“Work four years, coast forty.” -Mr. Carnevale
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Registering
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Which times are good
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Which classes are good
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How important are they
Remember the movie Clerks? If not, let me just tell you about the part where a guidance councilor is trying to find the perfect set of eggs. He is crouching on the floor and he puts the eggs through a set of ridiculous tests to find the perfect egg as shoppers look at him and wondering why he’s doing this. One of the characters by the name of Randall says that if your job was as pointless as his, wouldn’t you go nuts as well?
This should be a guideline for you in terms of deciding which classes to take. After listening to councillors and realizing that their advice was always wrong, I decided to never let anyone anyone decide for me which classes to take. A lot of students including myself would take on a massive load of classes only to fail or drop most of them because councillors didn’t say no. Or would take the wrong classes or the wrong major. Listen to yourself and believe in yourself. Take a few classes and if you do well, then challenge yourself and take more. College is much tougher than High School so don’t go balls out until you are ready.
This should be a guideline for you in terms of deciding which classes to take. After listening to councillors and realizing that their advice was always wrong, I decided to never let anyone anyone decide for me which classes to take. A lot of students including myself would take on a massive load of classes only to fail or drop most of them because councillors didn’t say no. Or would take the wrong classes or the wrong major. Listen to yourself and believe in yourself. Take a few classes and if you do well, then challenge yourself and take more. College is much tougher than High School so don’t go balls out until you are ready.
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Classes
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How important are they
“Can you put up the circuit for an inverting amplifier and write out the equation for us please.” asked the manager. There were three other engineers in the room. They were firing off questions one by one with various tasks for me to complete.
If you put something on your resume, be ready to defend that you actually took that course and learned something. This is why you should take your courses seriously and if you don’t then you are in the wrong place because you are wasting your time, your money and your life.
All classes are useful and the only people that say that they never use their classes are C students and teachers (sorry teachers). Those who say that, are those who don’t use the classes because they never learned anything when taking them. All classes I did well in, I use if not on a daily basis then very often. Because every time I watch TV, read news, read books, go to work, I use Humanities, English, Math, Sociology and I use them in general conversations to understand people who are different from me. If you never took Art or Acting, how do you expect to connect to an actor or an artist? You can’t and if you can’t connect to people around you then you will not have a fulfilling life and you will not do as well in life because it’s true, it’s not what you know but who you know but to get to know people, you have to know a lot about everything.
Better grades also means perks: like options! When you finish high school, you want options. That’s why you work hard to have more colleges as options. When you finish high school, it’s not the end, it’s the beginning because you’re out of your parents’ house and now you’re free and now you need options more than ever. So if you want to pursue a good job or an additional degree, you want to be able to apply to as many places as possible. For that, you need to know a lot and get good grades! Because it ultimately matter if you want to get into good schools which will give you the most options in life.
Good grades also get you money. Not only can good grades get you a scholarship, but they can also get you a better paying job. Think, a few years of hard work can allow you to later party your head off, buy a nice car and travel all you want without loans or worries about money. Imagine all that time you can spend studying instead of working to get better grades and get paid better than all those other students who sacrifice study time to work at the cafeteria.
Also, those who have better grades get front of the line privileges when registering so you’re not stressing out about your schedule and graduating faster. You can be in control of when to wake up, when to study, when to work and keep doing better in school. For instance, everyone I knew who had 8am classes especially out of those who commuted, had difficulty making good grades in those classes. Imagine avoiding having to take those classes in the first place because you get preferential registration?
Which classes are good?
Well that depends on the professor. At UCSD we had C.A.P.E. Reviews but after I graduated we had websites as well which you could find useful information about professors. I would generally trust the A students more than C. C students hate most professors and blame everyone but themselves. So ask around and the best students will point you to the best professors and best classes.
Well that depends on the professor. At UCSD we had C.A.P.E. Reviews but after I graduated we had websites as well which you could find useful information about professors. I would generally trust the A students more than C. C students hate most professors and blame everyone but themselves. So ask around and the best students will point you to the best professors and best classes.
Difficulty rating.
Classes are like video games, you set the difficulty rating too high and you’re not going to pass the level, set it too low and it’s a cake walk without learning. Either way not fun. Forget about other students and parent’s pride. Make sure you do well and make sure it is challenging. If it’s not challenging, make it challenging by asking Professor for more problems or harder problems. Don’t be a looser; learn something! And do your best to find a way to see how the class will be useful. If you hate what you’re studying, you will not learn well, you will not work well, and you will quit. So get the worried voice of parents out of your head and study that which you could study even if you weren’t paying for it. If you learn what you love, you will be good at it. Last thing we need is more mediocre people.
I remember there were classes which were required, and I struggled and that’s OK, some classes are required but I liked learning those subjects anyway. I knew probability would come in handy even though I just didn’t seem to get it. I knew Quantum Mechanics was necessary even if I found it incomprehensible but it was a must. But when I went through my classes in Optics, I coasted because I was like a sponge, absorbing everything I could get my hands on. That’s what you want and if that’s not happening in your chosen subject/major, then for God’s sake! Get OUT!!!!
seven year degree 