College student survey, if your in college or graduated in the last 5 years Options

[synatribe]

I have a project due at the end of March and I need to take a survey of college students and do a research project to help me prepare for college, so if your in college or graduated within the last 5 years, please fill this quick survey for me? Thanks CB

What is your name:
Graduating year/ Graduated year:
School:
Junior? / State? / Private?:
Major?:
When you first found out that you were accepted, what made you the most anxious about college? Such as Dorm life, cost? etc.

How did your family deal with cost factors of room and board? what did you do to help?

As a college student, what should high school students prepare for? such as nightlife? etc

In your opinion are college professors more lenient or strict when coming to getting your work done?

Being that college students are the leaders in counterculture, what have you done to help out? as in joining a society, club etc?

Has your average GPA dropped significantly from High school or would you say that if you worked hard in high school, you're fine?

Did you take any AP classes in HS? If you did, which ones and have these AP classes helped you with your current Major?

[mipadi]

What is your name: Michael
Graduating year/ Graduated year: 2008
School: Bucknell University
Junior? / State? / Private?: Private
Major?: Computer Science
When you first found out that you were accepted, what made you the most anxious about college? Such as Dorm life, cost? etc. I wasn't terribly anxious, actually -- in fact, I was pretty excited to get away from home. I worried about cost a bit all four years, because Bucknell is an expensive school (it costs around $48,000 a year now), and I was afraid that I might not qualify for financial aide all 8 semesters. Perhaps I had some trepidation about my social life -- being able to make new friends easily, &c.

How did your family deal with cost factors of room and board? what did you do to help?
I had a decent financial aide package, but I still had to pay around $8000 a year in expenses. I mostly paid for this myself, by working a part-time job for about 15 hours a week, at the University. For the first four semesters or so, my parents chipped in about $1000 a semester.

As a college student, what should high school students prepare for? such as nightlife? etc
I think it's more important to prepare for the "college curriculum" itself. In college, you actually have to think. Rote memorization won't get you nearly as far, and you actually have to think for yourself and defend your opinions.

Other than that, developing a good work ethic is important. There will be temptations to just go out and drink most nights, or even just hang out with friends and play Xbox or something -- but you have to fight the urge and actually work.

But I think the best way to prepare is just to know and understand yourself -- what drives and motivates you, &c. -- so you can make good decisions about your future.

In your opinion are college professors more lenient or strict when coming to getting your work done?
Hm... It depends on what you mean, exactly. Professors are more strict in that you have to think, generate original material, and defend your views; but they're also more lenient in that they're willing to give extensions, and they provide lots of help and feedback.

Being that college students are the leaders in counterculture, what have you done to help out? as in joining a society, club etc?
I was the Opinions editor for the student newspaper for five semesters, and I also wrote a ton of op-ed pieces for the publication. I was also a member of Students for Fair Trade, and helped out with a number of economic- and environment-related events. I was also a member, and then an officer, in the University's Students for Asian Awareness club.

Has your average GPA dropped significantly from High school or would you say that if you worked hard in high school, you're fine?
Yes, but that's mostly because I was terrible at math. Had I stuck with English, my GPA would've been better -- another reason why it's important to know your strengths and weaknesses when going through college.

Did you take any AP classes in HS? If you did, which ones and have these AP classes helped you with your current Major?
I took AP Economics, AP English, and AP Music Theory. None were terribly helpful, to be honest. I didn't take any econ or music courses in college. I did take a lot of English courses, since I was a creative writing student for several semesters, but they were a lot different than my AP English experience.