
College Advice I Wish I’d Taken - devarshar
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/17/opinion/college-advice-professor.html
======
hprotagonist
My top 3.

1\. Show up to office hours. Even if you sit there and do nothing, TA's notice
-- and TAs will absolutely spill the beans on what to prep for for exams, even
unintentionally.

2\. If you're so brainfried that you can't study any more, go to the gym. Not
only is exercise generally good, I'm real convinced it's good for memory
consolidation too.

3\. If you're attending an expensive private university, networking is
effectively what you're buying. Exploit ruthlessly.

~~~
jsemrau
>3\. If you're attending an expensive private university, networking is
effectively what you're buying. Exploit ruthlessly.

This is how I got into my job. It's never too late. Bring yourself out and
talk to people.

~~~
hprotagonist
you and me both.

my first graduate school advisor took me on as a full staff member 5 years out
of undergrad. It turns out he knew exactly who i was and was keeping tabs on
me in industry, waiting for me to reenter the market. I don't know what I did
to deserve that, but I'm eternally grateful.

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qntty
Like most college advice, this is a combination of "what my professors wish I
would do" and "what future me will wish I did".

Good advice doesn't just tell you what you will be glad you did later, it
directly addresses the real problems that you have _now_. It's not easy to
give because it requires that you step into someone else's shoes. The last one
suggesting seeking out emotional support is probably the closest to this, but
it's also some of the most common pieces of advice published anywhere.

~~~
ianai
I remember being told my generation were going to have it rough. One old man
in particular seemed to single out my profession (mathematics) as some sort of
ultimate cure all that should feel the burden of solving all of societies
problems. Pretty heavy to lay that on anyone.

And yet I don’t know what I would actually suggest people consider. Health
care does have good, local growth prospects at least. But that’s very much not
for everyone, myself included. It just seems like more than ever that outside
of very few localities work and the “American dream” are way off from the
realm of possibilities.

~~~
Buttes
Healthcare and tech are basically the two "jobs of the future". "Local growth"
pfffft. More people need more healthcare. There are few surer things.

~~~
irrational
Especially with all of the baby boomers getting old and needing care. If I was
in college I'd figure out what kind of health care old people need the most
and go into that. At least, that's what I would do if I was in it for the
money. I studied Ancient Near Eastern Studies in college, so obviously I
wasn't in it for the money ;-)

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CalChris
I agree with _everything_ in the article. However, it was written from the
Liberal Arts POV and I was in Engineering.

Get all your reading done before class. Class is review.

If you have a paper due get a draft done a week ahead of time. Then you can
hammer on it over the week.

Shop for TAs the first week. In a big lecture class, your TA will make the
class.

Avoid bad teachers. I never didn't get into a class. But I dropped three
classes the first week because I thought the lecturer was weak. There was
something else better to take. I missed a class that was only taught once a
year but the prof sucked. Nothing is worth that. There is another way, always.

If you're in STEM you'll have to take some LA classes for breadth. Make these
count. These aren't classes you have to take. These are classes you get to
take.

Hit the gym. A lot.

~~~
yeukhon
> If you're in STEM you'll have to take some LA classes for breadth. Make
> these count. These aren't classes you have to take. These are classes you
> get to take.

I regretted I didn't. I consistently find myself unable to have any meaningful
conversations with anyone on anything outside of Computer Science (even then I
am only comfortable discussing security and infrastructure; ask me about
compiler I can tell you the basics and that's about it). Good teachers
teaching LA can prepare you becoming more full-stack in life :) Good LA
classes are usually more discussion-oriented (but I REALLY HATE WRITING
PAPERS).

~~~
CalChris
I used to hate writing papers, especially in HS. But what I was really hating
was the night before it was due, thinking somehow the magic would happen. It
never did.

The key is getting a draft out, literally a raw simple draft of what you're
gonna say, a week ahead of time. It's kind've like pseudo code. Then fill that
in.

Then I'd hammer on my papers over the week. They'd start out raw and get
better and better. I'd tweak. I'd find a better word. (Is this sounding
familiar?) I'd _work_ on it.

When I turned it in, I knew I was getting an A. I had two papers quoted in
lecture. _Hey wait, I wrote that!_ I don't think I ever got less than a B+,
generally A's.

Writing isn't magic. It's _work_. In fact, what 'they' do isn't really that
much different from what 'we' do.

