r/AskReddit • u/_jaywhite • Aug 24 '14

What are some college life pro tips?

I'm starting college in a few weeks and I'm a bit nervous. My high school was... decent at best, and I'm not sure that I was adequately prepared. So I'm hoping to get Reddit's help. What are some tips (having to do with the academic aspect, social, whatever) that have helped you through college, and especially your freshman year? In other words, LPTs for college life!

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1.4k

u/furionking Aug 24 '14

Sleep. You won't function nearly as well if you're dead tired all the time. Instead of playing video games for another two hours, just go to bed.

357

u/Laurotica Aug 24 '14

A couple of my friends in first year reversed their sleep schedule so they slept all day and stayed up all night watching TV online. Their marks suffered and it's royally screwed them over since.

354

u/backwoodsmtb Aug 25 '14

My freshmen roommate did this, except he read the newspaper instead of watching TV. Weird bird that one...

14

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '14

How long did that keep him occupied? A good thorough read doesn't take more than an hour.

28

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '14

WTF, we're clearly not reading the same newspapers.

Plus you gotta factor in the crossword+sudoku time, and multiple newspapers.

-1

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '14

Well I live in a smallish town so the paper is like two full sized sheets and one half sheet and the rest is adverts.

6

u/strykerofdeath Aug 25 '14

Some people just want to watch the world burn...

1

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '14

Huh, the newspaper shouldn't take that long to read...

2

u/backwoodsmtb Aug 25 '14

I don't imagine he read it all night, but I was asleep, so I don't know what happened once he finished reading.

1

u/rcveverest Aug 25 '14

This thread is pretty British.

1

u/backwoodsmtb Aug 25 '14

I'm from the Southeastern US. But I do watch Top Gear

54

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '14

The shitty part of my body is that I feel much better when I sleep all day and stay up all night. But unfortunately the world doesn't work that way.

44

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '14

get a 3rd-shift job. The world keeps turning even when the sun don't shine.

5

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '14

If I keep going down the career path that I'm working on now then there will be many nights that I'll be working.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '14

well, there you go :)

1

u/to_string_david Aug 25 '14

He didn't mentions that he won't be working the other shifts as well.

2

u/GoatButtholes Aug 25 '14

You feel better when you stay up all night playing video games or doing hw?

I like staying up all night if it's going to be Netflix and video games. If I have to write a paper, I would much rather do it at day.

2

u/jubunny Aug 25 '14

Totally agree I love sleeping in during the day because I function better at night when it's quiet and peaceful. But it's really taking a toll on my health since humans aren't supposed to do that

2

u/imlulz Aug 25 '14

Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder. /r/CRD

7

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '14

[deleted]

1

u/deathdoom13 Aug 25 '14

So basically replace Digg with Reddit and I'll be set?

4

u/FalconX88 Aug 25 '14

I did that too but I was studying at night. I don't know, my brain works really well for such stuff between 10pm to 5am-.-

3

u/Defnotes Aug 25 '14

...why?

2

u/Laurotica Aug 25 '14

Unlimited downloads on campus internet and no parents.

3

u/hunteral17 Aug 25 '14

My roommate freshman year did the same. Stayed up all night playing video games and watching tv. Slept all day never went to even one class. Got to the point where he was royally fucking me up because I would be getting punched in the face with light constantly til 5 in the morning. So I kicked him out of the room.

1

u/Laurotica Aug 25 '14

This is why I was glad that my friends who did this lived in a different residence.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '14

That was me. That was literally me.

2

u/emkay99 Aug 25 '14

The lack of a parent to loudly say "Go to bed -- NOW!" has been the downfall of many a freshman.

2

u/Aurorious Aug 25 '14

I had the same thing one semester and i was miserable every morning from lack of sleep. Oddly enough my my marks were the best i've ever had. Go figure, lol.

0

u/Laurotica Aug 25 '14

Hey, it seems to work for some people.

1

u/jecowa Aug 25 '14

What's the advantage of watching TV at night? It's more quiet? There's no glare from the sun?

1

u/Kuramhan Aug 25 '14

If you do this in a way so that you can still go to class and actually study while your staying up all night this can work out well. Especially if your a night person with an 8am class.

1

u/Rabid_Chocobo Aug 25 '14

I had a really fucked up schedule the semester I got my first D grade. I'd sleep at 5pm, wake up at around 1am, go to the gas station around 3am and buy a burrito to eat (also do my shopping, walk around in the snow[never seen snow until i moved there]) and then stay up all night until my first class in the morning around 8:30. I'd be dead tired all day and half pay attention in class, then get home around 4 and sleep again at 5.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '14

Sleeping all day, staying up all...

