I am finally out of high school and going to college! I'm really nervous to go to college in August but I want to further my education. I am majoring an associate art degree in studio art but I need advices that would help me know about college.

*For now I'm doing financial aid which is way frustating.

Congrats!

Financial aid paperwork is always a pain to go through. It's worth it though since a lot of places take that piece of paper you pay thousands of dollars for as a way of knowing your "skills". I personally liked college. There's so much more freedom than in high school but on the other hand, the teachers do not put up with excuses so the work load can take some adjusting to.

I loved the art classes I took but what I didn't like is the deadlines being s close together. Like in my one drawing class, we had to have a pretty detailed drawing in every week. I take pride in my work and don't like to just throw things together. IT bothered me that I had to rush those projects in to get a grade. My print making class was the same way. That was all hand made prints too so I had to etch everything by hand which took hours to do a day since I like detail.

Biggest piece of advice, do the work and turn it in when it's due. If you are moving out for the first time then learn to save money. Surviving off of noodles and pizza isn't fun after a while. XD

Financial Aid was easy for me.

Fill out the FAFSA....check online at the university's website and see what I'm eligible for. Accept the ones that need accepting unless I don't want them (such as loans). So I had no frustrating parts to it.....except when the university decided to do an audit on me for at least two years in a row. That shit pissed me off.

Are you living at home? In the dorms? Or somewhere else? I lived at home. It's cheap, but I'm in my last year....and my mother is driving me insane. So you might want to live away from home in a dorm or something for a year. To keep your sanity that is.

@Mystic: College seems so exciting and art class too. People always did tell me school work comes first and always study. Thanks for telling me about the deadline which I heard that in the first day they will give out syllables and have the things you need to do. You are on your own which people tell me.

@Cat Eye: I'm not moving out anywhere. I'm still living with my mom and the university is close which is good so free food and bed. Financial aid is complicated and I'm having trouble with the username and password so they're fixing it.

ooh college! =D

I can't give you too much advice, I'm an engineering major XD

but i'd say, getting out and involved in clubs you like is good ^.^
then you'll have lots of friends early =D

Originally Posted by Red_Riding_Hood_Dollie

@Cat Eye: I'm not moving out anywhere. I'm still living with my mom and the university is close which is good so free food and bed. Financial aid is complicated and I'm having trouble with the username and password so they're fixing it.

Usually the username and password stuff is IT department stuff. If you're talking about university email/financial aid. Like they usually go by a code which was for us

first three letters of first name first letter of middle name and first four letters of your last name (unless that means you'd have the same username as someone)

Then for password-something to do with your birthday....it's been five years about since I've had to know that.

I'm doing Psychology myself, but since I was in a boarding school in High School, I fell in love with university immediately! For me it was High School with all the rules I wanted! I'm still in boarding and my parents are financing everything so I'm not sure how I can help you with the aid thing if at all. Sorry :(
I don't know how you'll take it,but college/uni life is the best there is before you grow up properly and have to deal with all the heavy stuff life has to offer.
My advice, take it one day at a time. If you need to chill, chill. There's no need to bury yourself in books and end up a nutcase. I think your college life will be as easy/ hard as you want it to be. I'm pretty laid back and still maintaining a 3/4 point average, which is pretty good. Not to say I don't study and stuff, but you get what I mean, yeah? With the right friends and attitude, you won't have a problem at all! :)
All the best and here's to the best years of your life!

Well... one thing you need to keep in mind... is that asking questions is very recommended when you don't understand something... never miss class when you can avoid it, and if you must give the teacher a heads up. In college missing a day of class is like missing 2-3 days of high school.

Also... talk the a counselor a lot your first year to ensure you know exactly which classes you need, when to take them, and makes picking classes faster and way less stressful

Good luck ^^

Good luck when you start college. I found filling out FAFSA was easy to a point once my parents split. See if your state has any programs that gives additional help (It'll usually come up when you finish FAFSA. ie, NY has Tuition Assistance Program which gives a grant to those who qualify)

Like a lot of people will tell you, don't be afraid to as questions of your professors, don't be afraid to raise your hand during class to ask them to explain something. Most professors won't bite your head off if you do. One of mine actually would like it if we did that more often because it shows him we're actually reading and paying attention to what he spent time looking through all the books, choosing the books, and teaching. Some actually do remember how it was like for them to be students and realise book costs are horrid and actually give a crap (I'm lucky where my profs aren't over 75yrs old) I go to a state college and all the professors I've had actually do the stuff themselves. The professors I have don't have TAs to pawn the grading off on. We have one secretary for the department of my major (polisci) If you're lucky like me, the professors will actually be there for their office hours and some have an open door policy. If your professors have aids, take advantage of them, take advantage of the tutors in the learning centres.
Try not to miss class too much, some will have in their syllabi a certain amount of unexcused absences (skipping) before they mark your grade down.
Keep communication open with them, e-mail, office hours.

That's what I could come up at the moment. Good luck with school and such :) Hope this helped ^^

My biggest nugget of advice when going to college in the first couple of years is this: Don't be afraid to change majors. If you find that you really don't enjoy what you are studying, switch.

My second kernel of advice would be this: Take one class every semester/term just for fun. Something not in your major. There is no better way to explore other subjects than to take something that just seems fun and appealing. Think of this one class as your blow off class- if you don't like it, drop it. If you do like it, continue on. I did this with art and history classes. Just having 1 class away from my major really helped with my stress levels and i got to experience other things. Try with 1 credit hour classes (we had simple pass/fail classes for these) or with a full blown class that just seems interesting.