General

[quote=Omegathorion]First week of college was like that for me too. Holy frick, so much stuff to see, so much stuff to do! This is awesome!

Then it becomes a grind.[/quote]

sounds like maplestory xD

First week of college was like that for me too. Holy frick, so much stuff to see, so much stuff to do! This is awesome!

Then it becomes a grind.

Huh? It's important to socialize. That's the best part of college! <3

[quote=PcPls123]lol Do you know how many ppl have graduated with honors and can't find a job now. Job security in your field may suck. Getting contacts is the best way to increase your chances of finding a job after school. Also try and find part time work in your field to build up your experience for your resume. lol How many companies do you think want a person who has 95% but no field experience.[/quote]

^this, you can't afford to be silent and not stick out... and the part-time work for experience is a good idea.
I start at an art college next week, and I probably wouldn't have gotten in if I didn't meet with some people for help putting final touches on my portfolio.
Grades are important, but you're also there to make friends and contacts for future internships and work.

[quote=PcPls123]lol Do you know how many ppl have graduated with honors and can't find a job now. Job security in your field may suck. Getting contacts is the best way to increase your chances of finding a job after school. Also try and find part time work in your field to build up your experience for your resume. lol How many companies do you think want a person who has 95% but no field experience.[/quote]

Especially in engineering. Lots of students are overwhelmed by engineering workloads, so they don't find internships. Business is a different story. In schools with good business programs, students are almost forced to find internships by their junior year, and they'll have a huge web of connections before they even graduate.

Personally, I'm still a rising sophomore, and I have 8 months of actual work experience in a financial office, and my connections go as far as the president of G.E.

@Ickest
Very good business program, extremely beautiful campus, lots of students, in-state tuition, got a scholarship. I was accepted into several colleges like University of North Carolina and Emory, but I had no scholarship for them, so it's literally $3000 / semester of tuition vs $40,000/ semester of tuition.

Besides, UMD is very close to Washington DC and is a connection hub. People from UMD get jobs and internships very easily, and can make very powerful connections. I already have General Electric Company president as one of my connections, and next semester I'm meeting Michelle Obama. We get a lot of internship opportunities to business students, including 10 to 20 positions for the [b]white house[/b]. Even if Princeton Review ranks UMD lower than 40 other business colleges, they don't really consider the benefits. I've got friends going to business colleges in places like Berkeley, and their internships are plentiful, but not good.

[quote=Ickest]@WorkOfArt: Aw, I guess everyone lied to me. [/quote]

It's not everyone lied to you. Perhaps the people who talked to you were engineering majors. I have a lot of friends in engineering (I'm asian, mind you), and my roommate is as well; they have 25 to 40% curves, but even with the curve the average final grade is still a B or C.

Here, I'll show you my school sponsored website: http://ourumd.com
Our UMD is a website designed for people in my university to manage their class choices. It's especially helpful because it allows you to see the averages in classes. What % of people got A's, what % of people got B's, C's, D's, F's, etc.

As for the averages part, averages is based on nation, while school is based on school. People attending James Madison University will be fed very nicely, with very healthy choices that are still delicious. People attending my school, different story.

And the Freshman 15 mostly applies to girls, that's a statistic that the University of California: Berkeley, came up with, if you want to try and find that article.

[quote=Ickest]Maybe if the year were 198x - times have changed.

OT: Also, college isn't like High School where you have to know everything to get an A. Just know more than most people and the curves will work in your favor; kind of like an AP test.[/quote]

I'm sorry but this is completely untrue. Curves do not work in your favor unless you're a specific major. Most core classes do not have such heavy curves. It's easy for people (like me, but please don't think I'm bragging by saying this) who can absorb information just by sitting in class, or just by reading the textbook a single time. But so many classes don't curve, and some classes curve as little as [b]1 or 2 percent.[/b] Astronomy 101, average grade 72%, curve: 2.8%, meaning people who got a 72% would get a 74.8%. Big whoop. My Business Ethics 101 class: [b]median[/b] grade 83%, no curve whatsoever, meaning more than half of the people failed to get an A.

High school is where you don't have to know everything. College is where you really need to understand everything. So many tests I've taken really dug up on the nitty gritty of it all.

