You can also use chegg.com or another trusted book rental site if the prices are even cheaper than amazon. Bookstores may try to lure you in with the whole "we'll buy your book back after the semester is over" but often times after you have finished using your 2nd edition or whatever book, there will be a 3rd edition by next semester. The bookstore will tell you "Oh, your 2nd edition is outdated so it's not eligible for a buy back". I've had a bookstore tell me this and offer me ~$1 to buy my outdated book. If they do buy your book and it's not outdated, the going rate is usually around 50% or so max which is still not worth it if you spent $120 to get it in the first place.

I swear, book publishing companies are swimming in diamond bathtubs full of money.

Absolutely agree with Amazon. In fact, get Amazon Student. It's Amazon Prime but half the price for students. Basically you get free two-day shipping on basically anything you order, and if you really badly need something the next day,I think one-day shipping is like five bucks or something. Plus a six-month free trial.

Also it's fantastic that there's finally a helpful thread in here.

Cuddlebun wrote:

You are going to have a huge degree of freedom from home that you have not experienced before on a longterm basis. It will be magical. You will also abuse this probably sometime in the first semester. This is not so much advice as just a warning: you will fuck up at some point.

This. Speaking of which... If you end up bombing a class, go cry to yourself for a few hours, figure out what you did wrong, and retake the class ASAP. It will hurt but you already fucked up so what can you do but correct your errors and move on?

Note that there's a difference between bombing Calculus and bombing English 1.

Kanye West wrote:

Absolutely agree with Amazon. In fact, get Amazon Student. It's Amazon Prime but half the price for students. Basically you get free two-day shipping on basically anything you order, and if you really badly need something the next day,I think one-day shipping is like five bucks or something. Plus a six-month free trial.

Also it's fantastic that there's finally a helpful thread in here.

I must recommend this. Second time 'round buying textbooks. I've saved over 300 dollars (most textbooks Prime/Student eligible get ~50% off!) on this semester's textbooks.

fwiw: one day shipping is 8 dollars an item.

And yes, keep this thread on-topic. I'll be watching it like a hawk. It's interesting to see other people's opinions about this.

Follow your dreams, you'll end up being happy in your life.

Lucasu wrote:

Follow your dreams, you'll end up being happy in your life.

unless it doesn't pan out and you don't have a backup plan, in which case you'll spend the remainder of your (potentially shortened) life impoverished, miserable and struggling to survive

Someone edited my post without saying a thing. Those are not my words, this is an outrage! I demand peppys attention.

Lucasu wrote:

Someone edited my post without saying a thing. Those are not my words, this is an outrage! I demand peppys attention.

dkun wrote:

And yes, keep this thread on-topic. I'll be watching it like a hawk. It's interesting to see other people's opinions about this.

He's graduating, not giving up on his life.

If I didn't graduate I'd be looked upon as the failure of the family. Standards.

Anyway g'luck CDFA you muppet.

wait a second

you fuckers get to choose your professors?

also I can guess what ratemyprofessor.com is and it's probably awful. Take personal recommendations from people you trust, not legions of tools on the Internet

it'd be like asking the Internet for advice. Fuckin' stupid. They can't give you good advice; they don't know you.

don't just brush twice a day, floss twice a day too!

awp wrote:

it'd be like asking the Internet for advice. Fuckin' stupid. They can't give you good advice; they don't know you.

I imagine this thread would be pretty helpful for a senior, though..

Didn't get to reply to this because I was a bad boy and got silenced for 21 hours.

Anyways

@Nekoroll: My schedule is mostly pre-set for me, it's just a matter of times. Depending on which school I get into, I'll either not have general ed classes until Junior year, or I'll only have to take a few general ed (which should be covered by my AP tests, hopefully), so I'll be mostly good in that department owo.

I plan on joining a Rotary club if there is one at the school. Otherwise, band is pretty organizationy, and I can find things too owo.

Also, what do you mean I can't spend all of my time fapping. I've been waiting for the ability to spend my life fapping since like, I was born.

