves a lot faster in college than in highschool. I (unfortunately) blew some good chances in the first few weeks because I didn’t realize how fast things move.

TRAINING
-Find the biggest, strongest guy in the gym and talk to him about training. From my experience, college weightrooms are filled with so many bitchy metrosexuals doing hours of bicep curls that strong guys are eager to talk to other people passionate about (real) training.

What if you live off campus? I have a 20 minute drive to school every day. Plus I’m broke. I am really nervous about this, I hope I can get through it.

Some good stuff here:

Also, read this book:

Oh yeah, a few from me too:

  1. Double major in unrelated areas, e.g. English Lit and Mathematics.

  2. Pay attention to your GPA - you’ll probably want to go to grad school, and this will be one half of the determining factors.

  3. College is about two things: getting a degree, and getting an education. The two are not the same thing, and you need to do both. They charge you for and grade you on the degree; the education is free, but entirely up to you.

  4. Be social with groups - fraternities, sports teams, etc. - other than people in your dorm.

  5. Don’t waste time sitting around watching TV - there are vast opportunities to be doing other free activities that are much more educating or socially relevant.

  6. Drink some and be social, but don’t be “That Guy.” It’s a lot funnier when you remember the stories and they’re about someone else - and you’ll be much more successful with the ladies.

  7. Stay away from hard drugs.

  8. Train hard - you’ll never have this amount of time for eating and training again.

  9. Go to TA office hours for homework help; go to professor office hours to meet your professors.

[quote]skaz05 wrote:
What if you live off campus? I have a 20 minute drive to school every day. Plus I’m broke. I am really nervous about this, I hope I can get through it. [/quote]

You’ll be fine. I commuted to school 30 minutes each way every day for 4.5 years. Join some clubs, make friends in your classes and at the gym, and work on or close to campus, if you can, and you’ll be ok.

When moving into residence is there anything important that I might forget to bring?

[quote]vision1 wrote:
When moving into residence is there anything important that I might forget to bring?[/quote]

Mini fridge and locks.

mike

[quote]texasguy1 wrote:
Most of these have probably been mentioned, but I’ll list my advice in order of importance in my opinion. This is from a college senior graduating in December:

  1. Go to class. Do not skip it unless you really are sick. Hang overs do not count. You are there to be a student. Be a student. Parties will happen anyways and if you miss one five more are around the corner. I and many others learned this the hard way.

  2. Study. It is easier to maintain a decent GPA than it is to raise a shitty one. Get on top of your grades early.

  3. Keep an ear and mind open for Major ideas. Pick one asap and get to work on it. Don’t be scared to change it once or twice though if you need too.

  4. (The fun starts) join student organizations your first semester there. Pick groups you identify with who participate in activities you enjoy. Joining orginizations is the easiest way to meet like minded people and make friends on a college campus. For me it was a mountain biking club, a fraternity and later a marketing organization. Not only will you have fun and make friends, but your groups will become networking opportunities as you get close to graduating.

  5. Have a balls to wall good time on the weekend, every weekend. Hang out with your new friends and take road trips to see your old friends. College is a unique time. You are young, have relatively zero responsibility outside of making it to class and have no supervision. Go buck wild, you’ll never be able to again.

  6. Do meet as many females as you can. Freshman year can be rough, learn to lie and find a place you can pretend is yours other than your dorm room. (an older student who “takes you in” can probably help you out by pretending you are roomates)

  7. Avoid cops. Run. Don’t listen when they crash a party and tell you you’ll be fine if you stay put. Especially if there is pot around and more especially if their is coke or other stuff, both of which will be available like you’d see in the movies. Even if you don’t participate, you’ll be fucked.

  8. Call friends for bail, not your parents.

  9. Take it as it comes and enjoy![/quote]

Thanks for those points TexasGuy, especially point one.

I’m in grad school and am a TA right now. A few things in addition to the good advice already given:

  1. TA’s are hit or miss. Some know a lot about the subject matter and are more than willing to help out in regards to labs and general class stuff, but some are pretty incompetent yet pretend like they know what they’re doing. If you’re unclear, always ask the professor to get a straight answer.

1a)Professors are all over the place in quality. Don’t let an accent get in the way, though. A couple of my best profs had thick accents but were great teachers once you learned to understand them.

  1. If a prof is willing to say “I don’t know” and then gives you an answer the next lecture after looking it up, get to know that prof. They’re good people, and would probably be willing to write recommendation letters later.

  2. Don’t play many computer/video games unless you really want to get involved in that sub-culture. I met a lot of good friends that way and what I’ve learned about technology through it has helped me a lot, but realize that it’s a different world that what’s been described by a lot of the previous posters. Except Madden for some reason.

