Goodbye, So Long, Fare Thee Well

Quick other note on asking questions. Don't be afraid of your teachers... some random teachers are cranky gits that won't want to give you the time of day, but almost all teachers will want to help. I can't think of anyone in my department that is really hateful... a few oddballs, but they're all basically nice people.

I honestly don't know what it is that holds people back from asking questions... I don't THINK I'm "scary" or anything, and I am up front about saying I am willing to ask questions. It's rather frustrating as a teacher... as I said, I've had a lot of students ask questions weeks after they should have, and they could have saved a lot of headaches on their part (and mine) if they had asked sooner. Still, I know from my student days that sometimes I'd be nervous about talking to teachers, so maybe it's just a general feeling everyone has. No matter what it is, it is in any learner's best interest to get the most help they can from their teachers, etc. Go forth and explore! Ask questions!

Advice for the college bound (from my own experience and life)

1. College is not high school. In high school, I'm sure, you were one of the smart kids. One of those that would easily complete assignments and not have to study too hard to get good grades. Now you are in college and think "oh this will be a snap!", well Bubba, take a good look around. See all those bright faced young folks? They also were the smart kids. You will have to work hard to make decent grades, you won't be able to skirt by, and you can't afford to skip classes.

2. Even if you don't have employment, in college you have a job. Your job is to make grades. Treat it like one. Go to every class, find out as much as you can about the classes you take and apply yourself as fully as you can to that. The class might just be one hour long a day, but you need to treat it as a JOB. Average about 2-4 hours of outside study per hour of classwork MINIMUM. You are paying them to educate you Do Not shortchange yourself by not letting them.

3. Complete assignments. Forgeting homework was fine once in a while in high school. It is unforgivable in college. If you have been givin a task, you need to complete it. If you are falling behind, talk to your professors. They don't want to see you fail, but they don't want to help someone that they don't know.

4. The front row. SIT IN THE FRONT ROW. You'll be seen by the prof. Answer questions, ask questions, participate. Show an eagerness to learn. If it feels like you are brown-nosing, GOOD, your not there to make friends, you are there to LEARN.

5. Write down why you are there, put it on your desk where you can see it. LOOK AT IT DAILY. Are you there to get drunk every night? Are you there to catch interesting diseases? Or are you there to be a Freaking Rocket Scientist? Daily reminders will keep you on track.

6. You don't have as much free time as you think you do.

7. Avoid hookers with walkie talkies.

8. Smoking is a wonderful way to relax, but it hurts to caugh up lung tissue.

and

9. If givin the choice between a morning class or an afternoon class, always go for the afternoon class. You'll have more opportunitys to eat a healthy breakfast and get your brain working, rather then running to an 8:00 class after waking up at 7:45.

Well AC, if for nothing else, I'm glad I resubscribed so that I could say 'Goodbye' to you while you were still here - even though I nearly missed the time window there.

Not many people know this (for good reason) but I have a young disabled friend that plays this game. He's played for about 3 1/2 years now and it's one of the few joys left in his life. He has a disease that eats away at his nervous system, and he's already lost the use of his legs and partial use of one arm. His eyesight comes and goes, kind of blurring and fading in and out. He has always had a rather hefty speech impediment, as well.

What does that have to do with you, AC? You made him feel welcome when other players didn't. He told me a while back that he was on a team that was making fun of him for 'spacing out' several times when in reality he simply could not see. You were on the team, and told the other people to lay off, he was doing just fine. You then sent him a private message telling him that he was doing okay, and asking if he was okay. It meant the world to him, and I seriously doubt he'd still be playing online games now if it hadn't been for the kindness shown to him by yourself and a handful of other players.

