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Starting college in the fall. Any advice?

sugafut08

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Hi everyone. I'm graduating from high school in June and am starting college in the fall. I have no idea of what to expect, nor do I know how I will cope with being away from my family. At the moment, I am sorting through my college acceptances and deciding what college to attend. Does anyone have any advice about choosing the right college and/or the college experience in general? I would really appreciate it. :D
 
Hey I just started college in September
In all honesty in my own personal experience it really isn't that bad. I was really nervous the first day but calmed down after a while. It's a lot like high school except with much more freedom. Also I thought I was going to be just swarmed with work but surprisingly I wasn't. It's just a lot of reading and papers every month and maybe a weekly hw assignment per class. The plus side is that you can choose your own schedule and sleep in if you want if you don't choose a very early morning class.

I would recommend you completing all of your general requirements before picking any electives or other classes you enjoy. That way you will get all of that over with at once. A lot of seniors in hs in my experience seem to have this notion that you don't have general requirements in college but you do in most schools. those classes are just the basics like english, history, science, math and an art class a lot of the times.

Also i've learned in high school not to put my complete trust in the guidance counselors in the school. that served me well in college. When you go to the guidance counselor and he or she gives you some kind of advice you should go home and do a little research into what that person said. Like in college a guidance counselor told me I could not take a 3rd level english class because i was a freshman but i didn't listen to her and took it anyone figuring out that that wasn't the case and that class has allowed me to fulfill 3 general requirements in one.

btw beware of the freshman 15! lol

anyways that's the best i can do.

hope that helps a little!

what schools are you considering?
 
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welp i've gone thru this process three times already (undergrad, master's, now doctoral in the fall) so perhaps i can be of a lil help. When i got all my acceptance letters i looked em over and put the schools that i didn't get that "home" or "comfortable" feeling walking around the campus (ps if u haven't been to the campuses go to the ones u can get to! If you don't get that this is it! feeling don't worry! i got it when i was selecting my undergrad but haven't experianced it since LOL

I would look at the financial aid packages they're offering you too, if your going to be paying all or part of this... u wouldn't believe how all the costs add up! esp when u graduate and get the total loan amount u'll be paying over the next 30 some-odd yrs! oh and u will be poor for the next four years but they will b fun yrs! :)

i would pick a school w/a good social atmosphere but that isn't a big "party" school this way u will have a social life but won't be tempted to deviate from your studying all the time... make sure the students at the school look happy!

those are my big tips rt now... what schools r u considering and do u have a major selected yet?
i've gone to quinnipiac university and suny brockport and have to pick out my doctoral program w/in the next few days (damn that april 15th deadline!)
 
Ok i can only help u on talking about the experience...cuz i really didn't go through a "picking a choice" thing...cuz i had my sights on ONE college which i'm currently attending now. For me it came down to being in state, good solid English/Rhet program, big and diverse, and nice campus (dorms, etc).

And as far as experience it's SOOOOO similar to high school in some ways and SOOOOOO different in some ways.

Similar? You have to go to class and do the work. THere's no getting around that lol

DIfferent? You're totally on your own! And its awesome (at least to me). You'll have a lot of things you have to decide on your own like what classes you take, who you hang out with, what organizations to join, what jobs/internships to take, when you're gonna take said classes...etc. But doing so is a real growing experience and it's really FUN!

It's basically what you make it. For me, my uni is soooo big and diverse, there are a lot of people that u can choose to hang out with. You can choose party every night and get drunk (cuz we are considered a big party school, and we have one of the biggest Greek systems)....BUT! You always have a choice. And there are plenty of alternatives if u don't wanna have that kind of experience.

For me, being a sophomore, i've learned that you really do CHOSE what kind of experience you want to have in college. And I am having THE BEST TIME. They say that your best years are your high school years...THEY LIE! :lol: Right now I'm loving life right now...being independent, doing exactly what I want to do as far as my major and career is concerned (its gotten to a point where school work isn't really WORK anymore because I'm into my major now, and I'm enjoying every bit of it)....I have great friends...I've partied hard, I've worked hard (yeah i pulled a few all nighters lol), I've partied drunk, I've partied sober :lol:, I've had roommate drama, and I've had good times with my roommate, I've grown spiritually, I've traveled, I've dealt with the dorm food and I've eaten pizza at 2am :lol:...I mean, like i said, it is what you make it. Personally, I've had memories here that I'll never forget.

Yay! hehe i hope that helped a bit to show you how its like. :p
 
Thank you everyone for your advice. I feel less scared about going to college now that I have more of an idea of what to expect.
I am interested in liberal arts colleges so my top two choices are Claremont McKenna College and Scripps College which is right across the street from CMC. I applied to four of the five Claremont Colleges because I can take classes at any one of them for a more diverse education. However, since i got into all of them, I don't know which to chose. Scripps is an all girls school that specializes in humanities while Claremont McKenna focuses more on politics. Both schools share the same science program which is all that really matters to me since I want to major in biology and hopefully go to medical school. Plus the financial aid packages are mostly the same and my family is going to pay for my education. I am stumped about where to go because I am a combination of each school's typical student and I can financially afford to go to either one.
 
personally the all girls thing would immediately shut down the one option for me... but thats just me... i hated living w/girls LOL we're sooooo catty sometimes haha
 
sugafut08 said:
Hi everyone. I'm graduating from high school in June and am starting college in the fall. I have no idea of what to expect, nor do I know how I will cope with being away from my family. At the moment, I am sorting through my college acceptances and deciding what college to attend. Does anyone have any advice about choosing the right college and/or the college experience in general? I would really appreciate it. :D
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I am a life-long learner myself. But being in your shoes, I'd pick the school closest to your family...just so that you know they are not too too far away. ALso, make sure you are self-reliant and self-diligent. In high school they would remind you of when things are coming up - papers, exams etc. In college they don't do that. Get your syllabus first day of class, get a good organizer and make sure you remind YOURSELF of when exams/papers etc. are due. Good luck!
 
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