I hate to sound like a jerk but I'm just curious why you're giving college advice if you aren't in college yet, or if you're still a freshman in college. Having a sibling in college isn't going to make you understand how everything works. You have to put things into your own perspective..

In high school, I maybe studied 30 minutes [b]a week[/b] on average and pulled off a 3.72 unweighted / 4.46 weighted. In college, I'm forced to study an hour a day, especially because of those "freebie" quizzes that some professors give every class. Worth only 10% of your grade, but missing a single quiz would drop your grade by a good 0.7%.

It's not that difficult. You're on your own, and you can't expect professors to do things for you, not even bump an 89.9% to an A. You do your best and take what you get, and if you don't get what you want, then you didn't do your best.

You talk to as many people as you can. You go into an elevator with someone random? Say hi, comment on something. Just be nice, because no matter how socially active you are, if you're nice, you'll get treated nice. If you're loud, you won't. Seriously, aside from my closest friends I don't think I've said a single negative thing to anyone throughout my entire first year of college.

As for physical fitness, that's for you to maintain. But parkour, that's just like breakdancing. It's an activity that many people think is really cool and requires a lot of physical fitness to do it. But it's also just a life phase. Maintain physical fitness first, then do what you want. Because if you don't have physical fitness, you will not be able to perform parkour or breakdancing very well, and even if you do, your body will be strained doing it. Meaning, you could injure yourself, and eventually be unable to perform regular physical fitness such as running or lifting. When things like that happen, you'll regret all of it. Spend a year on physical fitness first, as in running (increased cardio performance), lifting (increased muscle bulk), and swimming (increased muscle tone and increased cardio performance). Then, if you are still up for the challenge, begin learning parkour or whatever, but don't drop your workout habits.

@Ickest
The Freshman 15 is not that Freshman < 3. It's the Freshman > 10. I say this from personal experience, not from my own weight gain (I lost 5), but from observation of so many of my friends. They got larger, fatter, etc., simply because the college food does not offer many healthy choices, and people really don't want to spend their college eating food they don't want to eat (as in, the healthy food). Don't base your assumptions on just a few people telling you otherwise (also a very good lesson to learn for college, prejudice can get you into trouble). Base it on personal experience and observation, then begin making statements.

The freshman 15 definitely exists, and I've seen a LOT of people become victims to it. You haven't gone to college yet (based on previous posts), so you don't actually have that first hand experience, watching your friends eat an absurd amount of junk food, and gaining weight quickly.

Of course, it's also based on school. Some schools have much better and healthier food than other schools. My university has pretty unhealthy food, since it seems they focus more on making the students happy rather than healthy, so they serve really tasty but unhealthy fast food. We have fantastic pasta, but it's also 550 calories (marinara sauce) to 750 calories (alfredo sauce or pesto sauce) to as much as 900 calories (alfredo + pesto) per serving. Then, they make killer garlic bread, which adds another 120 per serving.

Won't exactly help if 90% of the food in my university has more than 400 calories per serving, and the food that does only have 400 calories won't fill you up.

@wilber: Lets say I am going into engineering, I make friends with a guy whose dad works for Intel, I talk to him and see if I can set up an appointment with his dad and learn more about the company and the way that it is headed or maybe even land a job at the company because the father could recommend you.

Carry hidden blades under your robe.

[quote=Ickest]@SmashFace: Word up, yo.

Networking and experience are the key to finding a job. No one cares if you know the most about economics if you're an introvert who can't work with others.

Talk to your professors too: you never know if they know someone in their field to help you get a job.[/quote]

Okay, if I not misunderstand, you meant trying to build relation and connection with people, so that when you need help they might back you up?

And the silence I talked about here is not saying not making friends or becoming sociable, it's more like don't draw too much attention to myself and say things only when needed, I don't know, it's kinda hard to explain.

@Ickest: the Freshman what? idk what you're talking about

@Ickest: This man knows, networking is a very powerful tool in the real world, helps you get what you want with less effort.

Sooooooo all i read was that you're becoming an assassin in college? o.o

>Become socially invisible

Have a great time at college

try to minimise freshman 15 (bad weight gain), improve/develop study habits, meet the right people in your classes, and you're good to go

Weight lift! Weight lift! Weight lift!