</p>
<p>6 Tips for College Freshmen and Sophomores</p>
<p>As I was traveling last week (giving talks at George Washington University in D.C. and New York University), I was reminded of some of the fundamentals that many people learn only in hindsight, if at all. The most frequent coulda-shoulda-woulda I hear wherever I give a talk is “I wish someone had told me how much my grades would matter!” Sometimes it seems so obvious to me from a distance – why else are you in school? – but the message bears repeating. While I was on the road, I put together these tips for people just starting their college careers, when they still have time to avoid common mistakes.</p>
<ol>
<li>Let Your Major Pick You</li>
</ol>
<p>A lot of college students ask me what majors will look best on paper when it comes time to apply for a job or to graduate school. At this point in your college education, you really have no business committing to a career yet. You should be exploring – different classes, different internships and part-time jobs, different activities, different professors. Take a wide variety of classes, even if variety is not mandated by your school’s graduation requirements, and you’ll figure out pretty quickly which ones you’re passionate about. You’re better off using internships to explore careers and specializing in particular professional skills in graduate school. (I remember trying to sign up for an accounting class as a sophomore at Columbia and the professor refusing to let me in for that very reason.) College, particularly the earlier years, is the time and the place to be learning more broadly how to think. The professional skills can and should come later, either in graduate school or on the job.</p>
<ol>
<li>Follow the Professors</li>
</ol>
<p>Find out who the best teachers are and load up on those classes. The best teachers could lecture every day on the history of Brazilian trade unions and you’d still be fascinated and learn how to think. A site like RateMyProfessors.com has its limitations (easy grading does not equal good teaching, and I don’t find their “hotness” ratings particularly relevant: “McDreamy Hot!! Great teacher! Take any class he teaches! Easy grader and easy on the eyes”), but it’s just one more resource to help you find the best ones. (And if you want to see that shoe on the other foot, check out RateYourStudents.Blogspot.com.) Start cultivating relationships with your professors – be engaged in class and talk to them during office hours. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Aside from the academic benefits, you’ll need them for graduate school recommendations in just a few years, and sometimes they have useful industry contacts as well.</p>
<ol>
<li>Do Your Own Career Research</li>
</ol>
<p>Many professors and college administrators (including folks at the career center) haven’t spent much time outside of academia, so don’t treat them as your only resources as you explore careers and line up internships or other job opportunities. Make every summer in college a strategic part of your post-graduation career planning – many employers make permanent offers to their summer interns. After you graduate from college, it will be much harder to try a job or industry on for size without taking a hit to your resume and looking like a flaky job-hopper, so take advantage of those summers. I know that many internships don’t pay, but as someone who temped and (badly) waitressed her way through college, I would advise you to get a paying job on the evenings and weekends if that’s necessary to finance your internships.</p>
<ol>
<li>Be Smart About Your Financial Future</li>
</ol>
<p>Most people borrow for college, and for every dollar you spend now, you’ll be paying up to two in the future, depending on how long it takes you to pay back your loans. Check out financial planning calculators – FinAid.org has good ones – to figure out how much money you need to be making after graduation to make your monthly loan payments. Save your credit cards for emergencies, and don’t fall for those seductive credit card pitches on campus. Get in the habit of tracking your spending (check out Moneypants.com) – it’s a habit that will serve you well for the rest of your life.</p>
<ol>
<li>Classes Come First</li>
</ol>
<p>If you ever have to choose between grades and extracurricular activities, save your grades. If you can swing both, then knock yourself out, but don’t forget the primary reason you’re in college: your coursework. As a former graduate school admissions officer, I heard a lot of people excuse their lousy or so-so transcripts by pointing out how “well-rounded” their activities were outside of class, or how “passionate” they were about Activity X. Instead, their transcripts just proved to me that they had misplaced their priorities. Do I even need to add that Thursday-through-Sunday drinking is even less of an excuse? (Yes, people have tried the “rich social life” story plenty of times.) College is not an excuse to live like a fall-down drunk for four years. If you find you have trouble getting through the week until your next party, you’ve got big, big problems that you need to fix.</p>
<ol>
<li>If You Lose Your Bearings, Take a Breather</li>
</ol>
<p>Sometimes life will get in the way of your best intentions. You won’t be able to go back and do college over again, so make sure you can give school your undivided attention while you’re there. If external circumstances make that impossible (a recurring or serious illness, grave family difficulties, needing to work more than 20 hours per week), explore dropping down to part-time or taking a semester or even a year off to get a handle on whatever that problem is. Most students in these situations try to push through the crisis, and their transcripts end up looking like train wrecks. They’ll have to explain and make excuses for their grades for a long time to come. You’re much better off showing people a transcript with great grades and having to explain why you needed to take time out in the middle.</p>
<p>[Blog</a> | Ivey Files](<a href=“http://www.annaivey.com/iveyfiles/]Blog”>Blog — Anna Ivey Consulting)</p>
<p>