Advice for starting college

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I'm starting college soon (orientation on the 31st) and I was hoping you all had some advice for college life. I will be living at home and commuting, and my major is economics. Thanks.

Try to get involved with both fun and academic related activities on campus as well as obviously keeping your grades up.

Attend all classes. Not doing this caused me to flunk out the first time I went to college, and I'm not the only one to have flunked out for this reason, so it's best not to think of skipping class as even an option.

Even if you have wide-ranging interests and love your major, there will be boring classes. Don't let that stop you from passing them, or you'll end up having to take them again. I can tell you from experience, taking a boring class is less annoying than taking the same boring class twice.

Start thinking about your minor and electives you want to take. There are probably a lot of interesting classes available, even if it's a relatively small school. Read your school's catalog. It will have descriptions of all of the classes offered, as well as a list of all the requirements you need to meet for your degree.

Keep interesting and/or useful textbooks. Yeah, you could sell them back for money, but it isn't that much, certainly not enough to pay for themselves.

If you have a scholarship, make sure to keep your GPA high enough to keep it.

Have fun.

Yes, definitely get involved in extra curricular activities ... it is probably the easiest way to meet people. You should also talk to people in your classes. Once you get to know some people a little better, invite them to study with you, or find out about an interesting campus event, and invite them to go to that with you.

And do go to all your classes ... if you have to miss a day (sickness, etc.), make sure there is some way you can find out what you missed (i.e. online/printed syllabus, emailing the professor, etc.). And, if you have to deal with distribution requirements, try to knock them off as quickly as possible. And, like Ancalagon said, be prepared for the fact that there may be boring classes even in your major ... still try your best to do well in them.

If you know that you are going to be an economics major, it might be a good idea to start planning out your schedule (say, if you are at a 4-year college, plan it out for all four years), and seeing how you would go about getting your requirements done. If you plan wisely, there might even be room for some electives in your schedule!

And also remember, all freshmen are nervous, so ... you're not alone!

Go to your professor's office hours frequently even if for no other reason than idle chat.

Befriending a professor helps; can mean the difference between an 'A' or a 'B' grade sometimes.

Other reasons include:
• sometimes hints of exam content is given
• professor may share news of special programs, scholarships, or research opportunities
And of course the obvious, letter of recommendations (and not just for graduate school)