I’ve got a confession to make.
I have never lied to you (apart from the obvious sarcasm in some posts). But I have generally tried to make the impression like I am a wise old guy full of life experience.
Ok, here’s my confession. Actually, I’m just 19 years old, and I’ll be starting college at the end of September.
If you feel that my advice is any less valuable because I’m only 19, feel free to stop reading my blog.
And now to the fun bit!
My request for advice
As you might know, I’m the kind of guy who likes to have stuff figured out before taking action (Although I’ve been practicing the 70% solution lately). And college is a big step to take, with a lot of things I could do right. And a lot of cool opportunities I could miss.
I read somewhere that 90% of the time we regret things we DIDN’T do, and only 10% of the time we regret things we DID do.
So my request for advice is this. Imagine you were writing your autobiography, and were making notes for the chapter called “Things I wish I had done at college”. (Or, if you haven’t finished college yet, just let your imagination run wild)
I’m not looking for mainstream obvious stuff (like “I wish I had partied less and studied more”). I’m looking for… well… more like crazy ideas that might actually work. To give you an example, here’s one thing on my list of what I wanna do at college:
- on the first day, knock on everyone’s door and introduce myself
Alright! Payback time! Now YOU can finally give advice to ME!
{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
W000t, only 19 years old?I expected you to be about 35 years!
(I’m 16 at the moment)
Now I really have to work hard, to be at least half as wise as you, when getting 19
Good for you! Things I wish I had known about college:
1. The right degree opens a lot of doors, but so do intention, effort, and enthusiasm. Study what your heart says to.
2. You’re a fairly mature 19. I was a fairly immature 19, with little romantic experience. Knowing what I know now, I would have dated more women less frequently, with a lighter touch and fewer strings.
3. Wear bath shoes in the showers.
Do you already know what you want to be when you grow up? Even if you think you do, take as many classes that interest you as you can, meaning not just the core requirements or pre-requisites for your major
You goal is to find your passion, not just something you are good at and may like just fine.
Good luck!
@Mike:
Yay! My evil plan worked ^^
By the way, three years is much longer than you think, once you start doing some real growth. I first got into the self-help world… well…. actually 3 or 4 years ago!
@Erich:
1. Tick. Already thought about that one
2. Ah yes. Good idea. I’ll probably keep my college years for casual dating and getting experience. It’s not the time to get married yet :p
3. Thanks! I never would have thought of that!
@getsheila:
Yes, I do.
My Mission in life is to reform the whole education system.
I’m not saying it will be easy, and I expect it will take me several dozen years, if I ever complete it. But it’s something I truly care about. And I guess that’s what matters.
Vlad, it’s is very good you are 19 and you have all that good ideas in you. You certainly make me remember me (though I was much more introspective
when I was your age (now I am 27!).
I will continue reading your posts despite or because your age, it dependes how I look at it.
Keep the good vibes!
Haha, so that’s how old you are!
I figured you were in your early twenties =P
But now we know!
Awesome mission, by the way.
Something tells me I’ll (sadly) be out of school by the time your reforms become reality.
But there may be better luck for the children…
Good luck in all that you do — I’ll still be following your blog every step of the way
First, wow, you’re as old as me. I did expect to you to be much older, so props! And also, while I’m commenting for the first time on your blog, I just want to say, you’re amazing, and when I stumbled on your blog I was like “Man, I need to change the way I think” and then BAM. I read it. So. You’re awesome. Anyhow.
It’s my second year in college, and so I’m kinda in the same boat as you, except I squandered my first year, so yeah.
1. This goes along with everyone else’s advice, but do not think about a major at all until a few months before you’re required to declare. Keep it in the back of your mind. The major in undergrad doesn’t matter a whole lot (people look to see if you have a degree, not in what– my dad worked at Boeing and one of his coworkers was a music theory major!) to what you hope to do, so seriously, study underwater basket weaving if it makes you happy. I’ve seen so many people go under trying to mix practical and enjoyment in a double major, and it always fails in some way, either they hate their life or drop something.
