Going to college in the upcoming fall. VOL. Dorm Life? (update pg. 5)

[wallacefactor]

Originally Posted by DT43

focus on SCHOOL first. remember that you are there for academics, not to party. this probably sounds cliche, but you'll realize how true it is when you get to college.

make studying on weeknights just as much a part of your routine as getting wasted on the weekends.

This.
Balance your academics with partying. Or else you will simultaneous get tired of partying and realize that your grades are down the gutter.

Also, yeah, no matter how douchy it may be, tell your roommate if you have a problem with them.

 

[mytmouse76]

Keep your @#%$ locked at all times. I knew dudes who stole folks books while they were sleeping right next to their desks. He would jus walk in and out like it was nothing then go sell them back to the bookstore for money.

 

[gickswitkicks]

bookmarked.

good stuff in here.

 

[raptors29]

Originally Posted by DCAllAmerican

1. Never go into a campus book store. If you need books use half.com, amazon.com, the school library or try to go half with someone in the class. There is NO REASON to every buy a book from the school book store. Too expensive.

2. Condoms, enough said.

3. Get in shape. Use this time to abuse a free gym at your school and get in shape if you haven't already. There is a stay in shape thread here, get familiar.

True. Another key is to try to smash early. All the girls are easy in August and September. 

 

[degenerate423]

posting for later.  went to a jc last year, and i'm starting UOP this fall. i feel lame for being excited when this should really be my 2nd year in college

...

 

[spincv]

3 Major things.
take advantage of the *#@+ your school offers, like the gym and what not.
Despite what everyone says like bring condoms you still can get the herpes from messing with jump offs and its FOR LIFE
Finally take your roommate agreement serious. I know me and my roommates were joking around and put o we wont jerk off if the other person is sleeping and like no sex in the kitchen but come second semester one of our roomates turned into a slob and left his *#@+ everywhere and it was

 

[theemperor45]

Originally Posted by mytmouse76

Keep your @#%$ locked at all times. I knew dudes who stole folks books while they were sleeping right next to their desks. He would jus walk in and out like it was nothing then go sell them back to the bookstore for money.should we

look it up in what way? the door or have something... storage like.

 

[nomoplayinga]

Bring lots of money, cause college loans is not the way to go.

 

[metrokid26]

Orientation's tomorrow.
Still didn't pack

, rereading this was cool and helpful, so just introduce and have fun right?

and I still want to know from popcornplaya what exactly the roster system is.

 

[mytmouse76]

Originally Posted by TheEmperor45

Originally Posted by mytmouse76

Keep your @#%$ locked at all times. I knew dudes who stole folks books while they were sleeping right next to their desks. He would jus walk in and out like it was nothing then go sell them back to the bookstore for money.should we

look it up in what way? the door or have something... storage like.

Your door. People would be sleep during the day and my friend at the time would just find a room door unlocked and walk in grab the books and bounce. Keep an eye on your roomates company too. Just cuz you and your roommate are cool doesn't mean all his friends will like you. Set rules early. Wait to bring your PS and Xbox. Check out the scene first. More than likely half your floor will have one. If you have suite style it might be a lil easier.

 

[mytmouse76]

Originally Posted by TheEmperor45

Originally Posted by mytmouse76

Keep your @#%$ locked at all times. I knew dudes who stole folks books while they were sleeping right next to their desks. He would jus walk in and out like it was nothing then go sell them back to the bookstore for money.should we

look it up in what way? the door or have something... storage like.

Your door. People would be sleep during the day and my friend at the time would just find a room door unlocked and walk in grab the books and bounce. Keep an eye on your roomates company too. Just cuz you and your roommate are cool doesn't mean all his friends will like you. Set rules early. Wait to bring your PS and Xbox. Check out the scene first. More than likely half your floor will have one. If you have suite style it might be a lil easier.

 

[badmoonrison]

posting to post  later (at work 

)

 

[juve9ile18]

Originally Posted by TimCity2000

be careful about living with someone you know your freshman year. a couple of things could happen... you may end up hating each other by the end of it, or you may end up not meeting other people because you're always hanging out together. i think it's worth it to get a random roommate.

This. When I first entered college in 2003 my best friend and I lived in the same dorm but not in the same dorm room. Worked out good. On the otherhand, one of my boys moved in with his best friend at the time. Safe to say, they are not best friends anymore.

