College-Bound. (The College advice thread)

[GrizzlerBorno]

I'm pretty sure no-one has made this yet. If I'm wrong, someone lemme know, and I'll do that thing that one guy did, where he removed the OP and title entirely, so that chaos and confusion ensued.

Yeah so, I'm going to college in America this fall. And....I have no idea how life in America works. As in, I'm going as an International student. Any general tips on College life in America would be much appreciated. I'm listing questions I have, and marking out ones I've gotten answers to...

-What is the difference between Computer science in a Humanities and sciences school and computer engineering/science in a engineering school? Curriculum wise.

- I've heard that books are really fucking expensive. What's the best way to get them? On campus, from the bookstore? Amazon? eBay?

- I fucked up the delivery timing for my laptop and it's going to get there a day AFTER Orientation. Do I need a computer for Orientation in any way, or will I be fine? [Answered, Thanks guys]

-I got a Dell XPS 15 for under a thousand. Is that good enough to function as a decent gaming pc for a couple years atleast?

-I also have a choice of getting either an extra battery pack that bumps battery life from 3-4 hrs to 6-7 hrs, or a Targus Cooling Pad bundle [http://accessories.dell.com/sna/PopupProductDetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&cs=19&sku=A2884003&price=55.99&client=config]. Which one is the better investment? I'm not sure if they can both work together as the battery props up the laptop, so it might no sit well. If anyone can address this issue specifically....I will give you a hug*. (conditions apply)

EDIT: I'm going to Ithaca College in New York. It's a small'ish Liberal Arts school. I'm going in without a major. I have a couple semesters to pick my major. I'm leaning towards Computer Science cause that's what my parents want me to study, and I like it as well. Also Thank you guys SO MUCH for the great advice so far. Keep em' coming.

But enough about me. Who else is going to College (not necessarily to America ofcourse)? Wanna share the details? Have questions? Feel free to post them, and maybe some of our more literate buddies will help us out?

 

[Unstable Ark]

You do not need a laptop as far as I know for orientation, but it would help if you at least have a notepad to take down some vital info. Orientation usually involves a tour of the campus and general procedures, stuff like that

Laundromats are fairly simple but vary in different areas. You have a room full of machines that would either take coins or some type of cash card. Just fill it up with your clothes, add detergent, start it up, and check it when the cycle is over. If you're paranoid, you might want to stick around to keep an eye on it(my clothes were stolen once...). Driers (dryers?) work the same, so just make sure you be courteous to anyone else and don't claim all the machines and bring some kind of hamper to carry them, that's all.

As for class and college life, I can't imagine it being very different. Just sign up for classes, attend them, and read the syllabi for proper class expectations, policies,and guidelines.

That's about all I got at the moment. If you got anything specific, just ask and I'll answer if I can.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

Where are you going? The college experience can be pretty different depending on what part of the country you are in, and whether or not its a public/private school. But aside from a few of the really out there ones like MIT/Berkley/Havard/etc. you'll likely get a pretty similar experience at most of them.

To answer your questions:

1. A laundromat is basically a building with a lot of washing machines and dryers in it. You bring your laundry, put money in the machines, and then wash your clothes. Pretty simple stuff. Some colleges have laundromats inside of the dorms, which is very convenient.

2. You shouldn't need a computer for orientation. At least, I didn't at mine (I didn't have a computer for the first month of school). If it turns out you absolutely do need one, the school's library should have computers available for public use.

As for some general tips:

1. GET INVOLVED. I cannot stress this enough. Go to sporting events, join clubs, meet people. Don't limit yourself to just one clique or a circle of friends. The key to having the most fun in college, and getting the most benefit out of it when you leave, is building up a large list of contacts. If you meet the right people, and make friends, odds are at least one of them is going to pay off down the road, when you need a job or whatever. Also, you'll just have more fun.

2. Exercise. College work is hard, no doubt, and since you'll be living on your own for what I assume is the first time its really easy to let yourself slack off physically by eating a lot of junk food and studying all the time. Don't let this happen. Most colleges have gym facilities available for free to students, so take advantage of them. Also a good way to meet people.

3. Don't spend all your time drinking. Not because its bad for you, but because it gets really expensive, really fast. Unless you get a job, you aren't going to have a lot of disposable income, and drinking drains it faster than you'd think.

4. Get to know your teachers, and get involved on campus. Being friends with your teachers can save you a lot of headache in their classes, and is the easiest path to getting recommendations and such later on.

5. Have fun! You are there to learn, but college is a fantastic time when you have next to no real responsibility and little to no supervision. Its going to go fast, so make the most of it.

 

[trooper6]

What school are you going to? That will effect some of the advice. Small liberal arts colleges have a different experience than a large research university.

Anyway, quick answers:
1) Don't worry about the laptop. You should be find without it for Orientation. Most universities have computer labs, so if you need to do computer related things (like signing up for classes) there are usually lots of places to do that on campus.

