Going back to school

Well, I'm almost 30 and I start school in three days. Obviously, I've been out of a classroom for a long time. I was wondering if you guys have any hints or lessons for me. Any suggestions on gear/items that I should go pick up? Its been so long, I can't even remember how I used to take notes. I guess I'll pick up a bunch of folders and a packet of lined paper and go from there. It seems like carrying books will be quite a pain since the parking lots are about a 1/4 mile from the classroom and the books are large and heavy. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Anyways, I just thought this might be an interesting topic of discussion. Maybe some of the other older folks can talk about their back to school experiences.

Mark

I went back to school at age 40.

You didn't mention what classes you are taking.

I found that using a handheld computer with a keyboard was very useful for taking notes. With pencil and paper, it is not easy to move things around later, but with the computer, I could move the notes to the desktop and rearrange them to be more meaningful.

The most important things to remember will come from the professor's mouth. Be sure to do most all of the reading assignments, but be sure to remember what the teacher says. He thinks he is smarter than any book written, and he writes your tests.

This will save you some time: The most time consuming thing for me was doing research for writing papers. So, what I did was pay someone to do the research for me. (You can find them on the Web under things like "theme papers".) They would provide me with the facts and references on my subject matter and point-of-view for a fee, but I would write the papers. One professor even said that was a good technique - he used it himself. However, do not turn in a paper that someone has written - that is wrong, and it can cost you a grade. Do the writing yourself.

Just don't let the homework build up. Do it a little each day.

Chuck

as a senior in highschool i dont know how much help i can give you but somthing is better than nothing. for carrying books you might want to look at a messenger bag or shoulder bag if you dont want a back pack. for taking notes some like to use a spiral bound notebook. others prefer lined paper in there 3 ring binder. if you pick up some 3 ring binders, get some dividers to organize diffrent sections. get a day planner or somthing to write done your homework in. i belive a sylabis is given in college but the day planner might help as a reminder for projects and stuff like that.

definitely get a knapsack/bookbag. Don't take notes on loose paper, use a spiral bound notebook. get one for each class. each day, start on a new page and put the date on the top. take some folders along to carry the handouts they give in class. keep a flashlight in the bookbag. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I agree with the last poster, a book bag is a must, mabe two. One for your books and another for your notebooks. ALso lots of money, you will spend at least 500 bucks on books and here in va 46-126 dollars per a credit hour, then you got administration fees and what not.

One thing I learned to do was research professors. Some professors are easier than others, some are meaner, some are good teachers, others are push overs. Nothing like going to a 3 hours class, staying 15 minutes then having the prof tell us we got As for today and to go home with 2 hours and 45 minutes remaining. The only worse is one that locks the door when class starts and wont let you in or docks you a point for every minute you are late from your final grade.

Some classes just do not make sense. 100 levels are the easiest, 300 and higher worse. Its my experience that is not always true. The lower level classes are quanity over quality and reverse as you move up.

Being disbled and having problems reading print or seeing the board I sat up close and ask the professor to read as he or she writes. I also got my books from the printers in the electronic format and used a laptop to read them in class in a larger font.

Most of my classrooms did not have windows, so a flashlight is a must. I kept one with me for such a reason.

Just remember its a long drawn out process and depending on your tax situation you maybe able to deduct some of it from the HOPE credit. Also, if you try real hard, you can get your books else where cheaper. I find the helper guides, answer guides, etc real helpful and make sure to check the back of all books as most have answers to the odd questions in the book.

Beware of teachers who do not speak english as their first language.

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LightChucker said:
This will save you some time: The most time consuming thing for me was doing research for writing papers. So, what I did was pay someone to do the research for me. (You can find them on the Web under things like "theme papers".) They would provide me with the facts and references on my subject matter and point-of-view for a fee, but I would write the papers. One professor even said that was a good technique - he used it himself. However, do not turn in a paper that someone has written - that is wrong, and it can cost you a grade. Do the writing yourself.


[/ QUOTE ]

Double check this with the professor as many (most?) would consider this academic fraud. If all the professor is looking for is the writing then this would probably be fine. If the point is, in any way, research then this is a huge no no.

I've been out of the university classroom for 7 years, so perhaps things have changed. The research is what differentiates the quallity of a paper. Once someone else does the research, anybody can work up a quick outline, write the paper, and check for spelling and whatnot. I could tell in a heartbeat which students had done real work and which ones had mailed it in.

Bottom line; do your work, all of it, and you will get the most out of your experience. You're going back to school as a non-traditional student so I assume that you're not out there to be a typical 19 year-old just looking to get through the easiest way possible.

-F

Mark,

The best advice I can give you re: note-taking. Start with 2 spiral bound notebooks. Read the material to be presented before class and take notes on the material. If you have time before the class transcribe your notes into your computer. During lecture take notes into the second notebook, looking for parallels between what you read and what you're hearing. If something sounds completely incongruous ask for clarification (this can be hard in a 700 person lecture, save your question for your TA).

After class definitely transcribe your notes. This will help you contextualize what you've heard. If possible compare what you read/understood with what you heard/understood.

Yea, it's a *****. ;-)

Good luck in going back.

-F

Personally, I use a thin laptop. You can actually get some for a reasonable price now, that aren't very heavy. I might look like a dork, but it makes it way faster to take notes, you need less binders, you can integrate with other sources and you can backup and print copies. It's also easier to store files for reference later on. If you can afford one (and don't mind looking a little dorky), it's worked for me.

Thanks guys. Good info.

