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Author Topic: College Life  (Read 16769 times)

Synorthion

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Re: College Life
« Reply #100 on: 03 Mar 2009, 16:08 »

On the getting a job in college debate:

This really depends on what course you're taking. This isn't meant to come off as offensive, but some of the more social science/humanities directions are a lot less work than some of the science classes.

I spend entire days in the labs actually doing work. We were actually advised at the beginning of this year that if we got a part time job, we would probably not be able to balance our work load.

Then again, the education system here in edinburgh is very much based on exams, so you can get by without doing anything until exams come around if you're that type of student.

It also depends on how involved you want to get on campus. Sports/clubs/activities take up a good amount of time and could make having a job a lot more difficult. Spending money is nice, but so is free time.
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Reed

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Re: College Life
« Reply #101 on: 03 Mar 2009, 16:13 »

exam based science classes are the norm here in the US too and labs certainly take a huge chunk of your time. I didn't have a job until my 3rd year at college (uni  for you silly Europeans) and I'm glad I waited until then. Even in my 3rd year I probably wouldn't have had a job if it wasn't a lab job that helped me get into grad school. On the flip side, once I'm done with school I will be so buried in student loans that I will be quite poor.
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MrBlu

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Re: College Life
« Reply #102 on: 03 Mar 2009, 16:21 »

ROAD TRIP!!!  :-D
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KickThatBathProf

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Re: College Life
« Reply #103 on: 03 Mar 2009, 16:36 »

No.
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MrBlu

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Re: College Life
« Reply #104 on: 03 Mar 2009, 16:39 »

I read your sig and thought you secretly agreed with me.

Road Trip it is, eh?

I'm thinking Tijuana, after a stop in Albuquerque.
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lprkn

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Re: College Life
« Reply #105 on: 03 Mar 2009, 16:41 »

Don't get shot. Or kidnapped.
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Scrambled Egg Machine

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Re: College Life
« Reply #106 on: 13 Mar 2009, 13:21 »

Thread Necromancy, as I have made the visit to the campus, and have gotten my housing assignment and a good meal plan. Any further advice, stuff I should bring, etc?
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Allybee

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Re: College Life
« Reply #107 on: 13 Mar 2009, 13:31 »

I'm planning on basing my packing list off of this one.

(assuming I go)
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radical dame

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Re: College Life
« Reply #108 on: 13 Mar 2009, 13:40 »

I stand very firmly by my earlier recommendation of a multi-tool of some sort (I like leatherman). It's up there with the Sewing Kit on the "things that kids should have, but never do" list.
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Reed

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Re: College Life
« Reply #109 on: 13 Mar 2009, 13:48 »

That's a pretty good list. I would definitely like to point out that flip flops are very important for the shower or if you need to go to the bathroom late at night/early in the morning. Your school should send you a list of things that they will supply (trash cans, desks, etc.) and most dorms will have at least some cleaning supplies available (mine had a vacuum cleaner, windex, paper towels, etc). Lysol wipes are good to bring for small messes. Your school book store will probably have supplies like printer cartridges, paper, anything you need for class, but it will most likely be marked up a fair amount. You might want to buy those supplies before you head to school if you don't want to pay their mark up. I would always just fill one suitcase with as much of my clothing as I could. You won't have a lot of room, so unless you're planning on breaking them down after you move boxes aren't the best way to move your stuff.
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[22:49] Quietus: I'm personally imagining a white supremacist locked in his basement, furtively listening to Parliament on headphones
[22:49] Quietus: "Oh, lawd, why must them coons rock me so"

Avec

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Re: College Life
« Reply #110 on: 13 Mar 2009, 14:45 »

Develop a relationship with your Ramen Noodles.
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lily-kiernan

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Re: College Life
« Reply #111 on: 21 Mar 2009, 01:07 »

Credit card offers=bad. Talk to a counselor if you really feel you need plastic in your wallet. Online banking is the most spectacular thing ever, especially on a campus without much transport.

Get the names and numbers (and probably emails) of at least three people in each class. Make many copies of these, your professors' numbers and office hours/locations, library hours, and campus security info. Tape one copy to the side of your desk, one in a filing system, one in your bookbag, and one saved onto your computer. Infinitely useful. Seriously.
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Barmymoo

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Re: College Life
« Reply #112 on: 21 Mar 2009, 14:44 »

I realised with a jolt this morning that there's a major gap in my Necessary Grown-Up Knowledge (tm).

I do not fully understand what a credit card is, how it operates and why one might require one (or not).

Now that I'm a paid up member of the adult crew, my bank says I need to ditch my My First Bank Account and get a real grown-up money box. And I have genuinely got no clue at all what all the different options are and what they mean and which one might be best for me. I have a long term savings account (it has a cheque book and a cash card but no debit card) and then my My First Bank Account (it's actually a 16-18 year old debit card account which I am no longer entitled to use). I'm thinking of opening a student bank account but I actually don't know what one of those is. What's an overdraft? Why is it useful?