So I wish you the best in everything, Angry Citizen. As for advice on college life, I can give you the advice of a younger brother who had to carry TVs, minifridges, microwaves, futons, desks, and other miscellanea up 6 flights of stairs several times a year for two older sisters: Pack what you need, pack some of what you want, but don't pack distractions. And for heaven's sake, don't make your little bro carry all that junk.

well ac, almost all of the college advice that i could contribute has already been given, I will wish you luck on this career path, and second that it is best to minimize distractions, even the most unappealing distraction can be employed when you really dont want to write that paper(i can recall a paper on adolescent cognitive development that was procrastinated for unlocking character costumes for dead or alive ) so good on that. hopefully on breaks you may have the cash to pop in and have a look around. we will have to decide on something to argue about for old times sake. But my prayers are with you, you have what you need and you seem to have the determination to make a disciplined attempt at it, and really discipline was the factor that i saw time and again separate the successful students from the unsuccessful. so, i feel that if you keep that up, then you will figure the rest out.

And yes, getting a credit card is good, but for the love of all thats holy, do not spend more than you can pay off, the rates on those cards are often pretty nasty, so buy with them, but pay them off before they accumulate any interest.

and the only advice i can give is, if you see the cute red-headed girl in the striped sweater in the class next to yours and you chat and find out that you share a lot of interests, dont be a goofball like me and never try to ask her out, she winds up marrying a really boring bald guy and having boring looking kids, you know you could have done better

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

A_C

You want some college life advice? OK:

Schedule as much study time as you can in the library. References are all going to be there on the computers and you can print your papers easily. The quiet atmosphere helped me as well.

Stay away from the dorm or greek housing as much as possible. The music is distracting. People can be irritating as all get-out. Someone will try to cause trouble, guaranteed. Your friends will want you to do something unproductive. Things can get tough if you go to a party school like I did. The weekend started on Thursdays and ended on Tuesdays. Try and avoid it as much as humanly possible, but still have yourself ONE night of RnR

Don't do what I did; Start out with a GPA of 0.00 at one school and fight back to graduate *** Laude from another. Try the second route first

Kevin

As usual, I chime in with my .02 influence.

Remember this above all about college...

The main problem they want you to solve is how well you cope with hurdles. The coursework is oftentimes simplistic and more like busy-work. The real challenge of college is overcoming the bureaucracy you will meet in day to day college life. These are the life-lessons one truly learns in college. Everything else is just facts.

Considering I would have pegged you to be much older, you will fly by if you can survive financial aid, poor advisers, obnoxious roomies, and RUSH WEEK!!

Enjoy. College is a blast!

Today is my last day. God I'm going to miss this place.

I'd again like to thank everyone. I think I've thanked more people in the past few days than I have in the past year, but regardless, I feel it's necessary.

I'll be honest here - I didn't expect quite this level of support. The extent of the kindness, support and outpouring of wisdom has touched me greatly. Whereas a few days ago I was incredibly nervous about college, I now feel quite confident and as fully prepared as anyone can be. It's funny - I feel like I'm ready to graduate in two days, not start in two days. This entire thread should be printed, published and made Required Reading for everyone about to start college.

From the bottom of my heart, thanks. Thanks so much.

Well of COURSE we support you GOING.

Hehe, just kidding AC, I'm going to miss having you around here as a sparring partner.

Now if only Nethergoat would start fighting fair instead of blatantly pointing out my inadequacies....

AngryC, Take care. It may not mean much, but I offer my sincerest congratulations on your mature decisions regarding college and gaming. The first year is the toughest, get through that and evaluate yourself then.

Maybe you still don't return, but it would still be for the right reasons.\

Good luck and make yourself proud as well as your parents.

As for advice:

While in college myself, I found money very hard to come by. I did not have a meal plan and had to work part time while in that first year.

One of the ways I got food...and I can't believe I am admitting this...is to sneak in the back door of the dining halls.

They ALWAYS have back doors

Just dont get caught, I hear in Texas that is an executable offense :P


Buy Ramen noodles, lots of ramen noodles.

