How to win at college

[NickNaylor]

I've written this just as suggestion to those that will be entering college this coming semester. I've just finished my first year, and I remember being a little unsure of what to expect. To hopefully qualm some uncertainty, I've decided to share my experience.

Is college really that much harder than high school?
Yes and no. Compared to high school, professors cover material much faster in college than in high school. Don't misread: the material is still very manageable. Assuming you aren't taking 20+ hours, you will have enough time to thoroughly study everything. However, you WILL have to stay on top of it.

Another difference, though, is that grades in college are based almost entirely on test/exam performance (i.e., your final grade in chemistry may simply be the average of four tests). For some this is good (I was in this situation), for others, bad. With this approach, you at least know that your tests are important, and, as a result, you can focus on performing well on them versus dealing with miscellanious, pointless assignments. However, if you perform poorly on tests, you will have little to no chance to bring up your grades. You'll be stuck.

Do you just spend all of your time studying?
Certainly not, and you shouldn't need to, both because of how much time you'll have and to keep yourself sane. While a lot of my time personally is spent studying, I still have plenty of time to do club meetings, work out, and just hang out with friends doing nothing particularly productive. You will have plenty of time to have fun, assuming you stay on top of your work. Which leads to the next point...

What's your primary key to college success?
Stay on top of your work and find time to have fun. If you don't do your work, YOU WILL BE PUNISHED. Let me say that again: IF YOU DON'T STAY ON TOP OF YOUR WORK, IT WILL BE EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO RECOVER. Some of my friends didn't do their work when it was assigned early in the semester and, as a result, when exam time came they stopped having fun. You must have the discipline to do your work, even if nothing is due the next day. If you put everything off, you simply won't have enough time to catch up in all your classes. It's much easier to exercise discipline and do your work, even if nothing is due, than to put it off and be punished later. I assure you that you will have friends who have a blast the first few months of college because they don't do their work. They may be able to do well based on talent alone, but I wouldn't take that chance. I would recommend that you work extremely hard your first semester, and if you find that you're dominating, then next semester maybe pull back on your intensity. It's easier, after all, to work less hard than it is to work harder.

What should I be doing to prepare for medical school?


I think that you should be doing at least one of the following things to make sure you get your application experiences rolling from the beginning:

• Research - this may be difficult because you're just a freshman, but this can also be to your advantage. Some PIs (principal investigators) like taking freshmen because they have plenty of time to do work. Go to departmental mixers and, well, mix. Talk to professors and ask them if they'll take you on as a researcher. After your first semester, talk to professors who do research you're interested in and in whose class you did well. While for some medical schools research has less importance in the application process, it certainly can't hurt.
• Volunteer experiences - these can often be done as part of school clubs/organizations (see below). You will want to accumulate as many of these as possible. With that said, though, do things you're interested in and actually care about. This will give you plenty to talk about in interviews and allow you to actually enjoy the experiences.
• Extracurriculars - there are a million things to do on campus. See something interesting? Go check it out! Chances are, there's a club for you. Try and get involved in the organizations you're a part of. While you don't need to be president, you will want to have something to talk about in applications/interviews other than that you were a member.
• Do well in school - this should be obvious, but is nonetheless important.

What about summers?
Find something to do with your time in the summers. For some students, this may be finding a job to pay for school. If you're in this position, I would highly recommend finding internship-type programs where you receive a stipend while doing something that interests you. I'm participating in an undergraduate research fellowship that pays $4,000 for ten weeks of research - something that I'm interested in, is fun, and allows me to not have a "real" job. If you can't find a paid internship, then get a job, but also do something medically related. Shadow doctors, volunteer at a hospital, SOMETHING. You won't want to have to explain to an admissions committee that you did nothing during your summers off. Your summers are great opportunities to both learn and do some soul-searching in terms of figuring out if medicine is really what you want to go into. With that said, though, find the balance. You have also earned the time to relax. You don't need to be volunteering 60 hours per week. Volunteer a couple of days per week, but hang out with your friends and have fun, lapse into a coma in front of the TV, whatever de-stresses you. You don't want to burn out during the next academic year.

I wish you all the best. I hope this provides some good basic advice/information.

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[tennisball80]

Stick this thread !!

