Heath

Hi I wanted to start a thread and ask what advice would you give for a person going to college because soon I am going to college and can't wait to go to college !!!!! Thank you !!!!

Deafness

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Endymion

Congratulations, Heath!

Honestly, the first and foremost thing I'd say is this: your GPA really does matter, so do the best you can. When you graduate, employers will look at your GPA and they will make hiring decisions based on that. It is okay if your grades are not perfect. The better they are, though, the better off you'll likely be.

Other than that, I also say enjoy college. Study hard, but PLAY hard too. TP your roommate's side of the dorm. Snicker and chortle and plot to conquer the planet. Giggle like a schoolgirl every time your professor slips up.

And most importantly, enjoy that damn beer! College is all about memories and learning. Make your memories, learn your stuff, and get yerself a helluva career, baby.

gnarlydorkette

Put in efforts to listen to your professors. It will pay off. They will feel proud that somebody DID listen to them!

Do not fall asleep during movies. It will cost you some brownie points.

Raise your hand if you do have an opinion. *some* professors like it when students participate in the discussion. (*some* professors don't-- they are the ones you need to stay away. They are no fun.)

Find out where are the spots you can nap. The library is the hot spot with those cozy couches and armchairs to nap in. (at my university, the first and second floors are the best places to sleep).

Get to know your classmates that sit next to you. Just their names for the first day is sufficient.

Figure out your college's map to find the SWEET parking spot that is super close to your class. :-)

hootster

Depending on your major, college isnt really that hard if you manage your time and schedule your classes well (ie- dont take lots of hard classes in one semester or take more than 15 hours unless there are no other opinions). As long as u manage your time well, u will have plenty of time to have fun.

In college, its really hard to meet people randomly. It doesnt matter if u are deaf or hearing. I encourage u to join clubs or a frat.

http://www.pickaprof.com/

Check the website out before u pick your classes. Although it is not 100% accurate, its a great way to weed out the bad professors and to find out what to expect from your professors.

Grow a beard if u can. Girls love that shit. (I m assuming u are a guy)

Try to clump your classes together as much as u can. It sucks when your classes are spread out during the day.

Hope all of this helps.

Mookie

Always listen to any liberal professors....

hootster

Hahahahaha, sorry, but are u being serious??

The*Empress

1. Avoid having Black roommates, because they like to blast music on radio.
2. Attend Classes everyday.
3. Take good notes.
4. Talk to professor if misunderstand or raise hands to ask questions.
5. Don't wait last minute getting textbooks.
6. If professor absent many times, then drop that class.
7. Don't join club or frat, because take up your studying times.
8. Be nice to everybody.
9. Don't break no rules.
10. Don't own a bike or a car, can't trust anybody there, they might steal.
11. And don't eat off campus, save money and eat on campus cafetria.
12. Clean up dorm room even if you're the only one is cleaning up.
13. Make friends with the right people.
14. Don't date, because when you breakup with someone it will affect your school. Because it happened to some people who had to drop out of school.
15. If you gonna date, then be careful not to get her pregnant.
16. And don't borrow loans unless your parents agree to help pay or if you have a job now.
17. And don't bring in a lot of big stuff such as mini refrigerator, computer, and other furnitures, because you gotta haul all of that stuff and pay expensive UPS delivery and all. And plus you may have to move from dorm room to dorm room.

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ITPjohn

Endy and gnarlydorkette have good ideas. Try to have some fun, but know your limits on alcohol and sleep. Listen to your body when it starts screaming at you. Ignore the bleary eyes and hangovers at your peril.

Give yourself a couple of days to study for a test. Cramming doesn't work. College isn't that hard if you show up for class, participate in discussions, do the homework, and take notes. I spent many years juggling work and school. I only had one class where I had to make an 'A' on the final to make an 'A' in the class. The trick is to do your best on everything before the final and any last test won't matter.

Take advantage of resources on campus if you're struggling with a class. My school had dozens of videos in the math lab if I was stumped. Teachers have office hours and the good ones will help out anytime as long as you are making an effort. They notice the ones who are paying more attention to the lectures than the classmates. There WILL be gals that distract you. Always keep your goals in mind.

Check into financial aid as soon as you can. I never knew that HS students could apply for college scholarships as early as their junior year. Use as much of it as you can. This will significantly reduce your student debt and the number of hours that you work while in school.

