Mistakes to avoid in college

College Life
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<p>Enlightening? Try laughable or pitiable.</p>

<p>Granted, I am arrogant (as a few of my friends have told me many times), yet my contributions to this thread are appropriate (unlike yours which resort to petty name calling).</p>

<p>I stick by what I said about Community Colleges. The one in my area brags “We’ll get you where you’re going faster”, but in reality most of their course credits don’t transfer to many four year institutions (I actually checked). Also, I know a few kids who go to Community College and they tend to have lower than average intelligence and to be the ones who failed in high school.</p>

<p>Sorry if my comments on double majoring shocked you; you’ll be surprised to know that there are intelligent, bright, and hardworking students who actually study on the weekend!</p>

<p>I felt the OP’s comments sounded a tad irresponsible and disagreed with a few points; there’ nothing wrong with discussing and delivering my opinion, even if I’m not in college. And I don’t know everything, it’s not like I started an “Ask Coot about Anything” Thread! Actually that’d be a fun idea…</p>

<p>And honestly, if you want to be taken seriously, forget the name-calling and make valid points and arguments. Even the OP said that some of things I posted were good. You, on the other hand, just wrote an ignorant challenging message. Well, en garde, my friend!</p>

<p>-The Arrogant Coot66</p>

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<p>Wow, thanks a lot for this fantastic post. I will be sure to keep some of those points in mind as I pursue higher education.</p>

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<p>A thought directed to coot and others of this particular opinion-</p>

<p>What’s so bad about community college? </p>

<p>Yes, there are people that go to community college who didn’t do so well in high school. But look at it this way. They are not total losers who don’t give a frell, because they are actually -going- to college. You know what I mean? They care, and they have a goal for a future that they know/believe requires college.</p>

<p>Besides such people, there are people who go to community college who did well in high school. They go for financial reasons, or for personal reasons (hey, the reasons most people choose a particular college!). These people don’t do poorly, and most importantly, they are not affected by people who do poorly. They go on to get their degree.</p>

<p>As for having community college course credit accepted at 4-year universities/colleges, this occurs at the vast majority of community colleges. There is no doubt, some community colleges have some cleaning up to do.</p>

<p>But, for instance, I did college coursework in high school at my community college, DelTech. Upon admittance to Harvard, they accepted these credits. They were enough credits for the first freshman semester.</p>

<p>So, if a reader on this board is pressed between two colleges that are wrong for them because of financial, distance, family, or academic (wants history but it is an art school) reasons, and community college, I think there is nothing wrong with going with the community college.</p>

<p>So, yes, a lot of people put down the community college, but I don’t think it should be that way. Just as a final note, I don’t know what people use to determine intelligence around here, but because it appears most place stock in the SATs: I have a 2200 SAT, valedictorian of 250. I was going to go to a community college until a merit scholarship made it cheaper to go elsewhere.</p>

<p>Community college is not just for those with “lower than average intelligence.” I hope I have managed to convince at least a few.</p>

<p>Thank you.</p>

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<p>My two cents:</p>

<p>1) “Don’t double major.”. Are you joking me? I am currently double majoring in real estate / management at the kelley school of business, I know that i probably WILL get a much better job by doubling major. Real estate being myspecialty while management being the base.</p>

<p>2) “Give yourself free time.” Yes, give yourself free time, but that free time should obviously be used for social activities, not too much in the dorm settings.</p>

<p>3)“Do not cram.”- Cramming has worked great for me. Most of my gen ed classes will not help me in any way for my major or my future life.</p>

<p>4) “College shouldn’t be a random decision” - agreed.</p>

<p>5) “You don’t need to be number 1 in high school to get into a good college.” - Yes thats obvious, you need more then grades to get a good job. HOWEVER, the NAME of a school is STILL very important in getting the initial job offering, after that, they look at your previous job performances. Not many great companies will hire Community College graduates.</p>