2) Laundromats. A laundromat is just a big room with rows of washing machines and rows of dryers. My apartment complex charges $1.75 for a wash load and $1.50 for a dryer load. I think that is a bit expensive for drying, but there you go. The machines take quarters only, so I recommend going to a bank and getting a roll of $20 in quarters. It'll make you life easier later on down the line. Laundromat protocol is that you tend to stay in the laundromat while your clothes are washing and drying, but people sometimes leave. But another note, if you are living on campus, very often the residence halls have washing machines...so you don't have to go to a laundromat, you can do your laundry in your dorm...though you are still going to have to pay. If doing your laundry in the residence halls, people usually don't sit with their clothes while they wash and dry, but it is considered really rude to leave your clothes in the machines for a really long time after they are finished...because that stops other people from using the machines. Do you know how to use washing/drying machines--or were you just unsure on laundromat protocol?

Unsolicited advice:
Don't try to cram all of your studying, school work to the night before it is due. If you are giving 100+pages of reading for the week, spread it out throughout the week. Try to get your writing done at least a day before they were due so you can do a second round of edits.

Don't plagiarize. Plagiarism is considered using text *or ideas* from another source without citing it--even if you paraphrase rather than direct quoting. If you take it from somewhere, make a footnote and cite it. Then you are all good. Otherwise, you'll have trouble.

Enjoy the extra-curriculars that US universities offer. Join clubs, do student politics, do journalism, etc.

Embrace the liberal arts philosophy. US universities want you to be well rounded and will want you to take classes outside of your major. Embrace that. If you are a science type, take some really interesting philosophy or music classes. If you are an arty type, enjoy some computer science classes. The experience should boost your overall knowledge, your analytic reasoning, and your critical thinking. By working across disciplines, you'll be able to make surprising connections that you wouldn't have been able to if you only stayed in your one field. You never know when you'll use that random class.

Explore off campus as well.

Go to your professor's office hours. Get to know them personally. That is one of the most important things you can do. You'll get a lot more out of your education if you do that, and if you need letters of recommendation, you'll get betters ones.

 

[SwimmingRock]

Just finished university in Holland and there's one lesson I feel the need to pass on: prepare to hate everybody you live with. Whether it's the asshole who leaves half-eaten pizza on the floor and doesn't mind the ants, to the drunken asshole who hammers on the door at 4:30 am, because he's too drunk to get his key in the keyhole, to the asshole who skips all his classes and sleeps during the day and can't grasp that you would sleep at night (oh, techno at full volume again tonight? Joy...) to the girl with the drug addicted boyfriend who essentially lives on your couch until the day he flips out, physically attacks you and everybody else in the house and destroys your entire front door before the cops show up.

They tell you college is fun and awesome. I have never in my life been as miserable as when I lived with other students. I am so fucking glad it's over now.

 

[Tanakh]

Yeah so, I'm going to college in America this fall.

And by America you do mean USA right? Then can't help you, sorry.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

Where are you going? The college experience can be pretty different depending on what part of the country you are in, and whether or not its a public/private school. But aside from a few of the really out there ones like MIT/Berkley/Havard/etc. you'll likely get a pretty similar experience at most of them.:

What school are you going to? That will effect some of the advice. Small liberal arts colleges have a different experience than a large research university.

Was waiting for the thread to pick up some momentum before making the OP too big, but I edited in the name and place of my College into it now.

And Thank you guys SO much for some really good advice. I hope some other college-bound escapists get involved. I'm sure they have just as many questions as I do.

 

[staika]

I'm pretty sure no-one has made this yet. If I'm wrong, someone lemme know, and I'll do that thing that one guy did, where he removed the OP and title entirely, so that chaos and confusion ensued.

Hey don't knock that thread, that was one of the best threads I've ever seen. someone should do that again.

OT: ok a few things, books are expensive as hell so make sure that you keep enough money to buy them cause alot of the classes require the books. Find friends and fast or you will be very lonely and that makes college life all the worse (happened to me ), Join a club of some kind they help alot with school work and keep you social.

That's about all I can think of besides pay attention in class, and it's very very easy to skip class so make sure to fight the urge to skip.

 

[trooper6]

The difference between Computer Science in a Liberal Arts College and Computer Science in an Engineering School tends to be a Bachelors of Arts (BA) vs a Bachelors of Science (BS). The big difference is that the BA tends to want you to be more well rounded over all. For example, at my undergrad, you had to spend half of your total credits in something other than your major. The BS tends to be a bit more of a trade-like degree. People with BS degrees spend very little time taking courses outside their major...and often don't tend to have a lot of space in their schedule to take other sorts of classes even if they wanted to. In some schools, they don't even have to fulfill the sorts of General Distribution Requirements that most schools have.