Man I don't know shit about being an adult.
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pwhodges

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Re: College Life
« Reply #113 on: 21 Mar 2009, 15:32 »

You're UK as I recall, like me - I'll send you a PM with the basics of what you need to know, possibly late tonight or tomorrow, but maybe Monday, as I have a concert tomorrow which will keep me occupied most of the day (I sing, am choir librarian, record the show, and have just finished writing and printing the programs).
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StaedlerMars

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Re: College Life
« Reply #114 on: 21 Mar 2009, 16:31 »

pwhodges will probably give you a much more accurate and correct answer than I will right now, but here's what I have in my wallet:

A student card. You get an overdraft. An overdraft means that you're allowed to withdraw x amount of moneys more than you actually own, as long as you pay it back within a certain amount of time after you stop being a student (I think it's one year). This means that you can owe the bank about a thousand pounds, depending on the size of your overdraft, and not have to pay any interest on it. It's an excellent deal, and it stops a lot of worrying about money. Don't use it all the time because you will have to pay it back at some point. Best to keep your card above 0. It's useful because presumably, you're a student, and have no money. For example, if my rent is due, but I don't have the money to pay it back right now, but I will have it in a week or two, I can pay the rent without having to collect massive interest rates for using more money than I own. I try to keep my balance swinging happily on the more above zero than below zero side. I was a lot better at this in first year than I am now.

Don't get a credit card. If you have a debit card, and it has visa/mastercard on it, there is absolutely no point as long as you have the cash. A credit card is spending money you don't have, and if you still don't have it at the end of the month, the bank starts charging you. If your currently a student, a student card full fills this wonderfully without the interest thing.

Also, usually people who work in banks are really nice and informative. Don't listen to them when they say you need a credit card though.

But, like I said, pwhodges will probably be more correct.
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azurefirem

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Re: College Life
« Reply #115 on: 21 Mar 2009, 18:58 »

Yeah, my friend Tom went up north to NAU and had a terrible time, like, he would come back down (about a 2 hour drive) every single weekend because there were only 3 types of people there: stoners, hardcore christian religious nuts, and marching band kids. He was none of these, and really disliked his roommate. He's now back in town, and feeling a bit better, but still seems down.

I think the advice I can give is to have a job or something. Something that will help you be independent. I'm not in college, but I have enough friends in college to know that being tethered to your parents because they are paying for you sucks.

the marching band kids are the sanest of them all~
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J-cob9000

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Re: College Life
« Reply #116 on: 22 Mar 2009, 16:04 »

I'm only a freshman in high school but I'll ask this: When you're being assigned a roommate, do they have some sort of way of sorting you according to interests or anything?

Just wondering.
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Reed

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Re: College Life
« Reply #117 on: 22 Mar 2009, 16:07 »

At WSU you filled out an online survey and filled out your preference on smoking, drinking, keeping the room clean, stuff like that. However, based on some of the matches I don't think they really paid very close attention to it.
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[22:49] Quietus: I'm personally imagining a white supremacist locked in his basement, furtively listening to Parliament on headphones
[22:49] Quietus: "Oh, lawd, why must them coons rock me so"

SirJuggles

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Re: College Life
« Reply #118 on: 23 Mar 2009, 00:24 »

Yeah, once you're accepted to uni-owned housing these days you'll usually fill out some sort of survey that deals with study habits, loud music/no loud music, smoking/drinking, opposite gender partners, same gender partners... all the important stuff. I'm extremely happy with my roommate, but I feel terrible for the guy down the hall who got matched up with our local drug dealer.

Also, once you move in you'll probably have to go over with your roommate and sign some kind of contract basically saying you will not kill each other without discussing the situation with an RA first.
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Darkbluerabbit

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Re: College Life
« Reply #119 on: 23 Mar 2009, 17:00 »

A guy I knew in high school had a theory that schools intentionally place students with roommates who are nothing like them.  In an attempt to get a "normal" (his words) roommate, he filled out his survey with interests like anarchy, satanism, and death metal.  His theory turned out to be dead wrong, and he spent the rest of the semester wearing earplugs.  He transferred after that, if I remember correctly. 
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FourNineFoxtrot

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Re: College Life
« Reply #120 on: 23 Mar 2009, 20:40 »

Yeah, I don't know how the roommate-matching thing really works.

I had nothing in common with my dorm roommate... in fact, in was almost like some bullshit "Odd Couple" remake; I'm a slob, he was neat, I was introverted, he was gregarious as hell, we had different tastes in music and movies and everything.  About the only thing we both liked was watching Simpsons reruns (times have changed; it would probably be Family Guy now).  We were even polar opposites physically; he was a tiny, too-handsome, vaguely effeminate dude, and I'm a fat hulking ugly bastard.  And he was a sophomore, while I was a freshman.  Fortunately, we were both pretty easy-going.  Then he changed rooms and bunked with a friend down the hall, and I had a double room to myself for the whole second semester, which was awesome.

