What do
Images are sometimes not shown due to bandwidth/network limitations. Refreshing the page usually helps.
You are currently reading a thread in /adv/ - Advice
You are currently reading a thread in /adv/ - Advice
Just somehow got accepted to pic related (Stanford). How do I go about not fucking this up?
Okay, I actually have some working advice for this one! Wait.....
Learn to speed read between now and the day you start. I mean real speadreading, with decent comprehension. This will save you vast amounts of time for other types of studying.
Work hard, take care of yourself, don't stress, believe you can do it, and don't get too caught up in partying. That's really it. Also, how did you get accepted? Are you a transfer or a frosh?
Read lots of books before you even show up there. I suggest mostly non-fiction and biographies.
Examples: The Botany of Desire by Pollan, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Sacks.
Once there, read all the assigned chapters in the textbooks BEFORE the lectures on that material, not after. This way you will not be totally lost. Also, don't skip lectures.
>>16557321
frosh, pretty bad stats (for Stanford) because I didn't have a clue what I was doing fresh/soph years of high school. Really want to find a girlfriend next year, I've had it with the frustration here.
I already read a lot, reading Reagan's diary right now.
Also, what's with the fossils?
In hard classes, form a study group. Then teach the material to them. You learn the material much better if you have to teach it.
>>16557332
What's your race?
>>16557304
I too was accepted in a fancy university (not telling), my advice to you is this:
STUDY. Don't let things build up to the point where you only have time to skim the material and answer whatever you can on the exam based on your latest cram session. Always have an understanding on everything you've taken, and if you leave a lecture not understanding something, GO and MAKE YOURSELF UNDERSTAND IN THE SAME NIGHT. Keep your goal is to simply 'revise' lessons before exams, and never make yourself have to study something for the first time right before the exam.
College is pretty unforgiving, and you will not make it here by simply coasting alone. Even if you fullmarked the SAT and have an IQ of 300, you need effort. It doesn't matter how smart you are.
>>16557332
I like fossils. Check out this shell.
>>16557337
hispanic/white->from Spain, so I don't know if it counted but apparently it did so thank you Jesse Jackson.
Great advice keep it coming.
Volunteer or do work/study in some professors' labs. You'll need the letters of rec. Plus the real point of university is the extracurriculars.
Join clubs such as the pre-dentistry club, in fields you think you might have a career in.
>>16557345
Yes, that's probably why, colleges are desperate for URMs who are able to do college level coursework at some sort of competent level. Mixed race counts too.
Do a semester overseas. Or something crazy like field research in Antarctica if you can swing it.
Try to get your name listed as an author on a scientific or other scholarly article. Learn how to do literature research.
Even if you don't go for a STEM major, take statistics classes.
Don't try to skip prerequisite courses.
>By the way, this is a real fossil.
>>16557349
Dream is to get involved in politics, but I'll probably major in econ. Definitely going to join a business frat if they have them.
>>16557356
Would love to go to Antartica, it would be cold as fuck but a great story and with with a comfy bed and some heat it would probably be pretty comfy.
>>16557377
Will definitely do this. Why not skip? I have lots of AP credits.
>>16557345
Drop the conservative bullshit, that crap is doomed. University people value science and hate fuckers who parrot right-wing talking points with a fiery passion. Don't think global warming is real? You're wrong first off, and if they discover that you have such beliefs you will be subtly destroyed. Harbor racist views? Utter them and you may be sitting in front of a committee.
>>16557408
Basically this. Unless you're at a vigorously conservative school (which Stanford is definitely not), then you'll be absolutely BTFO by the 95% liberal population at colleges.
>>16557407
Don't get involved in politics, that shit is soul-destroying.
Don't skip. Studies have found that the AP credit skippers bomb the advanced classes.
Look at these fucking trilobites!
>>16557411
>>16557408
I'd consider myself a moderate, take things issue-by-issue rather than labeling myself anything. Heard people at Stanford were chill about different opinions. Not so much at Berkeley.
>>16557413
yeah governor/mayor would be my dream job but I'd need hella connections and right place right time. I'll take the AP advice into consideration. Just a shame that I spent all that money for nothing.
Hey OP, I go to an Ivy League school on the East Coast. Maybe I could offer some advice about it too?
I consider myself moderate too. I noticed you're talking about politics here.
You're going to find a lot of really rich but dumb people in your class because they come from feeder schools where everyone gets in. Yeah, the colleges are really liberal, but keep your views low and you'll be fine. Or join a fraternity and hang out with brothers of similar views. To some extent, that's what that's for. Anyway, network of course, and do absolutely everything you possibly can your freshman year because you'll have even less time when you get later. Not sure what else I could say, I'm graduating as a math major in 2016.
Good luck.
>>16557425
You didn't waste money on the AP classes and tests. Let me rephrase.
Suppose you took AP US History and AP Chemistry and can skip taking US History and Chemistry at Stanford. If you are going to be a biology major, you can use the US History to avoid taking a history elective. But because biology majors must take organic chemistry, you would be a fool to use the AP chemistry to skip the year of general chemistry and hop into organic.
>>16557442
Thanks man. Definitely thinking about joining a frat, have some legacy with DKE, though I don't know if they have a Stanford chapter. Could I ask which ivy?
>>16557321
>believe you can do it
it's surprising how much this helps. I don't go to stanford or any prestigious school but I've completed homework in the two hours before its due by just focusing and believing I can finish
motivate yourself OP
>>16557463
UPenn.
I realize Stanford is a much better school, I actually grew up in North California not too far from it.
I just say to join everything you can freshman year and start weeding out what you want to stick with and get more involved in by sophomore year. Also, studying abroad is awesome if that's something you're interested in. Joining a frat is fun too. Not sure what advice I could give really other than to be as active as you can and all that but everyone says that. Keep your grades up. Go to office hours a lot, actually read your textbooks.. choose a major with the career you want to pursue in mind, not just based on interest. I think most of this is common sense.. Don't get put off if you don't feel like you fit in socially for the first year or so. It's a big place. Ultimately if it doesn't work out, you get your degree and you move on, but if you're putting yourself out there a lot and having fun, not spreading your time too thin with activities (I did this and kind of regretted it), you'll do great I'm sure.
Also when you start I think everybody makes a huge deal about "oh it's so confusing and I'm new here wow everything is so different," but if you relax it's not as big of a deal as everyone makes it out to be and people will generally gravitate toward you if you act like you know what you're doing, like you've been there forever already. It's a lot better than high school.