2. Talk to professors, and always know the power of the independent study! If your school doesn’t offer a course in something, someone might know about it anyway! I’m going to be doing an independent study in Old English!
3. As far as extracurricular stuff, I’ve found that it’s good to sign up for anything remotely interesting and attend the first meeting– I only did three swing dancing club meetings, but one of the people I met there is a really good friend now.
4. This is something that you may or may not have thought of (you probably did, but I’ll state it anyway), but college is not the golden years of our life. Everyone does everything they can in college preparing for a boring rest of their lives, and it’s the self-fulfilling prophecy. I read something that really stirred me last year, it was a quote from a college professor, I’ll try to reconstruct it:
“I’m always confused why college students dread their last day of school. The think that the fun’s over, the ride has stopped,and this is it. Don’t they see? Real life is where the fun really begins!”
So yeah. Not the end of the world after high school, but you’re smarter than the average bear and would’ve figured that out. And one last small piece of advice you may have thought, classes are as fun and challenging as we make them. I have a friend who already graduated, and she hated school because it’s too easy. I tried to point out to her she gets what she puts in, but eh. So if a class is boring, try making it more challenging, and if it still is, well, God made add/drop for a reason. =D Best of luck!
OK I am a third year sophomore with a 1.7 gpa, with two regrets: 1) I wasted a lot of money to get here, and 2) my gpa sucks.
What have I done:
I have learned to not label my self too quickly (I proclaimed botany to be my field of choice now my entire department refuse to consider that I may want to at least learn a little about other fields of biology.
I have stereotyped other majors and some times been surprised. I have a strong dislike of Business and psychology majors, and most of the time I really can’t stand them, but alas I have met a few that have turned out to be great finds.
I have never taken a class with a professor that has had a bad review on myspace or ratemyprof and not enjoyed the class. On the flip side, my professors got switched and we were not notified of this before hand. That night I looked the new professor up and he had wretched reviews, and I dropped the class three weeks later, because he was so bad.
My advice for you:
Spread out your harder classes. If you are going into college with a lot of credits already don’t hop on a fast track to graduation, because there at the end you will be taking all the time consuming classes together, and no matter how smart you are there are only 24 hours in a day.
Blow off class for something important. Never be the one to say you can’t drive halfway across the country for your friend’s birthday because you have a lecture to attend. Now don’t do this often, just when it matters.
Never miss a class because you over sleep.
Meet as many people as you can because 60% of them will turn out to be some sort of dud (dud as in for any reason they don’t turn out to be a keepable friend).
Find a friend that you can trust, but don’t be in a rush to get there.
Don’t be afraid to be your self.
Have fun.
But most of all don’t feel the need to graduate in 4 or less years.
I was always told to not party too hard, and study as much as you can. Well after spending the entire first semester either in the library or in my dorm room, I had basically no friends, and I wasn’t having fun. Over winter break I realized this and decided I would try to change it. I knew I didn’t need to “party hard” to make friends, I just made more of an effort to get out of my dorm room and meet people. My second semester was a blast, and I met so many great people (plus I was still able to get good grades). So don’t study *too* hard; take time to make some friends and have fun.
Hi Vlad,
Did you already enroll in college? Actually, the best advise I can give to pre-college kids is to never go to college without figuring out why you want to go first. Going straight from high school to college without knowing this is the biggest waste of time and money, and I will never permit my children to do so.
As for lesson from my college — the big one was that I tried too hard. You see, college is where grades end. Unless you plan to go to more college after that, grades don’t matter much, if at all, outside of college. I don’t know where you’re based, Vlad, but in US, the most important asset in landing a job is a professional experience (or a personal connection, but that’s something you don’t find in college, either). You’ll have little of that right after college, so most start from low-paying jobs and climb up.
I think it’s more important to earn “good enough” grade and use the time to explore, learn and have fun. I tried too hard, did earn very good grades, and missed out on a lot. My grades helped me very little in my career afterward, though I am probably one of the few who did use what I learned in college in real-life situations.
