On the first day, try to get to class five or ten minutes early and get a good seat. I’ve never had a professor with assigned seating, but it’s basically an unspoken rule that if you’ve sat in the seat for a few days…it’s your seat. I once had a class (with well over 100 people) where a professor let us choose where to sit the next day, and sign a sheet to claim our spot. For attendance-taking purposes.
Always be organized. Start organizing your things before classes start.
DO NOT THROW AWAY A SYLLABUS. THAT THING WILL BE YOUR BEST FRIEND. SOME PROFESSORS ONLY SAY ASSIGNMENT DATES ONCE IN CLASS. THEN NEVER AGAIN. AND YOU WILL ONLY HAVE YOUR SYLLABUS TO REMIND YOU THAT YOUR NEXT TEST IS AN HOUR FROM NOW.SOMETIMES THEY WONT EVEN MENTION THE ASSIGNMENTS IN CLASS. BECAUSE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO KEEP YOUR SYLLABUS.
Always know where a restroom is in every building you walk in. You do NOT want to run in the hallway looking for the restroom and knock over your English professor when they come around the corner.
When you get to campus, walk inside the buildings your classes are in…if you can. If you see that you have ten minutes between two classes, find the shortest route from Class 1 to Class 2. There’s no shame walking around with a picture of the campus map on your phone. No one expects you to know your way around campus if you’re new. If they do, their logic is flawed.
When you have free time early in the semester (and it’s a nice day), just walk around campus and get to know it. Go everywhere you can and explore.
Explore campus for a really good study spot. It could be at a café, on a bench in a building, at a picnic table, on the sofa at the library, in the greenhouse, etc. Just find a really awesome area that you know you can work in.
Keep your schedule with you. You really do not want to be late to a class on the first week.
Try to get a seat up front. It gives you more motivation to take notes and pay attention, and it will make you less likely to sneak a glance at your phone. Always pay attention to your professors, look at them while they’re speaking. The more you respect them, the more they respect you and therefore are more willing to help you if you need it.
If you don’t like being called out in class to answer a question or something, be somewhere in the first couple of rows, next to the door. Being on the side allows you cover and a lot of heads to hide behind.
You still have to talk in class, though. It’s scary, but your relationship with your professors is really important. It will also raise your participation grade.
CLASSES
Don’t get all your books from the campus bookstore. See if you can find it cheaper on ValoreBooks.com. I saved $300 this semester with this website. And always sell your books online, because the bookstore will either give you $5 for that Chemistry book that cost $180...or won’t even accept it. Also check on Amazon and Chegg. Always buy used or rent the books.
Take classes that have nothing to do with your major. Broaden your horizons.
Always start your assignments as soon as you know about them. It will save you a lot of stress during Finals Week.
Sometimes there won’t even be homework or classwork in a class. Your grades will be based on tests.So you HAVE to do well on them and you HAVE to study all the time. For every hour you’re in class, study for at least an hour. Your professors will say 2-3 hours, but that is something to work up to. Take your studying seriously or you will not get the grade you want.
ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR FILES.
Don’t write down everything a professor says. You can’t. You will miss important concepts. And you will hate studying.
I regret taking all of my General Education classes the first year. My GPA was lower than usual my second semester because I had no motivation. Learn from my mistakes.
And never take the bus if you’re late heading to class! Sometimes the bus won’t arrive at the bus stop on time or it will be full before you get on it. It’s better to speed walk to class and get there a minute or two into the lecture than wait for the bus and have everyone stare at you because you’re interrupting the lecture in the middle of class.
Don’t stay in bed until your first class. Give yourself an hour and a half to start your day off right. You will be happier and more focused.
WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN IN A PLANNER.Carry it around like it’s your newborn child. You will forget something, even if it is on your syllabus. You will remember stuff better when you make a list of all your assignments with the due date right beside of it, crossing out the complete ones. The more you see that list, the more you remember to do.
If your professor puts notes online, GET THEM.
Always take notes during lectures.Always take notes when you read the textbook. It’ll be so much better for you to study for finals. Trust me.
Most of the questions on the exam will be from what the professor is talking about. Which may or not be on the power points.
Do the readings. There will be quizzes and you have no idea how much one failed quiz can ruin your grade in the class. Professors don’t have millions of assignments like your high school teachers do. One failed quiz made me go from an A to a D, and it took me three months to get a B in that class.
Do the readings by the specific date, if they have one. Otherwise, you will get behind and hate yourself.
And please do the reading at least twice. Read before it’s due and before class on the day it’s due.
THE EXAM REVIEW A PROFESSOR DOES WILL HAVE TEST QUESTIONS. THIS IS ALWAYS TRUE.
It’sokay if you don’t get a 4.0 every semester. It’s okay if you fail a test. I failed many tests both semesters, but I ended up with a 3.8 in the Fall and a3.0 in the Spring. Keep doing your best because YOUR BEST IS GOOD ENOUGH.
PLEASE.IF YOU REALLY DON’T UNDERSTAND SOMETHING. GET TUTORING. DON’T BE ASHAMED. DON’T WAIT UNTIL IT’S FINALS AND YOU’RE CRAMMING AND FRUSTRATED AND CONFUSED. Would you rather be too embarrassed to ask for help and fail or get a better grade by asking for help?
If you notice that anyone around you is always on their phone or doing random things on their laptop, MOVE SEATS IF YOU STILL CAN. It was too late for me in my Biology class because I sat right behind this guy who always texted and his phone was never on silent and I am very easily distracted so it annoyed me to no end.
It’s likely that you will change your major. Maybe more than once. It’s okay.You cannot know what you’re doing with your life when you’re not even twenty. Self doubt is normal. You will find what you love and find yourself with time.
People will tell you “major in something that you would be willing to do for free”. No. Just.No. If you’re good at something, you know better than to do it for free. Major in something you love to explain to people.
Don’t ever quit your major because it’s challenging. College is not supposed to be easy.
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