And thanks for writing this

 

[MilkmanAl]

Probably the best way to win at college is to conquer the urge to exploit your newfound freedom. College is by no means "real life," whatever that means, but your success is going to be entirely dependent on you. Many people who didn't have a lot of freedoms in high school go batsh*t nuts when exposed to college. Don't do that. I had the benefit of having very lenient parents and completely crazy high school years, so all the partying and staying up to see the sun rise was something I'd been doing for 4 years already. I watched many a prospective pre-med crash and burn because he/she felt like socializing was all that mattered in college. In fact, one of my best friends from UNC got his ass handed to him this cycle because his freshman grades sucked. Don't let that be you. There will always be another party. You can go get trashed whenever you want.

Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't go out and have fun. Quite the contrary, in fact. By all means, get a little crazy. This is college. Most people here on SDN will probably have several strokes after reading this sentence, but if you have to let your grades slide a *little* bit your first semester to get a solid social network started, do it. Personal growth is far more important than a tenth of a GPA point or two. Don't sell your soul to the pre-med gods at the cost of your enjoyment. There's plenty of time for this god-awful admissions process to crush you later on. Have a good time, but show a little self-restraint. Don't be "that girl/guy" on College Humor.

As Cole said, the primary key to college success is discipline. Budget your work and partying properly, and you'll be just fine.

 

[Depakote]

Added to the Important Aspire Threads and FAQs You Should Read Thread...

Thanks for posting this.

 

[ShaneK]

Thanks, Great Thread.

 

[MidwestPhD]

1. Do all the problems assigned for homework and, if possible, do some more. Sometimes the problems that were not assigned end up on the tests. The more you practice, the easier the problems become.

2. Get to know persons who will write positive letters of recommendation for you when you apply to medical school. If you are going to work closely with a professor on a research project, be on your best behavior in your interactions with him or her.

3. Don't be afraid to ask your professors questions; as a student, you are not expected to already be an expert, you are expected to desire to learn. If you don't understand something, contact the professor and ask him/her to explain again. Contact the professor via his/her preferred means of communication, e.g. email, phone, office hours, etc.

4. Learn how to use the libraries at your college, particularly the science libraries. Become familiar with the scientific and medical literature and learn how to search for and find articles on topics of interest.

5. Never be dishonest. If caught cheating, stealing, etc., you could be expelled.

 

[Iwilldietrying]

Wow, this is great!

Thank you!

 

[tennisball80]

Never, Never and Never Give Up!

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I'd definitely support trying out new things, not stressing too much about grades, and try not to get kicked out in the first semester....because 2nd semester is even more fun.

Many people seem really set on doing med school, which is all fine and dandy, but allow yourselves the space to take classes in other disciplines. I attended my undergraduate with a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do, but it took some classes in other areas to solidfy that choice.

Hello Underwater Basket Weaving and Leisure Sports!

(we didn't have those classes....sadly).

 

[xnfs93hy]

This thread is full of win!

 

[k12123]

 

[ridethecliche]

I'll offer some advice as well.

I didn't win at college.

Part of the reason was that I had one semester full of awesome classes, but they were all very difficult and time intensive. Just because stuff is awesome doesn't mean you have to take it all at once. And even the 'easy' classes require work: essays, problem sets, readings, etc. Don't underestimate that.

It's okay to strike a balance between challenging coursework, stuff that interests you, and EC's.

You want to come out of the process with good grades and a well rounded education obtained both inside and outside of the class room.

I dropped my gpa by .1 in a semester because of overloading myself (and health issues). I worked my ass off to get that back up over the remainder of my time at school. I got lucky because I could salvage it, but you don't want to have to do that.

 

[STrotty]

Great Post sir. Great lesson for me.

 

[idiotqueen92]

do the volunteer experiences during undergrad count? On the aamc chart/tables thing it said the average number of volunteer experiences is 6, and I'm wondering how a person can do that in medical school along with research, even if you take a gap year.

 

[getdown]

do the volunteer experiences during undergrad count? On the aamc chart/tables thing it said the average number of volunteer experiences is 6, and I'm wondering how a person can do that in medical school along with research, even if you take a gap year.

of course volunteering in undergrad counts. You also don't have to volunteer 8 hours everyday, that's just stupid. The trick is to start early in your college career and volunteer 1 or 2 times a week for 2 hours or so. By the end of college you got plenty of hours and you look good doing it cause it makes you seem you have long term commitment to medicine. So, really, the best way to WIN in college is to know the game and play it right.

 

[idiotqueen92]

thanks getdown!

but I forgot to clarify if it counts for residency . I'm in a BS/MD program so I'm worried about med school admissions (so far I doubt I'll apply out unless brown med school ranking drops a lotttt), but worrying about the whole residency thing... is it the same answer for residency?

