How to do college
If you’ve decided that college is worth it, the New York Times has a series of short op-ed pieces with advice for incoming students. Some highlights:
First, find out who the good teachers are. Ask your adviser; poll older students; search the Internet; and consult the teacher-evaluation guides available at most colleges.
Pay close attention to what others are saying and writing and then summarize their arguments and assumptions in a recognizable way. Work especially on summarizing the views that go most against your own.
Do ask questions if you don’t understand the professor’s point. Do not, however, ask any of the following: “Will this be on the test?” “Does grammar count?” “Do we have to read the whole chapter?” “Can I turn in my paper late?”
I would add:
Each semester, pick one class you worry might be too hard for you, and one that’s easy but engaging.
Never choose a class just because your friend(s) will be taking it. Each course is a chance to expand your social circle.
Schedule yourself a block of library time for reading/studying, just like it’s a class.
If you can’t find courses that interest you, take a semester off and re-evaluate.
What would your college advice be?
Articles
September 6th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Wear comfortable walking shoes.
September 6th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Don’t go — Blow the fifty thousand on beer and your own apartment. It’ll last longer that way. And you’ll be just as far ahead.
September 6th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Also, don’t concentrate so heavily on degree requirements and offered courses that you end up taking an impossible load (e.g., German 101, Intro. to Philosophical Writing, and Logic). I took what amounted to three foreign language courses at the same time and almost broke my brain. Just because you can kill three birds in one semester doesn’t mean you necessarily have the strength or endurance to lift such a heavy stone (much less throw it with any lethality).
September 6th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
this is quite possibly some of the best college advice I’ve ever read. combine this with Steve Jobs doing the Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish speech and you’ve got a rrrrrreal college prep kit.
September 6th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Go abroad! Easily one of the best decisions I made in college. And I also chose to do a general education semester consisting of only three classes while I was in London, as opposed to applying for the film school program that was available there. I got a more real world experience both from taking courses that intrigued and challenged me as well as from having lots of time off to travel and explore.
Another suggestion, particularly for film students (and particularly those at NYU), is to not limit your scope to college. Think professionally right away. Our professors didn’t necessarily give us a solid idea of how the film BUSINESS actually operates, and while their mantra to cultivate the students as artists is appreciated and unique, I feel like most students who waited a couple of years to start interning and were generally apathetic toward the industry (like not knowing what Variety is or what’s a spec script or the names of the major agencies) get seriously cheated in the in the long run. You have to be knowledgable in every way to be taken seriously once you graduate, and those of us who chose to not be a writer or director need real world experience to even be considered for any entry level work in the industry.
But since you’re reading this blog you are already on the right path to bettering your education. :)
September 6th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
The easy way to get through college/university is this:
Go to all your lectures and tutorials.
Do all your coursework on time.
Do all your assigned reading.
Any other approach might seem easier, but ends up being a lot more work in the end.
September 6th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Don’t just take classes with the good professors; engage with them one-on-one as much as possible, by going to their office hours, talking to them after class, etc. Not only is intelligent discourse with your intellectual superiors invaluable, but so are the recommendations they’ll write for you somewhere down the line.
Save your partying for the weekend. Partying and studying are both essential parts of college; do too little of either, and you’ll regret it. But if you try to mix them, you’ll be in trouble.
Try out as many subjects as possible, but don’t choose to major in something unless you really love it.
September 6th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Take some early-ish classes every semester. Being up in the morning helps you feel happy and alive. And this is maybe the only time in your life when you can go to bed at 3, get up at 8:30 and still be fully functional.
September 6th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Not sure about the take a semester off advice if you are on financial aid. No classes = no student loan. But I agree with the words on balancing class load.
September 6th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Don’t take a class just because there’s a cute boy in it. You will not retain anything except which cute button-up shirt looks best on him. You will most likely fail the final and squeak by with a B-. PS: He already has a girlfriend.
September 6th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Enjoy yourself, but have something more to show for your experience than a diploma and a trodden liver. Make an effort to get involved in campus activities, clubs, internships, etc. It’s easy to adopt a hedonist lifestyle, look back four years later and say ‘what the fuck just happened?’
September 6th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Take as many summer classes to satisfy the general requirements as you possibly can at junior colleges during your vacation time between the different years you’re in school. In most cases, those classes cost far less than the same ones offered at your regular college or university, and will allow you to either graduate earlier, graduate on time (it took many people I knew a little over the four years to complete all of their credits), spend more time on the classes you really want to take during the regular school year (especially if you’re pursuing a minor or double major), or will help you to get an edge on your competition who most likely won’t be taking summer courses. Summer school, in my opinion, is the most overlooked advantage of getting a good college education, and adds so much to the overall college/university experience.