And yeah, I plan on hopefully exploring the area. ESPECIALLY if I get into my top school, since I've only been in that city for my audition.

and yeah, people have told me about not buying textbooks owo. They're expensive .

@Ekaru: What's a W/F rate, lol

@Cuddlebun: Do professors notice when you're in class and when you're not, though? Just something I've always been curious about, lol.

Also, is there a kind of job that would be the most flexible? Like, I'm hopefully planning on joining a small ensemble to perform at parties and get free food while getting paid, but if I end up at a regular part-time job, are there any industries that are more flexible with times than others? Also, people told me that I can get employment within the school, but is that worth it, or should I get an external job?

"Since you are already a heavyset fellow."

And yeah, I had a friend rant to me about roommates without headphones. The ones I have right now work pretty nicely, and I intend on keeping through college.

As for third year, during my interview to get into the program, they handed me a list with my proposed schedule, and junior year was actually one of the smallest (1st semester was 16 Credit Hours, while second semester was 14 credit hours. I'm not sure of exact numbers, since I lost that paper (A habit I need to get out of in college, losing things, lol owo)). Granted, I also have a required internship I have to do, so that might take up a lot of that time owo.

Yay, thanks for all of the advice, though, I really appreciate it owo.

Hopefully I can save a ton on books, though. Mostly because that cost will be offset by the costs of my major ($6,000+ Tuba, $3000~$4000 Bass Trombone, Possibly $3500 Euphonium, Mouthpieces, Repairs, Mutes, Accessories, Music, etc etc. Plus they're making me play guitar like that's totally gay so I have to get that)

<3

mathexpert9981 wrote:

I imagine this thread would be pretty helpful for a senior, though..

as in senior citizen?

1.) Never overdraft on your bankaccount(s)......... EVER.

2.) Don't destroy yourself it debt with credit cards. Buy what you need, not always what you "want" that you don't need or could get later.

3.) Work up a budget plan and save. If able, try looking around for a bank that has a good interest rate towards the savings account to get a good long-term savings growth (none of that .01% crap). Just don't pull from it too quickly....

4.) Almost forgot. When you have a job, make sure the pay stub already has taxes taken from it. Otherwise, The W-2 will screw you over when tax time hits.

That's all I have to say.

whymeman wrote:

1.) Never overdraft on your bankaccount(s)......... EVER.

2.) Don't destroy yourself it debt with credit cards. Buy what you need, not always what you "want" that you don't need or could get later.

3.) Work up a budget plan and save. If able, try looking around for a bank that has a good interest rate towards the savings account to get a good long-term savings growth (none of that .01% crap). Just don't pull from it too quickly....

4.) Almost forgot. When you have a job, make sure the pay stub already has taxes taken from it. Otherwise, The W-2 will screw you over when tax time hits.

That's all I have to say.

omg yes, that's going to be so hard for me. I'm fairly decent about not spending money unless I really need to.

The hard thing for me though is that if I like, need to buy food, I'm like "well im on my own let's just buy as much food as I want." Plus now I'll have to pay for services, so I'll be like "omg no"

Also holy shit I have to pay taxes.

omg oh no.

Also, quick question. How much do you guys generally spend on food? For my hopeful school that I'll be going to, they have a meal plan (and they also sell wine like omg), but I'm assuming that I won't be eating there every day (But knowing me, I'll try to do so, because I'm cheap like that).

As for food. It depends since you have the "needs" and the "treats".

Try to avoid as much "treats" as possible (such as ice cream cakes every week for example). There are foods you can budget with if you do it right depending on the options. Pizza is usually a good option (even for takeout if you buy normal whole-pies) since a whole box could maybe last up to 3 days tops before it's not really edible anymore. Or, "invest" on your meals ahead of time with canned foods and things that are easy to cook without the need to eat your wallet. PBJ is alright, but what falls short on that is the bread since that expires faster than anything (even faster if moisture forms in the bag and cause mold growth.