<p>6) “Community College isn’t for idiots.” - Sorry to bursty our bubble, but the majority are… there in CC for a reason, either they had horrible grades or they are trying to save money (the minority)</p>

<p>7) "Take your time in college, don’t rush through in 3 years. " - FULLY AGREE</p>

<p>8) “Don’t drunk email your professors.” - never done it…but its quite common sense</p>

<p>9) “Don’t cheat.” - Agreed.</p>

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<p>A lot of people haven’t responded to the quote about not taking courses unrelated to your major. I COMPLETELY disagree; college is not JUST about getting a good job, but about expanding your horizons, opening your mind to new possibilites, and increasing your overall knowledge. Your employer may not want you to discourse on the figurative devices used by Shakespeare, but they will look for a well-rounded and intelligent person with a foundation in many subject areas. Not to mention–what if you have interests outside your major; most people do, so why not devote some time to them? </p>

<p>As to the condescending view of many of the posters on community college, no, it’s NOT for idiots. You just have to know how to choose the right courses. As a dual-enrolled high school student, I have experienced both amazing and terrible CC courses, but this will happen at any school. Although I would encourage everyone to apply to a larger university to get a new experience, many of the people I know who are going to CC simply have no money for college or don’t have a clue what they wan’t to do with their lives. They’re not DUMB (they could get into some of the lower-tier publics, I’m sure), just confused, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Better to be confused and paying nothing than paying $40,000 to have an “unknown” major.</p>

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<p>Thank you for your advice! I’m going to college in September and some of the stuff you mentioned were definitely things I hadn’t really thought up of before :)</p>

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<p>Yeah, I really don’t get the community college hatred, especially combined with the “oh no I actually have to take courses outside my major, how horrible” attitude. The one complaint I could see about going to a community college is that it might be at a lower academic level than the same classes at a 4-year college would be…but if you’re just going there for a short time to get all those general ed classes out of the way that you don’t want to take in the first place, that shouldn’t matter to you at all. Yeah, maybe there are lots of people with below average intelligence…so what? Are you trying to construct a special artificial world for yourself where everyone is above average in every possible way? What about people with below average attractiveness, or students whose parents have below average incomes? Can you not stand being near those people either?</p>

<p>On double majoring, I would say that it seems like a lot of pointless work to major in 2 random things because you have no idea what you want to do and can’t decide which one you like better, but if you’re doing it with a specific career in mind or because you’re genuinely very interested in two things…well, it’s your free time, go for it (if you can). You shouldn’t really look at college as simply training for a job…if you want that, maybe you should be looking at tech centers and certificate programs instead. Plenty of people seem to major in things not directly related to a specific career anyway, so it doesn’t seem any more pointless to have two such majors instead of one.</p>

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<p>I have been back and forth between universities and community colleges. This will be my last summer I am getting an AA and finishing off at a uni. I have noticed that university courses are lower quality then community colleges. I was taught by grad students at the universities but by an actual instructor at the community college. I sat in classes with 100s of students at the universities but less than 20 at the cc. It feels more one on one at the CC because of the small class sizes. At the Universities students seemed dead they didn’t want to answer any questions but at the CC students seemed more into learning. </p>

<p>I am also going taking a class at a private university that I plan on attending next year. Private universities have that personable feel that a CC has. No grad students teaching you, small class sizes, more engaging.</p>

<p>So my opinion there is nothing wrong with a CC. In HS I use to think a CC was for ■■■■■■■■ people. Then I sat in a university classroom and also a cc classroom. I realized that there is nothing wrong with a CC but there is something wrong with public universities. I feel they are a waste of money. For the kind of money you have to pay a public institution you should get more then what they give you.</p>

<p>Like someone said before go for the private university. It may be more money but trust me its worth every penny.</p>

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<p>There’s no point taking in these advice word by word. Everyone has a different situation in life. We just have to develop our own recipes to success.</p>

