This post is not titled “Things You Should Do,” because these aren’t (necessarily) things you should do. Many people should not do many of the items on this list, and some of the items are exclusive, contradictory, or downright the reverse of what you should do. If your reaction to something is “I think that’s a bad idea,” then it probably is, and you probably shouldn’t do it.
classes & professors
attend classes you haven’t signed up for because you find them interesting
attend classes even if the waitlist is full
ask the professor to waive a prerequisite
ask the professor to join a class even if its full
drop a class that you don’t like
take a class because you really liked the professor, even if you’re not sure about the content of the class
cold email professors you don’t know, just asking to chat
show up to office hours for classes you aren’t a part of, just to chat with the professor
ask the professor questions about the things you’re not sure of
skip class(es) for great opportunities elsewhere
ask the professor if you can help them with anything in the class (grading, setting up assignments, editing papers, etc). professors have a long list of tasks, are perpetually behind, and encounter fairly correlated problems; if you track what problems your professors have, you can quite quickly become unreasonably useful for them
ask professors at the beginning of the semester what things would be most important to memorize, then throw their answers into an Anki deck
take non-credit courses or workshops in things like pottery, coding, or creative writing
ask the professor if you can announce that you’re starting a study group for the class in the class
start a group chat to ask questions about the class. this is one that everyone loves to be added to, and sometimes it just… doesn’t happen, because nobody took the initiative to create it
use Anki to study the things your professor said would be most important to memorize after you asked them at the beginning of the semester
learn the content of a class by using materials that the professor doesn’t point you toward (e.g. online textbooks/videos/tutors/etc)
hire a tutor
hire multiple tutors
hire a tutor purely so that you have to study for some class you hate — you might not need help, but if you’re paying someone $x/h for their time, you’d better be studying
become a tutor in a subject you want to brush up on
join many different types of clubs. shortlist: sports clubs (even intramural), art clubs, research clubs, project-based clubs, religious/cultural clubs, community service clubs, pre-professional clubs, music clubs
show up at a club’s meeting that you’re not a part of
stop going to a club’s meetings
completely stop without telling anyone
tell the club leaders why you’re stopping, and what changes would make you stay
tell the club leaders you’re considering stopping, and what changes would make you leave or stay
ask if you can help out at the next club event
ask this multiple times in a row
ask what’s preventing them from letting you help out yet
start your own club. notably, schools will often throw hundreds or even thousands of dollars of funding at you to start a club with a few friends, and you can do a lot of cool things by saying “hey, I run [x] club, could you [ask]?” (h/t Joey)
career capital
evaluate not just “will this be good for my career” but “is this among the best options given the limited resources (time, money, energy, etc) that i have” — and also “is there something else i can do with these resources that’d give me more career capital” or alternatively “is doing this in line with following rules that i endorse upon reflection?”
actually utilize the alumni center — you can find alumni in ~any industry, and most major companies, and many are happy & eager to chat with you
find events oriented to the career you want to go into
attend them
volunteer for them
offer to run or help out at the next one
organize events for undergrads interested in your career — the bar for “casual meetup for pre-____ students!” is pretty low, and you can probably get some money from the relevant department for food & drink
money
apply to random grants and fellowship programs (1, 2)
get a job
get a weekend job
get a part time job
get a job that means you rub shoulders with the types of people you want to be rubbing shoulders with — e.g. working at a golf course, or at the registration desk of a google office
ask the people doing the job that you want to do if you can also do that job right now
get a paid internship
friends
stay in your room 24⁄7 and make no friends
make friends with the first people you meet, even if you don’t like them, and then never find new friends (h/t Joey)
call your old friends out of the blue, especially the ones from high school that you haven’t talked to for a while. imagine if they called you out of the blue, you’d love it. you can just… do that to them.
offer a friend who goes to a different school to swap dorms for a weekend
offer a friend who goes to a different school to have them stay at your dorm for one weekend, then you’ll stay at their dorm for another
misc
optimize for:
your degree
making friends
finding (a) partner(s)
career capital
take time off
seriously, you can just… take a semester off, or a year off, or more. this is much more common than you realize, since there’s a huge amount of selection bias: you never see the students who take time off, because they’re not going to be campus.
use the gym — there will be ~no other time in your life during which you’ll have free access to a great gym whenever you want
intentionally & rapidly try out tons of various life improvements — you have a fairly regimented environment that, by default, controls for a number of confounding variables
leave campus (h/t Joey)
stay on campus
create art — this is one of the few times in your life you have access to kilns, or high-quality paints, or a glass-blowing shop, etc (h/t Joey)
write a thesis under an advisor (h/t Joey)
get involved with school admin — not just student union, but you can, e.g., do informal, independent research and make recommendations about dining, sustainability, etc. also, there are sometimes grants within schools, like sustainability grants from the administration. (h/t Joey)
most universities have pretty great art available for free
travel to random places on a weekend, stay with a friend/relative
Things You’re Allowed to Do: University Edition
Link post
This post is not titled “Things You Should Do,” because these aren’t (necessarily) things you should do. Many people should not do many of the items on this list, and some of the items are exclusive, contradictory, or downright the reverse of what you should do. If your reaction to something is “I think that’s a bad idea,” then it probably is, and you probably shouldn’t do it.
