Collections of habits and tips

kingsley wrote: ↑ Balance. Ying Yang. Equilibrium. And so on.

rai_dei wrote: ↑Having friends and going to the same university as your friends is a little different. You have to keep a balance.
I've got friends i knew since grade school and we're going to diff colleges, but we still keep in touch and hang out on our time off from schooling. I think having friends who you can rely on is a necessary part of life. You have to have someone to cheer ya up when you're down University is a good place to make connections, and if you make some good friends, then more power to ya. Friends are never overrated unless they are the kind that tend to mooch off of ya...

Freebie_Fanatic wrote: ↑Agreed friends are important, but not more important than education IMHO
Like, for example, i would never make go to a particular university just because my friend will be with me when i join it. would you?? I would go the best uni considering all factors

Bordello wrote: ↑Looking back now, I don't know how I would get through school without them. I have a small group of people that I do assignments and lab reports with, and study with when it comes to exams. Although I'm not in undergrad anymore, I still keep contact with most of them. Your friendship doesn't have to end just because you're not in school anymore. If you make the effort to keep in touch with them, the friends you meet in school may turn out to be lifelong friends. Even if they aren't, you still didn't waste your time.

Machsupra wrote: ↑ Aside from final exams, I either reread what has been lectured or read the material to be lectured ahead of time. This is pretty basic, but it has worked for me.
I'd say I spend on average 3 hours on each course. IMO, the importance of it all is understanding the material and making the connections yourself. Also, to be effective at retaining the material, you must develop an efficient method to study which personally fits you. I think focus is also a huge factor.

Brown Thug wrote: ↑ I see retaking courses for GPA purposes as totally pointless because even if your home institution will replace the grade for their own GPA calculations, the first initial grade is not erased from transcripts. Therefore, grad schools, employers and whoever else will still see that first grade and it will be factored into your cGPA. People retake courses and think that the second grade replaces the first grade, but this is not the case. It's as if you took a totally different course, both grades are equally weighted in your GPA.

Statistics101 wrote: ↑My uncle was in the same situation, no degree = no promotion. He found himself sitting at a counter in an empty government office one day and he told himself that his career cannot go on this this so he did a part-time bachelor degree in his early 40's. He would work during the day and attend classes during the night + no weekend / no life for many years. In the end, it opened a lot of doors for him and got him ahead in his career. He saved enough to quit this job and he went on to do his Masters and then Ph.D in public policy which opened up a lot of government consultation work and a lecturer position at a top ranked university. In the span of about 15 years, he went from a lowly government clerk to a person who leaders and heads of state departments around the world seek him for consultation and advice.
If you have the will, you will have a way. That's something I would have told my 30 year old self, or better... my 20 year old self. Don't let people tell you what you can do and what you cannot. If you want to achieve something in life, do it. Most of my regrets are usually things that I didn't do, because I didn't believe in myself.

FreshCo wrote: ↑ Actually study in university and do whatever it takes to get good marks - socializing with classmates more and utilizing the profs/teaching assistants. Merely showing up in grade 12 is all it took to get an 80%+ average, not so in university. Don't even recall studying in my first few years of university tbh. I envy people who have the discipline to actually do well in their first few years. From the people I've known, typically those skills were honed in a private school or by very regimented parents.

Also, don't get into a relationship with someone unless you're absolutely sure you want to marry them - just date them for a few weeks/months instead.