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Any tips for Highschool?


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Sorry, but this is patently false. Law schools care significantly about the quality of your undergrad program. So do business schools. And medical schools. And graduate schools. I'm actually struggling to think of a career path where undergrad isn't relevant.

Jesus, are you really promoting the "drift off connections" approach? It's an urban myth. Living a frat house with some future CEO isn't going to land you a good job.

You might want to re-read a couple details in my post. I never said that having a quality program wasn't important. I said that prestigious schools are not. I'm also left wondering if you've applied to post-undergrad programs. You very well may have, but the amount you seem to be hyping going to a prestigious school is excessive.

True, attending an absolute shit program isn't going to help you any (and I never asserted it would). What's more important though is what you do in the school and program you're at. A good friend of mine is attending Harvard med school for free right now after going to school at a regional mid-size state school that doesn't have a prestigious reputation at all. I went to graduate school and got my master's for free after attending the same undergrad. Another friend is going to med school at Vanderbilt after graduating from the same undergrad. The point I made, which you seem to have misinterpreted, is that high school academics and getting into a prestigious college for your undergraduate program are not the end-all be-all of teenage/early adulthood life like some people made it sound like.

And you again seem to have blown my statement about making connections totally out of proportion. I never advised him to "drift off connections". I advised him to make as many as possible, as they will be very valuable. While qualifications are definitely important, I would much rather meet the qualifications of the field I want to go into and have a ton of connections who will recommend me and talk me up to potential employers than be the most qualified but have no connections and no one who will spread the word about me through my field.

And talking down about "living in a frat house" isn't necessary. Also the connections I made through "living in a frat house" DID help me when it came to applying to graduate schools and getting the job I have now, so suck it.

EDIT: And before anyone jumps on me for it, no I didn't get a job just because I was in the same fraternity as people. I made connections through my involvement in fraternity and sorority life and through those connections was recommended by people I knew when I applied to programs/jobs I wanted.

Edited by frat_tastic
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Unless you're trying to be a multi billionaire scientist who wants to go to a pretentious university that requires 255%+ in everything like everyone on SF apparently is but me, high school is pretty easy. I never studied for any exams, did everything at the last moment, and I never failed a single class.* Granted, I came pretty close to failing some classes, (Math10- 52% bitches!), unless math or some sciences is your planning major in university, it's fine to get 50's. However, I also went to a really small high school, where my grade 12 Geography class consisted of six students, so the teachers knew me well, and had a great abundance of time to help me.

Try to find a class that interests you, rock the fuck out in it, and you'll be fine, even if you get low marks in other classes. For me, I always got 80s and 90s in Social Science classes, as well as Music classes, and as a result, my 50% in math was easily offset by the fact that I was guaranteed with at least two 90's (band and choir) a semester, and 70s in other classes I was okay at.

Socially, don't make a target out of yourself by being loud and annoying, it might look cool, but it's actually a big sticker saying "I'm an idiot, please pick on me!", as long as you're quiet, do your shit and listen in class, you'll be respected, and ignored by the people who like picking on people, both are good outcomes.

I regret two things in high school, that I think everyone should take advantage of:

I.) Not sure if every high school is like this, but mine had this annual thing where you could tour Italy or France for three weeks for $3,000, which isn't really that bad of a price

II.) Drivers is FREE! It's pretty expensive to pay for it outside of high school

I'm glad I took advantage of these things:

I.) Going to BC for $500 for a week through band/choir

II.) Applying for scholarships in your final years, as many people do not, making it pretty easy to get them as long as you're good at the thing/eligible you're applying for.

III.) Being friendly to the teachers, as then they are more willing to help you, and it might help you win a merit when you're graduating, which looks fan-freaking-tastic on your university application form.

In conclusion, I don't know if I picked the lazy way going through History at university while everyone else wants to be an environmental engineer, or some shit like that, but unless you want to be one of those kinds of people, high school is easy, as is university.

*I also never missed a day, was never late and paid attention in class. This works in university too I discovered. GPA 82%, bitches!

Edited by Maji
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Don't develop too high of caffeine tolerance yet, save that for college (again, depending on the major)

Damn, I'm only in high school and caffeine used to wake me up, but now it only makes me tired if anything.

Cigarettes Topic:

<too much text to copypasta>

Weed/Drug Topic:

<too much text to copypasta>

You know, I used to enjoy cigarillos and sometimes even cigarettes. Never got addicted to either.

Well, some people say weed is actually good, some say its the devil. So I don't know which it is. Around last September through January I smoked sometimes frequently and sometimes occasionally. I've basically quit since then except for a few occasions. I do find it a waste of money, but if a friend offers, why not?