 

[ndizzle23]

Work hard

Play hard

 

[iallan]

I miss the dorm life... can't believe it's already 2 years ago!
Anyway, living in the dorms is expensive so you might as well take advantage of all the perks (ie. Study Rooms, Lounge Rooms, close distance to the gym I presume, etc.)
Join a Greek, biggest mistake of my college career was not joining a frat during Freshman year
ALWAYS have a DD (designated driver), especially during big Greek parties like Rush Week and Halloween

Edit.
And don't be the annoying, loud, drunk flame boy freshman that no one wants to invite after that one night.

A dude we invited to our beginning of the year party got hella drunk and almost ruined the party for us.

 

[popcornplaya]

Originally Posted by MetroKid26

Originally Posted by popcornplaya


if you haven't familiarized yourself with the roster system, do that.

Roster System?

How does this work zen master Phil Jackson??

There are starters, and there are bench players.

 

[iblink]

Originally Posted by popcornplaya

Originally Posted by MetroKid26

Originally Posted by popcornplaya


if you haven't familiarized yourself with the roster system, do that.

Roster System?

How does this work zen master Phil Jackson??

There are starters, and there are bench players.

Be nice to the bench warmers... keep em in shape.Your star player might get injured, or decides to trade teams. At which point, your bench warmer must be ready to perform as if she were always in starting rotation.

 

[physicx]

Originally Posted by iBlink

Originally Posted by popcornplaya

Originally Posted by MetroKid26

Originally Posted by popcornplaya


if you haven't familiarized yourself with the roster system, do that.

Roster System?

How does this work zen master Phil Jackson??

There are starters, and there are bench players.

Be nice to the bench warmers... keep em in shape.Your star player might get injured, or decides to trade teams. At which point, your bench warmer must be ready to perform as if she were always in starting rotation.

check the waiver wire too

someone who gets cut elsewhere may be of some use to you

 

[shoeking2101]

Thread is pifr.Orientation is Thursday, should be fun. Work hard, be mellow/cool with everyone, and have fun but be safe. Also, make sure u find a way to lock your valuables, don't bring anything you don't need, and be clean. What am I missing?

 

[badmoonrison]

The list of things to bring on the first page is way OD. You don't need to bring #%+ like neosporin, windex, your whole wardrobe, etc. Let me try to give a few tips on maximizing freshman year... it turned out to be the best year of my life so far. I know I typed all this out a few years ago, but I guess no one saved it. Hopefully with my advice, you'll learn from my successes and mistakes and end up really enjoying the first year.
- My number one piece of advice going into college for the new decade: You see those facebook groups that are titled things like "U of Illinois class of 2014!!!" ??? Join them if you want, but do NOT start adding kids and talking to them. Do not start posting things about yourself on the group page. This was rampant when I was a freshman in 2007, and all of the kids who were overactive on the FB group turned out to be desperate losers or overexcited weird kids. Also, if you get into these deep conversations with people before school (especially girls), it will be incredibly awkward when you finally meet face-to-face. Avoid that pain, and just remember that you will meet everyone that you need to meet once school starts.

- As noted before, do NOT request a certain roommate going into the freshman dorms. I have seen countless friends from high school grow to hate each other because they roomed together in the dorms. More often than not, I feel like people luck out and get put with someone that's similar to them... and if you really do get a weird @$@ dude, well I guess it makes for a good story afterwards. Plus, college should be all about meeting new people that are different from yourself. Only switch roommates if they are destructive alcoholics, dealing drugs from your room, or stealing from you.

- Number one thing to remember in the dorms: EVERYONE is just as nervous as you are, if not more. 90% of kids on your campus probably know two people there or less. Don't be the kid that sits in his room playing Call of Duty for the first two weeks - that's no way to make friends. Keep your door open, kids will probably just poke their heads in and say hi. Sure, there are some weird kids that are a little overexcited to meet everyone, but the sooner you get to know your dorm wing, the sooner you will have an idea of who your friends are. Don't turn down an invite to play pick-up basketball, go get pizza, visit a girls' dorm, go to a party off-campus, etc... basically give yourself the opportunity to make friends instead of living like a hermit.

- Make friends with a few nerdy kids. They will fix your computer for free.

- At the same time, though, don't trust kids if you don't know them at all. I wouldn't leave anyone alone in your room unless you feel like you can consider them a good friend. I've seen theft of laptops, ipods, prescription pills, money, credit cards, you name it. Lock your door when you leave the room, too many kids leave theirs open.

