College advice

Hi, I will be heading off to the University of North Georgia in Watkinsville within the next year and I was just looking for any advice yall have for a young outdoorsman going to college. Any advice would be nice, whether its career choices, vehicles, programs, dos and donts, anything is welcome.
Thanks!

DO NOT screw up your first year. Hit the books hard. Study, study, study and get great grades! Your GPA for the rest of your college career hinges on your freshman year. If you have a bad GPA your freshman year it will be extremely difficult to bring it up as time progresses.

Try to get a syllabus (schedule) for your classes prior to school starting. In 4 years you would think I would be smart enough to figure this out, but I did not. They are usually online somewhere either under the professor or under the department's page, or at least were for us when I went to UNG. Go buy used text books, if available, based on what the syllabus tells you. Buy them online if that's an option also.

Career choices: Do what you like. You don't have to pick right up front. Do some core classes (English, foreign language, math, etc) in your first two years then in your 3rd and 4th pick a major and pursue that.

Review your professors: http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/

While some are inaccurate and may come from hateful students, many have accurate accounts. This is one resource that just started when I was in college many years ago so reviews were slime. As I look back now at some of my professors, the reviews are spot on.
Here were two that I had at the Dahlonega campus and this is definitely accurate (and still accurate evidently):
http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=323098
http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=323098


Take businesses classes as electives. Your career choice may not pan out but every business is a business.

No guns on campus (usually). Not even hunting rifles or archery equipment. Keep them off campus at a college mate's apartment.

Treat your studies like a full time job.... I would spend atleast 8 hours a day in class and studying between classes.

Stay out of debt. School debt is easy to acquire and tough to get rid of.

Do not "take a hiatus". Keep pushin' on.

Don't do a hiatus, don't buy books ahead of time, I haven't bought books since my freshman year other than a math book and a lit book. Don't think you have the hardest classes or your at a difficult school, it gets worse if you think that way. Keep your GPA up the first year and it's immensely easier the next. Make friends and have fun, it doesn't get better after graduation, you get more money, more bills, and new problems.

Pick a worthwhile major. Study it and know what you'll realistically make and the demand in the field.

Keep the grades up or lose Hope. My son lost it. Takes a whole year to get it back.

doomtrpr_z71 said:

Don't do a hiatus, don't buy books ahead of time, I haven't bought books since my freshman year other than a math book and a lit book. Don't think you have the hardest classes or your at a difficult school, it gets worse if you think that way. Keep your GPA up the first year and it's immensely easier the next. Make friends and have fun, it doesn't get better after graduation, you get more money, more bills, and new problems.

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Good advice there......

i learned this after my first semester......


I didn't buy a book until I absolutely had to, and many times I never needed to. Plus, if you do end up having to buy one a few weeks into the semester, then you can often get them cheap from all the slackers who drop the class.

swampstalker24 said:

Treat your studies like a full time job.... I would spend atleast 8 hours a day in class and studying between classes.

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Critical advice. ^^^

If you are taking class 101, the first class of a series of classes for your major; DON'T just memorize the answers for the test. YOU need a full understanding of the basics so you aren't re-learning things that are required to know complete assignments in the later years. This really hurt me with my programming classes.

Everything in moderation. You do NOT need to party 5 nights week. Study/work hard now, this will pay off huge dividends later in life.

Study, Study, study. Go to class everyday. get along and do your home work. Do not wait act.

king killer delete said:

Study, Study, study. Go to class everyday. get along and do your home work. Do not wait act.

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This is probably the most critical advice....... it may seem obvious, but you'd be surprised. I had a lot of buddies in college who just didn't like going to class and they paid the price. Plus, if you have perfect attendance, your professor is more likely to help you out a little at the end of the semester if you need it.

merc123 said:

DO NOT screw up your first year. Hit the books hard. Study, study, study and get great grades! Your GPA for the rest of your college career hinges on your freshman year. If you have a bad GPA your freshman year it will be extremely difficult to bring it up as time progresses.

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Why didn't you tell me this in 1984?

Despite getting mostly A's & B's my last 5 years of my 4-year degree, it was impossible to erase those D's and F's from my freshman year, and I graduated with a 2.13.

As someone who lost the hope scholarship the second semester of college after graduating high school with a 4.2 GPA and managed to fight my way back up to making all A's and B's:

GO TO CLASS even if it's not required attendance.

Study as you go -- you go over chapter 4 in class, go over it again when you get home and take double notes. Don't wait until the night before the test to go over everything you learned.

Don't procrastinate on projects or papers. Start them the day the teacher hands out the syllabus. Even if it's just a minor start.