Last bit of advice: In most cases, it doesn't matter what you major in for a BA. Law schools like English majors more than they like Pre-Law majors, for example. As long as you get the required courses med schools want, you can major in anything you like...and med schools also tend to like people who aren't pre-med. Your major can be important when it comes to other sorts of grad school...but then again. I'm a Professor of Musicology, and I had a number of grad school colleagues who didn't major in music--rather they majored in Chemistry, Computer Science, Women's Studies, Ethnic Studies, Economics. It was probably a tougher for them to get a grad school spot, but they did it. Do what you love. If you are really worried, you could look into double majoring...but I'm of two minds about double majoring. It really depends on how big your majors are.

 

[trooper6]

As far as books go, if you're going to buy them, DEFINITELY get them from Amazon.

Amazon is one option. You can also shop for used books from alibris.com and abebooks.com.
When buying used books, make sure that you get the right edition.

 

[Unstable Ark]

As far as books go, if you're going to buy them, DEFINITELY get them from Amazon.

Amazon is one option. You can also shop for used books from alibris.com and abebooks.com.
When buying used books, make sure that you get the right edition.

Renting books are another option. Give chegg a try, and I think I read somewhere that ebay is doing something similar. I think it was half. com. Either way, there's that option, if you think the books aren't absolutely necessary to own.

 

[willard3]

Renting books are another option. Give chegg a try, and I think I read somewhere that ebay is doing something similar. I think it was half. com. Either way, there's that option, if you think the books aren't absolutely necessary to own.

Some college bookstores offer renting options on many of the textbooks. I recommend this for the gen-eds (non-major courses) that you don't see yourself specializing in. But if you're taking a class related to your field and that you have a genuine interest in, by all means, buy the book(s).

I have a music degree, and I have used my old music history textbook as a source for graduate research papers. When I run across a neat book in the library in my field, I seriously consider buying it just because.

 

[CaptainPlaceholder1]

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[CaptainPlaceholder1]

deleted

 

[merck88]

Another place I get books is textbooks.com. They have this nice thing where you can sell your book back the end of the semester. They also tend to have pretty decent prices. One thing to keep in mind,(once you figure out what you want to major in) is to start keeping some of your old textbooks. I'm an electrical engineering student about to go into his senior year, I can't tell you how many times my old calculus book from freshman year has come in handy.

Also, don't be afraid to change your major. I started out mechanical, then to biomedical, then finally EE and couldn't be happier.

As far as the Dell, I don't know specifically what is in it, but it looks like it uses nvidia's optimus technology. I don't know if it has improved recently, but I have heard some bad things about it not switching to the dedicated card. If you haven't already bought it, I would recommend looking at newegg.com. I got my laptop from there, and it has great specs and was only $650. But, that's only if you are wanting to do some more or less serious gaming on it. If you just want something for work, you'll be fine with just about anything.

And finally, GET INVOLVED! Everyone there is new and no one knows anyone. Make friends, join clubs/organizations, get involved in student-professional organization(like IEEE).

Good luck!

 

[Kryzantine]

-What is the difference between Computer science in a Humanities and sciences school and computer engineering/science in a engineering school? Curriculum wise.

But enough about me. Who else is going to College (not necessarily to America ofcourse)? Wanna share the details? Have questions? Feel free to post them, and maybe some of our more literate buddies will help us out?

Everything else has really been answered, so I guess I'll give these 2 my shot.

I would imagine the difference is software vs hardware. Computer science deals with the software, programs, the like. Think Google as the ultimate destination for comp sci students. It's still a fair challenge, and it definitely encourages different ways of thinking for different problems. Computer engineering is more on the hardware side - think IBM as the ultimate destination for computer engineering students. Deals more with the inner workings of the computer itself.

That said, I am actually heading up to SUNY Potsdam in the fall, so I'm also headed upstate NY, but I'm not worried about living by myself for a while. My crazy family life has at least taught me how to take care of myself and daily needs. I'm one of the few people that actually knows what they want to do already, and I've got a chip on my shoulder from being rejected from a lot of schools I could be going to from low grades, which were a result of my crazy family fuckup. Looking to make a fairly deep impression once I arrive.

 

[trooper6]

Oh, I want to add, Ithaca is beautiful...but it is really remote and a small town. Be ready for that.

 

[aashell13]

Group projects tend to suck. Somehow there's always that one guy who refuses to work. Whatever you do, don't be that guy.

I wouldn't bother rushing a greek organization if I were you. I tend to think most of them are more trouble than they're worth. Particularly if you're in a technical major.

You'll probably hear a lot less "Q:what'd the engineering grad say to the liberal arts grad? A: you want fries with that?" jokes at a liberal arts school...

 

[FireFlower18]

I have a dell XPS 15 that I got 4 years ago, and it over heats on me a lot. I just replaced my battery for the first time about a month ago. They are great gaming computers. My school has places where you can hang out and recharge your electronic devices and theyre are even some classrooms that have outlets available for students. I would totally go for the cooler, If your computer's battery is dying, you can save your work for later. But if it over heats, you're not so lucky.