 

[MilkmanAl]

Med school ranking doesn't really mean anything, so go ahead and stay in that BS/MD program even if USNWR decides to take a giant, steaming dump on Brown in the next couple years. Residency is entirely dependent on how you do in med school and what specialty you like, so please, please, please stop freaking out about it now.

 

[getdown]

Ah, ok, I just misunderstood your statement idiotqueen. Volunteering is good for residency but the focus has changed. For residency the most important thing is going to be your STEP1 scores, clinical grade in your chosen specialty, clinical grades in 3rd and 4th year, the letters of rec from faculty in your chosen field, then other stuff like research, volunteering, pre clinical grades. Of course these vary from specialty to specialty and even between different hospitals of the same specialty. But yeah... still a long road you got.

 

[idiotqueen92]

Thanks for responding again!!


I can't believe I did this again.... but

thanks getdown!

but I forgot to clarify if it counts for residency . I'm in a BS/MD program so I'm worried about med school admissions (so far I doubt I'll apply out unless brown med school ranking drops a lotttt), but worrying about the whole residency thing... is it the same answer for residency?

I left out a huge "not" in "I'm in a BS/MD program so I'm ___ worried about med school admission"... I'm not really freaking out much, just...really bored...and spending all my time on SDN and med school/hospital websites to feed my senioritis XD hahhah. Thanks again and I'm sorry I keep writing things that are not clear

 

[getdown]

Ahh ok. Well, med school admissions is a long and tricky process. The fact that you're here shows that you're serious and hopefully you'll learn a thing or two that prevents you from messing up. The #1 cause of most low GPAs is SCREWING AROUND DURING FRESHMAN YEAR!! You'll have a hard time, though not impossible, making up your crap GPA. Don't use your AP credits to get out of easy intro classes, they HELP boost your GPA. Remember that college isn't like high school where you always have to take on the hardest coarse load. Mixing in easy classes amongst your hard science classes will pace you and prevent burnout and a bad GPA from sleeping 1 hour a night. Adcoms don't care that you took an intro geology class while also taking upper level bio classes. Just don't have too many BS classes. Most importantly don't overextend yourself. No amount of volunteering, leadership, shadowing bull can make up for a bad GPA. Those are just a few things that pop into my head. PM me if you have any other nagging questions.

 

[Wolfman89]

What's your primary key to college success?
Stay on top of your work and find time to have fun. If you don't do your work, YOU WILL BE PUNISHED. Let me say that again: IF YOU DON'T STAY ON TOP OF YOUR WORK, IT WILL BE EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO RECOVER. Some of my friends didn't do their work when it was assigned early in the semester and, as a result, when exam time came they stopped having fun. You must have the discipline to do your work, even if nothing is due the next day. If you put everything off, you simply won't have enough time to catch up in all your classes. It's much easier to exercise discipline and do your work, even if nothing is due, than to put it off and be punished later. I assure you that you will have friends who have a blast the first few months of college because they don't do their work. They may be able to do well based on talent alone, but I wouldn't take that chance. I would recommend that you work extremely hard your first semester, and if you find that you're dominating, then next semester maybe pull back on your intensity. It's easier, after all, to work less hard than it is to work harder.

Incoming freshmen: take this to heart. I have repeatedly procrastinated and lived to face the consequences. As your courses become increasingly difficult it will be harder and harder to avoid damaging your gpa.

 

[Cephal0pod]

Threads like this are the reason why I love SDN. Thanks everyone.

 

[deleted393595]

NickNaylor, you are indeed "winning"

 

[Madison Miller]

What about summers?
Find something to do with your time in the summers. For some students, this may be finding a job to pay for school. If you're in this position, I would highly recommend finding internship-type programs where you receive a stipend while doing something that interests you. I'm participating in an undergraduate research fellowship that pays $4,000 for ten weeks of research - something that I'm interested in, is fun, and allows me to not have a "real" job. If you can't find a paid internship, then get a job, but also do something medically related. Shadow doctors, volunteer at a hospital, SOMETHING. You won't want to have to explain to an admissions committee that you did nothing during your summers off. Your summers are great opportunities to both learn and do some soul-searching in terms of figuring out if medicine is really what you want to go into. With that said, though, find the balance. You have also earned the time to relax. You don't need to be volunteering 60 hours per week. Volunteer a couple of days per week, but hang out with your friends and have fun, lapse into a coma in front of the TV, whatever de-stresses you. You don't want to burn out during the next academic year.