Edited by Agile Tit-Tyrant
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I live on extremely high doses of caffeine in college due to the high tolerance I developed of it in high school. Fucking early classes. Why do they give compsci, out of all majors, all the freakishly early classes? Most of us literally can't sleep until after 2am

But while high school is a piece of cake and doesn't really need studying, it might be good to develop good studying habits for college especially if you end up with scholarships and is looking to maintain them. I actually had to learn how to study in college since high school was piss easy so I never studied.

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Unless you're trying to be a multi billionaire scientist who wants to go to a pretentious university that requires 255%+ in everything like everyone on SF apparently is but me,

Holy shit this. Every single time I listen to you people discussing AP courses and placement in college I want to go and drink bleach in shame.

Set your goals a little lower for the rest of us boyos. :sob:

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Well it really depends on what the goals of TC is. I know taking those APs saved me a lot of money since I don't have to take much of those required non-major related things and can focus on my double major straight off the bat into college, and honestly other than English (due to it being my second language), APs were at a difficulty where I actually don't feel incredibly bored in class as it would be if you stick me in a lower level class, and if the TC's got what it takes for the AP classes, I personally found them helpful financial-wise.

If normal classes challenge him enough then by all means don't.

Edited by Zhuge Liang
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If you can, take as many AP classes as possible. The tests cost about... 50 dollars each. The classes they replace cost 1000.

Also do not slack off on your homework, basic generic advice here...the main thing is the AP classes if they are offered. I'm not saying this because 'only smart people herpderp', I'm saying this because... well, you save 950 dollars.

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That depends on the school, I know at my school any credits you take after 12 (which is the minimum for a full time student anyway) are free. You'd want AP classes for the boost in weighted GPA, looking better to universities (and even that's not necessarily true, because I've got a feeling much of it is based on recommendation, SATs, and essays), and better credit standing in college.

If you know what career path you want to take (like, in the social sciences, arts, sciences, engineering, etc) take AP classes accordingly. As in, do not worry about the science APs if you want to do science or engineering in college, because high school teachers will make you hate science because they're terrible generally. Take social science courses and hate those, and take their AP tests because those general ed requirements suck dick. I only have 4 semesters to take 4 gen ed classes and I'm dreading every moment of it. If you want to do a social science, then do science APs.

Also, four years of language is good for you... if other universities are anything like mine, if you take 4 years you don't have to take the language in college.

Most importantly, don't take anything personally in high school. It's a rather unstable time for most people cause of hormones and whatnot, so everyone's going to be overly dramatic about some shit. Don't get involved in drama... just remember the acronym FTSN (fuck that shit NYUGGUH) and apply that to any sort of situation that could attract drama.

Some of my advice is kinda half-assed btw, because I went to a weird high school (we had angry pokemon battles in the hallways and a quarter of my high school was involved in a large game of assoxination [better known to you guys as assassins] and another quarter loves playing ninja) and the seniors never really picked on the freshman or anything like that. It was the farthest thing from your stereotypical high school. Also, I slacked off and ended up with a 3.55 weighted GPA; i barely did any homework. High school is just really not that hard I guess... I say this now, but I thought high school was really difficult and college was easy.

And in the end, I don't think the advice in this thread would help you all that much from a social standpoint or academic standpoint in the end. Basically, just take a couple months to get a feel for the way high school works, since I don't think any advice from here will really help you in the end. AP classes are overrated because high school really doesn't teach you much about time management at all because every day is practically the same, whereas taking the classes in college is better for people like me who really hate going to class but wouldn't mind doing the outside work if being in-class didn't deplete so much of your energy. Make your decisions based on your gut reaction to the first couple months, and not based on this thread.

SATs and teacher recommendations are probably some of the most important things you've got in terms of college admissions and scholarships. I don't think colleges care all that much about AP classes and whatnot in the end anyway, considering my friends at CMU know a whole bunch of people that have never taken a single AP class, and some people in my scholarship program had never taken an AP class before. They ended up fine btw, and the people in my scholarship program typically have the maximum scholarship you can get from this school. Internships are generally good ways to use your summer, also, because I think places like those in general.

As for studying, I never studied in high school but I study just fine in college. Study habits are overrated and if you're not studying now, it's really not a big deal, because college is a way different atmosphere to high school. Also, don't drink caffeine, it's bad for you. I haven't had more than like 3 sips of coffee in my entire life and I've had no trouble staying awake in high school (sometimes it's pretty bad though).

