First Week At College Recap

By
Dredd
on May 31, 2004 9:10 AM | | Comments (3)

So this past week was my first week (of a six week Summer-I session class) back in college. Some things I'll have to get used to...

  • Knowing more about certain portions of the topic material than my professor does
  • Knowing the professor is wrong, but reciting back to them on tests and quizzes exactly what they want to hear, because that's what really matters for the purposes of grading and such
  • Having to remind myself. "Yes, your fellow student is extremely attractive, but she's also about ten to twelve years younger than you, Derek, so you might as well put that thought right out of your head."

    The last part, by the way, can be very distracting in class. Luckily, summer evening sessions are almost always returning-adult students, and not 21-year-old college juniors... :-)

    Other things I noticed are "the little things"... when last I went to Marist, users had access, more or less, to a shared mainframe system, and there wasn't really much 'online' in terms of school services, etc., with the possible exception of a calendar system to tell you when finals were (in general, of course, not catered to the specific user or anything).

    Now, in the Internet Age, I can see my entire college history (including those classes back in 1990 with the 0.0 GPA) at the click of a mouse, register for next semester's classes, see any balances or payments to my student account, etc. Sure, every college out there is doing this stuff now, but it's the first time I've actually been exposed to it, and it's impressive to me (considering I suffered through "the old way", and can really appreciate the handiness of being able to have this data at my fingertips).

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    3 Comments

    By David Lipsky on May 31, 2004 10:33 AM

    Derek --

    Thanks for liking "Absolutely American," and that was interesting about the AFA. Who wants to be so far from the Empire State anyway? Good luck back at college -- and thanks again for the post, it was a pleasure to read those musings on the might haves. I couldn't help having a bunch of them myself, during the four years. That sort of place will do that to you, make your brain fork out in the not-taken direction.

    All best,
    David Lipsky

    By Gregg on May 31, 2004 6:50 PM

    At some point you're going to encounter a slightly different type of YNC (Young Nubile Chick). You may recall them; in high school they scoffed at the notion of dating guys their own age. Whereas before you were so much chopped liver, now, you're prime meat.

    I say "enjoy" but then again, I'm kind of sleazy.

    By Damion on June 4, 2004 9:26 PM

    One of the things i seem never to get used to is that users of many systems love it and think it's handy while I in the background that have to support that damn thing, is constantly cursing it's creators and comtemplating a new trend of "disgruntled sys admins" (granted disgruntled sys admin may be a redundant statment).

    I'm also a little suprised: "Knowing the professor is wrong, but reciting back.." . I always took you as a no bs type guy. Despite all my other consessions to people, that's one thing I always fight (regertation). But then again that's probably why I was on probation for most of my college career.