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levite · 10-01-2008, 09:44 PM

I loved college, and Freshman year was one of the best of my life. No reason school should suck so much.

1. Check out financial aid. Hard to believe there's no education money to be had in Australia. If no grants are forthcoming, consider at least partial loans. Remember, your time is valuable. There's little point to coming out of college debt-free if it means you had a crappy experience for four years.

2. Get a better job. Mickey D's sucks. Find someplace entertaining to work. Like a bookstore, or a music store, or something. Best job I ever had was working as a cataloguer in a rare book shop. I'd still be doing it if it paid the bills. But nothing is worse than going to work someplace you hate. Find a job you can enjoy, even if it's only a little.

3. Think about your major. Are you enjoying what you're learning? Why are you taking the classes you're taking? If your lifelong dream has been to be an engineer or an architect or something, and you're finding the classes hard, maybe you just have to suck it up: some classes just bite, and there's no getting around it. On the other hand, if you decided that majoring in engineering or suchlike would lead to good jobs when you graduate, then consider majoring in something more fun, even if you might make less when you graduate. To at least some extent, the learning experience will reflect a little what your experience may be like utilizing the knowledge. Not entirely, of course, or necessarily even a lot. But a little bit. And if you hate it, then do something else. Happiness is way more important than money or ambition. I switched from History to Literature to Theater before I was happy, and I have never once regretted it. I had a great time, and it actually ended up being relevant to my life after college a shocking amount of the time, considering that my career as an actor/director was fairly short-lived.

4. Lighten up, dude! So you pay tuition. So you flunk a test. So you hate a class. Shit happens, and to all of us. For Christ's sake, you're eighteen and in college. Have some fun! Smoke some pot, get laid, go hear some rock and roll getting played at ridiculous volume. Relish the moment. You're not just living the dream, you're making memories that will last a lifetime!

10-01-2008, 09:44 PM	#36 (permalink)
levite Minion of Joss Location: The Windy City	I loved college, and Freshman year was one of the best of my life. No reason school should suck so much. 1. Check out financial aid. Hard to believe there's no education money to be had in Australia. If no grants are forthcoming, consider at least partial loans. Remember, your time is valuable. There's little point to coming out of college debt-free if it means you had a crappy experience for four years. 2. Get a better job. Mickey D's sucks. Find someplace entertaining to work. Like a bookstore, or a music store, or something. Best job I ever had was working as a cataloguer in a rare book shop. I'd still be doing it if it paid the bills. But nothing is worse than going to work someplace you hate. Find a job you can enjoy, even if it's only a little. 3. Think about your major. Are you enjoying what you're learning? Why are you taking the classes you're taking? If your lifelong dream has been to be an engineer or an architect or something, and you're finding the classes hard, maybe you just have to suck it up: some classes just bite, and there's no getting around it. On the other hand, if you decided that majoring in engineering or suchlike would lead to good jobs when you graduate, then consider majoring in something more fun, even if you might make less when you graduate. To at least some extent, the learning experience will reflect a little what your experience may be like utilizing the knowledge. Not entirely, of course, or necessarily even a lot. But a little bit. And if you hate it, then do something else. Happiness is way more important than money or ambition. I switched from History to Literature to Theater before I was happy, and I have never once regretted it. I had a great time, and it actually ended up being relevant to my life after college a shocking amount of the time, considering that my career as an actor/director was fairly short-lived. 4. Lighten up, dude! So you pay tuition. So you flunk a test. So you hate a class. Shit happens, and to all of us. For Christ's sake, you're eighteen and in college. Have some fun! Smoke some pot, get laid, go hear some rock and roll getting played at ridiculous volume. Relish the moment. You're not just living the dream, you're making memories that will last a lifetime! __________________ Dull sublunary lovers love, Whose soul is sense, cannot admit Absence, because it doth remove That thing which elemented it. (From "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" by John Donne)