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Redbeard wrote:Get a degree that will give you solid employment opportunities when you graduate.

Dammit! Only doctors seem to have that ability.

I know of very few fields which offer that kind of reliability, not saying that a liberal arts degree is a good idea, though. Studying in a field that both interests you, as well as provide some form of opportunity is the best option. There is serious debate about the actual worth of a college degree these days, and relying on one to carry you through life is a bad idea. Find a loan that won't ruin your life, that is the best option available. Student loans are much friendlier in Europe, and you're not likely to make more than 50k for your first few years outside of college. A college degree will limit your ability in many situations, to get work that simply pays money, instead of imaginary professional-respect peanuts (you need food on the table, not 'guarantees' for a 6 figure income).

There are fewer and fewer fields that offer solid opportunities, although some are definitely better than others.

Pack lightly for the move. Keep in mind, if you're in dorms, that you're going to have to lug all that crap out in the end, and you'll be amazed at what you don't use. Should you leave anything vital at home, there's always FedEx.

Wrex hit it spot on.

College degrees are handed out left and right now meaning they don't mean as much anymore. Hell, even some big corporate employers are starting to worry more about someones work ethic and job history (for the older crowd) than a framed piece of paper.

Not saying degrees don't mean ANYTHING but they won't guarantee you a high paying job. Narrow your degree pursuit to something within your field of interest. I like crunching numbers so I'm going for a BS in accounting. I don't care if I won't ever make 6 figures a year. A high 5 will let me put food on the table at least and live in a fairly nice home.

It will cost me about $36k for a 4yr BS at the local university for an accounting major with a minor in accounting law (need a minor and 1yr experience to be able to take the CPA exam). I can get a job within the state starting at probably around $30k/year (double once I'm a CPA). If I stay within the city I live (a nice city) I can get a nice 2 bedroom home (no wife or kids or live in gf atm) for about $60k.


So in a nutshell, get a degree in a related field. Just having a degree won't guarantee a good enough job to keep yourself out of loan debt the rest of your life.

Buy lots of ramen noodles.

Lots and lots of ramen noodles.

Everyone keeps advocating beer for some reason.

Hopefully you didn'tscrew yourself over with AP classes.

Anywho, even though I'm a sophomore at ODU, I do have some advice. If your college works with a community college, take some classes there over the summer. Most college classes that have a lab attached to them have labs run by T.A's who don't necessarily know how to teach or how to do anything in that class. T.A's are students just like you.

In community colleges, there's a higher percent chance that the actual teacher will also teach the lab and that really helps.

Also, listen to advice from mooj. It's not about sex, it's about connections. Get as many friends as possible especially if those friends have taken the same class as you because they may have the tests from last year and those are better to study than the actual reviews.

Learn about the "grade forgiveness" policy at your college.

Even B.S classes can be tough.

Know your teacher. I had a scottish Calc 3 teacher and managed to get extra credit on some of my tests by blasting england( sorry brits, but I needed all the help I could get). My test average for that class was exceptionally low, but I managed a C- because I also went to his office after class to get help and he knew that I was trying and not screwing around. The grading is up to the teacher so if they know you're trying, they may be able to help.

Make your teachers laugh, my organic chemistry teacher told me that she enjoyed grading my final exam because I put chemistry jokes in there(i.e, a picture of a windowless-van with "free electrons" written on the side and a molecule with a plus sign written on it running towards the van. I captioned it "beware of strangers with electrons, they may be nucleophiles").

Also, if at all possible doodle on your tests. It gets the creative juices flowing and may help you remember something that was stuck in the back of your head.

Another test tip, if possible, try to use the bathroom in the middle of a test. Sometimes that simple walk to the restroom may be enough to get your brain working. You also have "aha" moments on the throne sometimes.

Fateweaver wrote:
It will cost me about $36k for a 4yr BS at the local university...

Bemidji State, or UMD?

1.Go to your lectures.
2.Don't get into the habit of procrastinating on assignments- the sooner you start, the better they'll be.
3.Make use of a diary or organiser for time management, and try to stick to it.
4.Eat properly- have breakfast, lunch and dinner, try to get some protein and fresh veg in with the cheap carbohydrates.
5. Socialise! If you're doing 1-3, you should have ample time to meet interesting people and expand your horizons. Join clubs and societies that you are interested in, chat to people in the canteen, meet people in bars. College is one of the best times to make friends.

That's the advice I wish I'd been given when I first went to college
Of course, to this day (now at year 7 of college education) I'm spotty on 1-3 but they are the key to success- treat it like a job, but you gotta be your own boss. Time off is good, and it's even better if you're not feeling guilty

dogma wrote:

Fateweaver wrote:
It will cost me about $36k for a 4yr BS at the local university...