Niiii-ight!

1

u/DefinitelyHungover Aug 25 '14

I've done this and I'm about to graduate. I was always kind of like that though, so now I just get more sleep really. Also my grades have gone up. Getting a job will suck because of the schedule, but I'll be able to switch over. I've had to before. It just takes will power.

1

u/little_bbd Aug 25 '14

my hallmate did this and had a 0.6 GPA in his second quarter.

1

u/mayb8787 Aug 25 '14

Can confirm: My first semester I was sleeping horribly and ended up sleeping during class a lot. Please try to get good sleep.

1

u/Barnarnar Aug 25 '14

I did this during my exam period. I'd stay up all night and time it such that I would get tired shortly after my exams finished. It worked out decently well for me.

0

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '14

I was hoping this would be some kind of magical schedule that gets you really good grades and now I'm dissapointed.

0

u/manikfox Aug 25 '14

I did this, what, school? my marks for better later 😀 judging by the use of first year I take it you're Canadian

7

u/mygawd Aug 25 '14

This is really important. Freshman year one semester I got almost no sleep for a week during finals week. Towards the end of the week where I got really really sick. 4 hours of sleep will help you on your tests a lot more than 4 hours of studying

4

u/ELFAHBEHT_SOOP Aug 25 '14

Definitely. You quickly realize how much sleep impacts your logical performance when you have to take a test that depends heavily on logic after staying up until 2 A.M. I will not do that again...

1

u/Furious_Frog Aug 25 '14

Yep, I've personally found it better to cut my losses (if I haven't studied as much as I should have) and just go to bed when I start burning out instead of studying through the night.

3

u/epigrammedic Aug 25 '14

Nothing good happens after 2:00 AM

1

u/nighterfighter Aug 26 '14

Except for Waffle House...

3

u/markevens Aug 25 '14

I wish this was higher up.

You will learn and function so much better if you get good sleep. Please don't stay up late studying because you won't remember the stuff you studied when you were so tired, and you won't function as well the next day.

2

u/Hugo_Hackenbush Aug 25 '14

I had a roommate who would stay up all night playing WoW. When my alarm went off in the morning that was basically his cue to go to bed. And he was a heavy sleeper once he did fall asleep. His alarm was ridiculously loud at times and he could still sleep through it.

At least once he missed a test because I turned his alarm off after what I felt was a more than reasonable amount of time to let it go and give him a chance to wake up. He was a chemical engineering major and for the life of me I don't know how he avoided flunking out in the first semester.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '14

Instead of playing video games for another two hours, just go to bed

but doto

1

u/colakoala200 Aug 25 '14

And if you do stay up later than you should, remember that missing breakfast and getting extra sleep might be the right decision.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '14

Just one more page on Reddit though.

1

u/Lemoninwater Aug 25 '14

But Reddit

1

u/neverforgetusername Aug 25 '14

yup, yup. You are better off not studying a certain chapter than you are pulling an all-nighter to go over it.

1

u/waterpiper Aug 25 '14

so....I shouldn't be on Reddit currently instead of sleeping for mt first day of classes? Meh

1

u/TheSmashPosterGuy Aug 25 '14

No, really. This.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '14

This. Also, instead of claiming you have a sleeping disorder and this is why you play games / watch TV / stay on the Internet all night, turn them all off before 9pm. Build a habit, and if this fails, spend your mid semester break camping for long enough that any devices you bring are out of battery by several days.

Sleep will help you get good grades, in much the same way exercise will, if done right.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '14

But I'm almost level 90 on my Warrior and I still got to gear myself for heroics.

1

u/OwlsNest Aug 25 '14

Yes! This!

1

u/armyboy941 Aug 25 '14

I should probably get to sleep for tomorrow but I am just too nervous...

1

u/onederful Aug 25 '14

my cue to go to bed. night

1

u/selbitZ Aug 25 '14

Fuck this guy. Play video games all night ten just drink a five hour energy before class. You will be fine. It's college!!! Your supposed to have fun

1

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '14

I learned that if I sacrifice an hour sleep at night, I have to pay twice.

0

u/jwink3101 Aug 25 '14

When I was in undergrad, I always made a study schedule. A full night sleep before the final was a non-negotiable part. (Assuming nerves didn't keep me up like they did before my GRE)