<p>i know all the usual stuff. study hard, work hard, don’t cram, keep detailed notes, attend all lectures, pursue the profs in their office hours… </p>
<p>i didn’t try to the best of my potential i gusss in high school and still pulled decent grades. but i feel like my parents are kinda like MEH our daughter is a major slacker, look at all our friend’s sons/daughters studying 24/7! </p>
<p>so i really want to prove to them i can maintain something like a 3.8-4.0ish range GPA next year (i’m a senior, i’ll be attending uconn honors in the fall as a business major). if anyone attends uconn who’s reading this, any advice on courses there and getting a good gpa is much appreciated :] </p>
<p>should i take the easiest courseload possible for myself (i’m not a science person, so i’m thinking of avoiding all the chemistry, physics, bio i took in high school. instead i’ll be taking upper level english and ‘business’ level math which doesn’t even require calculus… which i took this year) or continue like i did in high school, which is take the most rigorous courses without even thinking about how i would struggle with it? that’s probably what bombed my GPA in the first place … </p>
<p>but yeah, on the whole. is there really any magic formula to it? how do all those high-gpa kids (and i don’t mean high school now) do it? have a social life, ECs, friends, and amazing grades?</p>
<p>All the kids with those insanely high GPAs I know either: have a bunch of natural smarts, are incredibly lucky, know what classes to take for good grades, or study so much they don’t have a real life. Usually it’s all of the above!</p>
<p>Listen, you’re a business major… and you’re in Honors. It won’t be hard for you to get an extremely high GPA.
I’m at UConn but I’m not a business major so I can’t really advise you on courses and such.
However, a number of factors influence how you can do well. Part of it is natural intelligence; some people simply are not as smart as others and have to work harder (and vice versa). Balance of activities, while good for sanity, is going to differ from person to person. Some people might study all the time, while others spend tons of time doing other activities.
As for taking hard courses or easy courses, it depends on what you want out of the experience. For example, I’m a molecular and cell biology major. Nearly all the science majors I know are taking easy gen eds/electives so that they can get an easy A. There’s nothing wrong with that. I, on the other hand, prefer to actually get something out of my classes, even if they’re just gen eds, so I’ve taken some that actually force me to apply myself and learn something. Honors History 101 this semester, for instance, is going to be my only “B” grade this year (well I’m assuming it’ll be a B, unless the teacher gives us a nice curve or scale!), but I feel I actually got something out of it. I went in thinking I’d get an A, but the point is as long as you feel you can do well in a hard course I personally think you should take it. I hate being in an easy class knowing that there’s a harder version available.</p>
<p>My best advice is to avoid cramming and to attend every class. Don’t make excuses to not attend a lecture because it’s the easiest way to get lost in a class. Also, study a little for each class every day instead of waiting until a few days before. Typing my notes on my computer after lecture and reading the text along with the class have helped me the most.</p>
<p>thanks for all the helpful advice :)! it’s really interesting esp hearing it from the perspective of people who actually go to the school i’m going to next year!</p>
<p>and Omniscient1 - i’ll most likely be an accounting major (which unfortunately i hear is the most difficult business major… but excellent job placement rates)</p>
<p>Finance, Real Estate, MIS, and Accounting are tied, in my opinion, for most difficult…I used to be an Accounting major, but switched to Finance. </p>
<p>Accounting does have amazing placement rates… If you have any questions, let me know.</p>
<p>There is a book I recommend all college students own before starting college. It’s called What Smart Students Know by Adam Robinson, written by one of the founders of the test prep service Princeton Review. I have never seen a better explanation of the steps you need to follow to really <em>learn</em> the material, and if you’ve learned it well you will have little trouble with grades. The book explains how to study different kinds of material, take effective notes, prepare for tests, etc.</p>
<p>If I was to give advice in a nutshell, it’s be involved with the material. Don’t just read the text and go “uh-huh, uh-huh, makes sense, yes”; question and test yourself to make sure you really understand. In math/science classes this is more obvious because every chapter has problems you can use to test if you can apply what you’ve just learned. There are also supplemental books worth buying; go to amazon and type in “calculus problem solver” or replace calculus with whatever subject you are studying. These books are a godsend! It’s like having a TA sitting at your elbow asking you a question and writing out the correct answer. Simply cover the answer and try it yourself; repeat until you can solve that type of problem quickly and correctly.</p>
<p>In the social sciences there are some problem solver books, but often you’re more on your own. Still, there’s lots you In a psych class, after you learn about a concept try to figure out how you could set up an experiment right at college to test it on your fellow students. Could you steer kids to choose vegetables in the cafeteria with reinforcement? In econ, imagine what would happen if the demand curve shifted up, left, rotated right?. What if it changed shape and looked like a W? In history try to compare/contrast the events you covered with those of another period; how was the decade surrounding the French Revolution different from that around the American Revolution, and why? Can you think of one thing that literally would have changed history? Another game to play is “be the prof”. After class while the material is fresh in your mind, imagine you ran into a friend who played hooky. Try to give the lecture better than the prof but in only 5-10 minutes. This helps cement the material in your mind. If you’ve been taking notes correctly they only have key points in them; right after this game is a good time to review them and fill in more detail.</p>
<p>The above post is great. It’s hard to learn how to learn in highschool. It took me 2 years of college before I figured it out. This is the advice I give my kids now:</p>
<p>1) Read the syllabus. Try to see the big picture. Answer this question beforehand: What are the 4 most important things I’m going to learn in this class? Then when you hear new material, you’ll know where it fits in.</p>
<p>2) Go to class. Even if you feel bad, even if you were up too late. Go to class.</p>
<p>3) Do all the assigned work. (you don’t have to spend a gazillion hours on this, though. Don’t waste your time being a perfectionist.) Do it even it is hard or seems pointless at first.</p>
<p>4) Test yourself before they test you. Find old tests and quizzes on the internet. Test yourself, grade yourself. Learn the things you didn’t know.</p>
<p>5) Don’t wear yourself out. Exercise, make friends, have a hobby, get enough sleep. </p>
<p>6) Don’t waste time gaming, IMing, reading the daily paper, worrying, watching TV, or trying to study when you are too tired anyway.</p>
<p>7) Have fun, learning should be fun. Don’t worry TOO much about grades.</p>
<p>I don’t disagree with all that geomom said, but you’ll be hard pressed to find enough hours in the day to do all of this. I’m one of those people who has to work harder for good grades. Studying does not consume my whole school life though. </p>
<p>I guess the best advice I can give is to not go off to school with a set plan as to when and how much you’ll study each day. Be sure to make time to do all work for the next day’s classes, but also make time for going to dinner, watching tv in your room, hanging with friends, having a good shower that will give you a place of solitude to destress, and gettting at least 5-6 hours of sleep every night. Don’t party during the week; that’s what Friday and Saturday nights are for. Get to know at least one person in each class so that you have someone to get HW from accidently sleep through class or someone to study with the night before a test.</p>