You never know who you'll get along with as a roommate.  Years later I shared a house with my best friend and his girlfriend.  It should have been awesome, but it really sucked.  We could never get a schedule of chores worked out, and his girlfriend would end up bitching at me for not doing things I didn't know I was supposed to do.  Meanwhile I was pissed because I was paying half the rent on the expectation of using half the space, but they wanted my shit crammed into my rooms unless it was display-worthy.  We all moved out by mutual agreement after the six-month lease was up, and it's a damn good thing it wasn't a yearly lease because we were at each others' throats as it was.  We're all friends again now, but I'm never living with another person again if I can help it.  As long as I can afford to live alone, I will.

I realised with a jolt this morning that there's a major gap in my Necessary Grown-Up Knowledge (tm).

My Necessary Grown-Up Knowledge (tm) basically has more holes in it than a sponge, but without the ability to soak things up well.  I've learned the hard way to find people who know things, and ask them as many questions as they will tolerate.  While the question of credit cards and bank accounts has by now probably been answered, what I would suggest for someone who wants information is to go to a bank and sit down with a personal banker to discuss it.  Explain your situation, and they will suggest an appropriate solution.  Not much money going in, likely to have a very low balance at month's end?  Get a checking account with no minimum balance and some overdraft protection if possible.  That sort of thing.  As for credit cards, I agree that debit/atm cards are much more useful and less dangerous, generally, but it can be nice to have a credit card with, say, about $1000 or so limit in case of emergencies.  Also, they're useful for building credit; buy something on the card, not too big, and pay the balance down over time instead of just paying it off when you have the cash (which would seem sensible).  Paying down a (reasonable and manageable) credit card balance will help you establish a good credit rating starting out.
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Garry Owen!

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Re: College Life
« Reply #121 on: 23 Mar 2009, 20:44 »

Roommate matching systems = total crapshoot. Sometimes it works brilliantly, sometimes you get stuck with complete douchebags who have nothing in common with you (guess which one I got).
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Re: College Life
« Reply #122 on: 23 Mar 2009, 20:50 »

Going back to the job thing there's something I've always been curious about the American college system. With no social security for students as far as I can tell, how is getting a job an optional thing? I get that living on campus, your rent is probably rolled in with your tuition and therefore part of your student loans, but how do you eat? How do you buy textbooks and stationary and all that? Do you take out loans for all that as well? How many hours would the average student (arts student+hard sciences student/2) spend in lectures and studying a week in order to make a job unworkable?

I'm just curious because I'm in an English lit major and probably spend about 12 hours a week in actual classes and then another 20 or so hours a week studying/doing assignments on average, and I still manage to work 30 hours a week and have a social life and I'm just wondering how batshit insane your workloads must be in the US.

I mean English lit is not as intensive as some science courses but it is pretty common for people in the sciences here to be at least holding down a 10 hour a week job while collecting centrelink to make ends meet.
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Reed

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Re: College Life
« Reply #123 on: 23 Mar 2009, 20:57 »

There are two main ways that you can avoid having a job in college. My grandmother had decided that she would help out all of her grandchildren, so for the first few years I was in college I essentially received a monthly allowance for rent/bills/food. The town I lived in was ridiculously cheap (4 of us in a 3 bedroom house worked out to be about $120/month rent + $100 in utilities) so I was able to live off very little. For most students it's actually parents who pay for their living expenses. When you get student loans living expenses are figured into it, so if you decide to take out all the loans the government will allow you get an "overflow" which is usually around $5000 that you have to stretch throughout the semester (Sadly, even as a grad student I am living off this this semester since my research duties keep me in lab more than 40 hours/week and the only jobs that I could have worked told me I am overqualified). A lot of students will have a balance, where they work just a handful of hours at some campus job for food/drinking money and use their overflow or parent's money for rent and utilities.
« Last Edit: 23 Mar 2009, 21:09 by Dire bacterium »
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Quote from: meebo
[22:49] Quietus: I'm personally imagining a white supremacist locked in his basement, furtively listening to Parliament on headphones
[22:49] Quietus: "Oh, lawd, why must them coons rock me so"

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Re: College Life
« Reply #124 on: 23 Mar 2009, 21:00 »

Speaking personally, I leech off my parents.
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ummmkay

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Re: College Life
« Reply #125 on: 24 Mar 2009, 04:41 »

Most universities have at least one dining hall too, so you can buy a meal plan for each semester along with tuition and housing etc and have a certain number of meals per week that you can eat on campus. Or, yeah, leech off your parents.
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