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<p>is it just me or does everyone find coot’s ending signatures pretentious and too-esteemed-for-his-own-good?</p>

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<p>If you are a female:</p>

<p>Do not go out with the first person who relentlessly pursues you. They know once you meet a lot of people and get settled in you will see them for what they really are … generally speaking … a looser who has to move fast or loose out.</p>

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<p>dude this is freakin hilariously awesome…i give you major kudos and thanks ^^</p>

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<p>btw im gonna put ur rant on my facebook notes thing if you dnt mind…i just think its just that awesome i gotta show my friends this…its vry helpful thx…again xD</p>

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<p>Kenshi-</p>

<p>How are private universitiies more worth it than public ones? </p>

<p>Public schools, especially in the south, are about 20,000 - 30,000 dollars cheaper per year than private schools. thats about 100,000$. I dont care if your going to Harvard, thats not worth it unless your rich. Save your money for better things (grad school).</p>

<p>After the first year or two, all large public schools do have small classes taught by a professor. You just have to get into your major. Only the intro courses are taught by TAs.</p>

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<p>Live for tomorrow and the next thing you know is that there will be no tomorrow.</p>

<p>You should not learn for the sake of getting a job so you can then enjoy your life. Enjoy everything you do. Live your life as an end, not a means to an end.</p>

<p>High school is the last time I’ll do something I don’t enjoy. Next year I want to take every class I’ve signed up for, I can sleep in, and I’m free on fridays. Your gonna be busting your butt at 8a and not be done till 5p on fridays just so you can get out of college? So what you’ll get a degree or job before me. Remarkably, nobody cares.</p>

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<p>Private schools are worth it because of the small class sizes and you get taught by a teacher and not a grad student.</p>

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<p>Private schools often have classes taught by grad students as well. Liberal arts colleges, clearly, don’t have courses taught by grad students, but larger private universities generally have quite a few lower-level courses taught by grad students.</p>

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i go to one of the “larger private universities” USC, and it’s more or less policy that lecture periods are only taught by professors, even in GE and intro courses. there are discussion sections for those lectures that are taught by grad students and they do usually grade the papers, but the main lecture is never given by a grad student.</p>

<p>even finals study sessions may be given by the professor, depending on the professor…my math professor was nice enough to hold a two hour study session yesterday for our final, followed by our TA’s study session.</p>

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<p>hmm so i haven’t read this entire thread but here are a couple of my thoughts:
on CRAMMING and CHEATING- I came from a very prestigious and competitive hs in ny where both cramming and cheating on tests was not just a norm but almost a neccessity to survive in such a cutthroat place. Yes, I agree with others that cramming does work, it has a certain technique and if you’ve done it for an extended period of time it should garner some consistently respectable grades. However, both cheating and cramming are very stressful processes. Think about it, you have a few hours left till an exam and your mind is racing and you skip a meal and rush to memorize half a textbook. I now attend a top 10 LAC where absolutely NO ONE cheats or at least the majority do not. I have found it to be incredibly liberating to be able to brush off a less than stellar grade once in awhile and not feel cheated that a person who cheated on an exam got a higher grade than me.
I still cram for tests (I think most college students do) regardless of whether or not I enjoy the material I am studying. However, when I take the time each day to do even a teeny bit of the extensive reading each day or look over my notes, it makes even cramming a whole lot less stressful. </p>

<p>I think that cramming at least in my experience is unavoidable in most competitive colleges (I would argue that the curriculum and course load is designed so that it is near impossible not to) however, there are definitely ways to make it more efficient and still retain information and enjoy life and what you are studying at the same time. </p>

<p>all entirely IMO of course :)</p>

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<p>I skimmed some of these post about community colleges here, and some of you guys really have a distorted view of CC’s. I can’t really elaborate, because i have to head out to work, but just head over to the transfer forum on college confidential, and you’ll get a sample of how hard people are working at CC’s to transfer to some of the top universities in the nation.</p>