~~~
yeukhon
I agree. I usually start with the first paragraph, but if I am unable to
complete the first paragraph (where I state my stand), I just go into the
body. I usually have the outline on a piece of paper, and probably erase the
whole word doc a few times. On this topic: I don't like setting an upper bound
for word limit. The longest essay I have ever written was 15 pages because I
had so much to write...

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Tade0
I barely made it through college and I can tell you what eventually was the
most valuable thing I that was doing there:

Networking.

I didn't fail linear algebra because a friend explained one important concept
to me twenty minutes before the exam.

I got my first(not related to my education) job because I helped a friend with
calculus(his father was a manager in a company and hired me shortly after his
son passed his exams).

I got my first paid internship because I bumped into my friend while I was
visiting some other friends in their dorm(apparently the said friend's manager
was looking to spend his budget - or so it seemed given that the hiring
process was a formality really).

I got my first "real" job because a friend of mine ran a company and was in
need of devs.

I could go on and on. Basically connections were the thing that jump-started
my career.

So my advice would be: try to be likable and hang out with people with grit.

~~~
pdimitar
Agreed with your whole comment except this:

> _try to be likable_

You can't do that. But showing genuine interest in what people think and do,
being a listener and not only a talker, is what gets many people to like you.
And that's not something that's easy to fake. You have to be genuinely curious
about other people's perspective and context.

~~~
Tade0
I didn't specify _how_ exactly you should be achieving that so I'm assuming
you assumed that I was assuming that networking is all about drawing
attention.

Anyway I originally went entirely against your advice here and it worked for
me. Mostly because my fellow computer science students hated initiating
smalltalk and enjoyed a good story, so lifting this burden off them was good.

I guess what it shows is that neither of our approaches are guaranteed to
work.

~~~
pdimitar
Yep, wrong assumption.

Also, small talk and a good story aren't mutually exclusive. ;)

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sgeisenh
I disagree with a good bit of this advice. And I suspect it varies with the
discipline of study.

In a field like computer science, time is better spent working on personal
projects, hashing out ideas with peers and exploring research opportunities
than aspiring to get an A in every class. A's make for boring, one dimensional
students. People who make priorities based on more complex factors than an
arbitrary letter grade are preferable to interact and work with.

~~~
mcguire
College is the one time you have direct, easy access to all those things that
those who didn't go or didn't take advantage of are now struggling to learn on
their own. Books, videos, and websites are a poor substitute to having someone
who knows sit down and explain stuff to you.

Don't waste the opportunity.

~~~
Alex3917
> Books, videos, and websites are a poor substitute to having someone who
> knows sit down and explain stuff to you.

For subjects like math and CS, these things are great substitutes. For things
like mycology or religious studies, less so. I think there is something to be
said for using your time in college to focus more on the subjects that are
basically unlearnable via other channels.

For things like CS though, just sitting down and spending a weekend watching
Tim Roughgarden's YouTube channel will give you more than enough algorithm and
data structure knowledge to get a job as a developer or whatever.

~~~
ianai
As my math advisor said, even subjects like math are best conveyed person to
person. There are subconscious and nonverbal communication factors that can’t
be reproduced in a video or book.

~~~
Alex3917
Sure, I was mostly referring to calculus and the other subjects you study as
an undergrad though, where the trade books you can get on Amazon are generally
much better than the textbooks that the university courses use.

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slackingoff2017
Nothing in there about money? Here's one I figured out a couple years too
late...

You got average grades and nothing unusual about you that would lead to
scholarships? If you go to school the "normal" way you're likely to end up in
huge piles of debt. Even if you go to community college first.

An open secret is location. Find a place in the country, or even another
country, where college is subsidized for residents. Instead of going to
community college in your home town, prioritize moving to that location ASAP.

Get a part time job, a crappy apartment, and start community college there.
Pay close attention to their residency requirements to make sure you meet them
as quickly as possible. Then transfer to the college of your choice and save
tons of money

