Wednesday, 14th July 2010

Favorite Advice Lists

I’m still working on this page, but here are some of my most forwarded tip sites, along with excerpts:

High School / College Advice:

  • 10 Things Students Need to Know About College But Don’t
    “Two thirds of the work is done at home.”
  • The 15 Habits of Top College Students
    “Don’t kid themselves. For instance, when you think you’re studying but you’re really tweeting about how you barely survived your bonfire-jumping last night. Or when you’re alternating between reading the E-article and checking out your friend’s Facebook page every eight seconds or so.”
  • Top 10 Things You’ll Discover at College
    “No one tells you what to do. Gone are teachers who will remind you umpteen times to do your homework and be ready for the Civil War test next Friday. Now you’re on your own.”
  • Ten More Things You’ll Discover at College
    “Each piece counts a lot. All that constant homework and testing in high school guaranteed that each piece of work was worth practically nothing in your grade. But in college, most courses have only three or four major pieces of graded work.”
  • What You’ll Wish You’d Known
    “But if you’re trying to choose between two theories and one gives you an excuse for being lazy, the other one is probably right.”
  • Larks & Owls: How Sleep Habits Affect Grades
    “In one study, psychologists at Hendrix College in Arkansas found that college freshmen who kept night-owl hours had lower GPAs than early birds. Another group at the University of Pittsburgh revealed that poor sleep habits among high-schoolers led to lower grades, particularly in math.”
  • A Guide to the Guides: A NY Times review of current college advice guides.
    ““The Naked Roommate” (Sourcebooks), just out in its third edition, is more realistic and less judgmental. It doesn’t recommend excessive drinking, illegal drug-taking and random sexual hookups, but it recognizes that such things happen in college and offers sensible tips about what to do if you or your friends get in a jam. “
  • Education Life: The U Edition (NY Times special section, August, 2009)
    Includes essays by current college students about various aspects of the college experience. All are terrific and illuminating.
  • 15 Secrets of Getting Good Grades in College
    “Don’t overload. Some students think it’s a mark of pride to take as many hours as the college allows. It isn’t. Take four or at the most five courses each semester. And, unless you are very special, don’t take more than one major. Each major comes equipped with 10 or 12 required courses, and you can really kill your GPA if you’re taking lots of required—that is, forced—courses in a major that you’re only half-interested in.”
  • 10 Signs You’re in Trouble at College
    “You spend every waking moment on some medium. It’s perfectly fine to interact on Facebook for a bit each day. But when you’re texting, Tweeting, and tagging without cessation—you can’t live for 15 minutes without a device—you leave yourself no time to study. If you find yourself unable to get through a day without your computer or cell, consider yourself to have a media addiction that needs to be broken.”

Facebook:

  • (AllFacebook.com)

Travel:

  • Cum Laude for Evading Bandits (Travel tips from Nicholas Kristof)
    “When you arrive in a new city, don’t take an airport taxi unless you know it is safe. If you do take a cab, choose a scrawny driver and lock ALL the doors — thieves may pull open the doors at a red light and run off with a bag.”
  • How to become a lean, mean traveling machine (by Mary Hunt)
    “Don’t start with the suitcase. Instead, lay everything you plan to take on a flat surface. That way, you easily can see how your choices will go together, and you can decide whether you’ve missed anything or whether you need to make last-minute changes. If you pack directly into the suitcase, you will be tempted to keep adding more until it is overstuffed.”