It's move in week, What advice/Tip would you give the Newbies on campus..
- Thread starter PennStateNate
- Start date
Tell them this ain't High School anymore and the expectations are much higher. They will not listen and then throw the first floor party as soon as you leave. At least you covered yourself for the first round of exams in October!
Go to the involvement fair at the HUB that happens during the first week or 2 of classes. Learn about all the clubs/orgs on campus (think there are around 700) and join something. Look at the sports schedules and concert schedules, grab some new friends and go. Read Onward State to keep up on things around campus. Go to class - tuition divided by # of class hours - each one missed is quite expensive!!! Agree that it's no longer high school. The bar has been raised!
Treat school like your job which in a sense it is. Distractions are all around you so devote a minimum of 40 hours per week to your studies including class attendance. There will still be plenty of time for hanging out and socializing. Also, there are countless clubs on campus for any type of activity you can imagine. Join one which sounds like something you'd enjoy. Current members will be happy to have an enthusiastic new member. It's a great way to meet people who have the same interests as you.
My second semester, I crunched that number and it improved my attendance record dramatically.
My tip for all incoming students is to check out the Minors. They are very easy to get if you start planning ahead from the start.
http://bulletins.psu.edu/undergrad/programs/minors/
If you're female, never drink the punch. Never skip class, and always read ahead, it really saves time down the road.
Go to class (already said). Decide before you get there whether you want to be in college or not. If not, don't go. It's not for everybody. Don't get arrested. It will haunt you. Get a job somewhere along the line, doesn't matter what. I don't have to hire people but if I did I would want people who demonstrated a history of being at a certain place at a certain time, and completing an expected task. I don't care that you got a 3.8 GPA in whatever. Are you responsible? Don't go into hock on nonsensical stuff. The banks are not your friend. They are charging you 18 points on that pitcher at the 210. Pay cash when you can. Thank people who help you. Be a friend to somebody. Have fun. Listen to people who have been down the road.
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the people you'll meet in the next few days/weeks/months will be those who most likely will be in your wedding party, and will be the ones that will drop your box into the ground.... Choose wisely!
Be true to your values. Change your underwear daily. Make your family proud.
Drill a small hole in your deadbolt bar. That way you can put a piece of coat hanger in it and the master key won't open the door when you're drinking, raising hell, smoking the wacky weed or whatever. A wet towel at the bottom of the keeps any ganja odor from escaping, same along the window which you will have open a crack. Don't try the towel thing on the first floor.
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Read all of your homework before class. Set goals to find the key concepts and learn them, before the material is covered in class. Set a goal of creating test questions that best represent the assigned material.
Make a list of things you want clarified in class and actively listen for those answers in the classroom presentation.
If after reading the info and attending the classroom lecture/lab etc, you still don't have a clear understanding of some item or items, schedule time with an instructor or other resource, so you understand the info, before moving on.
Get ahead of the new information in every class early in the semester.
The beginning work in many semesters will often have lots of new terms, equations, concepts, etc. Those terms and concepts will likely be used repeatedly during the course. So mastering the new terms and concepts even before they are covered in the classroom provides a big edge. You may also learn in class some variations on the concepts, or special characteristics. It's easier to add breadth of understanding, if you've already got a good foundation before class.
By doing your best to understand the material before class, you can also get an idea of what the prof is emphasizing as the important items. It's more likely that you can then better plan for tests and quizzes, if you know the info before class and actively listen for the points the instructor emphasizes.
By aggressively getting ahead in each class early in the semester, it is often a timesaver later on.
By aggressively learning the key terms right away in every class, later add on information will make more sense. It can be easier to fill in the blanks if you have a solid foundation early. It will be easier to remember the added information and it will require less overall study time.
More learning in less time, less stress and better grades... What's not to like?
Plus, you'll feel great as it will be more likely that you will be Acing your way through your classes. Good results will help you to stay motivated, to work smarter.
Make it a habit to continue to "Dominate the State" of your academic journey at Penn State!
WE ARE...
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I have a question for the all knowing board. My boys were in East Halls as freshmen last year, and used the computer lab at the bottom of the dining commons to print out papers, reports, and other documents. They are now in an apartment off campus (Alexander Court), and it is unclear to me if they still have access to these computer labs. Is the computer lab open to any student, or is it just for kids living in the dorms? I'm thinking I they may have to be investing in a printer, just for starters.
