34 Things I Wish People Had Told Me About College
Toyou4yu took to Reddit and asked;
"Looking back on your college experience do you wish someone told you something about college? Do you wish you were told things about what to expect about the importance of college in school? "
Here are some of the best replies from all over the world.
1. Start looking for a job at least 6 months before graduation and you may spare yourself YEARS of job search frustration.
2. If they have to advertise on TV, they're not a real college.
3. If you're the smartest guy in the room you're in the wrong room.
4. MAKE SURE YOU ARE TAKING ALL OF THE CLASSES YOU NEED TO GRADUATE. Double, triple, quadruple check your requirements. If they'd had told me that to begin with, I wouldn't be in my fifth year.
5. Get an internship while in college! Employers are looking for people with experience AND a degree.
6. On being young and attractive. Workout while you have access to that free gym. Oh my God, if I had four years of what I know about lifting I would have been a Greek god by my senior year. Instead I was just a druggie and a drunk. I could have been a fit druggie and drunk, and still gotten my work done.
7. GET AN INTERNSHIP. Doesn't matter what, if it's even tangentially related to your major or minor, you WILL NOT regret it. Every job I've gotten has sprung directly from connections I made at that internship.
8. If you're studying at a university, you could ask a professor if he/she needs help with research. That's valid work experience.
9. Use your professors as connections. Do well in their class and then approach them to see if there are any opportunities with them or in their department, or if they know anyone from outside the school who are looking for interns. If you work really hard in your class and do well your teachers will be more than happy to share their connections with you.
10. Don't just show up. Talk, interact, and engage with people. Make them remember you. Let them know you are always "looking out for something interesting", etc.
11. Chlamydia is real
12. There's a reason the people at the bar around closing time are still there.
13. You don't always have to buy all your textbooks because there are many great websites where you can download free versions of them.
14. If you struggle with depression or anxiety or eating problems, don't think you'll just "suck it up and deal". The time to try and get some help is before you go.
15. It's not like it is in the movies.
16. I wish they hadn't told me those would be the greatest years of my life. They weren't even close (and I'm not yet 40), and it put a lot of pressure on me to make them somehow great.
17. Taking a year off isn't a bad thing, taking four years off is
18. Networking is as important as your actual classes. Join clubs, make friends with people. They might recommend you for a job later.
19. If you have loud roommates, just download a recording of rain, and play it over your speakers(laptop/ipad/ipod dock/ etc...) when going to sleep.
20. Very few people will be that much smarter than you...most people with high marks simply WORK HARDER
21. GO. TO. CLASS.
22. It's too damn easy to stay in bed when nobody is forcing you, but you're just shooting yourself in the foot. You don't learn shit while you sleep.
23. Just fucking ask the girl out. Once you leave college, your opportunity and convenience to meet women decreases significantly.
24. Be an actual adult, not a 19 year old's broken characterization of an adult.
25. It is not necessarily the "best 4 years of your life." You may feel lonely. A lot.
26. You will not necessarily meet "lifelong friends."
27. Self-motivation is necessary.
28. Men you will never be surrounded by so many women your age ever again. Take advantage, not by sleeping with everyone but by finding some one you really enjoy spending time with. Once you graduate, this becomes so much harder
29. Get skills, not knowledge. Employers don't care that you can name every leader of Europe, they care that you can DO something they need: make videos, code apps, run statistical models, etc.
30. "Natural talent" is bullshit. It is all about hours. Hours (whether studying or training or practicing) is what actually separates "has promise" from "is amazing."
31. Make as many god damn friends as possible. They'll be how you get jobs and shit in the future.
32. There's a good chance that you will never have as much free time and as little responsibility as you do in college again, until you retire. Don't waste it.
33. Work your own ass off to get a useful degree. That's all that you need to know. Whether you're sitting in your room playing WoW, at the bar blowing random people, or going on dates for the rest of your time doesn't matter. What matters is that you get your shit done and aren't a dick.
34. Enjoy it to the fullest, it goes by ALOT faster than you could ever imagine.
Find the full thread here.