September 6th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
Agree with that Steve Jobs nod. For those that haven’t seen it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc
I’ve been amazed at the number of free college courses (complete with video!) available on iTunes and the web. With those resources available online, I’d emphasize picking good local teachers and a major that gives you maximum flexibility. Outside of academia, your exact major matters less than the work you’ve done, so be “entrepreneurial” as well as passionate — seek out inspiring courses, do interesting projects, move away from passive learning mode into active production.
September 6th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
This is so detached from the reality of college I can’t even process it. People over thirty-five are comically out of touch. You think any of this applies to an 18-year-old who just broke free from parental supervision? I graduate this year and the only thing I would tell a freshman is that the group of people you fall in with your first week of classes (most likely kids living on your floor and in your major) will heretofore be known as your “friends,” so make sure they’re not douche bags.
September 6th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Don’t go to college just because it’s what you think you’re supposed to do. I’ve known a lot of people at school who think college is just something they have to get through, so they try to get through it with the least amount of effort and the most amount of booze.
My sister went for a year and realized that she wasn’t ready, that she wasn’t getting the most out of it. So she worked for a year, traveled some, then came back and finished. She was much more motivated and enthusiastic about it the second time around because she was there on her own accord and not because her parents told her to.
September 6th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
If you have student loans start paying the interest as quickly as possible. Look for jobs through school that help reduce tuition and living costs: TA or GA positions, work-study programs, even Jimmy John’s.
If you get in the habit of working and slowly paying off what you owe, it won’t feel as crushing when you finally close those gilded doors; you will have already built up the personal responsibility and self-discipline required to face it.
That’s one half of it. The other half consists of making reasonable budgets and sticking to them, i.e. you don’t need the expensive TV/Liquor/Kindle/Iphone/Car, no matter how many of your friends have it.
Lastly enjoy yourself and avoid classes with group projects, one or two people always ends up doing all the work.
September 6th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
I disagree with the “don’t take a class just because a friend is in it.” My freshman year roommate was a creative writing major, I was history. He convinced me to take a creative writing course with him, and voila… Here I am writing. Don’t take it just to hang out with a buddy, but if your friends want to get you into something new — and they can help you navigate the waters — do it!
September 6th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
To The College Students of Tomorrow:
You will almost definitely never have this much guiltless free time again. So do yourself a favor and eradicate the word ‘bored’ from your vocabulary!
September 6th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
If I could do undergrad again, I would have spent at least part of my junior and senior years doing an internship in my chosen field: entertainment. It was difficult to find a media-related internship in suburban Philadelphia, I had a huge workload, and a million other excuses, but honestly, if I just had more experience in the entertainment industry before graduation, I think I would have 1) Been more motivated 2) Not made so many bad mistakes this past summer as I start my career out in LA.
So, in sum, it’s good to explore the job world in college.
September 6th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Nick: “Take some early-ish classes every semester. Being up in the morning helps you feel happy and alive. And this is maybe the only time in your life when you can go to bed at 3, get up at 8:30 and still be fully functional.”
I never was able to be fully functional on such little sleep. Being up early in the morning makes me feel tired and like I should be doing something else, like sleeping. I did the opposite. I never took any classes before 11 AM because I knew I’d end up skipping most of them. I figure you’re going to have to wake up early for most of the rest of your life. Why wait until you have to.
I remember hearing the speech, “Look to the left and look to the right. One of those people is going to drop out this year.” I realized why during me first class when the professor asked a question like, “Which country was the most powerful seafaring nation in the world in the early 1400’s and why?” and someone put up their hand and answered, “Wheat?”. Half the class nodded thoughtfully and I realized why half the students drop out in their first year. They’re morons. I never worried after that.
So I guess my advice would be not to be a moron.
September 6th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
Tim: I also tried never to take classes that started before 11, as is the college student tradition. But I regretted it. I did enjoy being up in the mornings instead of sleeping until mid-day, and it’s a shame I avoided lots of interesting classes just because they started too early. If I had it to do over, that’s one thing I’d change.
The “don’t be a moron” advice is solid, too. But it’s not that hard to find a peer group that’s both fun to be with and reinforces your intelllectual side.
September 6th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
The irony of misspelling “intellectual” is not lost on me. I blame the iPhone.