Go over to sivers.org and read a post titled “6 things I wish I knew the day I started Berklee.” It’s a speech for musicians but it applies to anybody who wants to learn and pursue dreams.
Have fun!
ari
19!!! :O
:O
I’m 20. So no advice from here!
Nice post, and some really nice comments so far
.
Sometimes the best writing asks a great question which ignites more than a single truth will
.
Ari sparked a question I have- if your goal in life is to reform the whole education system, how might college help you in that goal? Maybe you already have an answer for that question, or if not, maybe you could come up with some answers that will help guide you in college. Since you do have a “Mission”, that’s a big help.
Do you want to take classes about education? Earn a degree so you have some sort of credential for the sake of credibility in some peoples’ eyes? Perhaps you want to learn skills which could provide an income while you are getting started in education revolutionomics? Maybe you don’t want to work for the next few years but you want to have activities and a social life to pass the time, while you work out how you are going to accomplish your Mission? More fully rounding out your life experiences, and thus yourself, so that you will go more confidently into battle?
These are just questions, not advice.
As far as actual advice goes, I would recommend that if you don’t have clear ideas in certain areas (like what to major in, or extracurricular activities, or how to date), that you still keep moving and experimenting. When you don’t have a clear objective, sometimes the best idea is to try to do things which build potential which you can branch off of later.
Meeting lots of new people creates the potential for meeting those people who will become very important later in your life. You don’t have to know what kind of person you are looking for. A lot of my friends and favorite girlfriends didn’t resemble who I thought I would like when I was younger. Maybe as far as your Mission goes, you should track down all the local people who share your passion, or start an organization of your own. Then you could advance your mission and meet interesting people at the same time
.
I took a lot of classes in college which I had zero experience in, and I got some great results from it. A screenwriting class woke me up to a passion I never expected to have, business law helped me to incorporate a company, and German gave me a small vocabulary of German words I still delight in speaking in a guttural, deep voice I find hilarious. My abuse of foreign languages is probably responsible for 5% of my total happiness.
Mathematics gives you branchoff opportunities in the sciences; programming presents branchoff opportunities online and in a large variety of corporate settings; language classes present international branchoffs. Sometimes its a lot easier to ramble around till a great opportunity presents itself, than to try to figure out whether an idea is good and sink all your energy into it.
Good luck!
Wow. That’s a lot of great advice. Thanks everyone!
@Nick:
. Actually, in high school, I never took the IT class even though I’m really interested in computers. From experience (and other people’s stories), I knew they’d teach me a whole lot of useless boring crap, instead of the fun stuff. So I took it up on myself and learned some Python and some bash scripting. And I couldn’t be happier about my programming 
Ah yeah, the independent study
>3. As far as extracurricular stuff, I’ve found that it’s good to sign up for
>anything remotely interesting and attend the first meeting
Damn, I never though of that. I mean, sure, I was planning on signing up for a bucketload of random fun stuff, but I never though of taking it as far as you put it. Cheers!
@David:
. You’re definitely expanding my horizons here.
I never knew there’s a place where you can find reviews of professors
And thanks for all the other bits of advice too.
@Matt:
Thankfully, I wasn’t planning on studying too hard. But I can see it’s definitely something I might have done a few years ago. I have since learned that what’s important, and what others tell you is important are two different things. I developed my own yardstick, if you will
@Ari:
Yes, I have a pretty good idea of why I’m going to college.
And thanks for pointing out grades aren’t too important. I always valued learning far above grades… and I guess it’s even more true in college.
By the way that’s a nice post you gave me link to (the actual link is http://sivers.org/berklee )
I especially liked this bit: “Nobody will teach you anything. You have to teach yourself.”
That pretty much sums up the whole fact the learning means ACTIVELY creating connections, instead of just a passive transfer of data from professor to student.
@Ben:
. I wanna find out what it’s like, how it works, etc. There are also a bunch of other reasons I won’t go into right now.
