How do you get the most out of college?
by John Perry (Stanford)
College takes up four years of your life, at least. These days it can mean big bucks for you and your parents, even if you don’t go to a pricey private school. And it’s a lot of work. If you get it wrong, it’s not so easy to go back and start over. So it’s no wonder that many college freshmen and prospective college freshmen are confused and anxious about how to plan their college years. And frankly, there are a lot of seniors who look back and wish they had done things differently.
You have about 120 semester units, or 180 quarter units, to work with. I’ve got some suggestions for how to use them, based on teaching and advising college students, for almost fifty years, at Cornell, UCLA, Michigan, Stanford and the University of California, Riverside.
Let’s start with what you want to avoid. First of all, you definitely want to avoid spending four or so years going to college and not graduating with a degree. Continue reading “Advice to Freshmen, Prospective Freshmen, and Other Lost Souls”
Questions for Colleges 