  3. Theater geeks put out. A LOT.

  4. If you don’t know many gay people now, you will soon. Don’t be scared.

  5. Get an inexpensive laptop, then keep close tabs on it so it doesn’t get stolen. Being mobile is important when it comes to getting stuff done.

  6. Take advantage of tech deals your college may have. I can get Microsoft operating systems and other software for free, and many schools have the same deal. Some have hardware contracts with Apple and whatnot. It’ll save a lot of money. If you’re getting a computer for college, wait till you get there to see what’d be useful and inexpensive.

  7. Just wanted to second the advice of smiling at people you make eye contact with and say hi. Notice I said eye contact. You’ll get far with girls if you don’t just stare at their boobs. That’s later.

  8. Don’t date a girl who’s cheated on her boyfriend. She’ll cheat on you. Though I suppose that’s just general life advice really…

Hey, it’s been a year and a half…did any of you dopes take any of our advice? What proved useful ?

Don’t stick your dick in everything that moves. There will be many options for you. Turn a few girls down and your stock will go way up.

[quote]sen say wrote:
Hey, it’s been a year and a half…did any of you dopes take any of our advice? What proved useful ?[/quote]

Uh, I dropped out…

It’s alot different in Australia but my advice would be never pick a class before 10am unless you have to

Never Pick a class on a Friday

School is easier single

make sure you last class finishs before 4pm

Don’t cram every subject into one day but make sure you have a couple in one day

As someone who dropped out first time round, and went back to college, and will graduate in December, I can give a little advise on college.

Most of the advise in this thread is spot on and awesome.

I will reiterate the most important point in this thread once again - Go to class. If there is one thing you do, do this.

Don’t fall into the trap of ditching class. Seniors and more experienced college people can do this.

Going to class just gets you into routine and reinforces good habits. Think of it like repetitions. To get a big bench/squat or improve on something, its all about repetition.

For whatever reason, even if your only paying half attention, just by being in class you will perform twice as well. I believe the laws of attraction are fully at play here.

My only other advise would be to watch as little TV, Game, or internet as possible. Get outside.

Going to class is a must, even more so than reading the books. I will graduate this Spring, and if there is one thing I can pass on to the new guys it would be that all teachers love to hear themselves when you write essays.

You can only do this if you are in class taking notes.

Also, go to your T.A.'s office hours. For the most part they are the ones who will be grading you.

Besides that, wear a condom. If you do not have a condom, bj.

Best thing I can say.

Study but have fucking fun. Its college! Your only gonna be there for so long and then its gonna be over…experience some new shit, meet everyone you can.

Be yourself and not what you think others want you to be.

And for the love of God ,or whoever it is people worship these days, do not get in a relationship. This aint the place for it.

Oh yeah…dont get thrown in jail.

Time to pile on.

  1. Go to class. Turn in all assignments. Take all tests. I cannot stress how important this is. Make it a rule and follow it. Your life will be so much easier, and your grades will be very easy to manage.

  2. Sit in or near the front of the class, and do what you can to enjoy class. Don’t tune it out. Some professors will suck, yes, but you are paying to be there. Staying involved in the class will tremendously help with retention, thus cutting down on study time. Letting the professor know you’re not a disrespectful twit can go a long way in making the course easier. Worst case scenario, you’re the guy the girls will go to for help.

  3. Major in something (or things) you really enjoy. The money will figure itself out later. Doing #1 and #2 will take care of your grades to the point that grad school will be an option. Very few people stay in a career based on their 4 year degree anyway, so do not feel pressure to pick that perfect, money producing major.

  4. If you do major in something that you will be working in without much or any grad school, one of the most important things you can do is to get experience in that line of work. Most places hire because they need something done, not because they want to develop your interests as a special snow flake. Even if you have to volunteer to get experience, it is worth it. You might also figure out whether or not that career is for you. And of course, older chicks.

  5. Handle money wisely. The most secure option is to never go into debt for anything other than school itself. The advice about not getting a credit card is spot on. Don’t try to find out if you can manage a credit card - just avoid the whole trap to begin with. The sooner you can pay off your school debt (if there is any), the sooner you can start buying big boy toys.

  6. Take a wide range of courses to the extent that it is possible. Being well-rounded is much more valuable long term than being specialized (for most people). This will also expose you to other career options as well as entire groups of women you may have never had a chance to meet. If you’re a math/science person, take some English classes or something to get you used to writing something beyond code or equations. Communications in the work place are dismal; don’t contribute to the problem.