
Ask HN: how to get the most out of college? - Sabrosa
After a short hiatus, during which I started up a small consulting business, I'm going back to school in the fall.<p>I'm not really interested in programming as a profession; I'm more interested in being an entrepreneur in general. Which means that I'm learning how to code, how to design, how to sell, etc. As such, I'm a philosophy major, as it lets me pick and choose the classes I'd like to take (a CS major wouldn't.)<p>Any specific tips on how to get the most out of my time here? I've got about 2 years left. I'm planning on getting more involved and possibly studying abroad for a year.<p>Thanks!<p>---<p>This can also be a general "college-advice" topic, so feel free to respond even if it's not to my specific situation.
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eligottlieb
Frankly, if you can stretch your degree into an additional year or take summer
classes, do it. My primary regret from university (May 2011) is that I
graduated in 3.5 years.

On the one hand, I had no debt. On the other hand, crunching my requirements
down that way meant that I often had scheduling conflicts with interesting but
non-mandatory courses like Cryptography, Networking, Computer Graphics,
Robotics, Philosophy, and Sci-Fi Films.

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vermasque
I did my BS academic time in 3 years and partly agree with this statement
here. On one hand, doing the absolute minimum delivers minimal or no debt;
saves time; and gets you into the full-time, non-intern/co-op workplace faster
(a larger paycheck and potentially more interesting stuff) and out of the
classroom. I optimized for time, cost, and good grades. As I never liked
lectures as an education medium (mostly boring) and hated the BS of American
college curriculum requirements (even after shaving a year off with course
credit from high school, there were still unnecessary requirements), I was
satisfied with the result from the view of time spent.

On the other hand, doing a minimal degree delivers minimal results. I didn't
develop a focus for what I wanted to do professionally with my degree because
I only took minimum requirements. The degree program just seemed like a to-do
list, and all I wanted to do was check off boxes. I didn't have time to go
deeper into something; this may have affected job prospects. I got a degree to
do software engineering but didn't establish what I should do with software
engineering beyond getting a job as a software engineer. I got a good job out
of college but probably missed out on other opportunities.

Regardless, the choice of whether to compress the schedule or extend should be
relative to an individual's needs. For example, if you can't afford large
college debt, compress the schedule to what is affordable. Work out the trade-
offs.

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jacques_chester
My advice is: take advantage of what you've paid so much money for.

Read the textbook. Do the exercises. Go to the tutorial sessions. Spend as
much time with your professors as possible.

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stoney
Take advantage of what you've paid for, but be aware that what you have paid
for is far more than just access to educators and educational resources.

Make connections with as many people as you can: fellow students, grad
students, professors, everyone. That guy who sits next to you in class might
turn out to be in a position to help you out in 5 years (and you might be in a
position to help him).

Take advantage of extra curricula activities, clubs, interest groups, etc. Is
there something you're kind of maybe interested in? It's going to be much
easier to find a group of like minded people at college than it is in the
"real world".

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jacques_chester
It's my experience that almost everyone takes too much advantage of the social
life and not enough of the academic life. In no way does 20-30 hours of school
work a week crowd out the rich variety of social interactions a campus offers.

Just don't spend it all on the internet, is what I'm saying.

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Sabrosa
Thanks for the responses everyone. They've been very helpful.