Take care of that big brain A_C

Most of the advice you'll ever need is already posted here, so I'll just add a couple of items:

• Beer is never the answer.
• The good friends you make in college will be the friends you carry with you the rest of your life. Pick wisely and hold onto them.
• A personal relationship with your professors is never bad and will open up discussion you'd never have otherwise. I was two years out of university when one of my Comp Sci profs called me up out of the blue because someone had spoken to him about needing people with certain skills and he thought of me. I was happy with my situation at the time, but I appreciated the call and sometimes wish I'd TAKEN that opportunity. *heh*
• Beer is never the answer.
• Despite what you may believe, college is not about training to get a job. It's about broadening your horizons and teaching you to THINK. It's about tossing you into a melting pot of ideas, people, culture and sometimes violent disagreement that is all designed to challenge your view of the world and push you into seeing your existence from a new perspective and, hopefully, learn something from it. Even with a technical degree, you'll be required to take some liberal arts. Embrace them as opportunities to learn instead of as stupid inconviences. You'll be surprised just how big an impact some of those "stupid" classes will make on your life. This is the number one piece of advice that I have given my own kids about University.
• Have a plan and a goal. Hold onto them. The kids who fail out are typically the kids who had no goal going in and continued to have no real goal except "to make it through".
• Work hard. Play hard. Understand when it's appropriate to do either.
• Expect to fall in love at least twice and understand that, like high school, most of the social cooker of University will be left behind when you leave it. See above about lifelong friends, though.
• Finally - Beer is never the answer. It DOES make for some useful short term entertainment when accompanied by good friends and pizza, though. Moderation is your watchword.

Join a frat and take at least a couple philosophy courses.

Philosophy is useless in LIFE, but consider it a mental exercise. It's like going to the gym.... for your HEAD!

Goodbye and good luck.

Good that you are taking college seriously. Maybe you can do what I did - take college and then five years at university, get a high-paid position, advance and then finally become the CEO so you can read the COH forums at work while others are working their butts off to get you the cash you so well deserve :-)

Education is king.

Good luck A_C. Though we haven't met much, I do remember doing an LGTF and an ITF with you, formed from VU. I remember it because I was pleasently surprised how nice you were, compared to some of your forum posts. I admit I was expecting something else

Also thanks for your Nin guide, helped me a bit when I made my DM/Nin Stalker.

I can't really give you any college advise (that you should take anyway), but I wish you good luck. Stay true to yourself.

Later skater.

My only advice is dont take school TOO seriously. There is no better time to act like you are 18...then when you are 18. Take advantage.

Crazy stuff happens in college- have a camera phone ready.

GL HF

Bye A_C! Have fun in school! Things won't be the same without you around!

Trickshooter's Characters | @Trickshooter @Brightside

Oh, I guess AC has already left because it's Aug 22?

I recognize him the most from Stalker discussions!

Well, one advice I can give to you is while education is important, you should try to socialize with people with connections/power (not super power of course!).

I realize that by associating myself with people who are smart (or smarter) and hard-working, I better myself that way. Associate yourself with those that constantly talk about how to earn money and you'll learn to think that way. Yup, $$$!!! $_$ Without money, you can't afford buying/paying games! So technically $$$ can buy Happiness!

And don't think hard-working always gets what you think you are deserved. Life is not FAIR. Set your expectation at a more reasonable level. Don't take too many courses at once to over-load yourself with stress.

Good luck.

I know it is late, but I remember us always having heated debates about Bane Spiders, the reason he put me on ignore, lol. Well GL in school, glad you know how to remove your distraction, hope you do well in the future, look forward to seeing you back sometime later.



P.S. Someone quote this please as I believe he has me on ignore still lol.

Take care A_C, your posts will be missed GL with Engineering!

I know this might be the wrong time to ask, AC, but are you going to Tarrant County Community College? If you are, and you're going to it's Northeast Campus... Guess who you'll be spending time with?

It's a shot in the dark, but here's hopin'. :P

Well that pretty much explains everything about AC. Those particular years in a persons life are the point where they suddenly realize that they know far more than their parents or for that matter almost everybody older than them. Where they realize that they are mature and wise far beyond their years and that if others can't see their wisdom then that ignorance needs to be browbeaten until enlightenment is achieved. In other words the teen years.

Next come the years where the person suddenly realizes that they don't know anything and that the casual effort that carried them through highschool will result in complete failure at college. Fortunately it looks like AC is already aware that distraction and approaching college courses as if they were no big deal could easily result in failure.

And of course the next step beyond that involves the realization that no matter how good you did in college it won't mean a thing in an interview unless you can charm the pants of the interviewer. And also that most executives really are like the pointy haired boss in Dilbert.