Be responsible and keep school first, but enjoy the free time you have. Hunt as often as you can without your studies suffering. Once you have a job, wife, and house, hunting and fishing will wind up comparatively far down on the list of priorities.

Network. Have conversations with your teachers. They won't know who you are, or care about your success or failure if you don't.

Don't hang out with idiots. DUI's, D&D's, etc are not the result of a good time, they are life altering, expensive mistakes that are easily avoided. I avoided them. I watched several people struggle since college because of them. If you're going to drink and party, do it OFF campus, DO NOT DRIVE, and stay away from drugs -- even pot. Drug charges in Georgia will relieve you of your ability to own firearms, as well as your ability to land a decent job for several years. It's not worth the risk, no matter how small that risk may seem.

The single most important thing you need to be successful in college, or anywhere else in life is DISCIPLINE. That's it. The discipline to go to class when you really don't want to. The discipline to stay home an study when all your friends are going out. The discipline to not put that 12 pack on a credit card.

Take it from a guy that had ZERO discipline my first go at college and flunked out after a year and a half. I went back after 4 years while on active duty and made the dean's list every semester and graduated with honors. Being in the Marines definitely didn't make me any smarter school wise, it just instilled in me the discipline to do what I needed to do.

Find a major that you think you will enjoy and school will be easy. Going to class will be easy if you are interested in the subject matter.

ryanh487 said:

As someone who lost the hope scholarship the second semester of college after graduating high school with a 4.2 GPA and managed to fight my way back up to making all A's and B's:

GO TO CLASS even if it's not required attendance.

Study as you go -- you go over chapter 4 in class, go over it again when you get home and take double notes. Don't wait until the night before the test to go over everything you learned.

Don't procrastinate on projects or papers. Start them the day the teacher hands out the syllabus. Even if it's just a minor start.

Be responsible and keep school first, but enjoy the free time you have. Hunt as often as you can without your studies suffering. Once you have a job, wife, and house, hunting and fishing will wind up comparatively far down on the list of priorities.

Network. Have conversations with your teachers. They won't know who you are, or care about your success or failure if you don't.

Don't hang out with idiots. DUI's, D&D's, etc are not the result of a good time, they are life altering, expensive mistakes that are easily avoided. I avoided them. I watched several people struggle since college because of them. If you're going to drink and party, do it OFF campus, DO NOT DRIVE, and stay away from drugs -- even pot. Drug charges in Georgia will relieve you of your ability to own firearms, as well as your ability to land a decent job for several years. It's not worth the risk, no matter how small that risk may seem.

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Excellent advice. And even if you can get through high school with A's & B's, without studying (or by cramming 5 minutes before the test), like I could - that will NOT work in a college (at least not in a tough college).

And if you're gonna party wild, sew your oats, etc., do that on your Summer break between HS and college. Do not graduate early from HS, go straight college without a break, and commence that partying phase. Don't ask me how I know.

Rebel 6 said:

Why didn't you tell me this in 1984?

Despite getting mostly A's & B's my last 5 years of my 4-year degree, it was impossible to erase those D's and F's from my freshman year, and I graduated with a 2.13.

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I made some C's in my freshman year. Killed my GPA for the rest of the time I was there and only made 1 additional C and 1, D (Calculus ) and still couldn't get it up to a 3.0 GPA. I had a 3.3-3.7+ GPA for the last two years when ranked by semester but wasn't enough to make my overall GPA rise above 3.0.


One other thing I forgot to mention, if you feel like you are being done wrong by a professor in some way there are options. You can talk to department heads or other staff at the university. For example in my Calculus class the professor graded on a curve and you could drop your lowest test score. I failed all 4 test (mid 60's and even 30's on some) because I just couldn't get it. I studied every day for a week solid for the final exam and made a 94. No cheating either...It just happened to click. With the curve he graded on it would have brought my D average to a B. He told me to my face he couldn't in good conscious give me a B but would give me a C. When the report card came out I wound up with a D in the class. I should have fought that, but I did not and I wish now that I had.

Rebel 6 said:

and I graduated with a 2.13.

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Keyword = graduated. GPA is rarely on a resume.

660griz said:

Keyword = graduated. GPA is rarely on a resume.

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Truth. Consider a minor, as well. Combine an MBA with a Bachelors in IT and you'll be setup for either doing the tech job, or managing the team that does. You'll find jobs easier that way when you get out.

Also, find a mentor in the field you want to be in, and spend time with them often. Most of my professional jobs came from knowing someone who worked somewhere, rather than cold applications. That mentor can guide you into good companies, give you experience while you're still in school, and be a very valuable networking partner once you graduate.

660griz said:

Keyword = graduated. GPA is rarely on a resume.

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Yep. And thankfully, in the 25 years since, I have only been asked twice what my GPA was.