One big reason I’m going to college is because this whole college thing is still a big mystery to me
Again, thanks for the advice, everyone. I appreciate it.
WOW I’m impressed, only 19?? And I see I have a 16-year-old friend here
I’m 16 too!!
What I would have done for college if I was going to it (next year) is that
1) I would focus on my studies rather than partying, dating, friends, etc.
2) I would challenge myself constantly with foods bigger than my head.
3) And I would SAY what I have in mind not just keep in inside.(which you do perfectly and I need to work a LOT on it).
Wish you luck,
and by the way, would you being 19 affect anybody here? I don’t think anybody would stop reading your blog because you’re 19. People mature at different ages!
Wish you luck again,
Armin
and, regret is soul’s poison!
The obvious things are the most important ones. Quick tips are the most meaningless. Knocking on doors MAY help you get a friend or two, but you’ll get those anyways. My advice would be along these lines:
1. listen to the information, not the opinions, of your professors. College professors are by vast majority liberal (never figured out exactly why), and about half of the teachers don’t have much to base their philosophies on. Remember you want to change the education system, not get absorbed into it.
2. Associate everything your taught with what your interested in. I learned the most about teaching from my human anatomy and physiology class, and the second most from an ecology class (why most studies are unreliable).
3. Everywhere you go, Walk fast (try 120 paces/minute), exercise, and so forth. It will speed up your mind. Even if your tired and cramp easily at first, after only 6 weeks you make more mitochondria – which means more energy – which translates to you having more energy and thinking faster.
4. Your two most limited resources – TIME, and MONEY. Make a chart of how much time you have in a week. Set out some for recreation, a good amount for studying, and however much you need for classes. Keeping track really helps you find time where you didn’t know you had it.
5. Buy books online. Half price, you can afford to buy two of them if its damaged.
6. Join some organization. The most fun you’ll have is with like-minded people, in person. Play chess, an instrument, heck even a xbox 360 club wil help you meet people that you can really talk to. YOu don’t need to join every random organization that looks pretty like has been suggested. Even one organization though helps you meet like-minded people.
7. study your @$$ off. The first classes probably will be a lot like high school, and the later ones tend to be pretty different (HW optional, but you’ll try your hardest on it anyways). They say that med school isn’t hard, its about endurance. It’s simular with most degrees, not exactly HARD, but it’ll test your desire and patience hard core.
Hope it helps.
Honestly, age is one of the least important and most judged traits in a lot of situations. I’m 15, and most of my friends are 17-18 years old. They think its strange that there’s such an age gap once they find out about it, but I feel like I’m on par with them at least as much as I am with my own class and age.
If your ideas are as developed as someone much older, there is no reason that they should tune you out because of age. I doubt that many readers will stop reading this blog or taking this advice at all. If anything, I’d bet that they’ll look up to you more.
I wouldn’t have any personal advice for college, but this is a useful article:
http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/life/workplay_balance_at_mit/50_things.shtml
I’m sure you’ve already got this in mind, but don’t tone down anything just because it’s a new situation. It’s always the crazy, spontaneous ones that end up with the most friends and the fullest lives.
Good luck with your door idea!
I never took “bird” courses. I only took courses that I was interested in. Because I was interested in the courses, I found it fun to read about the ideas, to come up with essay ideas, to study, to listen to the lectures, to ask questions. All my courses were interesting to study, fun to go to. I felt very satisfied when I finished my studies.
I thought you may have been in your late 20s, but I’m not really surprised. I’ve been reading Scott H. Young’s blog (http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/) for quite some time, and he just turned 20. It’s people like you guys (and my daughter) who show me that I can learn a lot from people less than half my age.
The one piece of advice I’ll give is to actually finish college and get your degree. I never did. And although it hasn’t hurt my career in the least, I still feel incomplete because I never finished. I’d still like to give it another go one day, maybe after you reform the system
Hey!
