"The College Experience" or, "Wow, this is a lot of reading"
 

I'm a little surprised this thread didn't come up sometime in September already, but hey, here it is.

I started college last week at Portland State University. First thing I noticed was that everyone here is actually pretty friendly, though whether that's a Portland thing or a University thing, I don't know (hardly have gone to Portland before, living way out in Hicksboro like I am). The second thing is that, while the classes don't seem that difficult so far, I don't have a whole lot of time to read the many books I have to for Honors class (which is replacing Freshman Inquiry. is FI anything like that?) and I'm maybe a little worried about how Calculus is going to be later, when we move from easy pre-calc stuff to the "actual" class. I've only heard scary stories about Calculus in general.

So, how were your first college experiences? And might you have any advice for me? (I live at home and take the MAX instead of living in the dorms, if that helps you picture my situation any)

Also my first two or three weeks included a suicide and 9/11...
 

Calculus isn't that bad. If you ever need a hand, give me a shout.

As to living with parents; I've never understood the fascination in the States about moving away from home as soon as university starts. My undergrad experience involved a lot of social networking and general independence regardless of my residence. My friends found things to be the same. Living in a dorm would be handy if you were moving to a different city, mind, but I prefer urban schools ;)

Probably depends on your major
 

I lived at home for my undergraduate career, but I was kind of lucky in that respect as campus was only about 10 miles away. Save money wherever you can, as I didn't take out student loans for anything undergraduate, I relied on scholarships mostly. Now I'm starting to get into debt with my graduate work, but considering most of my peers are already 40k+ in debt just from their undergraduate school, I think I'm doing all right.

I don't have much advice for math or pure science classes, I do have a lot of experience with humanities courses.

While this: is good advice, I would add that being able to pull key ideas and concepts out of a text is a good skill to have, even if not all of those ideas and concepts are on the test, as they will usually make later areas easier to understand. This may vary a little depending on what kind of humanities course you're in.

Also, as sort of general advice, own your learning. Be self-directed in how you approach learning. Learn how you learn and use that to your advantage.

This part is purely personal opinion, so keep that in mind. I also may be saying something that's blatantly obvious, but I'll say it anyway. Studying to pass a test does little for you other than allowing you to pass a test. Studying to learn the material is more beneficial because it facilitates the transfer of bits of knowledge to usable skill. Good grades are nice, and will likely open doors, but good grades don't guarantee working knowledge or skill. In a lot of ways, going into a test with no prep or priming is a better indicator of how well you're learning the material than cramming or even proper studying can tell you. That's not to say that I advocate never studying, rather, if you're comfortable enough with the material you might not need to. To a certain extent, the purpose of learning is to get to the point where you're comfortable enough with the material that you don't need to prep for it.

Also, good writing skill is a must. I have a lot of skill at writing, but I'm a creative writer, and I found out very quickly that, in comparison, writing research papers and essays was a lot harder for me because of the obligatory nature of the writing. It poisoned the well, as it were.

I made the amazing choice to hop directly into Calculus after not having any math for around seven years...yeah, that was a great idea. Same with entering Physics when the physics class in high school consisted of us watching The Price Is Right and going over some of the very basic principles and ideas.

:( Currently around 20k with loans, and this is my sophomore year. But that was due to waiting so long to go to college and not qualifying for most scholarships due to various circumstances - making too much money the year before I started college, not knowing what I wanted to major in, and so on.

The beginning Calc class isn't too bad as long as you can do algebra fairly well. A lot of people I've talked to seem to say "I didn't have a problem with the Calculus, it was the algebra that got me..." This may or may not be an area thing.

Heck, my parents were laid back as all get out and I still enjoyed being away.
 

Aside from monetary issues, they way I view it is that living out of the home and psuedo-on your own (and actually on your own if you're off-campus) puts you in a situation where, in addition to the potential social perks, you are forced to make some decisions regarding your life and dealing with situations that arise that you quite likely won't have in the household you grew up in. I'm sure that's a generalization that folks can provide exceptions to, but overall I think it ties in to the other thing that's great about college -- all of the "education" that takes place outside of the classrooms.

In college, one grows and often, as trite as it may seem to say it, learns who he or she is, much moreso than in high school. I'm glad I was someplace where I couldn't do that while going home to Mom and Dad every day. Impromptu happenings, negotiating living situations, being able to just wander into the hallways and find other people to do nearly anything, etc. strikes me as far more convenient and interesting than eventually heading home all the time. I'm not claiming it's a bad thing to do it or that these happenings don't occur if you live at home, but I do feel it's less desirable and less there-and-now.


Edit: I mean I could list situations where it would be beneficial to be living on or around campus and not at home, moreso when home isn't in the same town, but ???

If read ahead of where you currently are, so that when you take notes on lectures, you'll be able to say, "Hey, this isn't in the book! That's important to know!", and star it or something, so that you'll have a handy list of stuff to study that you know you can't find elsewhere. Since it'll probably be important.

College has a lot of reading?
Oh man, whatever you do don't make my mistake and go to law school. Law school makes undergrad look like a shiny utopian oasis of parties and hot chicks and beer. Law school meanwhile is about Torts, Property and Contracts taking turns beating the living shit out of you while Civ Pro stands back and hurls insults at everything and everyone you've ever loved.