Speaking of work, you have another 40-60 years to go out and work. Depending on your financial situation, you may even be able to finish college without working. If you have to work, let your boss know that school comes first. Give both your best effort, but a college education will pay more dividends over the years than any crappy job paying minimum wage.

MorriganTait

1. Don't drop out before you finish.
2. Sell your books back at the end of the semester unless you are in Law School or Medical School. I promise, you won;t read them.
3. If you have a class where homework is optional - it's really not optional - if you don;t do it, you will probably not pass the class.
4. If they offer extra credit, do it.
5. Avoid classes that start before 8:30 am if you can.
6. Apply for every grant and scholarship you can manage to find.
7. Don't set your drink down at parties.

hootster

Sorry, but that is very misleading. If u dont want to join an organization, thats fine. However, to say that they take up your study time is absurd. I m in a frat myself, yet I find PLENTY of time to study. Not all organizations take up alot of your time. If they do take up alot of your time, most are pretty flexible when u need to study. They understand that school comes first. It doesnt really work in their favor if they arent flexible about study times.

College isnt ALL about studying. It is also about experiencing new things and making friends. Joining an organization is a great way to do that. Even universities ENCOURAGE people to join organizations.

web730

College was my best experience in my lifetime and still is. Nowhere in your world is like it unless you know what school you are attending to.

Be advised to be totally and mentally prepared going to college.

Study as your first prioripty and fun as your the last thing.

Be yourself and be ease with others so you will bend well.

Make new friends with the right ones. And to avoid the crooks, ofc.

Have fun and earn as much you can.

Wish ya the best!

Heath

Thank you to all of you and please keep the advice coming. I am gonna need all the advice and help I can get so college will go smoothly. This also benefits another people looking for advice on going to college too. Thank you and God Bless

webexplorer

I think that you should get your own unexpensive car for the weekends so that you will make some friends with you for the rides. Without a car, they could not come to see you for the weekends. I know it is cruel. That's the way they are. It is important for your car to be parked near the building so that you could see it clear from your place. My truck's 4 wheels were stolen on the campus. The campus safety did not a good job at all because they told us to park there so that they will watch the cars near the safety department. They are jerk. I would appreciate it if you shut up about your religious issues with your friends in the car otherwise you will loose some of them. My friend learned his lesson.

Teresh

Financial Aid
Get on financial aid ASAP. It will make your financial situation less tight, even if it will cost you some extra money later. The Department of Education has the Direct Loan program. Use it. If you're eligible for scholarships, go for them. Apply for as many as possible. Nothing is better than free money paying your tuition.

Sex
Have condoms near your bed. You don't need to have them out, but keep them near the bed. Even if you're not in a relationship, even if you don't plan on having sex, stuff happens. Things may get wilder than you expect. If you don't want to get babies or diseases, have condoms handy. And if you don't end up having sex, they make fun party balloons. Don't sleep with anyone that says no to a condom. If they don't like it, they can go get a venereal disease from someone else.

Academics
GO TO CLASS! If you don't go to class, you won't pass the tests. And if you don't pass the tests, you won't pass the course. And if you don't pass your courses, you'll fail out. And that just sucks.

When you go to class, pay attention. Listen to what the professor is saying, listen to questions that other students ask. If you ever need something clarified, ask. The professor is there to facillitate your learning, and if you don't ask questions, they'll assume you understood them.

When you don't understand something big, see the professor during their office hours. Office hours are there mainly so students can stop by and ask questions. Make use of this.

Social Life
Find a group of friends. Your first year, your circle of friends will probably mostly be people in your classes, but in your second year you'll drift more to people who aren't in your classes, people you know from social events or clubs.

Join clubs. If you want to join a frat, go to their recruitment events. Go to school-sponsored events. If you're into sports, go to the games for the sports you like. Enroll in PE activities.

Go to parties. Not all parties are good. Parties with people you know are better than parties with people you don't know. Be wary of going to a party where you know no one there. If you drink, try not to get drunk. Unpredictable and unforseeable things happen when people are drunk (re-read Sex above). If you have a drink, whether it's alcoholic or not, don't put it down. It doesn't happen that often, but people do sometimes put drugs in drinks. Don't let it happen to you. If you're tired of drinking a particular beverage, put the cup/bottle down (or dump it) and don't touch it again.