Penn State can be as large or as small as you want it to be. Get to know your Professors and TA's. I taught classes of >100 in engineering students and typically had the same 8 - 10 students would show up for help and general topic discussions.
Read the prior class notes right before entering the class room and never leave a class room without understanding the material. This is very important as you could spend 5 - 10 minutes having the professor explain something for you or you could leave and spend 5 - 10 hours trying to understand later. Raise your hand often!
I am the guy that sat in the middle front row for ME-22 (Thermo Dynamics) in Schwab and would raise his hand every class. The only person to ever ask a question the entire term. After every class I would have 10 - 20 classmates thank me for asking the question(s).
Read the prior class notes right before entering the class room and never leave a class room without understanding the material. This is very important as you could spend 5 - 10 minutes having the professor explain something for you or you could leave and spend 5 - 10 hours trying to understand later. Raise your hand often!
I am the guy that sat in the middle front row for ME-22 (Thermo Dynamics) in Schwab and would raise his hand every class. The only person to ever ask a question the entire term. After every class I would have 10 - 20 classmates thank me for asking the question(s).
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Back when I was a student, '93-'97, the labs were open and accessible to all registered PSU students. Even those students from a branch campus could use the labs at main campus. We were being charged some computer / IT fee as part of tuition.
I assume the same rules still apply today for all current students.
Understand this: The next four or so years of your life will be amongst the most pivotal you will have.
Take a look at all aspects of your life, and honestly assess where you are strong and where you are weak. Focus on the weak areas, and work to improve them, without sacrificing your strength.
Your high school skill set got you this far. Work on these skill sets in college, and it will help you for your personal and professional life after college.
Take a look at all aspects of your life, and honestly assess where you are strong and where you are weak. Focus on the weak areas, and work to improve them, without sacrificing your strength.
Your high school skill set got you this far. Work on these skill sets in college, and it will help you for your personal and professional life after college.
They should still have access. As far as that goes, any PSU Alum can do the same, use the library at any location by showing your driver's license, and I have a small card like a miniature diploma I take if I need to go.
I sat through Freshman orientation with my daughter last summer. At one point on the second day they brought 3 students into the auditorium in the HUB and let parents ask them any uncanned questions. Best part of the program in my opinion. The incoming Freshman were off doing some other part of the program and were not present. One parent toward the end asked basically your question...looking back, what do you wish your parents would have told you when they dropped you off last year? The responses by all 3 rising Sophomores, who seemed somewhat caught off guard, was amazingly consistent and incredibly moving...paraphrasing..."I wish they would have just told me they loved me and had faith that I could handle what was about to happen". Seems so simple and obvious, but perhaps it gets lost in the shuffle of trying to say something more profound. It wasn't just the moms wiping their eyes
This would be my list (many have already been mentioned):
- Get involved! Join a club, fraternity/sorority, IM or club sport, student organization, THON, etc.
- Do not skip any classes. Doing the math shows you how much you are wasting.
- Ask questions and get to know your professors.
- Check in with your adviser on a regular basis. Look into getting a minor.
- Stay away from grain alcohol .. it is the devil.
- Do Paternoville (NOT Nittanyville) at least once.
- Study your butt off instead of sitting around watching TV or goofing on your cell phone. There is plenty of time for the other stuff.
- Spend at least one summer at UP. You will never regret it.
- Don't get drunk to the point you do something stupid and will regret the rest of your life.
- Absolutely enjoy the best four years of your life!
I got one when I graduated. Just a laminated card which was a replica of your diploma. PSU provided it with your real diploma. No idea if they still do that. If you had an Alumni Assoc. card I suppose that would suffice as well.
By the way my mother's last words to me when I went to Penn State were basically "either you're graduating, or we're cutting you off." No lie.
Lafayette:
There are computer labs at various locations around campus that they will have access to. I believe that students can print a certain number of pages per month at these labs.
Be in your seat for football games by kickoff time, not by the start of the second quarter.