- As much as I hate to say it, start to drink beer if you haven't been already. Kids around you are going to be pitching in money on cases of swill like Keystone and Natty light, and you should probably snag 5-6 for yourself on a given night. Drinking allows you to be a little more social and you will almost certainly have more confidence to talk to females. If you don't like the taste of beer, keep trying it... you will eventually enjoy it. I forced myself to like it and now I love it.

- Along the same lines... DO NOT be the kid that has a trainwreck night drinking and does something unbelievably ******ed. This is why I stay away from hard liquor. Know your limits, and if you are starting to feel pretty good, tone it down for a while... odds are that the juice is about to catch up with you and hit you like a brick. One kid my freshman year came home from the bars and started smashing his head against peoples doors and leaving bloodstains. Another started a bulletin board on fire. Another basically tried to rape a girl. When you are blackout drunk, you have a large chance of doing something that will get you in a LOT of trouble. One incident like this, and everyone in the dorm will think you are a *%@+*+*$% and you'll probably be branded for the rest of freshman year.

- Don't bring too many clothes, especially if you live less than 2 hrs from your school. If you're traveling farther, I guess you should plan ahead for the winter, but I think that every kid regrets bringing half of their clothes. For one, a lot of dorm rooms don't have that much closet space/shelving. Two, there's just no need to have 60 t-shirts, 30 shoes and 20 pairs of jeans. If you are dressing up like you are about to shoot a rap video in the club or like you're an Abercrombie model, kids will make fun of you and it very well may have a negative effect on the women. Don't underestimate the style of a college tee and simple pair of jeans with clean kicks. Also, do not dress up for the first day of class. Everyone will know you're a freshman. Stay with the above outfit suggestion or something similarly simple.

- Go to class. Freshman year is usually very easy, and many kids (including myself) slack off and come away with that ugly 2.4 GPA after the first year. Now here I am, going into my senior year, worrying about getting into grad school with my 2.9. Go to class, even if you don't do all the work or speak up in class, at least the teacher will see that you remotely care (depending on the size of the class) and you will know what's going on with the topics.

- Think about joining clubs and start looking for chances to achieve leadership positions. Many kids think that clubs or organizations are weak like in H.S., but they look nice on resumes and they also let you meet people. My friends who go to a big public school are the presidents of their Ski and Snowboard Club, and they have smashed countless hot girls on these trips that they go on. Needless to say, I am ridiculously jealous and wish I would have gotten involved like that in such a girl-magnet club.

- DON'T JOIN A FRAT unless you want to be called homophobic slurs constantly or you have no friends. I live at a frat for the summer (I am not in it, the rent was cheap for only 3 months) and I see a lot of it firsthand. Many kids join frats when they have no friends, and there is often a reason that they have no friends. If you are cool in even the least bit, you will come away from the freshman dorms with enough friends to survive. Once you join a frat, you usually start hanging out with only those kids. Sure, the sorority girls are sometimes smokin, but they are too often the Laguna Beach types that think they are Kim K and will act like it. There's also no reason why you can't get at sorority girls without being in a frat. You will almost certainly be forced to drink mass amounts of hard liquor or do something similarly uncomfortable... I have a friend who had his childhood best friend die at Clemson because he was forced to do vodka beer bongs. You also have to pay for frats, and you will soon realize that you are paying for friendship. Pretty cool, right? Don't do it.

- If you are borderline on playing a sport (I'm thinking more D3, if you are D1 material you will definitely know it), do it. Playing sports is a great way to make friends and get girls. Even if you're a benchwarmer on the football team, you'll be invited to football parties and be talking to girls that are looking for jerseys like a heatseeking missile.

- Girls, girls, girls... if you have any game at all, you will smash. Don't try to smash if the girl is way too drunk, you might get hit with a lawsuit/expulsion. Get numbers, but don't force it. Use your friends' connections to meet females. If a girl asks you to walk her home or come back to her room, DO IT. If you don't, you will realize what she was trying to get at the next day and you will hate yourself. Sitting next to girls in class and slowly getting to know them is a great way to meet them. Sometimes you'll get put into group projects with girls, which is usually a great chance. If you meet a great girl, like a really nice one with good manners and attitude but things don't work out, don't be afraid to keep her as a friend. You can't force attraction, and it's never a bad thing to have a smokin' female friend... she will hook you up with her friends.

