Good Ol' College...

[RogueIce]

Some advice, as I currently attend USF (may transfer to UCF sometime).

What year?

1. Ignore everything you hear about USF being an easy school. USF engineering and science is hard and the teachers will make every effort to kick your ass. If you're taking Physics w/ Calculus, Dr. Lo is the easy teacher, but can't teach. Dr. Chang is a great teacher, but his tests are rather difficult.

Thanks for the teacher advice. Alas, a bunch of them have "STAFF" listed on the prof area, so I have no clue who's I'm in. All I know is Precalc Trig/Algebra (may change after this Engineering Summer doohickey to Eng Calc), General Chem I and ChemLab, and the University Experience intro course thing. That and NROTC after I go down and get my permit and whatnot.

And yes, COE will be hard. They promised me as much at the Advising/Registration phase of Orientation today. That and there is no such thing as Academic Probation with COE. Drop below a 2.0 and you're gone.

2. As USF is a research school, a great many teachers have better things to do then teach. That said, if they have office hours, take advantage of them.

Will do!

3. Learn the shuttle bus routes.

Sounds like a good plan. But I'll be getting a Commuter Parking permit, and they have quite a few lots open to them. That, and I worked my sched for at least an hour between each class.

4. Study. Some classes are easy (especially in humanities), but science and math courses do take some effort.

Yeah, that point was hammered home to me.

5. If for some horrid reason you take Organic Chemistry, do every problem in the book and you'll have a decent chance of passing.

Since I am not going anywhere near Chemical Engineering, with any luck I won't have to take it.

At any rate, I finished up Orientation today, and as mentioned above, I have registered for my classes. All except NROTC which I can't do until I go in and see them. So, aside from paying for the class, all I gotta do now is show up and pass.

[phongn]

Some advice, as I currently attend USF (may transfer to UCF sometime).

What year?

3rd Year.

3. Learn the shuttle bus routes.

Sounds like a good plan. But I'll be getting a Commuter Parking permit, and they have quite a few lots open to them. That, and I worked my sched for at least an hour between each class.

Irrelevant. There is a chronic shortage of parking at USF, and even if you pay for the 'Non-resident parking' pass you might not get a decent spot.

[RogueIce]

Irrelevant. There is a chronic shortage of parking at USF, and even if you pay for the 'Non-resident parking' pass you might not get a decent spot.

True. But then again, most of my classes are in the same general cluster anyway. And thanks to ROTC, I'm probably gonna get there quite early to do PT anyway.

[J]

When it comes to making your way around campus for your classes or commuting to and from the campus if you're not too far away, the lowly bicycle is your best friend as long as the weather's half decent. Unless your school is truly huge a bike will get you around to all your classes with time to spare. Just make sure it's a ratty looking yet functional bike so people aren't tempted to steal it and lock it up well and you're all set. Of course if it's raining then you'll want to find more pleasant ways to get around...but yeah, I don't know how I could've lived without my bike in Princeton!

[Ice]

When it comes to making your way around campus for your classes or commuting to and from the campus if you're not too far away, the lowly bicycle is your best friend as long as the weather's half decent. Unless your school is truly huge a bike will get you around to all your classes with time to spare. Just make sure it's a ratty looking yet functional bike so people aren't tempted to steal it and lock it up well and you're all set. Of course if it's raining then you'll want to find more pleasant ways to get around...but yeah, I don't know how I could've lived without my bike in Princeton!

This is Florida. Specifically, Tampa. "Lightning Capital of the World." I think it'll rain a bit...Hell, it HAS been raining almost every day here! Especially during Orientation and this past week. "Sunshine State" my ass. Maybe 75% of the time during summer...

[J]

This is Florida. Specifically, Tampa. "Lightning Capital of the World." I think it'll rain a bit...Hell, it HAS been raining almost every day here! Especially during Orientation and this past week. "Sunshine State" my ass. Maybe 75% of the time during summer...

Hmmm...that does pose a slight problem, though the weather patterns are pretty screwed up too these days. Things should clear up nicely in the fall I'd think, and since it's Tampa I kinda doubt you'd get buried under snow during the winter. Now that I mention it, does it even snow in Tampa?

[phongn]

It snowed in 1989 and that hardly counted (I used to live in the Midwest).

Rain patterns in the area tend to be "every day for at least half an hour" for the wet seasons and 'often enough" off of it.

[SpacedTeddyBear]

My advice to you is: Don't overwork yourself. Take it easy going into your first semester. I know fools who burned themselves out by taking 18 units and working part-time in their first semester in college. My second piece of advice: Do not in under any circumstance take calculus, physics, and chemistry all in one semester, especially when working part-time. Finally, I don't know what the parking situation is like over there, so listen carefully to phongn. If your parking situation on your campus is like that to mine, then you're gonna have to learn a couple things: 1. Learn to parallel park in very small spaces 2. Learn how to get out of small spaces 3. Don't be afraid to cut people off when you see an opening for your car 4. If you are gonna cut people off, keep a baseball bat in your car, along with a glove and ball 5. If you ever get a parking ticket, pay it off, but keep the ticket itself. If you are ever in desperate need to find parking fast, park in a permit area, and stick the ticket on your windshield. ( THIS SHOULD ONLY BE USED AS A LAST RESORT!!!)

Anyways, hope this helps.

[Zoink]

Speaking of attendance, I once calculated that each hour of my lectures was worth roughly $80 US, which made each lecture worth 160 or 240 bucks. That is quite a staggering sum of money by any standards.

Ouch. Thanks to Quebec gov't subsidies, each individual course (that's all the lectures for an entire semester) cost about $165 CDN.

[phongn]

Each credit-hour at USF is ~$80 as well.

[Ice]

Each credit-hour at USF is ~$80 as well.

And it's set to increase this year. *sigh*

Oh well. Good ol' Florida Medallion Scholars will pay 75% of it at least.

[Phil Skayhan]

5. If for some horrid reason you take Organic Chemistry, do every problem in the book and you'll have a decent chance of passing.

I'm taking Organic this fall. Should be fun...

I'd also be taking Quantitative Chemical Analysis but it conflicts with Physics.

[phongn]

5. If for some horrid reason you take Organic Chemistry, do every problem in the book and you'll have a decent chance of passing.

'm taking Organic this fall. Should be fun...

As of our last test, the grade for an "A" was 66%..ugh.