September 7th, 2009 at 12:46 am
My advice: Don’t worry about it. I spent so much energy trying to get the most from college that it became more of a headache then it needed to be. Life is full of twists and turns– four years at some school getting a degree is unlikely to be the defining years of your life.
September 7th, 2009 at 1:00 am
Drinking and drugs are overrated, but a broken heart in the pursuit of love is worth every sleepless night you’ll ever have.
Don’t forget to read books you love, even if they’re not on the syllabus.
Make sure you take at least one all-night trip to Graceland.
September 7th, 2009 at 1:11 am
If you live in California, consider doing the first two years at a community college like Santa Monica College and then transferring to a UC — your professors will be be better, class sizes smaller and it’s a lot cheaper. I transferred from Santa Monica College to UC Santa Cruz with the bare minimum of credits and ended up only spending 1 1/2 years at UCSC because I took 20 credits a quarter, including the summer. I didn’t drink and I didn’t own a TV. I did it fast. Best thing I ever did.
Bottom line: do it fast.
September 7th, 2009 at 4:46 am
college is a complete waste. especially, for a writer. some argument can be made for USC – but you might as well just blow all that money on movin’ to LA and dropping 100/night at a bar and make connections that way… stay out of class, stay in scripts… the only way to learn is read, read, read and write, write, write… the more you listen to someone talk about how to write, the less likely you are writing… f-school. you don’t learn anything in school. you learn it in life and through experience and, most likely, through failing. sure, if you want to be DR., go, but if not, then why?
September 7th, 2009 at 7:16 am
Don’t get a credit card.
September 7th, 2009 at 8:43 am
I’d recomend going NLP hardcore and maybe stop… But model the ones who are great. College for me is ignoring my own silly knowledge and whorship the books. On the exams, they grade you as competing with the other students-so it’s may be wise to hide your gold and use it on the exam, not in the classrooms. The tests are all that matters, being cool in the classroom just give yourself a bad impression with the other students, so pay attention and don“ t bother sharing that much. Your focus should be on learning, that s why youre there. Not to teach your fellow students. If you re doing psychology, write one paper on each subject. And again, whorship the model of making a paper. Ask your teacher what the propper model for a paper is and write tham all. When the exams show up you will be prepared.
Please excuse my language errors. I’m from Norway… Have a GREAT time at college and THANKS mr August-sir for providing the BEST site for screenwriters and all the geeky stuff I get nowhere else. John, you’re AWESOME!!
September 7th, 2009 at 8:50 am
It’s all about the teachers.
September 7th, 2009 at 9:14 am
My number one advice for success in college:
Don’t. Skip. Class.
Seriously. I learned this from a friend of mine (we both received the same 4-year academic scholarship at the university we attended and started together as freshmen on the same floor in the dorms). I did a pretty good job until the first semester of my fourth year, when (for personal reasons) I ended up skipping a fair number of class period for most of my classes. My GPA dropped below the level required to maintain my scholarship, which I then lost. I dropped out for a semester, then went back to school using loans to finish my degree.
During my whole time as an undergrad, I could pretty much trace every problem that I had with a given class to having skipped class periods.
During the same period, my friend never missed a class. (No, really.) He graduated with honors and went on to study at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.
A major corollary to “Don’t skip class” is “Don’t schedule classes such that you’re likely to skip them.” The rules of thumb I developed were: no classes before 9 am or after 6 pm (and none on weekends); leave an open period between classes if possible; if I do have to schedule consecutive classes, make sure they are physically as close together as possible (to avoid running across campus to get from one class to another).
I was a computer science major (after my freshman year, anyway), and we had another unofficial rule of thumb within the department: never schedule more than two CS classes in the same semester. (I think I broke that rule, too, in the semester where I ended up losing my scholarship.) ..bruce..
September 7th, 2009 at 9:40 am
college is a complete waste. especially, for a writer.
Leaving aside the resulting intellectual paucity and that impact on the depth of your writing (be it fiction or non-fiction), you still face a critical issue: how are you going to support yourself while trying to sell what you’re writing? “Can I tell you today’s specials?”
I actually supported myself full-time as a writer (non-fiction, information technology) for a few years, a feat of which I remain quite proud. Even so, it was during a highly unusual period (the personal computer bubble in the mid- to late 1980s, which popped in 1988 or so), and I doubt I could replicate it today. ..bruce..
September 7th, 2009 at 9:50 am
September 7th, 2009 at 10:37 am
If you have a class with 200 people in it, go at least once a week.
