The anthropology of Freshmen

It’s a very good idea to do as much research as possible when choosing first year courses, looking not only at what majors interest you and what prerequisites you need, but also finding past exams from the course, course outlines (usually available on the university’s website), Rate My Professor, and talking to students who’ve taken the course before, so you get an idea of what the course will actually be like. The two sentence descriptions in the university course calendar can often be misleading.

Of course, it helps if you know what kind of career you want, but even if you don’t, you can start thinking about what kind of work you find fulfilling what kind of lifestyle you want, as this will likely help you choose what to focus your studies on. It’s also important to keep in mind that your undergraduate degree won’t likely lead directly to a career – I like to think my undergrad will educate me as a person and that grad school will educate me as a professional.

That’s enough perspective for now – my life in the microcosm beckons.