The one one of my HS best friends (who beat me to UP by a year) gave me when I went up to UP as a junior (2 years at Ogontz):
"Don't sit alone in your room on a Saturday night"
While I did not date much in college (I think the closest I got was a group hike up Mount Nittany that I invited a frosh gal to), I did follow this advice and had a pretty good time in school. We'd go play pinball, check out soccer or basketball, etc., have late night bull sessions.... Didn't go to the bars much though. I was legal in March of my junior year, but most of my friends were not--and I spent my last term in Germany when they would have been.
"Don't sit alone in your room on a Saturday night"
While I did not date much in college (I think the closest I got was a group hike up Mount Nittany that I invited a frosh gal to), I did follow this advice and had a pretty good time in school. We'd go play pinball, check out soccer or basketball, etc., have late night bull sessions.... Didn't go to the bars much though. I was legal in March of my junior year, but most of my friends were not--and I spent my last term in Germany when they would have been.
Be careful with your social media posts so they don't come back to bite you some day.
This is a great thread. Lots of great advice. I will add a few.
I would suggest walking around campus this weekend and just getting a feel for the layout...figure out where your classes are...which routes to take from one building to the next. It's a huge campus. It might be faster to hop one of the free buses if you have to get all the way across campus for your next class. My daughter had a whole week there before classes started to get acclimated. They had lots of organized events for the freshmen; movies, socials, hikes up Mt Nittany, etc. They eliminated that the next year when my son went...shame, what a great idea that was. I hate the fact that these kids move in on Friday or Saturday and then start class right away on Monday.
Leave your dorm door open when you're in your room, it promotes interaction with dorm mates on your hall. Great way to meet other kids. If you are in your room with your door closed, no one will wander by and stop in to visit. My son said the best part of freshman year was the friends he formed on his dorm floor. They'd leave all their doors open so the entire floor was like one giant apartment. They'd wander from one room to the next hanging out, playing video games, and yes even studying occasionally.
Buy used books..new books are expensive and doubt they'll even keep them so by all your books used. Also, I wouldn't run out and buy them right away. My kids bought books that the prof ended up never using for any of the material so it was a waste of money. During the first week of class ("syllabus week") you won't need any books or other material so use the first week or so to figure out what books you REALLY need for the class.
As others have said, Get involved, meet people, take advantage of all of the facilities (heck, your parents are paying an arm and a leg for use of them!). Don't turn down invitations to go to dinner with your dorm floor mates.
I would suggest walking around campus this weekend and just getting a feel for the layout...figure out where your classes are...which routes to take from one building to the next. It's a huge campus. It might be faster to hop one of the free buses if you have to get all the way across campus for your next class. My daughter had a whole week there before classes started to get acclimated. They had lots of organized events for the freshmen; movies, socials, hikes up Mt Nittany, etc. They eliminated that the next year when my son went...shame, what a great idea that was. I hate the fact that these kids move in on Friday or Saturday and then start class right away on Monday.
Leave your dorm door open when you're in your room, it promotes interaction with dorm mates on your hall. Great way to meet other kids. If you are in your room with your door closed, no one will wander by and stop in to visit. My son said the best part of freshman year was the friends he formed on his dorm floor. They'd leave all their doors open so the entire floor was like one giant apartment. They'd wander from one room to the next hanging out, playing video games, and yes even studying occasionally.
Buy used books..new books are expensive and doubt they'll even keep them so by all your books used. Also, I wouldn't run out and buy them right away. My kids bought books that the prof ended up never using for any of the material so it was a waste of money. During the first week of class ("syllabus week") you won't need any books or other material so use the first week or so to figure out what books you REALLY need for the class.
As others have said, Get involved, meet people, take advantage of all of the facilities (heck, your parents are paying an arm and a leg for use of them!). Don't turn down invitations to go to dinner with your dorm floor mates.
Some advice to the parents of these newbies - when your student calls/texts with a problem, don't rush to tell them what to do. Ask what they've done about the issue and what their plans are to handle it. Read an article about this before my firstborn headed to PSU and was glad I did. The article stated that kids today have such easy access to parents (unlike the old days where you called home once a week collect and/or wrote letters) that they continue to rely on parents to solved their problems. Many kids today as a result don't have the experience and therefore confidence to problem solve until later in life.