I think it is pretty awesome that you are only 19 yrs old. I turned 20 just a few months ago so it’s cool to see someone around my age spreading their knowledge. For some reason I think it sinks in more when I can put it in perspective that it isn’t someone lecturing the youth because they are “older and wiser.”
Anyways. College advice. I’m going into my 3rd year and what I’ve learned so far is:
-Be nice to your roommate. Living with someone in small quarters can be tough, but do the best you can. Who knows, you could make a friend for life.
- Be open to new experiences and situations. Go off campus. Explore the surrounding city. Don’t stick yourself in a bubble.
-This kind of goes with the last one. But don’t be afraid to go out and try new things. Or join clubs. You can meet some of the nicest people in student organizations. And sometimes find a hobby/interest you never really knew you had.
-Make friends in classes. They can save your butt if you happen to miss a class and need notes or you just want someone to study with.
-Don’t procrastinate. It will come back to get you. (Trust me, I know this from experience.)
-Ask professors for help if you need it. Most of them are really nice and will be more than willing to help you. You can meet with them or TA’s during office hours.
-Take advantage of school run events. Such as concerts, games, plays, etc. They are usually pretty cheap and always fun to attend.
-I don’t know where you are going to school, but if you get bad weather in the winter (I’m in upstate NY…so that means snow), enjoy the sun and warm weather. You will miss it when it’s gone.
-Create a core of friends. You’ll need them more than you know, especially when things get tough.
Sorry for writing so much. Heh. That is what I’ve come to discover from being in college so far. Nothing life shattering, but they’re good things to keep in mind.
Good luck in school!!
Hej,
nice to read all those experiences and the advise coming from it.
What I think is a good possibility to build a base for “revolutionomics” (love it) is to get as much different school/college experience as you can get. Travel and maybe take some courses in Europe, because the system is way different. Having a degree for example, is highly recommended when starting a career in Germany.
Go to schools for practical studies. Or even kindergartens. And basically everywhere, where people learn (take any sport for example) or try to get better at something.
Pickup and glance through books on the reshelve shelf, things left on the copier, etc. Let bits of serendipity have a chance. Plenty happened intentionally, but several very important things happened from overhearing (sometimes incorrectly heard) conversations, glancing at what the next person in a non-class setting was reading, etc.
@fengshaun:
Hey, it looks like I’m becoming a networking site for 16-year olds :p. Eeek!
And I’m pretty sure me being 19 won’t affect my readers in a bad way. They’re cool
@Nathan:
. (I read some great thoughts on that by Bill Beaty, I’ll try to find a link for that)
2. Yeah, I naturally associate new things I learn. I heard it’s the best way to learn stuff, so I focus on doing it even more nowadays
3. I’ll try walking fast for a few days to see what happens. Sounds like just the kind of wacky thing that could totally work
4. Actually, the MOST LIMITED resource I have is ENERGY. That’s why a lot of successful enterpreneurs and self-improvement gurus recommend ENERGY MANAGEMENT rather than time management.
6. Yea, I’m planning on joining plenty of organizations. Because I know it’s a totally awesome way to meet people.
Thanks for all the advice
@Brian:
Thanks for that article! There are definitely a couple of ideas there I’m going to use.
@ulskie:
Errr… I AM in Europe :p
But yeah, I’m definitely planning to travel through a bunch of countries after college to look at their education systems, including the US. I just first need to make a small stream of income
(on a related note, I’ll soon be adding ads to this blog. Don’t worry, nothing obnoxious.)
@Jeffrey:
Ah yeah, all the random life-changing moments. Love ‘em
Kudos, Vlad, I had you pegged as in your twenties. Your perspective seems too fresh to come from an old fogie like me. (That’s meant as a compliment, by the way.)
I think you’ll do just fine without any advice I can give. For what it’s worth, my philosophy has been: do the next thing that seems like a good idea at the time and afterwards it will all make sense. It works for me. After all, everything is a learning experience if you choose to take it that way.