Roommates
If you're living in the dorms, you will probably have a roommate for at least your first year. You need to draw up a roommate agreement with him regardless of whether or not your school requires it. The roommate agreement will set in writing the policies for the room which both residents will be expected to follow. Remember, there's several things you should include on such an agreement, such as visitors (and overnight visitors), official quiet hours, what sort of things will be allowed in the room (cigarettes, etc.), and how you will share each other's belongings (if any sharing is allowed at all). Write it up, sign it, have your roommate sign it, photocopy it twice, one for your roommate and the other for your RA. You should give your RA a copy just in case suddenly both your copy and your roommate's copy disappear.

Parents
Unless your university is next door, you probably won't see your parents every day. If it's in another state, you might only see them a few times a year. Get used to it. If you're close to your parents, email or call them often. If you're not that close, do it regularly, even if it's not every day. Keep in touch with your parents. They love you, and whether or not that is reciprocated, they will like to hear from you from time to time. And chances are, they're paying the difference in your tuition after loans, grants and scholarships, so there's financial reasons to keep in touch also.

Rules
There will be rules on campus, in your program and in the dorms. Follow them. Not following them tends to have unpleasant consequences (ie finding out that your housing contract is not renewed, being put on probation, being expelled and banned from campus, et al).

Working
If you need extra money, get a job. School comes first, but working 20 hours a week should be OK if you're a hard worker. You shouldn't go too far over 20, because then you'll have to balance classwork, your job and sleep, and any attempt to balance the three is going to be messy and make you physically ill. When looking for a job, check the student employment office if there is one for a list of openings. Food service jobs are OK. Janitoral jobs are OK. Do not say no to a job simply because you think it is below you. Being unemployed usually doesn't pay anywhere near as well as flipping burgers at the cafeteria.

Freedom
You will be free to do pretty much whatever you want (except for things prohibited by the university's rules and things that are illegal). You will need to actively choose to go to your classes or not, to go to your clubs or not, etc. You will be responsible for yourself and how you behave. You will be treated as an adult, and as such you are expected to behave like one. It's your responsibility to get your work done, to do your job if you have one, to go to clubs if you're in any, what have you. You will probably need to budget your time to effectively fulfill all of your responsibilities.

This is by far the hardest thing for new college students, having to deal with their newfound freedom. Give it your all and you should be OK.

The*Empress

I tried to join organizations at CSUN, but geez, I didn't realize people can be prejudice against me, even deaf people are prejudice against me because the way I look.

I still think joining organization takes up a lot of time.

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The*Empress

Always make friends who are in common with you... and go ahead
and be yourself and speak out your religious view. The hell with stupid people.

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hootster

Thats fine if u think that organizations are a waste of time. Organizations are not for everyone. I just dont think that its a good idea to just tell someone to not join organizations just cuz u had a bad experience with it. Everyone experience things differently.

Yes, some organizations DO take up time, but alot of them are extremely flexible when it comes to studying. This is from personal experience.

signer16

GREAT POST! Seriously, it shouldn't necessarily be in the Alldeaf hall of fame, but it does deserve some special honorable mention or something.
Just to add a little to this, as someone who is a college freshman, remember these things:
Your freshman year, no matter how many friends you make and how many orgs you join, will be a bit lonely, especially first semester. If you are living out of a family situation for a first time, it is a big change. There isn't always someone there. Doesn't mean you can't have a great time, just know there will be a lot more alone time.
College can be great, no matter what "scene" you are into. If you are into drinking, drugs, indiscriminate sex, etc. you can get that in college. But, if you are into having fun without some or any of those 3, you can do that too. I am not sure where you are going to school, but if you are going to a big university, you can find people from ALL over the spectrum. Get to know people who are different from you. That's one part of all that college is about.
College is an amazing, life changing experience. My general phrase of advice: "Try to fit school into your college education!"
Good Luck!

ayala920

Wha... Are you... Wow. I don't even know how to reply to that. Moving on...

Going to class and studying is actually surprisingly beneficial. Shocking, I know. Oh, and buying the textbooks for your classes usually helps a bit too.

If only someone had shared this wisdom with me before I went to college.

