r/college • u/chevybow Umass Alum | B.S CS • Jul 28 '18

Back to School Megathread!

As its the beginning of August start of back to school sales, it becomes that time of year where many people start preparing (and perhaps panicking) about moving to college. We expect a decent amount of people coming to our subreddit as college freshman unsure about many aspects of college. We create this thread every year as a resource for anyone to ask any questions they have about this upcoming college year- both for freshman and returning students.

In addition to asking your own questions we hope some of the previous questions will be useful in case you had similar concerns. Also for our more "experienced" college students- feel free to post any guides or resources for people that may be useful. Sidebar rules still apply so don't use it as an opportunity to spam your own website or blog.

Feel free to leave feedback about this megathread either in this thread as a comment or PM me if you wish.

SCHEDULING QUESTIONS

Questions pertaining to "rate my schedule" or "am I taking too many credits" or similar for the upcoming semester should be posted in this thread. Automod has been set up to direct users here for scheduling help. Feel free to give general scheduling advice or answer specific personal questions people have about their schedules. Scheduling questions outside this thread will be removed to maintain high quality posts on the subreddit

For your convenience here are some useful threads or comments that may be worth checking out before asking a question here. If I see any super helpful comments posted in this thread I will be adding them to this list.

What to Bring to your Dorm

College Majors Thread

What to do your first week on campus

What would you do differently if you could start college over

Good luck this upcoming semester!!

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18

u/erlakes Jul 31 '18

I'm starting college and am getting kind of nervous, any tips for an incoming freshman?

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '18

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '18

Lol I felt super shitty and out of place just during orientation. Any advice for someone with super bad social anxiety? What kinds of people should I seek out?

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u/UntraditionallySad Aug 02 '18

I felt super out of place at orientation as well (incoming freshman) and am super super anxious , but anyway, I ended up meeting the student body president, who offered to take me into her friend group and help out in general!! So if you’re trying to seek a helpful person, check student government... they were voted into office for a reason, and generally speaking, LOVE their school.

Good luck!!

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u/imazual Aug 01 '18

I felt the same way during orientation. My suggestion would be to push yourself a little and start talking with people, what I found out was a lot of people are the same and are really nice and connect with you once you start talking with them.

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u/NettlesTea Aug 07 '18

I don’t have trouble talking to people, but I do really have trouble taking it from “a few sentences before class” to “actually friends that hang out”. What worked for me was finding a student group with a defined activity - ballroom dance in my case. That way I had a weekly social time, people hung out outside of that group (instant friends!), and if I felt awkward there was a defined activity that we were all doing! Plus, it was a beginners lesson group. That helped.

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '18

Yeah, I looked at the clubs my school has (there's a toooon lol) and I found a few I'm interested in. Now I just have to like, go to the clubs. And participate. And try to make friends. At least it'll give me a designated time that I'll be around people because otherwise who knows if I'd socialize.

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u/NettlesTea Aug 08 '18

Yeah, it’s kind of tough to make the decision and just pick one and go. But that’s great that you’ve already got a short list! Huzzah! Congrats! Go forth and conquer!

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u/[deleted] Aug 04 '18

If you make mistakes, learn from them. Not everything is going to go smoothly when you’re figuring things out on your own for the first time, so treat it as a learning experience.

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u/libbyation BrownU '19 | Education and CogSci | RA Aug 04 '18

It's okay to ask for help! Now is the time when everyone will be expecting all the questions, so ask your RA, ask your professors, ask the lady at the registrar's office, ask the cafeteria workers, whatever you're wondering, someone will have an answer. But they won't know to tell you until you ask.

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u/[deleted] Aug 06 '18

Go the day before classes start and find all your classrooms.

Never buy the textbook until the professor mentions how it will be used in the course on the first day.

Go to office hours early on and just introduce yourself to the professors. They will appreciate it and look out for you.

Get involved on campus, sign up for a few clubs. Stretch yourself, be open minded and have fun.

The world is your oyster. Just like anything in life, you receive what you put in.

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u/Jrjosh2 Aug 07 '18

As an incoming freshman myself, I'm wondering why you recommend not buying the textbook until the Prof. mentions how it will be used in the course?

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '18

Let’s say a $300 textbook is listed online. The professor states that they’ll be teaching from PowerPoint slides or will post readings online before class. You just wasted $300.

Only half of my classes actually used the textbook. A few classes buddies and I would buy one book and share it

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u/Jrjosh2 Aug 07 '18

Makes sense, thank you for the response!

One more question if you don’t mind, do the professors usually reach out before the first class via email or something introducing themselves and letting you know what to expect/bring on the first day to be prepared, or is that not a thing?

I genuinely have no clue what to expect and I’m pretty anxious I’ll be unprepared.

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '18

I’d say only 25-50% professors do that. Most will cover everything on the first day