Advice for incoming freshmen?

[GNR]

I'm starting college this August at UT Austin as a business major, and I was wondering if y'all could give an old friend some advice.

[SKS]

Take all the hard classes you can, the earlier the better. The knowledge is still fresh in your mind.

[The Legend]

Pace yourself. there will be plenty of time to have a whole lot of fun and make a lot of memories which you will, but make sure you put in the necessary work as well. Remember you are paying a lot of money to ultimately set up your future prospects for your life, don't take that lightly.

[Everlong]

Take all the hard classes you can, the earlier the better. The knowledge is still fresh in your mind.

I agree with this to an extent. The last thing you want is to be academically overwhelmed in your first semester. So while you should get some of the requirements you know you're going to have to fulfill (for me it was science stuff, as an english major) you should probably try to fulfill those within your first couple semesters, but don't feel like you're taking too many hard classes and that you can't enjoy yourself.

A few general pieces of advice:

*Get involved with some kind of student organization. It helps to shrink the campus and is a great way to meet people. Whether it's intramural sports, some kind of club, fraternity, whatever, it's the biggest recommendation I have.

*Keep your dorm door open whenever you're not sleeping/doing homework/busy. It encourages people to come by and say hi and you'll get invited out do do a lot more stuff. Especially in the first couple weeks, try not to turn down any invitations to do stuff.

*On the same token, don't be afraid to initiate contact with other people. Introduce yourself to everyone on your floor the first day, ask people if they wanna grab lunch or dinner or whatever, get people together to go out and do stuff.

*GO TO CLASS. You (or your parents or your scholarship) are paying lots of money to be in school. Go to school. If it turns out that some of the lectures don't really do anything other than teach out of the book then you can start judging for yourself whether you need to be there, but when you're first starting off, go to all your classes, and sit close to the front so it forces you to pay attention. Once you get in the habit of skipping classes it's really hard to break it.

*Take care of yourself. You're going to go out and party a lot, but you can avoid putting on the Freshman 15 (or more) in beer weight by eating well, getting enough sleep and keeping a good exercise regimen. Your student ID will probably get you in to campus gyms for free. Take advantage of that.

*Again, don't underestimate the importance of sleep. When classes get tough and you start feeling like you have to cram, it might feel as though it's going to be impossible to get enough sleep, but trust me, there comes a point when you're up studying late and there's no point in continuing.

*When you go out, know when to stop drinking. If the room starts spinning, you're way past the point of having had enough It's going to be rough at first if you're not experienced with your own tolerance, but once you've figured it out, always know when to stop. Additionally, take advantage of any safe ride/bus/cab services that your university has when needed.

*NEVER let girls walk home alone from parties, whether or not they're intoxicated. It's really shitty that this even has to be an actual piece of advice, but the fact is that you can never be 100 percent sure of their safety when they're walking home alone after dark. Whether you walk them yourself or make sure that they have a friend to walk with them, don't let them walk home alone.

If I can think of any more I'll let you know.

[PorkChop]

Tim raises some good points. I'll add / elaborate on some:

During your first few weeks, be as sociable as possible. The window of making friendships quickly begins to close after the first few weeks, as people start to get stuck into their studies. Join organisations, invite people out, do everything you can to make new friends - especially with the people in your dorms. If you go through uni with no friends, it'll suck.

Hold your beer. Almost every student likes getting drunk, but no one wants to be the guy who has to walk "that guy" home and clear up his chunks. If you get a reputation of being a horrible drunk and a liability, it'll ruin your chances of being invited to 99% of student socials.

Wear a condom, even if she says she's on the pill.

Don't neglect your studies. You're there for a reason - it's an investment in yourself and in your future. Have a good time, but never cross that point where your grades start suffering for it.

There's a good chance that at some point you'll feel overwhelmed by work and will feel helpless. Everybody feels like this at some point. You're not alone. Manage your time wisely and set yourself achievable targets. You'll get there.

[DanielsonTHAGOAT]

Pay off your student loans, ASAP.

[War Daddy]

Fuck bitches, get money.

[Romo]

Join a society/sports team, joining the hockey team is easily the best decision ive made as you meet shit tons of people that way!

[JPG619]

Take all the hard classes you can, the earlier the better. The knowledge is still fresh in your mind.

This, also be really good at time management since you get a lot of assignments, tests, exams etc so the more you can manage your time you can put the best in all your work. This works for me since I hardly ever had to do any all nighters for finishing up projects or studying since I been prepared for weeks before