Great advice!! I'd like to elaborate, if I may.
Summer internships set you apart from the rest. There are many available in the medical field - some are paid, some are not. If you cannot find a paid internship and are able and willing to take an unpaid internship, DO IT!! Yes, making money over the summer is fun and rewarding but, an internship program is a game changer when it comes to your future career! Also, many schools offer course credit for internships if they are unpaid. Keep this in mind when deciding how to spend your summer!

 

[iforget2]

Even after a year in college I find this extremely useful.

 

[doctorwho19]

Thanks! These are very helpful tips to keep in my mind for when I start my freshman year!

If we decide to volunteer at a local hospital during the summer before our freshman year, would that count as volunteering during college?

 

[singasongofjoy]

a couple more tidbits of advice- sorry so long but was basically writing this in an email to a cousin and thought it might be useful here too:
You will NEED to have good (or at least amicable) relationships with at least a few professors. You will one day be asking them for reference letters. Also, professors who know you can be great resources for letting you know if there are opportunities that might interest you (e.g., "hey, we are going to need a lab assistant in our lab next semester, do you want me to let you know when we start accepting applications?" or "hey, there's this meeting/conference/volunteer or job opening in town related to x you might be interested in" or "I'm impressed w your work in this class, would you like to be a paid peer tutor next semester?"

So first, how to not get on your prof's bad side, followed by how to get on their good side, and how to get good rec letters.

How to not get on your prof's bad side - DO NOT SPEND CLASS TEXTING, or even just staring at your computer screen the entire time - it's still blatantly obvious you are not paying any attention. Make some occasional eye contact!! Practice the "I'm listening" head nod so you can look like your listening even if you're spaced out. I have a friend from grad school who mastered this and profs would comment on how engaged she was in class when really she was paying no attention. This skill will serve you much better than keeping your head down adn staring at your computer or phone the whole time. Sure, you are going to have some boring classes. If you can't pay attention, master the art of daydreaming while it still looks like you are paying attention.

Seriously, put the phone away. PUT IT AWAY. Out of sight so it doesn't tempt you. Especially more old-school profs will remember. And no matter how sly you think you are being by having it down in your lap, they all know that no one *really* stares at their crotch that much. At least not in public.

Emails - this cannot be overstated. I know many people who have put into their syllabi things like "if you write an email that contains x/y/z, do not be surprised when I do not answer." So I'm not saying this because it annoys me, but because I have heard so many profs mention it (especially the older ones). When I was teaching, some of my very best and engaged students would send the most ridiculous emails, which made me think "there goes someone with book smarts but no common sense." part of being a successful adult (and from an evolutionary perspective, to survive) is being able to exercise the good judgment to alter your behavior to suit the circumstances. Do not email your professors, the dean, or any other such person as if you are texting your friend. Show that you have the skills to write a professional correspondence. This includes a greeting, followed by text that consists of full sentences and full words (no "ur" for you are, etc), no more than 1 exclamation point at the end of a sentence, proper capitalization, and an appropriate closing even if informal (e.g., "Thanks!" followed by your name). That's not to say that some profs aren't chill, because many are. But show you have the ability to write an adult email and make sure you have a reasonably good relationship (e.g., they at least recognize you and could greet you by name if they saw you in the hallway) before sending memes, emojis, and gratuitous capitalization.

Related - email is not text and you should not expect an immediate reply. Your prof may have in their syllabus how long it may take for you to receive a reply email (usually within 24-48 hours). DO NOT send an email 3 hours later wondering why you haven't rec'd a response yet. Especially at larger universities where folks are teaching large classes (especially of freshmen, they tend to have more questions) then around due dates/exam time it may take over an hour per day to answer student emails. They may save their office hours for going through and answering student emails all in one go.

Don't send an 11th hour email asking them to calculate what grade you have to get on an exam to get x in the course. At the very least, calculate it yourself and then you could email them for confirmation.

Really, all of the above tips relate to respecting the amount of time profs put into preparing for class. I don't know how it is with med school, but in psych generally profs could make way more money doing any of twelve hundred other things. They are usually teaching because they actually want to (minus some schools that require all grad students to teach, perhaps, but at most it is optional). Some profs will have decided not to care about the above things but you will meet enough who do care that it is smart to act accordingly.