Oh, and some "treats" are okay for snack foods when it's small and easily affordable like Zebra Cakes and Chex Mix for a "On-the-go" snack with a bottle of water for example. You can save yourself a bit more money if you boil some water properly and store it in a large jug (with the option of filtering as well if you can). A $1 jug can add up quickly when you buy enough of them for the year. Also, avoid taking in too much junk foods and drinks as well since screwing up your diet isn't a good thing either, but same for leaving yourself hungry often.

Edit: If worse comes to worse, some "instant meals" can come in handy within the overal low-budget price range.

CDFA wrote:

Also, quick question. How much do you guys generally spend on food? For my hopeful school that I'll be going to, they have a meal plan (and they also sell wine like omg), but I'm assuming that I won't be eating there every day (But knowing me, I'll try to do so, because I'm cheap like that).

I try to budget $200/mth for groceries, getting it under $180 is pretty easy if I don't go to any fancy restaurants that charge like $15-$20 for an $8 meal

Because you're going to be in University/College (in the US apparently there's little difference) I'd say expect it to be more, since they can and will apply a convenience fee to everything you buy on campus, similar to how food at a concert/convention is twice as expensive as it is outside the venue. But you also live in the USA and everything there is way cheaper and your tax on purchased items is practically non-existent. So you could probably get away with <$150 if you bought all your food at a regular grocery store chain off-campus

Prioritize~

- It depends on the program, but generally you'll have plenty of assigned work/readings every class, so it's important to plan things out and stay on top of things.

- Invest in a large poster calendar and mark down all the important dates: assignments, exams, personal events etc...

- READ YOUR SYLLABUS. It's your job to know what is to be expected on certain days (assignments due, midterms, readings/practice work to be understood prior to coming to class). You will not be reminded about anything.

whymeman wrote:

As for food. It depends since you have the "needs" and the "treats".

Try to avoid as much "treats" as possible (such as ice cream cakes every week for example). There are foods you can budget with if you do it right depending on the options. Pizza is usually a good option (even for takeout if you buy normal whole-pies) since a whole box could maybe last up to 3 days tops before it's not really edible anymore. Or, "invest" on your meals ahead of time with canned foods and things that are easy to cook without the need to eat your wallet. PBJ is alright, but what falls short on that is the bread since that expires faster than anything (even faster if moisture forms in the bag and cause mold growth.

Oh, and some "treats" are okay for snack foods when it's small and easily affordable like Zebra Cakes and Chex Mix for a "On-the-go" snack with a bottle of water for example. You can save yourself a bit more money if you boil some water properly and store it in a large jug (with the option of filtering as well if you can). A $1 jug can add up quickly when you buy enough of them for the year. Also, avoid taking in too much junk foods and drinks as well since screwing up your diet isn't a good thing either, but same for leaving yourself hungry often.

Edit: If worse comes to worse, some "instant meals" can come in handy within the overal low-budget price range.

Yay ramen owo. Are you required to pay for utilities? I could always just use my water jug from Marching Band and just keep cold water in there and stuff if it doesn't have any cost to me.

awp wrote:

CDFA wrote:

Also, quick question. How much do you guys generally spend on food? For my hopeful school that I'll be going to, they have a meal plan (and they also sell wine like omg), but I'm assuming that I won't be eating there every day (But knowing me, I'll try to do so, because I'm cheap like that).

I try to budget $200/mth for groceries, getting it under $180 is pretty easy if I don't go to any fancy restaurants that charge like $15-$20 for an $8 meal

Because you're going to be in University/College (in the US apparently there's little difference) I'd say expect it to be more, since they can and will apply a convenience fee to everything you buy on campus, similar to how food at a concert/convention is twice as expensive as it is outside the venue. But you also live in the USA and everything there is way cheaper and your tax on purchased items is practically non-existent. So you could probably get away with <$150 if you bought all your food at a regular grocery store chain off-campus

Yay owo. I was looking at the school, and they do some weird "Dining Dollar" shit where it's like a pre-paid debit card where it's like "YOU GET DINING DOLLARS TO USE IN THE SCHOOL EATING AREAS." Granted the link that lead to the rates that it cost on the site decided to be broken, so I can't estimate that. Still, I plan on going to external places since I'll occasionally want a pop-tart or some shit, idunno. There's a LOT of places by where I'll be going, and I'll be sure to avoid restraunts and stuff unless it's like, special or something.

