Unsolicited Advice for College Freshmen

I have been out of college for three years and am currently considering, seriously, returning for my Masters degree. In embarking on this adventure, I have come across a few things that I wish someone had told me. I am going to take this opportunity to offer some unsolicited advice that I should have solicited as a college freshman.

1. Plan for Graduate School. Even if you don't attend immediately after earning your Bachelor's degree, you may want to later on down the road. If you plan to attend from your first day on campus as a freshman, you are more likely to be accepted, no matter when you apply. This is pretty basic advice and really encompasses everything from your grades to campus and community involvement.

2. Mind your grades. I said it above and now I'll elaborate. Keep your grades up. This may be something your parents require of you, it might be something your require of yourself but doing it will help you later on down the road. Just because it is a general education class required for every student, regardless of discipline, doesn't mean that you should coast through it. If you work hard to keep A's and B's in your 100 and 200 level classes it will give you a little more room for error in your upper levels and still keep your GPA where it needs to be. Also, when choosing your general education classes, select something that interests you, as often as possible. The less interested you are in the class, the less likely you will be to study for it.

The truth is that employers don't care what your GPA was - unless you want to be a doctor or a lawyer - but grad school admissions officers do. Very much.

3. Impress your professors. Going hand in hand with keeping your grades up is the need to make an impression on your professors. These are the people who will write your recommendation letter to the graduate admissions office at the school of your choice and most of them would rather focus on the good points of a student who didn't necessarily excel in their class than write a letter concerning a person they have never heard speak.

This goes beyond the classroom. If you see a professor on campus, say "Hello, Dr. Smith." Using their name will prompt them to use yours and if they don't know it, chances are, because you made the effort, they will learn your name. At this point, however, don't attempt to impress them by talking about something you had discussed in class. Save this for office hours.

Which brings up another strategy for getting to know your professors. Even if you understood the class discussion completely, dig deeper and find something to ask the professor about. Make a trip to their office during their office hours and ask the question. They will appreciate it and remember it when it comes time to write recommendation letters.

4. Get involved. My suggestion is to go online to a site like Fastweb.com and find out what kinds of graduate school scholarships are available for different activities. Pick out two or three that you are interested in and seek out those organizations on campus or in the community. This is not to say you shouldn't do something you are interested in because there is no scholarship money available for it later on, but if it is possible to get involved, get money for being involved and enjoy yourself at the same time, then why not?

5. Be a non-trad. One of the main differences between traditional and non-traditional students is work experience. The traditional student either doesn't work, or works only on campus at a work study job. The problem with this is that when it comes time to enter their career of choice, the non-traditional students have a leg up in the work experience area.

What does this mean, in a nutshell? Get a job. In your field. It has been my experience that while tutoring was a difficult and sometimes extremely taxing job and I did it for four years, some employers don't look at work study positions as legitimate work experience. If it is possible, find a job in the field you hope to work in after graduation, off campus. If not, work harder to find summer internships. Start looking early so that when you become eligible for these internships (most are only offered to Juniors or Seniors) you will have had the opportunity to save enough money to go where the internship is and live there, as most internships are volunteer positions (which is just a nice way of saying you don't get paid for it).

There is probably more that I could tell incoming college freshmen, based on what no one ever told me, but let's just start with this.