If you have an 8am exam, get at least 4 hours of sleep the night before.
Do not get a roommate who takes naps and watches soap operas all day. She will infect you with her disease.
September 7th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Your going to college/university to learn, though most media based courses are vocational ultimately the huge investment we make is for an education not the possible job at the end. The real question is, could you not as easily write that screenplay, direct that film etc without going through higher education?
September 7th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Learning doesn’t end at graduation. It has only begun.
September 7th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
1.If you expect to find a job after graduation, you will need more than your diploma and a smile. Spend your time in college networking with professionals, or people who know them, and establishing a name for yourself. Always remember to build your resume, you may have that Oscar winning script in the trunk of your car, but you may have to bus tables or serve hamburgers before you can unleash it on the world.
Attitude is key. Develop a winning attitude and match it up with professional ability. Show your work ethic, show your drive and ambition. You will be miles ahead of the rest of your peers.
Learn to work a room. Whether it’s a group of your peers, a teacher, a class, or those infamous executive of showbusiness, you need to learn to be a people person. You can’t graduate with a degree, retire to a desolate mountainside, write the next great script, then descend from the mountain like Zarathustra and expect to be greeted with open arms.
Find your own way that works and stick to it.
September 7th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Take an internship in a field that might lead to a full-time job after college even if it isn’t creative like writing or filmmaking. I took an internship in TV and while I’m still trying to be a writer, I now work in TV as my day job. I think its a good course of action to get something on your resume.
Don’t just get a block of time at the library. Get a job at the college’s library. I loved the job I had there. I was basically paid to read and do my homework.
Also cherish every moment of college. It is the best time of your life. It is all downhill after that.
September 7th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
buy a day-planner and keep it up to date with all due dates and class schedules. works wonders. best investment i’ve made… aside from the school itself :)
September 7th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Be a badass. I’m not saying go spraypaint walls and break into buildings — unless that’s your thing — but the reason we love badasses in movies is they don’t let anybody tell them what to do. My parents pressured me into staying in-state and going to the crappy local school, when I had scholarships to change states and go to much better schools. As a result, I had a miserable time in college and ended up skipping most classes, which cost me my scholarships and federal loans. I have the same amount of debt with private loans, but the interest rates are higher and I can’t consolidate them with my federal loans.
I won’t say that you can never skip class — sometimes you just need a day — but do so sparingly. If you absolutely must drop a class, make sure you do so when you’re allowed to drop. I got straight-A’s my last three semesters, but my GPA never rose above 3.3 because of those early skips.
After I graduated with my bachelor’s, I agonized over how I hadn’t had the right college experience. I didn’t live in a dorm, I never went to a kegger, didn’t join a fraternity, definitely didn’t have as much sex as I would have liked to. (Then again, running into your one night stands at the campus coffee shop is intensely awkward. If I’d had hundreds of them running around, I probably never would have bought coffee again.) I didn’t get over my agonizing until…well, I did a bunch of drugs and meditated/tripped balls in the woods…so my advice is, have the best time you can. If you’re afraid to do something, that probably means that you should do it. I regret the things I didn’t do far more than my mistakes. (With the exception of things like Russian Roulette and poetry classes. Sometimes fear is reasonable.)
September 7th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
My advice is to talk to anyone. Any person can read a book or take a test; the real competitive advantage to college is all the people who go with you, some of whom may end up a studio head or the CEO of a major corporation. So you may as well get to know them when they’re just an insecure kid looking for friends.
September 7th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
If you have a good Department Chair, they will want to hear what you’re about. They may not have the TIME for it right then, but if you find yourself in a situation where they change subjects and start saying “So…” – tell them the dream.
Don’t pick the easiest General Ed classes, because THEY ARE ALL EASY. Pick the interesting ones. I slept through Intro to Anthropology by the second hour of every class. I got an A, and was irritated that if I could do that in a boring class, I could probably do the same thing in a class that interested me.
If you’re a writer, pick classes that fit the genre you want to write in. I write a lot in the crime/noir region, so I took Psychology of Crime – and it ended up being the most compelling class not only of my college career, but pretty much became renowned through the state.
If you want to go Greek, it will always be a roll of the dice if you just pick the first one. They do a rush and try to recruit, and while they treat it like they’re interviewing you, the truth is, you are interviewing them. Get to know them, tour their charter house, look through the school newspaper to see if they’ve been busted before.