Bemidji State, or UMD?

Bemidji State.

Tuition is $5500 per 25 credits + books every semester. 150 credit minimum for CPA. Though I'm thinking of going the slightly shorter route of 125 creds with no CPA.

Fateweaver wrote:Hey Vlad, I know we don't see eye to eye and can't get along but take the advice about school.

I fethed off too much 2 years in and was forced to drop out or flunk out. I finally have the opportunity to go back this fall after 15 years. Had I not been such a dumbass I could have been 12 years into a career doing networking and administration making close to if not at least 6 figs.

It's also been said to just take general elective courses (math, science, some form of English lit class). Get those out of the way since I'm sure 99% of any degree will require x amount of general skills credits. That gives at least a year to plan, if not more (obviously a BS requires more electives than an AS).

Thanks Fate!

It's true haven't always gotten along and that's true but politics aren't an all-encompassing thing and to judge someone based on their beliefs is shallow so I can't do that to you or anyone. I certainly still respect you as an individual. Hopefully we can turn over a new leaf even if we disagree on some issues.


@Redbeard-Yeah, I figured that I'd leave the 40k at home until I got used to college.
I also have been given a very generous scholarship and also have Financial Aid so my student loans are going to be very little.
The nice thing is that their theatre program (which I am in) gets you Actor's Equity points so I will have a head start! I also plan to do some business. Maybe double-Major.


Honestly, I am overwhelmed by all of the awesome advice and support. Thank you guys so much. This is why I love Dakka. I wish I could say more but I'm not the best speaker. So I will just say thank you to all of you!

Hey man, I never take anything said on dakka seriously.

If I did I'd go on a shooting rampage or cry myself to sleep at night (or both).

I guess that's why I respect the dakka rules enough to avoid too many reprimands. I don't play nice nor pretend to but I play nice enough to keep the Inquisition, err mods, off my back.

Will you actually be a CPA at the end of the course, or it just a semester of CPA prep? If its the former its probably in your best interest to get it out of the way, a lot of doors open once you have that license. If its the latter, then you might want to put it off as many states require that you have a certain number of years experience before being considered eligible for CPA status.

4 year accounting and then if I want a shot at the CPA exam I have to take a minor to bring credits up to 150 and then 12 months work experience as an accountant before I'm eligible for the CPA licensing exam.

So I could focus on school for 3 years and then 12+ months before graduation if I can land a job as an accountant by the time I graduate the BSU I'd have the work experience needed and the credits needed to be able to qualify for the licensing exam. So in theory I could be eligible the day I graduate.

If you have to take the credits to be eligible for CPA status, and the course aren't directly related to the test, I can't think of a good reason to put them off. Its only one more semester.

Of course, that's assuming you plan to become a CPA at some point.

See, that's the thing.

Not sure if I intend to or not. The classes I need aren't pre-reqs for the BS major so I can put them off until I've gotten the credits for my major. If not it won't hurt me getting a BS, if I decide to the last year I have left I just need to put in one more semester of school, study for the exam, pay my exam fee and hope to pass.

CPA would open more doors but I can get a job making a decent living with just a BoA just about anywhere. Accountants are sort of back in demand again.

I would really recomend the cpa theres a world of difference between 30,000 a year and 60,000

Ayah. Accountants are a dime a dozen, literally. CPAs are a quarter a dozen. Money is better and crap is less.

I could go and become a cop. In 9-12 months I could wear a badge to go alongside my gun.

Fateweaver wrote:I could go and become a cop. In 9-12 months I could wear a badge to go alongside my gun.

The horror....

wait.. im confused about the systems of education (australian my bad). Are colleges the equivilent to Universities?

Classes in Study Techniques
Some universities offer courses in good techniques for study, research, and essay writing. These are important skills, so it is worth doing these courses even if they are not core to your degree topic.


Studying
The rule of thumb is to do about as much time studying (reading around the subject, note-taking and doing exercises) as you spend in class.

Analyse the marking system and figure out which courses you can afford to skimp and which ones you need to attack strongly to graduate with the best degree. For instance, the degree may involve 11 modules but allow you to discard your two worst results. That means you can afford to scrape a bare pass in your two worst subjects and score a first on the rest of it.


Coursework
If the modules include coursework such as mid-term essays it is worth doing a good job because they often contribute 10 to 20% of your final mark on the course. It's fairly easy to write a good essay when you have all the time and references you need.