And yeah, the only difference between Universities and Colleges is that Universities are "more prestigious" or something, but it's virtually the same stuff. It's only community colleges that are strikingly different.

Haneii wrote:

Prioritize~

- It depends on the program, but generally you'll have plenty of assigned work/readings every class, so it's important to plan things out and stay on top of things.

- Invest in a large poster calendar and mark down all the important dates: assignments, exams, personal events etc...

- READ YOUR SYLLABUS. It's your job to know what is to be expected on certain days (assignments due, midterms, readings/practice work to be understood prior to coming to class). You will not be reminded about anything.

Would an iPhone work for saving events, or does the large poster calender make it a lot more effective and stuff? owo.

Also omg syllabus that's going to suck since I'm so bad at remembering things, lol. I'll try doing that, though :3.

yay information is helpful, I love you guys >w<

My housing/meal plan (5 meals a week because I try to stay out of the cafeteria since its hours don't match my schedule AT ALL but meal plan is required for on-campus residents) is paid for out of a 529K plan, so I don't have much financial advice, honestly. I usually don't spend any more than $30 a week if even that on groceries. I eat a shitton of PBJ, salads, Spaghetti-Os...cheap shit with the occasional splurge.

As for a job; McDonalds may be a shitty job (or not bad, it depends on where you are. I happen to be at a hub of stupidity so I hate it), but the hours are extremely flexible once you've been working there a while. I worked 35 hour weeks for the spring of my freshman year, through summer (which was a horrible mistake to make while taking lab sciences), then all of sophomore year. So this summer when I had to leave for basic for two months and then reduce my hours to only weekends, they didn't make a big deal about it.

I got off track; a part-time job at a low-responsibility place like fast food or retail (fast food tends to be more flexible because of the high turnover rate) can be pretty great for supplementing your income. I managed to save a few thousand last year, and I've been able to keep several thousand in my savings. It can be nice for putting something in your account or even just having enough money to buy the occasional stupid thing and not feel guilty. But if it gets in the way of your schooling dump it like a fat girlfriend.

If you can get a job on campus, that would probably be more convenient than an off-campus job. I would recommend it. I just can't stress the importance of putting your schoolwork first. If you're worried about your schedule, just see if anyone will let you work just weekends.

As for taxes, don't worry about it. Most jobs take out the taxes on your paycheck, so come April, all you have to do is plug in your W2 info and bam refund. At least, that's what I'm doing. Turbotax Military Edition wololololo



edit: also omigosh, yes, the syllabus of each class will be your new Bible. Get a planner, write down the date of each test and event. It's also pretty easy to find an interactive calendar to download onto your desktop since you'd be more likely to look at your home screen than the planner sitting forgotten in your bookbag.

If you can spare the money, buy your own printer. One of those relatively cheap HP ones that prints, copies, and scans. That way you're not panicking the day a paper is due because fuck you have to run to the library goddammit that fucking shithead who's always hanging out on the computers is printing a fucking novel you don't have time for this shit--you get my point. I got my printer for like, fifty bucks at Target and it's wonderful.




IF YOU WANT MORE MONEY YOU SHOULD DO WHAT I DID AND JOIN THE ARMY. BECAUSE YOU WANT TO BE LIKE ME RIGHT? BE LIKE MEEEEEEE

W/F rate = Withdraw/Fail rate, or the percentage of students who either withdraw from or fail a course. For example, the Withdraw/Fail rate of Calc I nationwide is around 50%. A lot of places have even made efforts to nerf the course into Baby Calc I and the W/F rate just keeps on climbing because math curriculum in K-12 has degraded into "Follow the step-by-step instructions and punch shit into your calculator and you'll be AMAZING at math!"

Cuddlebun wrote:

My housing/meal plan (5 meals a week because I try to stay out of the cafeteria since its hours don't match my schedule AT ALL but meal plan is required for on-campus residents) is paid for out of a 529K plan, so I don't have much financial advice, honestly. I usually don't spend any more than $30 a week if even that on groceries. I eat a shitton of PBJ, salads, Spaghetti-Os...cheap shit with the occasional splurge.