Just remember: Pledging there is the interview process for you. Everything before that is you gathering information. They need you more than you need them. If they don’t get enough recruits, then their fraternity/sorority is weaker in less than a couple years. It’s going to be a large piece of your time, your life, and your sanity. Make sure you’re giving it to the right group.
September 7th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
A follow-up question(s) concerning the 5th statement of this threat made by user “ANNAMARIA”: Aside from college advice what would you [John August, the users] tell youngsters (like myself) on “Internships” (Application, Researching the ‘right’ gig, Do’s and Don’ts, and such…) and finding a ‘fitting’ Job after Filmschool/College (that pays for rent but equally allows the aspiering filmmaker to do serious work for his/her passion project so it will see the light of a filmprojector some glory day)?
Thanks for answers!! :-) (Maybe it’s even a whole new threat?)
September 7th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
College is not a waste. It provides a once in a lifetime chance to explore interests and engage in (and develop) critical thinking. And it creates the habit of deep thinking, or thinking, period. For those who think college is a waste, would you consider the possibility that one of the reasons so much of what hollywood has to offer is trivial is because of the trivial minds creating the work? And producing it? And directing it? Garbage in, garbage out.
Don’t go to college to ‘learn a trade.’ Go to college because it’s the cheapest place you’ll find at which you can collect some cool skills, like learning languages or pottery or history or whatever. It’s the cheapest opportunity you’ll have to travel abroad. Everyone says, “well, I can just learn that on my own,” or, “I’ll just travel on my own.” But you don’t. You grow up, get a job and wife and kids, and suddenly, those opportunities are long gone.
September 7th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
“Can I turn in my paper late?”
There’s nothing wrong with asking this. It’s just the wrong form. You ask for an extension, not “Can I turn in my paper late?” You should also ask at least a week in advance of the due date and have a very good reason for doing so.
Oh, and follow my simple two-step process for beating the Freshman Fifteen.
September 7th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
1) Ask the person offering advice about their computer in college. If they are old enough to have not used a computer in college, then they are hopelessly out of touch with the reality of today’s college experience. Ignore everything they say.
2) Is the advice-giver espousing the values of a liberal arts education, saying that it broadens the mind, teaches you how to learn, and makes you a well-rounded person? Ignore this person, as they have a useless liberal arts degree themselves and this type of lie is how liberal arts colleges stay in business and gullible students stay in debt.
My advice? Don’t go to college until you can answer the question, “Why are you going to college?” with an answer that starts with, “I…” If you answer starts with “My parents…”, “My guidance counseler…”, “My friends…”, or god forbid, “My boyfriend/girlfriend…” you are about to waste your time and money.
Finally, ignore any advice anyone tries to give you about how to do college.
September 8th, 2009 at 3:30 am
Don’t just go to College. Move to a new city. Where ever your college is, it’s in a city. That city is alive and breathing with a life force unlike any other place on earth. Even though it’s just another college town, it’s your town. It’s your place to live and breath, eat and be merry. Meet the locals. Get off Campus. Do activities not related to college at all. Get involved in the community. Not necessarily as an activist but definitely as a citizen and human being. Find interesting places within an hour’s drive of your home. There are 50 other cities within 100 miles of you right now. Explore them all.
Learn something you can’t possibly learn in a class. Learn to Juggle (literally). Learn how to hold down three odd jobs and go to school. Learn how to juggle (figuratively) a girlfriend, a job, friends, school, and that hot girl in your morning lecture class.
September 8th, 2009 at 5:16 am
I agree with Paul – figure out if you really need to be there. I wasted two years pretending I needed to be, and it was the last place I should’ve been. Where I was raised, that’s just “what you did after high school” no matter what.
September 8th, 2009 at 10:17 am
I always tried to take one night class per semester, as there tended to be more ‘non-traditional students’ in the class – students who brought more life experience and differing perspective to the discussion.
September 8th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
1) Go to your classes. It’s been said before here, and echoed several times, but this really is why so many people just vanish at the start of every semester. They start skipping, they fall behind, and then it’s too late to catch up, and they’re out of the class in a blink.
Most professors will recognize and reward the effort of a student who participates and shows up and tries, even if they struggle.
2) Don’t go away, unless you feel like you’re kinda ready. I didn’t go away. I know it would’ve been a disaster if I did, because my first semester was pretty damn rough (long story). I kinda wish I eventually did go away after I got the hang of things (again, long story), but in the end, academically speaking at least, it worked out well enough.
3) No has ever told me what I’m about to write. I’ve never heard anyone say it. And I don’t know why… They should!
