University

[JJJ-thebanisher]

Hey guys, I'm 18 right now and I'm moving out from my parents coat tails in T-2 more days to go off to University in a different city. The University that I'll be attending is: "The University of British Columbia" or UBC. I'll be living on campus in the totem park dorm so it's not exactly true independence or anything but it's a step in the right direction.

Totem Park is a first year dorm with a meal plan and no kitchen (but the cafeteria is rated as a 3 to 4 star restaurant in food quality which is cool) so I don't have to worry about cooking.

Here are some pictures of the University:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Un....jpg#filelinks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UBC_aerial_view.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ni...zag_bridge.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ch...re-closeup.jpg

I'll be starting with an unspecialized bachelor of Science as my pre-medicine degree, so I'll probably end up specializing in Biochemistry or Biology but I want to keep on with lots of Math and Physics electives since I love those equally. My dad's got a degree in Physics. My first year class load is 2 physics, 2 biology, 2 chemistry, 2 math and 2 english classes. The English classes are honors English and the other ones can't be honors til I get my specialization next year but I'm really stoked for it.

I'm pretty proud to be attending UBC because it's a pretty highly regarded school:

"In the 2009 Academic Ranking of World Universities, UBC placed 2nd in Canada, and 36th in the world.[9] In 2006, Newsweek magazine ranked UBC 2nd in Canada and 31st in the world.[10] In 2009, the THE-QS World University Rankings (From 2010 two separate rankings will be produced by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and the QS World University Rankings) ranked UBC as 2nd in Canada and 40th in the world (Social Sciences 13th, Life & Biomedicine 16th, Natural Sciences 20th, Arts & Humanities 22nd, Engineering & IT 17th). In 2010, Webometrics Ranking of World's Universities placed UBC 2nd in Canada and 35th in the world.[11][12]"

The first ranking there, where we place 2nd and 36th is the most reliable source. I got the Presidents Entrance Scholarship and a total of 5000$ in scholarship money all together so I'm hoping that my student loan doesn't hurt as much as it otherwise would.

So yeah, I'm exceptionally excited and I'm just wondering if any University student past or present has any tips for survival or advice to hand off? It would be much appreciated.

3J

[Ryan_DuBois]

Congratulations JJJ!

I think the three main things are:

1. Try to make lots of friends ASAP. The beginning of my first semester on-campus was pretty lame since I didn't know anyone at my college and my roommate hardly ever talked. After I joined a club and started meeting people, though, it got a lot better.

2. Classes take precedence over hanging out. I know this is kind of the opposite of the first tip, but the idea is to find a fair balance. You don't want to become too lonely, but on the other hand, I know a lot of smart kids who went to college, got a taste of freedom, and ended up skipping class/homework in order to party. Remember, although you can have fun, college is a place to work and learn more than anything else.

3. Join clubs, if possible. There's definitely a positive correlation between people who are more involved in student activities and people with high grades. I'm not so sure that joining a club would actually CAUSE you to do better in school, but if nothing else, you'll get to meet a lot of people and if you become a club leader it will look good on a resume (good grades look nice, but they won't necessarily make you stand out when you apply for a job).

I'd also try to get an internship (or some kind of work experience) sometime during your last two years.

Good luck, and I'm sure if you got into a college that's that good, you'll do fine.

P.S.

Try to ask around and make sure you get a good professor; not everyone believes this, but I think a professor can make or break a class -- for instance I got an "A" in my first CS class, a "CD" (D+/C-) in the next one, and a "B" in the last one. The one I worked the hardest in was the one where I got the "CD", and I'll probably retake it mostly because the professor was inexperienced (a few people who had friends in higher CS courses were able to pass it by basically having their friends tell them exactly what to do in the programs).

P.S.S.

(By the way, I found the whole 5000$ error to be exceptionally funny considering the post )

[JJJ-thebanisher]

Thanks Ryan! I appreciate the advice a lot.

In response to your make friends advice, throughout highschool, I had sort of my core group of friends and then a bunch of acquaintances and such that we'd party with but never really talk to aside from that. I spent this last summer in Europe traveling around alone and there was no option but to be outgoing. I mean, when you travel alone, you need to talk to people or you're going to have a scary and dangerous trip. I'm really excited for the social aspect of University.

My roomate is from France which I'm hoping is a good thing. In my trip, all of the best (read: BEST) girls I ran into were from France but when I was actually in France, everyone I met was completely unfriendly. Still, I've got an open mind and I'm hoping this guy is awesome.

Balancing the social/academic workload is going to be a real challenge for me, I think. Living in a dorm means lots of parties but I've always been academically oriented (I had to do 4-6 hours of homework a night in my senior year of highschool to get the scholarships I was going for) so I'm hoping that I can bring that through to University because I want to end up as a surgeon and getting those grades won't be easy. We only have like 3 good medical schools in Canada so I need to work my ass off to get a place.

What kind of clubs would you suggest? I have half a mind to join the UBC Students Club of Beer just for the hell of it but I'm not sure, hahaha.

I feel stupid but what's the 5000$ error? :P

[Ryan_DuBois]

Thanks Ryan! I appreciate the advice a lot.
My roomate is from France which I'm hoping is a good thing. In my trip, all of the best (read: BEST) girls I ran into were from France but when I was actually in France, everyone I met was completely unfriendly. Still, I've got an open mind and I'm hoping this guy is awesome.

Can't wait for Chubby's reply to this.

Balancing the social/academic workload is going to be a real challenge for me, I think.

Absolutely, it will be. For me, I probably do some kind of social event 3 - 4 times a week, and then try to focus most of my other time on academics. Whenever I get a break, I try to party/do exciting stuff as much as possible too, so that it kind of gets it out of my system.