With all my very best wishes,
FH
Study abroad. I’ve traveled abroad since graduating, and I didn’t in college because I thought I would miss out on stuff here or miss my friends. That’s my only regret from college, so go somewhere for a semester or a month or summer!
“My Mission in life is to reform the whole education system.”
That’s my mission too!
Actually, I found your blog through one of your old posts called “Sucky Schools – How To Repair Our Education System”.
I’m just a year older than you, and I’ve been in college for two years; I don’t think there is much advice I can give you about college – I was never a very good fit for the traditional education system.
But, I’ve been working in education since I was about 17. I am currently working for one school district in Southern California and I’ll soon be working at a second district (a charter school in Los Angeles), too.
If you really want to make a difference in the American education system, the best advice I could give you is to work in a public school. You can read books and articles, or listen to politicians and their gripes about the system, but, trust me, until you’ve actually worked with real teachers and students and heard their stories first-hand, you won’t have the slightest idea what is going on.
When I was in high school I thought that I knew what the problems were – but once hired by a district, it became really clear that I didn’t know anything.
If you want to make a difference, you have to be willing to let go of your own biases and stereotypes. Work in the system, become a part of it and then you’ll be able to understand the problems, and how they might be fixed.
Read all the books you can get your hands on – not just about the politics of school reform, but about everything having to do with education. Read books about school reform, but also read books about pedagogy, neurodevelopment, learning disabilities, history, education-technology, stories written by educators, emerging culture in the 21st century, and everything else.
Subscribe to education magazines and learn about issues that extend beyond your locality. Get transcripts of school board meetings and be overwhelmed at how inane and ludicrous they are (LAUSD is pretty interesting).
I don’t know what exactly you would consider your specialty to be (I’m working at mine to be in the field of education technology, systems design, and data analysis) – but, you’ll have to become an expert at something in order for people to take you seriously. And, in education, before you can write books and articles with some measure of authority, you will need *at least* a Master’s Degree and several years of experience working in education. Ironically, if you want to have any power or influence to change this ineffective system, you must give yourself over to it for a good part of your life.
Of course, you’re young. So, I’d expect that your dreams and goals will yet change many times. But, if you follow my advice and aren’t absolutely sick of the idea of working for school reform by the time you finish reading your tenth book on the subject, then this might just be something you will want to try sticking to.
XD I didn’t mean this to be so long! Anyway, good luck with college and your career.
(P.S. Obviously you’re interested in the human mind as well as technology and education. You might want to take a look at the books “Endangered Minds” and “Failure to Connect” by Dr. Jane M. Healy as well as “A Mind at a Time” by Dr. Mel Levine.)
I regretted trying to turn my obsession[computers] into a job. Hobby’s make good jobs, obsessions do not.
So for something you should do: Try to turn your joy and/or hobby into a career. I know everyone says it, but it’s really worth it. [I have no hobby. ;-;]
Came to this post a little late, but I’ll tell you one thing:
I was a lot more centered and at peace at the world at 19 years of age than the present time.
Seems the definition of getting older is to get more caught up in the mundane obligations of existing and consuming, and you forget all the nuggets of wisdom you knew once upon a time.
So thank you for writing down all the ‘obvious’ things now. We all need a reminder about the important stuff from time to time.
College-wise: Make the most of your time there. They go by very quickly in retrospect.
And a little tip. Something I never regretted doing in college. Finding a quiet little spot (preferably surrounded by nature) to meditate or frittering some time away in a little cafe, savoring coffee and sandwiches, and watching people go past, reflecting on life.
Most people are in such a terrible hurry. There’s the next class, next lecture, next lab, next party, next meeting, next outing with friends, etc.
Wow, you’re only 19!! I’m 13 and I had the impression that you were around the age of 30 or something (just because you are wise and harmlessly crazy at the same time, which I thought can only be achieved around that age( shows how much I know!)). Anyways, where do you get all this information? Is it by tapping into the genius of others (Internet), taking billions of experiences (what you probably do), or some other unique thing? How?