If the pass mark on a module is 35%, you can pick up and easy 75% on the mid-term essay, which is worth 15 marks towards the course total of 100. Then you only need to score 25% on the final exam to scoop up the extra 20 points you need to scrape a pass.

OTOH if you are aiming for a first, the 15+ points on the mid-term are a great insurance against screwing up a question in the final.

Markers are always impressed by essays if you bring in stuff they didn't teach directly in class but are in the set text. It shows you have done the reading.


Exam Strategy
Review past papers. Each module usually breaks down to maybe four to 10 core topics and the exam will test all the important ones plus some of the others.

You will often find there is a topic which is always tested. For example, if you do commercial law there will always be a question on contract law, because it is fundamental.

Your strategy is not to cover all the topics that may come up, it is to cover the ones that will come up, plus a couple or so of 'safety' topics.

If there are pre-exam revision classes they are always worth attending as they will give clues to what is going to be in the exam.


Basic Exam Technique
Read the rubric. That is the bit at the start of the paper which tells you what you need to do. It says something like Section A contains four questions. Section B contains two questions. You must answer two questions from Section A and one question from Section B. Every year people mess up by doing three questions from Section A. The third one won’t be marked.

Once you understand the rubric, read the questions and pick the ones you are going to answer. Do the easiest one first because it will boost your confidence.

If you do handwritten exams -- as opposed to typed -- make sure your handwriting is legible.

Always take the time to write an essay plan to organise your thoughts before you start to write the essay.

In numerical subjects you should show your workings. You can get marks for using the correct method even if you mess up the calculation and get the wrong answer.

Cross out anything you don’t want marked.

If you have written an essay plan and don't have time to complete the essay, don't cross out your plan. The marker will read it and may award you a couple of marks if they can see where your argument was going to go in the bit of the essay you couldn't finish.


Multiple Choice
The technique is to go through the paper as quickly as possible answering all the easy questions and leaving the difficult ones.

Then go back and answer the tricky questions, leaving the ones you can’t do at all.

Then go back again and guess the ones you don’t know. You can often eliminate one or two clearly wrong answers, so you will have a 25-50% chance of getting a mark by guesswork. Don't do this if there is negative marking -- this means minus 1 mark for each wrong answer.)

Lots of good advice in here. I'll throw a few on there:

1. Read the syllabus. Most of the time, the exams will come straight from the learning objectives on the syllabus. Also, it will have most of the info you need about the class administration and dates of major assignments and tests.

2. Study groups are great in a non-competitve environment. Cooperate and graduate. Follow the cheating/collaboration rules of course, but if you're allowed to work with people on assignments DO IT. It helps you to do better in class and keeps you plugged in with more people.

3. You are responsible for your own education. Unlike high school, you are in complete control of your college experience. Most professors are not going to go out of their way to keep you from failing a class. They have way too many other students to worry about. You have to take the initiative to track down help when you need it, make sure you're prepared for your classes, and schedule your time. It's a lot of freedom, but it's also a lot of responsibility.

4. Make friends with the secretaries in the main office and your department's office. They will know pretty much everything going on in the school and have probably been around long enough to know some really good tips and tricks.

Buy some flip-flops for trips to the bathroom/shower. Ear plugs can be handy for when you are trying to work or sleep.

Get to know the campus (or where the stuff is in the town if it is not a campus environment) - taking a walk or riding a bike/car around can be a way to get to know people, places, and just relax. Plus you get to find events and places others may not know about.

JEB_Stuart wrote:

Fateweaver wrote:I could go and become a cop. In 9-12 months I could wear a badge to go alongside my gun.

The horror....

Don't worry Jeb. I don't have patience enough to be a cop. Some HS punk would run his mouth after I pull him over for speeding and I'd most likely let him take 100,000V ride for 15 seconds.

They kind of frown on that and with car camera it'd be hard to justify and say "he attacked me".

Murray wrote:wait.. im confused about the systems of education (australian my bad). Are colleges the equivilent to Universities?

Yes, in the US and Ireland college and university can be interchangeable.

Colleges are self-contained institutions, and universities are made up of multiple colleges. The biggest difference when comparing the US to the rest of world is that there are many colleges that aren't affiliated with universities. Generally these are liberal arts schools.

In tutorial sessions, make friends with the girl who goes to every class and takes impeccable notes. Never hit on her ever. When exam time comes round and you realize you missed 66% of the lectures, you ask yo borrow her notes to photo copy the "3 or 4 lectures you missed". After the exam, you can hang out with her and meet her friends.

Gawd, I miss Uni!