Finally, DONT BASE YOUR CAREER OFF OF AP/HIGH SCHOOL CLASSES!!! I hated AP Physics (I didn't take B, I took both AP Physics C courses btw) but I am a physics major right now. You need to find out what you want to do based on internet research on your own time. High school teachers tend to do things differently from how the field actually is or they just tend to suck. In other words, high school is a pretty terrible gauge for picking your field of interest.

I'm pretty much rambling here, sorry about that, and I'm going in and out with what I say, but take from it what you will because high school is generally crappy but it's different for everyone. I remember enjoying high school at the time but in retrospect, it wasn't all that great. It was okay at best.

You know, I used to enjoy cigarillos and sometimes even cigarettes. Never got addicted to either.

Well, some people say weed is actually good, some say its the devil.

I smoke black and milds cause they're cheap and easy to find anywhere. Tried a cigarillo before and it was better than the black and milds, and I don't smoke them enough in my opinion.. never smoken a cigarette though. I'm afraid to, because I get addicted to things quite easily.

As for weed, i think there was too much tobacco in whatever i smoked, but it was okay i guess. I'd try it again, because I heard it's not good the first time.

Edited by Lord Raven
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Holy shit this. Every single time I listen to you people discussing AP courses and placement in college I want to go and drink bleach in shame.

Set your goals a little lower for the rest of us boyos. :sob:

An AP test is one day. A college course is one semester. Pass the test, get out of the semester. I have better things to do with my time than take a course in basic English.

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Also do not slack off on your homework, basic generic advice here...the main thing is the AP classes if they are offered. I'm not saying this because 'only smart people herpderp', I'm saying this because... well, you save 950 dollars.

Or you can go to a nice community college, where the costs can be around $30 a unit.

And usually have waivers for those who apply.

And laugh at those who are paying upwards of $1,000 for the same classes.

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Nothing wrong with a bit of ambition.

Iirc, your college application depends more on your SATs, recommendations, and essays (especially the essays). Say you were applying to the UK - a good personal statement can reduce your offer requirements significantly. In the US, I've heard of people with average scores/grades getting into great universities because they knew how to write. So, uh, learn to do that, I guess. It's a big help for college regardless. I never took APs, but I did the IB diploma, so yeah.

And relax. Don't find yourself burning out too early and enjoy yourself.

(Disclaimer: I'm not American, so my high school experience was pretty different from a lot of people in the thread)

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An AP test is one day. A college course is one semester. Pass the test, get out of the semester. I have better things to do with my time than take a course in basic English.

Shut up and waste time to make me feel adequate.

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An AP test is one day. A college course is one semester. Pass the test, get out of the semester. I have better things to do with my time than take a course in basic English.

Eh, I get a living allowance from the government to take a semester at university, so free money for taking classes that are easy is always nice.

Edited by Maji
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I was just saying "if possible" for APs. Some schools do not even offer them.

And yes, the IB program is basically the same thing in principle.

Well, only issues with Community Colleges is the 4-year college transfers being *massive* assholes and negating half of your credits because they weren't at that university. Trust me, it happens. A lot. The American school system has so many issues right now it is not even funny.

By allowance, do you mean loan or you are getting paid? If you are getting paid, well... ... I hate you. ;_; TRADE PLACES WITH ME~~

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Well, only issues with Community Colleges is the 4-year college transfers being *massive* assholes and negating half of your credits because they weren't at that university. Trust me, it happens. A lot. The American school system has so many issues right now it is not even funny.

If you have an idea of where you're transferring to, you can take classes which cover their general ed requirements, as well as classes towards a major or minor. If some don't, you can petition for some unlisted transfers to count.

Most of the time it's just a little paperwork standing in the way :E (But yeah, not everything counts--otherwise, you'd just stay at a nice community college and enjoy life).

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My school is this weird area where I'm in a lot of Honors classes and still don't really feel challenged, except in maybe my English class, but that's because I have issues reading below face value.

I really should take AP classes, and plan to take AP Spanish and French senior year. My issue is all my teaches just love busy work and piling work on, so it's the work load that kills me, not the content.

Though we also have only 4 classes a semester, so it's not as bad as it could be.