~~~
throwaway2048
good luck affording an apartment pretty much anywhere that is anything like
that with a part time job these days.

~~~
slackingoff2017
This sounds unreal, but I found a place that was $210 a month about 6 years
ago. The area was sketchy and the place was crap. Best thing about it was that
it didn't have roaches.

Since college funding is usually on state level you have some latitude with
where you initially move. Going to a community college in a farm town doesn't
sound like a blast but it's probably the easiest way to make things work from
a cash flow perspective.

Your friends/family are likely to think your "master plan" is crazy too lol

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RhysU
...aaaaaand learning things takes a back seat to credentialism in the whole
article. We should go to college because it is the most cost effective way of
learning things, not because our profs bestow favors on the front row.

~~~
pdimitar
As mentioned in the article -- "professors are humans too".

If you show genuine interest, they'll remember and favor you. That's how us
the humans work.

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spooky_
I'm surprised this doesn't seem to mention cost, aside from A's lead to
scholarships.

Many community colleges offer guaranteed admission to state schools so long as
a GPA is maintained. It can save the student tens of thousands in fees.

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mto
Well, apparently being good at college is not a requirement for becoming
professor... But I don't get that US GPA system. If B is the second best grade
from 5 available grades, and GPA goes from 1 to 5 with 5 best, shouldn't this
translate to 4/5 then?

We here usually just average the grades from the courses. But on the other
hand, nobody cares about that score and it's not written anywhere officially.
Because teachers are different and schools are different, a C with one Prof
could still be better than an A with another one.

~~~
mto
Ok nevermind, seems there is the max 4 and max 5 system.

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akhilcacharya
> . Recently I learned that my niece Dara, a sophomore at New York University
> with a 3.7 G.P.A. (and a boyfriend), was offered a week of travel in Buenos
> Aires as part of her honors seminar. I was retroactively envious to learn
> that a 3.5 G.P.A. or higher at many schools qualifies you for free trips,
> scholarships, grants, awards, private parties and top internships

For some reason I don't think this is common.

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yters
ROTC can get you a scholarship and a great job out the door, plus loads of
opportunities and leadership experience during your career no one else gets.

Plus you are defending an entire country. And much of our country's leadership
class comes from the military, so it gives you a bigger say in where our
country is going.

------
JohnL4
Somebody once ran into Vladimir Putin at some diplomatic cocktail party when
he was just a mid-level KGB guy, and they asked him what he did. Answer: "I
mingle."

------
emodendroket
Sleep more often.

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adamnemecek
> I reward those who try harder with recommendations, references, professional
> contacts and encouragement.

...and everyone knows that recommendations from writing professors are what
helps you land the jobs that make the big $$$.

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ysleepy
Sorry, but this does not contain any special insights. Reads like platitudes.

My luke warm insights:

\- Stay fit, keep your back trained.

\- Mitigate risks to your mental well being

\- Socialize

\- Do the work

\- Take advantage of opportunities given to students (travel, discounts,
university resources)

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rb808
I didn't go to college in the US so I'm a bit surprised:

A's come with perks - seriously? Maybe when you're 6 that is a thing, when
you're 20 I thought you'd grown out of that.

Asking questions in class - I hate these people, 50-200 people have to listen
while some prima donna wants all the attention.

After one of my intro sessions, a freshman from Idaho blurted out: “Awesome
class! It’s like you stuck my fingers in a light socket.” I laughed and
invited her to speed walk with me around the local park - I guess arse lickers
are everywhere.

~~~
mto
Well it was up to 700 for me. At least in the first years. Also felt the
questions were annoying there. Especially because it was so basic stuff you
can find everywhere in the internet. In the specialized courses in the master
there were often only 2-20 people and this was completely different, with
topics that are state of the art in research and material you can't find
online so easily.

