Thanks for visiting my post and I'm hoping this in not a duplicate of a similar post.

In less than a month I will be starting college at San Francisco State University! I'm a little nervous but a lot more excited, but I had this question for the people here who go or have gone to college...

How was/is your college experience?? Also, please give me some tips/advice.

I'm attending the 4th of the 4 years of university, in order to become a greek teacher at a primary school.
I'll not lie to you. University is cool, but not as cool as I thought it would be. I have lots of courses and task during every semester, and only during vacations I have lots of free time.
But I met lots of people from different places, I made some really good friends, I became stronger and I gained more self-esteem and self-confidence.
Also, I want to believe that now I know how to cook a few meals,lol

Anyway, good luck to you

No way noelia... I want to be a teacher too! That is really cool and that's another thing we have in common besides sports. And thank you for your honesty and how college is going to be like. You're the best noelia and good luck to you too on your last year at the University!

lol, thanks Eazy_187um_KiLLa
Yeah, being a teacher must be really cool. I've teached 3 times for my practice, and there are no words to describe, how cool it was

You're welcome noelia , but wow that is really cool and yeah I'm joining a teacher program where I get to work as an assitant teacher and get a good feel of what teaching a class would feel like. Can't wait to start now!

Are you majoring in anything specific or just going through the elementary education program?

San Francisco State huh? Well, as a veteran of the California State University system (just graduated from Long Beach State), I will say congrats and good luck. I loved my time at CSULB, the faculty was great and the campus was really nice. I don't know how SFSU looks but I am sure it is every bit as pretty. The downside to the CSU system, and any college in the state right now, is the budget crisis. If you have not already applied for financial aid, do it because you are going to need it. We had tuition increases almost every semester that I was in school, and the Pell Grant is the only way I survived. Also, the furlough days sucked because you pay more and get less... granted the day off was nice on it's own.

Academically, my advice is to not bite off more than you can chew the first semester. I don't know if you are going in straight out of high school or transferring in from a two-year college, but either way the classes are going to be a lot tougher in terms of what is expected of you. Granted this varies by what degree you are going for, but it holds true for most majors. I would say go half or 3/4 time instead of taking the full 12 units and risking an overload unless you are really disciplined and have a lot of free time for homework. If you need to take the full time load, then aim for the easier classes so that you can get the hang of how the school works. I actually only took one four unit class my first year at CSULB, but it required writing a 10-12 page research paper with a bunch of sources so that took up a LOT of time (I majored in history, btw).

Teaching. Good profession, it's what I plan to do as well... single subject, so middle or high school level. I will relay the advice I have gotten from several people, have a back up plan. If you hadn't noticed, California seems to have a thing against teachers lately... not hiring them, laying them off, cutting their pay, etc etc. Plus, there are a lot of people that after taking the intro class decide that they do not want to teach after all. My intro teacher told us a story of a friend of his that went nearly all the way through the program and then realized he didn't want to teach, so he dropped out with one class to go. It happens a lot apparently. I am not saying that it will happen to you, but in case it does know you are not alone, and even if it doesn't then the back-up is good if you can't get a job teaching. Also consider going out of state to teach once you are done. California, despite having dismal school performance, has one of the best and strictest teaching certification programs in the nation (us and New York apparently) and if you can't get work here there are plenty of schools elsewhere that would love to hire you.

Personally, I am going for my credential in Pennsylvania because that is where I am moving, and I would rather not be stuck here for two more years while I get my credential.

Very useful information Elara and thank you so much for everything!
I am going Straight Outta Highschool and Majoring in Liberal Studies with a foreign language minor (spanish). My goal is to come out of college with a double-subject teaching credential. I want to be an elementary school bilingual teacher because that is what the State of California currently needs as of teaching.

While I might not be in college, here's a tip that you might want to keep in mind. If you're going to bring any games just bring say one console with you so you can't get distracted. Also make sure to never play online gaming while you're there since it causes major procrastination.

Thanks for the advice xfighter1138 and I was planning on only bringing my XBOX 360.

As far as I know, for elementary school you have to go through a special multi-subject program (though I think that is the Liberal Studies degree). Also didn't know they still had bilingual education, they tossed it at my school because of budget cuts when I was a kid. But they still need ESL and Spanish teachers, and I am sure not every district in the state hates the idea of bilingual students. So yeah, that works well. Nice choice of a minor, I think there is a separate thing for being certified in another language, but I am not sure... wasn't really listening right then since I wasn't going for it.

Yeah thats partially what I meant that California needs more Spanish Teachers. They still have bilingual education here in the Bay Area. But yeah, thanks again Elara for everything, you really know your stuff ( I wish I could give you 10 thumbs up! haha)

Aww, you're too kind. Glad I can help.

from all the friends that went thru college and told me about it it all depends on what u want to get out of it....if u want to have a good education then buckle down and try to get into study groups and dont try to hard have some fun here and there so its not to hard on you

Another teacher, yay!! I'm currently studying world religions as part of a teachers program at the University of Bergen in Norway. Since I don't really know how different the American and Norwegian systems are, I wont say anything about that. My piece of advice is, trust yourself, and don't be afraid to quit and try a different course. Some people may call it weak, or call you a quitter or whatever, but if it isn't right for you, there's no need to suffer through it. As a people have said before, there's a LOT of work, both at the college itself, but also on your spare time, and the fact that you enjoy it makes all the difference.

Before taking world religions, I took Scandinavian litterature and language, which I've always been kinda interested in, and hey, there's always work as a Norwegian teacher in Norway. But as the course progressed, it simply became too much. Sure, I could handle the litterature, after all, how often can you lay down on the couch with a great book, and call it schoolwork? But to be a teacher, I halso had to do grammar, which went OK at first, but then grew more and more tedious. Soon I was spending so much time on grammar, that it started affecting my litterature results, and I found out that I wasn't enjoying this at all. I thought about switching to a different course, but was afraid I'd have wasted a whole year by doing so. By the second semester my grades had fallen considerably, and I realized that I couldn't go on like this, so as soon as the year was over it was "bye-bye Scandinavian" Now that I'm done with my first semester of world religions, I realize that I hadn't wasted anything by switching, instead, I've gained years of doing something I thoroughly enjoy. My grades are up again, I don't go to bed in the evening feeling like a failure, and I actually look forward to going to class.

I'm sorry if this seems like a long, bitter, pessimistic rant about how grammar's completely useless, but it's the most frank and honest piece of advice I can give considering I don't really know much about how college works over there. Make sure you love what you do, and don't be afraid to follow your heart. Listen to yourself, only you know what's right, and enjoy what'll certainly be one of the most memorable times of your life!

Thank you both WvoulfeXX and Sanshobo for the great information and advice before I start school again in about 2 weeks! Sanshobo thanks a lot for everything and thanks for the final advice you gave me, I will!

Only good thing about college is that I met davideo7 in there. Other then that a big waste of money and time.

I'm going into my second year at the University of Hartford, and so far it's been good. For me, the only real difference has been living there. I don't do too much different there than I did in high school.

College should be one of the best times in your life. It definitely was for me, just do not stay in your room. Go out and experience it

karlstevens26 : Thanks so much everyone with the very useful and helpful replies. I start college tomorrow! Wish me luck

Best of luck, Eazy! I think you will do fine.