If you’re going straight from H.S. to college, or within a few years after H.S., you must know, THIS IS THE LAST TIME IN YOUR LIFE YOU WILL BE CONSISTENTLY GROUPED WITH A SET OF PEERS YOUR AGE WITH SIMILAR HIGH MINDED GOALS AND DREAMS.
One of the many reasons the ‘real world’ sucks because you constantly encounter people who have chosen to settle, have failed, been crushed, or have been devoured by time and disappointment. And have a mountain’s worth of baggage.
It’s hard to expand your social circle within your generational boundaries when there’s suddenly significantly less people to mingle with that you deal with on a daily basis. You’ll probably find there’s suddenly a lot less attractive girls/guys around too.
Every semester brings new faces in different classes, there’s an ebb and flow of people. In many jobs, you’re stuck with the same group for better or worse, for a long, long time.
College really is a fresh start for everyone (unlike say, grade school transitions). People are much more open to meeting new people and social circles generally aren’t as constricted and vicious. Most people are actually looking to make new friends, and not be assholes. Most people…
September 9th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Seek out interesting and challenging people–don’t just default to your usual crowd. I learned more at the pub than I did in class (from the same people). Get people to talk about their passions outside the rigid classroom environment. It’s that enthusiasm that will help propel you more than anything.
Remember to steer your own ship, even if you’re not sure where you’re headed. Take advantage of EVERYTHING. Travel abroad, student publications, internships etc. Especially travel. It’s an education you can get no other way. IMO it’s absolutely essential to a writer to get that kind of first-hand experience of other cultures as well as some perspective on your own. The reason people in other countries sometimes think we Americans have our heads up are own asses is because we usually do.
Education DOES matter to a writer. Most people are not driven autodidacts and if you don’t know what to look for all the reading in the world won’t help. You need more than reading other writers to be a writer–you need history, politics, language, philosophy. Even biology and geography. I get really tired of watching movies written by people who seem to have done nothing but watch movies all their lives. You can choose whether to channel what you learn in school into your creativity or you can choose to let it indoctrinate and stifle you. It’s up to you.
September 9th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
My advice: don’t commit yourself too soon. I had a major picked going into college — one that left no room for electives beyond the core curriculum. Combine that with the alternate interdisciplinary core curriculum I was in, and I had absolutely zero choice about any classes I took until halfway through my junior year, when I finally gave up on (part of) that major I had picked out senior year of high school.
College is an opportunity to explore your interests and discover what you want to do with your life. You don’t need to have your mind made up before you even get there.
September 12th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
It sounds like everyone here has already went…
September 14th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
I agree with many of these: “don’t get a credit card” and “find out who the good teachers are…” are both excellent pieces of advice.
Some other suggestions:
-Don’t buy textbooks if you can help it – rent them off Chegg.com or check the school’s library, they’re probably there. While we’re on the topic of textbooks, always check the edition #. If your prof wants you to get brand-spankin’ new ed. 9, and the 8th ed. is $100 less (which is totally feasible), get the 8th, cause it’s the same damn thing.
-Know your strengths and weaknesses. I always took classes after noon, and tried to get classes that met only 1x a week. You might want to be done by noon, because you are up early anyways…or you just have more willpower than me ;)
-Take classes that sound awesome while you can. Yes, you should take Forensic Anthropology or War and Revolution (both classes I took as gen. ed. requirements) if those are choices for your science or history requirements. Trust me, often the classes that get full really fast or have huge sections are the ones that will stay with you for a long time.
-Study abroad. Just do it. Seriously. Trust me, and everyone else who has put this…if you have to work 2 or 3 jobs, or beg parents for $, or whatever. No matter what your major is, it is so so worth it to go live, study and play somewhere else in the world.
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Are you kidding? No, you absolutely don’t have to go to college – that’s a myth created by… wait for it… colleges.
I have a Golden Globe Award and three Emmy nominations and nobody in show biz has ever asked to see my diploma. They don’t give a shit who you are where you come from – they care about one thing: can you DO IT? Can you make them money?
That said, most writers know an unbelievable amount about an incredibly wide array of topics — but college at 40K/yr? Not nearly the only place to get that ed. (what the hell, let your parents eat dog food when they’re 80)
As for learning HOW to do it – ie write like a pro – that can be taught – but please please please only from an actual pro (not a “guru” with few or no writing credits – they simply do not know anything that will help you become a success)
We’re pulling for ya,
Bill Grundfest http://www.workshopforwriters.com info@workshopforwriters.com