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  1. If someone offers you weed, take it. It's free and it's social. Never pay for your own weed. It's expensive and can turn into an addiction and isn't a very classy hobby. Never do anything but weed, and don't do it often. that's dull.
  2. Use rubbers, yes.
  3. Focus on school. IDK what these people did freshamn year but freshman year was hard for me. it wasn't necessarily difficult, per say, but it's just a lot of work.
  4. Remember that middle school didn't matter. At all. And it never will.
  5. Do a sport! It's social, active, and good for college!
  6. Shower daily. No cheating.
  7. Groom yourself. That means haircuts, wash your face every morning and night, drink lots of water, BRUSH YOUR EYEBROWS, and brush you're teethg. Also no cheating. You'll thank me later.
  8. Relax. Everyone is still awkward.
  9. Get out of the meme phase and stay out of it. Don't join with people in the meme phase. Just don't.
  10. Join theatre! I hate theatre! But join it! it's instant friends, good for college, lots of fun, lots of chicks, etc. Just do stage crew or something. It makes you happy confident, and a people person. I don't do theatre, but all of my favorite people did.
  11. Listen to good music. No metal or bullshit.
  12. SAVE. MONEY.
  13. Don't buy clothes from Hollister/AB&F/whatever was popular in middle school. They're overpriced, cheap fabric, and not cool.
  14. The "shark" hair style is for 3rd graders. Don't use hair gel. It's gross. The light Axe hair products work well, I believe.
  15. Speaking of, lay it easy on the Axe, tiger. You don't want to be "that guy".
  16. Always do homework and projects early. You will thank me later. Trust me.
  17. We go to school because we want to learn, not because we need to. If you aren't there to learn, don't bother going. you'll be a waste of time.
  18. Enjoy it. Highschool is really fun, unless you make yourself hate it.
  19. Get around new people. People change, including your closest friends. it's good to have back-up and it's always good to meet new people.
  20. Don't seem like a newbie. On the first day of school, be casual. have new clothes, but not just-cut-off-the-tag new. get a tan maybe. Make it look like you did something this summer. People are very judgemental and as shallow as it seems, you want to make it so there's nothing bad to say about you. Being this way is a lot less stressful.
  21. Don't worry about things. There's always time after those big projects are due. Life goes on.

That's all I've got, i think. I'm going to be a senior next year but I love highschool.

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Unless you're trying to be a multi billionaire scientist who wants to go to a pretentious university that requires 255%+ in everything like everyone on SF apparently is but me...

It's too bad no scientist is that rich... :(

My school is this weird area where I'm in a lot of Honors classes and still don't really feel challenged, except in maybe my English class, but that's because I have issues reading below face value.

I really should take AP classes, and plan to take AP Spanish and French senior year. My issue is all my teaches just love busy work and piling work on, so it's the work load that kills me, not the content.

Though we also have only 4 classes a semester, so it's not as bad as it could be.

For me, regular classes took more out of me than AP's (which is why I chose to take mostly AP's). I cannot assume my classmates were idiots (in fact I feel quite the opposite), but I can say, without a doubt, that damn-near 90% of every 'regular' class I was in was filled with folks who didn't give a fuck about their education. 0fucksgiven.jpg

Why, though, were regular classes 'tougher'? Because they make school prison. Busy work, hilariously dull agendas and curricula, and having to attend every day (AP's are obviously guilty of this too, but the atmosphere of the classes are better). Don't make these next four years prison--challenge your mind, your physical limits, and abilities. Actually make school a place where you love to learn. Teach yourself to love writing essays by challenging yourself to write with goals set; tell yourself, "This time I'll go for a humorous tone, next time with the utmost seriousness." Writing is, by far, the most important skill in my opinion. Communication, articulation, brevity, all of these things are important, and writing teaches, or rather helps your progression, in these areas.

AP Spanish and AP French? >.<

Edited by Phoenix Wright
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  1. [*]Focus on school. IDK what these people did freshamn year but freshman year was hard for me. it wasn't necessarily difficult, per say, but it's just a lot of work.

You wanna be cool? Don't do this. There's a scene in 21 jump street where they channing tatum's character laughs at a guy for trying to hard. Don't be that guy.

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You wanna be cool? Don't do this. There's a scene in 21 jump street where they channing tatum's character laughs at a guy for trying to hard. Don't be that guy.

Yeah, but if you remember, Tatum's character was the guy that wasn't liked when he attended high school with the new generation. So, actually, it became cool to work hard and save the environment and stuff.

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It's too bad no scientist is that rich... :(

For me, regular classes took more out of me than AP's (which is why I chose to take mostly AP's). I cannot assume my classmates were idiots (in fact I feel quite the opposite), but I can say, without a doubt, that damn-near 90% of every 'regular' class I was in was filled with folks who didn't give a fuck about their education. 0fucksgiven.jpg

Why, though, were regular classes 'tougher'? Because they make school prison. Busy work, hilariously dull agendas and curricula, and having to attend every day (AP's are obviously guilty of this too, but the atmosphere of the classes are better). Don't make these next four years prison--challenge your mind, your physical limits, and abilities. Actually make school a place where you love to learn. Teach yourself to love writing essays by challenging yourself to write with goals set; tell yourself, "This time I'll go for a humorous tone, next time with the utmost seriousness." Writing is, by far, the most important skill in my opinion. Communication, articulation, brevity, all of these things are important, and writing teaches, or rather helps your progression, in these areas.