Whats a TA? Teacher's assistant? What happens if I ask the teacher rather than their assistant? Are snooty, unhelpful professors fact or hollywood fiction? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Oh and about laptops, do they actually allow people to use them? I can't imagine the noise from dozens of people tapping on their keys while trying to listen to a lecture. I think that would drive me mad...

Mark

I'm 38 and am taking two classes a week in the evening. The hardest thing for me is the papers. Do your own research (or let your wife help you.) You can get most, if not all your info online. Save the whole webpage under a folder for each class. Print out the web page (using quick print to save on the ink) and highlight everything on that page that you think you might use. To much is better than not enough. If you have to have 10 sources, got 13 or more. When it's time to write the paper I find it easier to start as soon as the kids go to bed and keep writing thru the night so your paper has the same theme all the way thru it. When you get ready to crash, print out the paper and stick it in the bathroom with a blue or red ink pen so when wake up at noon or so you can read it and make changes. Don't wait to the last minute to do the reports.

Take an English class as one of your first if you are not going full time.

Check out www.ratemyprofessor.com

[ QUOTE ]
Minjin said:
Thanks guys. Good info.

Whats a TA? Teacher's assistant? What happens if I ask the teacher rather than their assistant? Are snooty, unhelpful professors fact or hollywood fiction? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Oh and about laptops, do they actually allow people to use them? I can't imagine the noise from dozens of people tapping on their keys while trying to listen to a lecture. I think that would drive me mad...

Mark

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, TA = Teaching Assitant. I merely recommended the TA route as it is a little difficult to compete with 700 other people for the professor. This is usually only a problem in situations where there is a huge lecture class. In these cases you will have the Lecture section and then smaller Discussion sections led by the TA's. Once you get into non-intro classes you should have much more manageable student/professor ratios.

As to the laptop question it depends on the particular class/professor. At some Universities and in some programs they are requred. For example, I believe Texas Business School requires laptop use. Check the syllabus and talk to the prof to see what the policy is.

-F

I believe some colleges are going to start banning laptops as well as cell phones cause of folks setting up wireless networks and playing games in class or surfing. VCU wasnt like that they had a wireless network and allowed net access with their vpn client.

Ask the professor abour research. Some will allow groups, study groups as well as for projects. I was of the understanding that you can copy information if you cite it. Of course its not too difficult to hack it up, mispell some words, remove a few linking verbs and make it a c paper.

Of all, its like a second job, time consuming. Maybe you can take a deduction with the HOPE credit?

Hey, join the club!! I'm 32 and starting my second year back at college. I'm doing much better this second time around. I think it's because I have plenty of experience dealing with a HUGE workload from my last full time job. Balancing school (15 - 22 hours a semester, work (30-50 hours a week as a freelance sound engineer) and home (taking care of the family) is actually easier to deal with than my last full time job alone.

Anyway, it looks like materials are covered so far in this thread. I'll add that from my experience teachers love good attendance. Just out of habit I show up for every class (like I would for work) and the teachers have rewarded me for doing so. It seems most young college students think attendance is optional. Also, get projects done as early as possible. It always seems that all your work gets piled up after mid-terms so finish whatever projects you can before that.

Participate as much as you can, and get to know the teachers. If the teachers think you are "into" the class they will be more likely to forgive a few points to bump you up a letter grade. This doesn't mean you have to be a teachers pet or "nerd" or anything, just answer questions every now and then. Plus some teachers seem to appreciate someone in the class who can relate to their 70's and 80's references.

Well, just have fun. I am enjoying college much more than I did 13 years ago and getting much better grades, hope you will too.

Hi everyone,

I'm not close to being in college yet but I do have a question. I am an extremely self concious person. Being so self concious, it is very hard for me to read/answer questions in classes/in front of people. I was just wondering if teachers/proffesors in colleges actually randomly call on people to read/answer questions in class or if they will only call on people that "raise their hands". I understand that every school is different and that it may or may not be true at some places, but could you give me a general idea?

From my experience the teachers will let the students answer as long as there are volunteers. If no one speaks up or looks interested the teacher will call on people. Sometimes teachers will call on people who don't usually answer questions.

Be prepared to speak up when you need to.

I went back at age 35 in computer science. I was married and working a full time job, so it was a completely different experience that time around. I did not have the luxury of spare time. You didn't say if it is full time or evening, but for me I found the most helpful thing to be:

Don't get behind in the work.

It is hard to stay caught-up, but it is murder getting caught-up once you are behind. Go to class prepared having read the material. Get an early start on assignments and finish with time to spare. You will get a lot more out of it that way.

Also, one other thing is that I did almost all of my work on my home PC and I had some bad luck with 2 separate hard-drive crashes during 2 different semesters. That was a real disaster and the time it took to repair my PC put me behind in my school work. I did not have significant data losses, but that could have been a major problem if it had happened prior to submitting my class project, for example. The thing I would do differently is make sure my computer is in tip top shape to begin with and have a well-thought-out plan for data backup and recovery. I mean even to the point of knowing which store you are going to drive to and what hard drive you are going to buy and what you need to know to install it. You just are not going to have time to mess around with that stuff when you have assignments due. I have also since started using a disk-imaging backup program which is a lot easier and quicker than reloading everything from scratch after a crash.

One other thing that is different these days is that it seems that every class has a home page on the internet and some even have a discussion board. Use this, it is helpful. Log on even before the semester starts so you are sure to get the correct books and materials and have the first assignment read prior to the first day of class. That will get you off on the right foot.

But whatever you do, always remember one thing:

Don't get behind in the work.