Now is the time for many of you to begin your new careers as ‘college students’. Good luck to everyone, especially the freshmen just making the
transition from high school to university.
Study hard, keep up the grades, have some fun and make lots of new friends. The next four years will fly by, and will have a huge impact on what you do for the rest of your life.
Good Luck!
thanks…
i wish all my fellow freshman bound college FIRSTer good luck too…
it’s soo crazy and weird… leaving home and a lot of friends behind… i think it finally has dawn on me that i better start packing…
Good luck and to everyone else good luck this year w/ school…
Many thanks Chris. I’ve only been at Purdue for a few days now but I can already tell it’s going to be a great year. The freshman orientation program Boiler Gold Rush kicked off to a great start last night. I can’t think of anything else to say from lack of sleep, good day.
I can’t believe all my babies are gone! Sniff
Yes good luck.
I would second what Chris said. Keep your grades up all the time, but especially in your first quarter/semester. It will do good things for you, and set you off on the right path. It shouldn’t actaully be too hard to get all A’s and B’s for your first term. Just put your mind to it.
If you encounter any sort of competitions in one of your classes, make sure you try your very best to win.
As far as clubs and things like that, don’t feel like you have to join right away. Focus on school, and if you are doing okay with that and still have time, then join something.
Last, you will encounter more sales pitches than you ever have in your life before. Be weary of any fliers for jobs like “summer work opportunity” or “$1000 per week” or anything like that. Be prepared because lots of people will try to stop you and try to sell you something, or hand you something, or tell you about something, or ask for money. Be very careful with who you talk to and who you give your information to. I’m not saying every path leads down a bad road, I’m just saying be careful.
Don’t go out and get a bunch of credit cards or anything like that either. Trust me there will be losts of companies just jumping to give you one.
So, with all that said, good luck! And don’t eat pizza everyday. Visit Subway or something once in a while too. Have fun at college!
Thanks for the words of encouragement, and I wish the same to my fellow college bound FIRSTers.
I’m going to echo what Sanddrag said, with one clarification: Get one credit card, preferably from your home bank. Use it occasionally (once or twice a month), and always pay it off. It’ll help your credit in the long term.
Other than that, I would say to develop at least one passion in college. I wound up getting three (WUSC-FM, Preston College (my residence hall), and FIRST), but I wouldn’t recommend going that far, especially freshman year. Having so many things on top of classes kicked my butt in some aspects of life last year.
But whatever you do, don’t switch to a major in partying and a minor in girls/guys.
Good luck–do well!
I agree with getting a credit card. However, I would strongly suggest asking your parents to add you to one of their cards (assuming they have good credit). Two things happen with this: 1) You think twice about spending large amounts of money since it could give your parents negative credit ratings if you go overboard and 2) Your parents can keep tabs on whether you’re ready for a card of your own. (I believe I was in my 2nd or 3rd year before I got a credit card and simply relied on my checking account until then.)
As for not getting involved in clubs immediately, I’d have to disagree. Don’t go for the frat/sorority in your first year. They do tend to take up an extraordinary amount of time. However, definitely seek out the student chapters of the engineering societies on campus and join them, even if it’s not your field. It’s a good networking tool, you might get free tutoring from people that know your professors, and you can have fun while still emphasizing academics.
I’ve now been through college twice. The first time, I took 5 years and was not active in any groups. The second time, I took 5 years and was quite active. The difference in the college experiences were drastic. The second time around was definitely more fun for me! The fact that I was active also opened a number of doors for me.
indieFan
Thanks, I have a feeling we’ll need it Good luck to my fellow college-FIRSTers.
Class of 2009 anyone?
Good luck to all those taking their first step like me in the annals of higher education. I’m curious though, anyone planning to continue to work near full-time with their team? York is about a 30 to 40 minute drive from Woburn, so I dont particularly plan on going to every build meeting, maybe once or twice on weekends. But I do have a lot of collaboration capability on-line. Is anyone going to continue to actively work with their team? Or a new team perhaps as well. York currently does not sponsor any FIRST teams, but I’d really like to gauge a feeling for the pace and difficulty of my program before I decide to commit to anything. Like everyone says, for once, school has to come first. Not like in high school 
Wooo for college, hope all the college bound spamer’s are doin great! as well as all of the other first college freshmen
FIT 2009 woot
Aerospace Engineering
good luck all you freshman in college…you guys are now my inspiration! 
lol
Thanks all, and yay for college! It’s a different yet exciting experience. I’m planning on staying in touch with #1168 through the Internet, but since I’m now three thousand miles away I’m also wondering what FIRST-related events there are in the Claremont area.
That and I’m hoping I’m not too overwhelmed with work to do stuff, hehe.
I would also Like to say good luck to my fellow FIRSTers starting their Freshman year. Its not as bad for me because my school is about 4 minutes from my house. I plan on being as active with MOE as I can fit into my schedule and also because I want to experience as much of FIRST as I possibly can before I enter the military.
Once again, good luck.