Tips to make college life more enjoyable

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Column by Megan Hurt

I was the epitome of an average college student. I lived in the dorms my freshman year, which taught me a valuable lesson about myself — it’s hard to live with other people.

I tried my hand at activism when I first arrived on campus, but it soon fell by the wayside to other obligations. Some weekends I went out, some weekends I didn’t. I received slightly above average grades, and I never stressed myself out over a test or a class grade.

I kind of breezed through my four- and-a-half years on a mediocre tidal wave, but I’m satisfied with my time spent at UK.

Being one of the students who neither failed nor exceeded with the expected college experience, I’ve learned enough valuable information to be able to enhance someone else’s experience, either from figuring out on my own or looking back now and realizing my mistakes. Here are a few tips:

• Take electives and University Studies Program classes seriously, but have fun with them. After taking over 35 classes, my favorite was Dinosaurs and Disasters, a USP-required science class. I’m not good at nor do I particularly enjoy science, but the class was interesting. Without being forced to take a science class through the university studies program, I would definitely not have the experience.

• Waiting until the last minute to buy  parking passes never ends well. Every fall semester, I would wait until the week after classes started to buy my parking pass, even after I reached junior status and was able to buy a C-lot pass. The consequences? I always ended up in K-lot and felt the sting of long walks on cold, rainy days.

• Wait until the last minute to buy  textbooks. Textbooks are expensive and sometimes you buy textbooks for a class, only to never open them. Some professors use textbooks in classes they teach; some professors think the text is supposed to enhance your learning. Either way, if they don’t test you on it, you’re not going to read it.

  If you postpone buying your textbooks for two weeks, borrowing someone else’s or using a reserve book at the library, then you can get an idea about how important it is to own the required book.

• If you do end up buying books, sell them on Amazon.com. When you do buy a textbook, you’re probably not going to keep it past the semester. I worked at a bookstore my first semester at UK and once bought back a textbook from a student for $5 and stuck a $50 price tag on the same book. You can get the selling price that’s competitive with local bookstores on Amazon.
• Keep an umbrella on you everyday. It’s Kentucky. If it looks sunny outside when you walk into class, that doesn’t guarantee it won’t be a monsoon when you walk out an hour later.  I personally have bought at least five umbrellas at the UK Bookstore because I was caught without mine in a rainstorm.
• Check Ratemyprofessors.com when scheduling classes. My motto is, ‘It isn’t the class but the teacher that determines if you will succeed.’ When a class offers multiple choices for a professor, or you’re choosing between electives, choose your class by the professor’s reputation. Ratemyprofessors.com is not the Bible on professors, but the Web site can give you a good idea on what you’re getting yourself into.
• Get to know the professors in your major on a first name basis. You will probably be seeing these professors more than other teachers at UK, and getting to know them can only help you succeed in your career ahead.

  These professors are not the enemy, they teach because they want to help, and the more they like you, the better.

• Don’t forget learning happens outside the classroom. Know that classes aren’t the most important part of college. I’ve learned a lot in my time at UK, from dinosaurs to writing columns like this one and I even found a passion in photography from an elective.

But the most important lessons were the ones I learned about myself. These were learned when socializing with friends, dealing with a break-up or figuring out what made me happy.
This is the most important thing about your time spent at UK: discovering who you are and growing as an adult.

And remember not to stress out about the grades because learning, both inside and outside the classroom is what college is really about.

Megan Hurt is a journalism senior. E-mail opinions@kykernel.com.