How to get on your prof's good side: As long as you avoid the above, it's pretty easy in small classes. In larger ones, it takes a bit more doing.
1) make sure they actually know who you are - face to name. This means going to class and sitting near the front/center, and a little more. When teaching 600 students a semester, I could recognize most by face and most by name, but could put together only a very few of them. Go speak to your professor- right before or after class or during office hours, or by appointment. Even if it feels silly, casually introduce yourself every time unless it is clear they know your name so they can put together your face and your name (e.g., Hi, I'm X from your 9am intro class; I emailed you about xyz; or if it's right after class, just "hi, I'm x, I have a question about xyz." If you really want brownie points, most profs do actually really enjoy getting emails/conversations related to class content and not just grades. For example, I had a couple of students who would periodically send me links to podcasts, videos, news articles that were (sometimes only tangentially) related to things we'd discussed in class. Just like "hey, thought you might find this interesting!" Sometimes these things made me laugh, sometimes they were super interesting/funny/memorable adn I would share with the whole class or incorporate into my lectures for the next semester. Sometimes they would just come up after class and show me their phone and be like "hey, thought you might like this meme; it's related to x." I loved this not only because my students were actually great at finding interesting/funny things to brighten my day, but also because it meant they were thinking about class content outside of class and in the real world. That was definitely memorable.

2) care about your learning enough that you make decent grades, but you don't have to be the best in the class. You just have to appear to care about the actual learning, not just the grades earned. One of my favorite students was a solid C student... after he got serious about it halfway through the semester. But he was engaged in class, sat near the front, and made time to ask questions about exam questions (not just come begging for extra points). he also sent me a thank you email after I gave him a lot of feedback on his essay about how to improve his overall approach next time. If it seems like a prof went out of the way to give you clear feedback or explain something in a different way, shoot them a thank you email. I promise they will remember you. Those are the types of qualities that get put into a rec letter. Also, if you do it early/midway through the semester, there is a good chance they will continue to go well out of their way to help you if you continue to need it. You can also show you care about learning by doing an "informational interview" with a prof if they are in a field you think you might like to pursue as a career. You could schedule it during office hours.

Even if the class is boring AF you can still be memorable by paying attention and picking up on your profs interests (again showing you are paying attention in class). E.g., stats is a super boring class no matter what. If your prof likes cats, for example, print out a meme from lolcat about stats or something. Slip it to them at the end of class one day with a smile. They'll giggle more than they should because cats and stats, and hang it on their office door or something. They'll def remember you. This may or may not be from personal experience

How to get a good rec letter: see #2 above for examples, but you want to exhibit qualities that are important for success in grad school / med school / life. It's about so much more htan good grades.

1) show appreciation for others - your professor's time, but also others in the class. If someone makes a good comment in class and you've got something to add, you can say "I really appreciated x 's comment because ...." or if you are writing evaluations for group projects, don't just complain about who didn't do work. Praise others for specific contributions. Show you are a good team player. "plays well with others" continues to be important way past kindergarten.

2) ask questions/make comments in class even if they are not profound. no one likes to ask a question and then just hear crickets. Even if it's just asking for clarification that will show you are engaged. "truly engaged in the learning process" looks good in a rec letter.

3) more htan that you can show you care about the actual learning; you can tie in personal examples or examples from the news etc to show you are thinking about the application of the material in real life; ask questions. If there are readings, pencil in a couple of questions into the margins while you are reading so that you will remember to ask them in class. As mentioned above, you can share related things with profs. Personally I really appreciated the videos and memes that I could add to my lectures the next semester to keep students engaged- it was actually really helpful. If you miss things on the exam, ask fro them to be explained without the expectation of getting extra points or anything - just so you can understand better. And don't ask "will this be on the final." "strives to apply learning outside of the classroom and makes positive contributions to the overall learning environment" looks good in a rec letter. And is good for you in life.

4) if your prof is in an area that interests you, spend 5 minutes asking for career-related advice (e.g., if they have any ideas/suggestions for relevant clinical/volunteer expereince in the area, or just what advice they woudl give to people going into their field). Fact of psychology/academia, people tend to remember positively others who are like them (or want to be like them). "longstanding interest in the field" looks good in a letter (if it's true). If you are already engaged in related things, or even if you'r engaged in unrelated volunteer things you can bring these up in conversations with your professors. Then when you ask them to write a rec letter and send htem your CV for reference they will remember and will be able to write things like "overall is an asset to the community, as evidenced by xyz."