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~Ayala~


"Most English-speaking people...will admit that cellar door is 'beautiful', especially if dissociated from its sense (and from its spelling). More beautiful than, say, sky, and far more beautiful than beautiful. Well then, in Welsh for me cellar doors are extraordinarily frequent, and moving to the higher dimension, the words in which there is pleasure in the contemplation of the association of form and sense are abundant."

me_punctured

#1 is a crass generalization that does not apply to all "Black" people. White people, or even any person of diverse races and ethnicities, also like to blast music on radio. I went to a university where more than 40% of its undergraduate student population was Asian, I lived in dorms and co-op houses, and I had non-black roommates who blasted music on radio all the time.

7. Extracurricular activities are healthy. You can meet new people and establish a solid support network this way. You can also take a well-deserved break from all the hard studying. I don't know about fraternities, but I do know student clubs and organizations on a resume demonstrate a well-round student who does not stick his/her head in books all the time. It also demonstrates potential for leadership skills and commitment.

9. Agreed. Rules were meant to be broken and re-written.

10. It depends where you're attending for university. I loved riding my bicycle in the vicinity of campus as well as exploring neighborhoods. As an impatient person, I dislike waiting for the bus and riding it during the busy hours, so walking and riding my bicycle were my preferred modes of transportation. Exercise is healthy, too!

Unfortunately bicycle thefts are all too common on campus. If you must have a bicycle, don't buy a U-lock or leave your bicycle locked in one place too long.

14. DATE! Part of the college experience is meeting new people and developing relationships. College isn't exclusively about studying, college is also about getting more out of life in general.

15. Accidents happen. Stranger things happen. Take advantage of all the health resources your college has to offer and learn about practicing safe sex. I mean it. Get your facts straight, know your stuff. JUST WEAR IT.

pek1

1. Get in touch with the disabilities office soon before starting class.

2. Get note taker requests lined up, so all the professor/instructors have the letter to announce in class the first day. Request your notes IMMEDIATELY or ASAP after the class.

3. Also, sit close.

4. After you have registered, contact each professor/instructor individually via e-mail, introducing yourself to them; they will be happy that you did.

5. Stay on schedule in all your readings and assignments for every class. Don't turn in any work late unless it is approved (some profs will not accept late work).

6. Take notes yourself in addition to note taker and ask your own questions.

7. Finally, request your exams be taken in a quiet area , not in the classroom with your classmates.

8. DO NOT WEAR A HAT, AS ON EXAM DAY, YOU WILL BE REQUIRED TO TURN IT AROUND SO THE BILL IS AT THE BACK OF YOUR HEAD (PREVENTS CHEATING).

9. If you are having problems in a particular class, e-mail the professor as primary, and the disabilties office gets the cc, not the other way around.

10. After you have received a note taker in each class, go over and introduce yourself to him/her. The disabilities office will make sure that they are taking good notes and there are no "doodles" that some do on the side of their note books. If you can't read their handwriting, say so.

hootster

If you dont mind me asking, why do some deaf people request to take the exams in a seperate room? I mean its "quiet" for us anyways, so whats the point of taking it in a quiet room? Just wondering.

Cousin Vinny

What? No provision for ensuring reasonable accommodations such as an interpreter, CART, etc.? Your laundry list sure makes me glad I went to Gally!

All kidding aside, good advice! My main piece of advice is that it's very competitive out there in the academic setting, even for undergraduate studies. That means you'll have to work hard and earn your grades! I sure didn't at Gally.

ayala920

I haven't seen this one mentioned yet, though that may just be lack of reading carefully. If it has been, apologies. If not, *thumbs up* for me!

Get to know your professors. Not only can schmoozing help your grade (some professors will bump up your grade if they detect a genuine interest in learning from you), but getting to know your professors on a personal level can help you in the future. They can write letters of recommendations, make phone calls, etc.

I've only been in college for a year and a half (going back in the fall!), but I got to be friends with a professor in my department. When I left school she got me my first interpreting job without even going in for an interview, but she's helped me look for other jobs as well. Plus, she used to pay me to help her come up with presentations for her class, and to do research with her.

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~Ayala~


"Most English-speaking people...will admit that cellar door is 'beautiful', especially if dissociated from its sense (and from its spelling). More beautiful than, say, sky, and far more beautiful than beautiful. Well then, in Welsh for me cellar doors are extraordinarily frequent, and moving to the higher dimension, the words in which there is pleasure in the contemplation of the association of form and sense are abundant."

hootster