What kind of clubs would you suggest? I have half a mind to join the UBC Students Club of Beer just for the hell of it but I'm not sure, hahaha.

Well, this isn't information I generally share with everyone, but I'm in the Chess Club (I was actually Vice President, but I've decided to step down this semester). I wouldn't necessarily recommend that kind of club in particular, though; I only joined it because I didn't really know anyone at my school, and I wanted to meet more people. But it works out because I get to meet a lot of older people who have experience in Computer Science.

I would recommend one club related to your major, and I would try to be an officer of that club (for the resume) and then another club that's just for fun (so the beer club would be fine, lol). I personally am thinking I'm going to join a paintball club, since that's something I've started doing back home and I think it's pretty awesome.

feel stupid but what's the 5000$ error? :P

Oh, the dollar symbol is supposed to go before the number, so it would be: $5000. I thought you used the dollar sign in Canada, though? Maybe I'm the one who's confused.

[End Master]

JJJ: Maybe he meant the dollar sign placement? Usually it's written in front of the number rather than after it. Well in the US they write it that way, might be different in Canada.

I probably can't tell you much since I had a fairly mundane university experience, but Ryan's advice seems like it covers a lot of good points to keep in mind.

The only advice I'd be able to give are general tips on avoiding getting your stuff stolen or mugged, but given that you're in Canada I'm guessing your crime rate is a lot lower than the US, let alone Detroit.

Ryan: "CD?" I've never heard of a grade like that given out. In fact I thought there was sort of a standard that most universities had to follow with the grading system.

[Ryan_DuBois]

Hmm. There could be some standards, but they must not be too strict. Michigan Tech's grading system is:

A
AB
B
BC
C
CD
D

etc.

Usually D is the last passing grade, but anything less than a C looks horrible on the classes for your major.

[JJJ-thebanisher]

No it is supposed to be $5000 but I grew up in a French School where we did everything (including math...) in French. In Quebec and France, apparently the currency sign goes after the numeral. I just can't get it out of my system, hahaha.

Our campus has this sweet thing called: "The blue poles." (Queue jokes). Anyways, basically there's these tiny blue poles that look like miniature telephone poles all around campus. If you press a button on it, suddenly, you're on camera to the security agency and since they're everywhere, no one has to worry too much about being followed and the like.

We also have this group of volunteers who you can call up from the blue poles and then they find you and walk you to anywhere on campus in a big group. You can call them if you're scared or just bored, it's so awesome.

Just in case someone gets into my room (maybe my French roomate forgets to lock the door, or puts a white flag outside the door and attracts attention), I've got a laptop lock so that at least that won't be stolen.

Our grades are similar to Ryan's accept I think we'd use C+ or C- instead of CD. However, you can also take CREDIT/D/FAIL courses where basically, if your mark is a C- or higher, you get Credit, if it's a D you get D and otherwise, you get fail. It's nice for electives that you don't want to put too much effort into but you also don't want to have affecting your grade.

As for clubs, I'm a bit of a chess geek myself, I'd love to join a chess club. But Paintballing is even more my thing, I have to see if we have one of those. Too bad paintballing is so expensive and I'll be strapped for cash.

[donteatpoop]

Have lots of unprotected buttsex with strangers. This is the key to happiness, young one.

[Ryan_DuBois]

(maybe my French roomate forgets to lock the door, or puts a white flag outside the door and attracts attention).

And that's all I have to say about that.

For paintball: Apparently the club here has an initial join fee, but after that you can rent their equipment for free. You still have to buy your own paintballs (and maybe CO2), though, and they're pretty expensive by themselves. The only thing that might prevent me from joining is if they stopped doing carpools out to the field (my truck's gas line freezes up every winter, and since Houghton is notorious for its weather I can't bring it up here, yet.)

Woodsball is amazing, though; I never really got into hunting or anything, but woodsball is a whole other thing by itself. It's competition. YOU'RE being hunted, too. It combines so many things -- athletic ability, marksmanship, intelligence, creativity, stealth, luck... It's what men were meant to do (when they're not busy passing on their genes).

I haven't played speedball yet, but I don't think I'd like it quite as much. Still, it'd be an adrenaline rush.

[JJJ-thebanisher]

Have lots of unprotected buttsex with strangers. This is the key to happiness, young one.

But no unprotected butt sex with people I know?

And that's all I have to say about that.

For paintball: Apparently the club here has an initial join fee, but after that you can rent their equipment for free. You still have to buy your own paintballs (and maybe CO2), though, and they're pretty expensive by themselves. The only thing that might prevent me from joining is if they stopped doing carpools out to the field (my truck's gas line freezes up every winter, and since Houghton is notorious for its weather I can't bring it up here, yet.)

Woodsball is amazing, though; I never really got into hunting or anything, but woodsball is a whole other thing by itself. It's competition. YOU'RE being hunted, too. It combines so many things -- athletic ability, marksmanship, intelligence, creativity, stealth, luck... It's what men were meant to do (when they're not busy passing on their genes).

I haven't played speedball yet, but I don't think I'd like it quite as much. Still, it'd be an adrenaline rush.

I'm going to google that right now.

[ChubbyTeletubby]

I once raped a sorority girl.

She forgot.

I charged HER with rape.

Long story short...

Im going to hell.

That's not funny OR clever OR profound.

Seriously though i raped this one chic. This one time. I came in her too.

Just kidding.

Not funny. I know. Sorry.

[End Master]

Surely you're being too hard on yourself, the part about you going to hell is still funny.

[JJJ-thebanisher]

Moved in today. So so so so so badass.

[JJJ-thebanisher]

Hhahahahhahahahaha, went to a frat party last night.