classes & professors
attend classes you haven’t signed up for because you find them interesting
attend classes even if the waitlist is full
ask the professor to waive a prerequisite
ask the professor to join a class even if its full
drop a class that you don’t like
take a class because you really liked the professor, even if you’re not sure about the content of the class
cold email professors you don’t know, just asking to chat
show up to office hours for classes you aren’t a part of, just to chat with the professor
ask the professor questions about the things you’re not sure of
skip class(es) for great opportunities elsewhere
ask the professor if you can help them with anything in the class (grading, setting up assignments, editing papers, etc). professors have a long list of tasks, are perpetually behind, and encounter fairly correlated problems; if you track what problems your professors have, you can quite quickly become unreasonably useful for them
ask professors at the beginning of the semester what things would be most important to memorize, then throw their answers into an Anki deck
take non-credit courses or workshops in things like pottery, coding, or creative writing
studying
at places outside of your university:
coffeeshops
public libraries
coworking spaces
random offices, cold email them
start a study group for the class
ask the professor if you can announce that you’re starting a study group for the class in the class
start a group chat to ask questions about the class. this is one that everyone loves to be added to, and sometimes it just… doesn’t happen, because nobody took the initiative to create it
use Anki to study the things your professor said would be most important to memorize after you asked them at the beginning of the semester
learn the content of a class by using materials that the professor doesn’t point you toward (e.g. online textbooks/videos/tutors/etc)
hire a tutor
hire multiple tutors
hire a tutor purely so that you have to study for some class you hate — you might not need help, but if you’re paying someone $x/h for their time, you’d better be studying
become a tutor in a subject you want to brush up on
use ChatGPT as a tutor
cowork
with random people
with me
clubs
join clubs
join many clubs
join many different types of clubs. shortlist: sports clubs (even intramural), art clubs, research clubs, project-based clubs, religious/cultural clubs, community service clubs, pre-professional clubs, music clubs
show up at a club’s meeting that you’re not a part of
stop going to a club’s meetings
completely stop without telling anyone
tell the club leaders why you’re stopping, and what changes would make you stay
tell the club leaders you’re considering stopping, and what changes would make you leave or stay
ask if you can help out at the next club event
ask this multiple times in a row
ask what’s preventing them from letting you help out yet
start your own club. notably, schools will often throw hundreds or even thousands of dollars of funding at you to start a club with a few friends, and you can do a lot of cool things by saying “hey, I run [x] club, could you [ask]?” (h/t Joey)
career capital
evaluate not just “will this be good for my career” but “is this among the best options given the limited resources (time, money, energy, etc) that i have” — and also “is there something else i can do with these resources that’d give me more career capital” or alternatively “is doing this in line with following rules that i endorse upon reflection?”
actually utilize the alumni center — you can find alumni in ~any industry, and most major companies, and many are happy & eager to chat with you
find events oriented to the career you want to go into
attend them
volunteer for them
offer to run or help out at the next one
organize events for undergrads interested in your career — the bar for “casual meetup for pre-____ students!” is pretty low, and you can probably get some money from the relevant department for food & drink
money
apply to random grants and fellowship programs (1, 2)
get a job
get a weekend job
get a part time job
get a job that means you rub shoulders with the types of people you want to be rubbing shoulders with — e.g. working at a golf course, or at the registration desk of a google office
ask the people doing the job that you want to do if you can also do that job right now
get a paid internship
friends
stay in your room 24⁄7 and make no friends
make friends with the first people you meet, even if you don’t like them, and then never find new friends (h/t Joey)
call your old friends out of the blue, especially the ones from high school that you haven’t talked to for a while. imagine if they called you out of the blue, you’d love it. you can just… do that to them.
have 1-1s with friends
join a frat
don’t join a frat
offer a friend to swap dorms for a weekend
offer a friend who goes to a different school to swap dorms for a weekend
offer a friend who goes to a different school to have them stay at your dorm for one weekend, then you’ll stay at their dorm for another
misc
optimize for:
your degree
making friends
finding (a) partner(s)
career capital
take time off
seriously, you can just… take a semester off, or a year off, or more. this is much more common than you realize, since there’s a huge amount of selection bias: you never see the students who take time off, because they’re not going to be campus.
drop out entirely
decorate your dorm rationally
use the gym — there will be ~no other time in your life during which you’ll have free access to a great gym whenever you want
intentionally & rapidly try out tons of various life improvements — you have a fairly regimented environment that, by default, controls for a number of confounding variables
leave campus (h/t Joey)
stay on campus
create art — this is one of the few times in your life you have access to kilns, or high-quality paints, or a glass-blowing shop, etc (h/t Joey)
write a thesis under an advisor (h/t Joey)
get involved with school admin — not just student union, but you can, e.g., do informal, independent research and make recommendations about dining, sustainability, etc. also, there are sometimes grants within schools, like sustainability grants from the administration. (h/t Joey)
most universities have pretty great art available for free
travel to random places on a weekend, stay with a friend/relative
make a personal website
start a blog
Inspired by this post and this post. Some other classic posts on college: What I Wish I Knew in College, College advice for people who are exactly like me, 17-20: a Retrospective on Four Years in College, Fury and Freedom: Four Years at Amherst College, Escaping High School (that one’s about high school, but much of it applies to college).
Note: there are a few things you can do in college that I don’t feel comfortable writing about publicly. Namely, drugs (including alcohol) and dating.