Starting College

[Tetsu Deinonychus]

Hello everyone!

Tetsu here.

You may have noticed I haven't been around much lately. One reason for this is that I've been preparing for college!

I start this Monday!

I'm very excited, but I'm also very nervous!

It's been a few years since High School, and I hope I can get back into "student mode". It's not like I don't have a tendency to educate myself anyway (Hell, I teach myself CG animation in my spare time). But, I hope I can adjust to the classroom environment again.

This semester I'm taking Art History, Spanish, Honors English (scored big on the English portion of my placement test. Too bad my math was atrocious), and Mythology.

It's all stuff I tend to be good at and have an interest in. A good way to start, I guess. Of course, next semester I'll have to face the dreaded Math. :shudder: It's going to be the same Algebra that baffled me in High School. The horror.

I'm also hoping to develop a social life there. And, that's something I'm also nervous about. I'm a few years into my 20s, but I'm hoping I can get the same kind of social life one gets when they go to college right after High-School like one is supposed to.

Yes I know there's other older students too, but somehow that doesn't make me feel any better.

It just seems like this is my last chance to get a real "Young person" social life while I'm still a "Young person", and I'm afraid of messing up like I did in High-School, and those few years after High School before everyone else went away to college.

I still look, act, and live like a teenager (a family trait, we don't really "age" until much later in life, people used to mistake my Mother for my sister), so hopefully I won't be hoisted onto the "geezer section". But, having a real social life at all is still something that I never managed to maintain.

I have learned alot from past mistakes, though. I hope I've learned enough.

Oh by the way, one thing I've learned already there, is that you can put a price on knowledge. And that price is astronomical!

Tuition was bad enough (thankfully I got a grant to help with that), but then each class had a price (was not prepared for that), and the books, my god the books!

I heard college text-books were expensive but WOW. My Art History book was used, kinda beat up, softcover, physically similar to an issue of [i]Sh

[cmoon]

As far as outlandish textbooks, I know this is obvious, but consider online sources. Abebooks or even amazon. Sometimes older editions are effectively the same as newer editions. You may be able to get that $100 book for under $20 or even under $5.

Anyway, maybe I've finished college so long ago that it isn't useful to you, but I can tell you that it can be one of the more interesting parts of your life, so you need to find a balance where you can both do well at your classes and still have fun/enjoy the experience.

[Kevin]

College is expensive and one of the reasons why I couldn't finish pursuing my masters in history. However, it looks like I may join the college crowd this week once again

I wish u luck tetsu ^_^

don't get wrapped up in doing a full blown class schedule, light workloads are just as good ^_^

[Tetsu Deinonychus]

Thanks guys.

It's a little late for this semester, but next time I'll be right online looking for cheaper books. Believe me, on that!

And, that sort of balance is exactly my goal. I just hope I can pull it off.

And, as for my schedule I think I'll be alright. All my school-days end at 1pm.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I just have Mythology and Spanish, the rest of the week I have English, Art History, and Spanish. I've been told that's a pretty full schedule, and it gives me all my credits, but it doesn't sound like it'll be too much.

[cmoon]

Ah, one last word of advice (that I didn't take at all); it PAYS to be practical as far as what you are studying. I had no problem at the time getting a BS in biology, but the truth is, does a bachelors in Biology get you a job? Not really, not without additional degrees, or working your way up the lab tech ladder. If you can manage to be less lofty than me, avoid the learning for learning's sake road and shoot right for a degree that gets you a job, it is ultimately a much better (and less expensive) choice. You can always go on to grad school even if your bachelors is super-practical.

On that same note, start heavily looking into career options before you graduate.

Man, advice like that takes the wind out of your sails, don't it?

[Tetsu Deinonychus]

I'm kinda walking the middle path between "Learning for Learning's sake" and "Learning for a job". That's been my plan all along, and I think that can work for me.

[Tetsuwan]

I hate those art history books, expensive as heck not to mention that if you have an edition that's a few years behind the one you have you're pretty much on your own. The assignments revolve around the current edition so the book was not only arranged differently but there were a few images missing.

A few words of advice from someone who just got his Commercial Arts and it now going for his Sequential Arts. When you start for the first time it's best to wait a few days. sometimes longer, before jumping into the whole social environment. At first a lot of classes can be overwhelming and there is a big difference in homework form high school. So try to get used to that first, or you may wind up getting more stressed out than you need to be. Usually a few weeks into the semester, clubs will start up. Clubs are usually the best place to make friends that share an interest and have some type on common grounds. Remember never underestimate the homework, it may be easy at first but latter in the semester they really push it on you (especially close to midterms and finals).

As for textbook there are a lot of methods to save money. One is to go as early as possible to pick them up, so the chances of getting a used book increases. Another is to wait until classes begin, because sometimes the bookstore will give you a book that's isn't needed. So it's sometimes better to wait until you get you class overview/agenda/outline. Even then, sometimes you'll end up getting book that are required but you never used. For example, my geology class called for a text book and a novel (we never used either). Instead the teacher gave us an outline that had all the lessons in it, and that's what we were told to use and study from. Remember, always hold on to your book receipts.

Also, if your planning to take art classes, they do things a little differently regarding tests. In the art classes I took (and I had to take a lot considering my major), we were lucky (or unlucky depending on your view) to get a midterm, let alone a final. I even had one class that gave us a take home test for a midterm, and teacher requested we use our notes. From what I was told, and it makes sense, it is hard to give tests in an art class. Art classes require skill, observation and practice more than studying and reading from books. That's not to say you wont get tests, if you're taking art history that's already a given. The point is don't underestimate your classes, some might seem easier than others, but in reality they all require the same amount of effort.

With that, good luck, and most importantly enjoy yourself.

[Jeffbert]

This will not help you until next semester, but when you are contemplating your schedule of classes, be sure to examine the dates of publication in the text books. I was stuck with a brand new (that is new from the bookstore) but literally worthless textbook because when I went to sell it after finishing the course, it had been replaced by a newer edition.

Since I learned of Amazon as a source for textbooks, I do not believe I bought any from the college book store.

About Mythology, I took a course based heavily on Joseph Cambpell's lectures and writings on mythology. I found his approach very enlightening. He mentioned C. G. Jung's theories more than once, & I changed my minor to psychology. But a course on personality theories was itself very interesting, & included numerous references to religion & mythology. I had never before thought of Buddhism as a psychology, but it has certain features that psychologists found interesting.

About finding a practical thing to study, I would take a look in the classified ads & see how much demand there is for the field you intend to pursue.


I found courses in literature very enriching, but by the time I took them, I was nearly through with college.
Let us know how things go, in college.

Kevin, what aspect of history were you studying for the Masters?