AP Spanish and AP French? >.<

Well, I'd say about 80% of most of my classes are actually kids who are pretty nice. 20% are the people who just don't care. It was pretty bad last year in French though, because it was French 2 so you'd need the credit to graduate, but everyone just hated it. Maybe me and a third of the class actually put in effort. My art class was great. I'm pretty much good in electives, but I did have Foods last year in the fall, and that was a combination Nutrition/Cooking/Home Ec. type thing, but I kinda knew practically all of it, so it was a lot more monotonous and boring since it was kinda below my level.

I'm gonna be a junior this year. I think the classes I signed up for were....

Honors English 3

Honors US History

Advanced Functions and Modeling (It's called Advanced, but it's the basic level, no honors)

Chemistry (Unfortuenately, your science level is tied to your math, so they pulled me out of the Honors Science track. Though I did hear Honors Chem was horrible, as our only two teachers that teach it are either incredibly lazy and you learn nothing or incredibly hard, so maybe this isn't so bad, since like all my other stuff is Honors.)

And then for electives...

Honors Spanish 4

Honors French 3

Honors French 4

Honors Shakespearean English

I need to take two french classes so I can take AP French Senior year. That Shakespeare class sounded cool though, so I figured I'd take it.

Our AP classes actually are year round, so you'll go every other day to them, but then on your off days you TA for another teacher, typically one that teaches the subject your AP class is or one related to some of your other stuff. My only problem is gonna be dealing with it Senior year, as I'm not sure what they'll do if I have two AP classes that would be year long. We do have an AP French class in the book that lists all the classes we offer, but last year a friend of mine who did it had to take French 5 or something instead for some reason.

And I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be President of French club senior year, as all the people there right now that are most active are Juniors who are Seniors this year, so I'll probably be like the most active person left and kinda win by default.

Also I've been looking into Italian classes after school or something so you can just kill me now before I go to a 4th language.

Edited by Psych
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Unless you're trying to be a multi billionaire scientist who wants to go to a pretentious university that requires 255%+ in everything like everyone on SF apparently is but me

Whoever said that I wanted to be a millionare? I know that I won't be one, that's the fate of any meteorologist that isn't on the Today Show. And furthermore, I'm not one of those individuals. The whole "prestige" thing is stupid anyway, you go where you get an education. That's it. I went to a standard school and I got a damn good education there, at a school with only 5 professors in my field and a graduating class of 14 people. I'm not going to any prestigious school, I'm going to the place I can afford. I'm going to a school that has one of the major researchers of tropical cyclones--that and lower costs are why i'm going to UNC Charlotte for my graduate program. I'm not at all expecting to make my dad's wage (psychiatrist) but I'm going to be doing something I enjoy. THAT is enough for me.

Aside from that, you're on a Fire Emblem forum where there are debates and statistical analyses on these games. Near type-A personalities are kind of expected.

If you find something you really enjoy, you will do your damndest to succeed at it. That's just human nature. People who actively pursue what they enjoy should be happy no matter what the salary...

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I have the same experience regarding regular class as Phoenix Wright there. I went to high school in a pretty good district, but even there, the attitudes between the students AP classes and Regular classes differ greatly. I took regular English in senior year as English is my only weak subject and I didn't want too much work piled on myself when I'm busy writing applications, but I regretted it a week in and I can't switch back into AP anymore. The teacher was horrible and gave busywork, and while there's some students who wanted to learn there most literally gave no shits at all. While even during senior year in the AP classes, where pretty much all of us are suffering from a mix of senioritis and application death, students actually gave a shit about learning the material. The environment just tends to be better for those who wants to actually learn instead of those who're just coming to school as an obligation and getting a high school diploma out of it. At least in my school, the AP teachers put effort into actually trying to make lessons educational instead of just assigning bullshit work to keep us busy.

I remember my AP Statistics teacher often assigned projects involving candy. That was great.

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~snip~

It's probably because I, since my first day of high school, live in a completely shut-out suburban crap-town.

I totally confused you with the OP...hahaha.

Well, at any rate, nice looking schedule you got there. "Advanced functions and modeling," huh? I'm guessing that's Algebra II? How are the honors courses at your school? My school's honor courses were no different from regular classes...

I want to learn German and Arabic, but I have no time. :(

Edited by Phoenix Wright
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