-  Weed... don't be afraid to smoke it, just don't overdo it. I've met many friends or acquaintances while smoking a bowl with some other buddies. There are also some bad chicks that are down to smoke. The problem emerges when you are smoking all day, every day... or when you begin to deal. Don't get that deep into it. I had a friend who was dealing from his room, got caught, and got hit with a group of charges that still has him doing community service and probation two years after the incident. I also saw my brother fail out of school as a freshman because all he wanted to do was smoke weed and sleep in. It was tough to watch, and you don't want to have your parents asking you why they got a dismissal letter in the mail. As far as other drugs, don't do coke or ex... they're too dangerous. try shrooms or acid if you want, but be careful not to overdo it. Don't mess with pills. Don't get addicted to adderall for studying or otherwise. Also NEVER smoke weed after you are really drunk, you are guaranteed to puke. NEVER smoke in the dorms.

- MONEY MANAGEMENT is huge. Most kids don't have jobs until later in college, so be looking out for those opportunities early. Part-time cash is so valuable. You need to ration yourself out... don't be going hungry at the end of the month because you spent it all on weed and beer. Don't buy weed every night, that's how kids go broke. Also, don't go to the bar and start handing out drinks cause you think you're a baller. You'll look on your debit card the next day and see that you blew $140, and want to kill yourself.

- Lastly... if you find yourself hating your school after three weeks, don't give up. You never want to be that kid who drives home every weekend to party with his high school friends. I'd be very reluctant to recommend that anyone transfers at semester unless your school is under 2,000 kids, in the middle of nowhere and/or you hate it with a burning passion. Switch at the end of the year if you want, but realize that you will never get back the connections you made freshman year.

Hope that helped. If you need any more help on any topics, let me know

 

[metrokid26]

^

*Russlle Peters voice* "Mind Blasting!"

thanks dude! Really appreciated that

and also thanks to the dudes that cleared up the roster system, I'm ready to coach my first year

any more tips on time management for study and schoolwork? (sorry for the abundance of questions, but I figured this thread can do more than just help me out.)

 

[mytmouse76]

you don't have to drink...i was at EVERY party/club i could get into freshmean year and never had a drink...didn't start drinking until my sophmore year...

if you're not gonna drink don't be that guy that looks down on everyone else who does...

 

[badmoonrison]

Originally Posted by MetroKid26


any more tips on time management for study and schoolwork? (sorry for the abundance of questions, but I figured this thread can do more than just help me out.)

- Try to use incentives for studying... it worked for me. Instead of ripping a bowl and playing video games with friends, I would try to wait to do that until I had all of the work done that I needed to do. After you've finished your work, it's that much more relaxing to kick it.
- In college more than ever before, consider starting papers/projects/studying long before they are due. Sure, in high school you could crank out four pages about Huckleberry Finn the night before... but when you're asked to compare Thoreau and Emersons' views on trancendentalism in 12+ pages with in-text citation, you better start at least three days prior to the due date, if not several days earlier.

- I can't stress enough taking class seriously from day 1. There are boatloads of kids around you that will fail out after a year from too much partying or lack of effort. You can chill with these kids, just don't let them drag you down with them. Just because your buddies are skipping class doesn't mean you should too. I went to a private school that handed out detentions like candy... we never knew skipping class was even an option. Skipping class and getting away with it was a newfound freedom that I often abused. Most colleges won't even notice if you're not in your seat... do it for yourself, though.

 

[jfmartimcdandruff]

Originally Posted by badmoonRison

The list of things to bring on the first page is way OD. You don't need to bring #%+ like neosporin, windex, your whole wardrobe, etc. Let me try to give a few tips on maximizing freshman year... it turned out to be the best year of my life so far. I know I typed all this out a few years ago, but I guess no one saved it. Hopefully with my advice, you'll learn from my successes and mistakes and end up really enjoying the first year.
- My number one piece of advice going into college for the new decade: You see those facebook groups that are titled things like "U of Illinois class of 2014!!!" ??? Join them if you want, but do NOT start adding kids and talking to them. Do not start posting things about yourself on the group page. This was rampant when I was a freshman in 2007, and all of the kids who were overactive on the FB group turned out to be desperate losers or overexcited weird kids. Also, if you get into these deep conversations with people before school (especially girls), it will be incredibly awkward when you finally meet face-to-face. Avoid that pain, and just remember that you will meet everyone that you need to meet once school starts.

lol i joined that to get some help for my stuff...and i see some dudes on there 24/7, i see what you mean

I tried dorm life while in a summer program, i did not like it as much as I thought i would. I mean, i need some time alone and i hate sharing for some reason. Don't get it twisted, I enjoy meeting new people but i need some alone time as well.

 

[tizoni]

Rent your books.