Sunday, April 24, 2011

Studying

It is very important to developing good studying habits. Find a place where you know you will go there and get work done. Some advice would be get out of your room if you want to study. There are so many distractions in your room and sometimes before you know it time would have just flew by and you have hardly anything done. Also find a good studying partner even if you guys aren't studying the same thing but you still get together to do work. That way you can push each other to keep working and sometimes it is just nice to have a little company!

professors

Make you sure you make good relationships with your professors, because they are the ones that will be writing your recommendation letters when it comes to graduate school and these are very important. If you have a couple professors that really like you or know you well they will give you pretty decent letters but if you are not close to any of your professors you will get basic and generic letters, that usually only talk about your performance in class rather than you as a person.

Greek Life

Now greek life in the movies is very exagerated! There is now hazing alound in schools so that part is false and different greek soroities and phaternities do have rivals sometimes but not to the extent as they do in movies. If you are into being social and getting involved going greek would be a great thing to add to your list of activities. You get to know a great group of people you get to share a bond with unlike any other. I'm not saying everybody likes everybody in the groups but everybody gets along and can always have a great time together. It is a commitment and there is a fee to be part of the group but looking back on my college career I am so happy that I joined Alpha Sigma Alpha!

have fun

I know many of my posts are very future orientated, because that is a very import aspect of you undergraduate career is doing well in order to go far! But another important thing is to enjoy yourself. In undergrad is where you make some of your life long friends. So go hang out with the girls, go to a party and be social (this doesn't mean you have to drink, because you do not have to drink to have fun), go catch a game of soccer (I only say this because this is the sport I play now in college), or make a run to a local pit stop! This is the time of your life that you will never get back so make the most of it!

get involved

Getting involved is a great way to make so many new friends and different people outside of your little group of friends. On top of making friends it will look great on future resumes, because the more involved someone is the more well rounded you as an individual can be and you are able to manage your time and just be a good student. In the clubs and organizations that you do get involved in take a leadership roles and run for positions because leadership is always a good thing to show you have on resumes.

Time Management

Time management is a very important thing to learn for yourself through out your college career. Poor time management will only lead to disorganization and possibly even poor grades. A suggestion would be to keep an agenda of some kind or even a master calendar in your room. Also part of time management make sure you try and check you email frequently throughout the day and especially before you go to your morning classes because some teachers are know for sending a quick email right before class to tell you that it is cancelled, this way instead of walking all the way to class to find this out you can immediately get right back into bed!

dorm life

Freshman are sometimes stuck in the not so good rooms to begin with, but I have one suggestion, make the best out of it. You will realize that you are hardly in your room that often anyways especially if you go get yourself involved on campus. Also make sure you pick or get along with your roommate because that could make or break your entire living experience. You form a different relationship, sometimes, with your roommate pretty much because you are living with them, so make it a good one. Another important suggestion and mind you this is coming from an RA keep your door open and be social with the other people around you. It only makes for a great atmosphere on the floor.

choosing the school

The first thing you want to do when figuring out what school you want to attend. First pick a about four or five that you really like and visit them. It is important to start this early that way you are not being pressured and rushed into choosing the right school for you. Whatever you do don't base your school off where your boyfriend or girlfriend is going because that usually just ends, let just say not so well. Now I know it was an issue for me and sometimes others, because the tuition of a school can be a deciding factor sometimes. So make sure the school has reasonable scholarship packages. When it comes to picking you will know what school is right for you there will just be a gut feeling. Make sure you make a good pick because this is where you will be spending the next four years of your life!!

step up

College is definately a step up from high school. Just because you may have been a straight A student in high school be prepared it can get even harder. For those of you that did decent in high school just never really put forth the effort and still managed ot get by you will definately have a wake up call when you get to college. Everything in the future is riding on your college GPA and for some science majors even just your science GPA ( a science GPA pretty much only includes all the hard science classes none of the buffere classes for example like Arts and Humanities!), so make it count!!

scheduling

Scheduling for classes is one big thing that many don't think about when they think of college. Scheduling can either go very smoothly or it can go horribly wrong. A key to all those freshman out there that are scheduling for their first time on their own make sure you have back ups. Because once you work up what seems to be a perfect schedule be aware that half of the classes you will want will be full by the time it is your turn to schedule.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

College

College is a very important time in many people's life. This is where they obtain a crucial education in order to gain the career they have wanted since they were a kid. After watching many movies college is depicted as a place to go party, to meet alot of people, get into a bunch of drama, oh and don't forget about greek life. Many movies these days is alot about how greek life is everything on a college campus. Now don't get me wrong I know those are all movies and the point of them is to attract viewers with their crazy college stories, but I don't think, unless you have been at least through most of your undergraduate college career, you truly get a sense of the true college experience.

Your college education is the most important thing about going to college. But have you ever seen in any of the movies of TV shows any of them studying. I mean from experience I study hours at least three hours a night, usually more that just might be on a slow night for me. I understand this could be different for others that have chosen other majors, but for us science majors its not easy ride. Now that I'm a junior it is beginning to be crunch time because I have to take a big step after I finish my undergraduate degree.

My point is that college is more than just a time to mess around and have fun. I'm not saying that you don't get to have fun, because college is a blast, but I feel like there is a right and a wrong way to go through college. The wrong way is obviously partying first and working on your education second. Those types of people don't seem to get very far or even graduate for that matter. The right way is to focus on your education first and enjoy every bit of it while you there, because it doesn't last forever. Its all about making the right decisions. So through this blog I will tell you all the ins and outs of college, the stuff that you don't get to see in the movies or TV shows.