As for a job; McDonalds may be a shitty job (or not bad, it depends on where you are. I happen to be at a hub of stupidity so I hate it), but the hours are extremely flexible once you've been working there a while. I worked 35 hour weeks for the spring of my freshman year, through summer (which was a horrible mistake to make while taking lab sciences), then all of sophomore year. So this summer when I had to leave for basic for two months and then reduce my hours to only weekends, they didn't make a big deal about it.

I got off track; a part-time job at a low-responsibility place like fast food or retail (fast food tends to be more flexible because of the high turnover rate) can be pretty great for supplementing your income. I managed to save a few thousand last year, and I've been able to keep several thousand in my savings. It can be nice for putting something in your account or even just having enough money to buy the occasional stupid thing and not feel guilty. But if it gets in the way of your schooling dump it like a fat girlfriend.

If you can get a job on campus, that would probably be more convenient than an off-campus job. I would recommend it. I just can't stress the importance of putting your schoolwork first. If you're worried about your schedule, just see if anyone will let you work just weekends.

As for taxes, don't worry about it. Most jobs take out the taxes on your paycheck, so come April, all you have to do is plug in your W2 info and bam refund. At least, that's what I'm doing. Turbotax Military Edition wololololo



edit: also omigosh, yes, the syllabus of each class will be your new Bible. Get a planner, write down the date of each test and event. It's also pretty easy to find an interactive calendar to download onto your desktop since you'd be more likely to look at your home screen than the planner sitting forgotten in your bookbag.

If you can spare the money, buy your own printer. One of those relatively cheap HP ones that prints, copies, and scans. That way you're not panicking the day a paper is due because fuck you have to run to the library goddammit that fucking shithead who's always hanging out on the computers is printing a fucking novel you don't have time for this shit--you get my point. I got my printer for like, fifty bucks at Target and it's wonderful.




IF YOU WANT MORE MONEY YOU SHOULD DO WHAT I DID AND JOIN THE ARMY. BECAUSE YOU WANT TO BE LIKE ME RIGHT? BE LIKE MEEEEEEE

yaay owo. There's a shitload of fast food places around the area, so it should be pretty ok to get a job. Like there's this Target and those people be so ratchet like I could get a job there and they'd be like "dude omg."

Also, as much as I want to continue my quest to become Cuddlebun, being part of the Military bands require me to be like, really good.

My dad works as a computer technician, so he probably has a printer just lying around somewhere (Like, he has so much stuff just lying in our garage. Granted, it's all old XP stuff, but technology is technology.).

BE LIKE CUDDLEBUN WOO

Ekaru wrote:

W/F rate = Withdraw/Fail rate, or the percentage of students who either withdraw from or fail a course. For example, the Withdraw/Fail rate of Calc I nationwide is around 50%. A lot of places have even made efforts to nerf the course into Baby Calc I and the W/F rate just keeps on climbing because math curriculum in K-12 has degraded into "Follow the step-by-step instructions and punch shit into your calculator and you'll be AMAZING at math!"

It's funny how you mention calc because like half of my class dropped it second semester (I dropped it before it was cool, though :3.).

Major question, that I forgot to ask. Would I know who I'd be rooming with in dormitories? Or would I get a choice on where/who I would room with, or would it just be random. Mostly just so I can be like "dude um so like let's plan this out so we don't have 3 TVs and like 2 PS3s and like no printer"

I was being facetious but the military's actually pretty good for paying for school if you're willing to commit 4-8 years of your life to it. Right now as a National Guardsman I'm getting both a monthly stipend of $350 from ROTC (which goes up every year) and a drill payment (drill is once a month, where you go to your assigned unit for the weekend and do fuckall nothing) of around $200-300. So even without McDonalds I'm making almost 700 a month just for going to school and sacrificing a weekend. Then factor in various services provided by the military/NG such as GI bill and Tuition Assistance, and I'm doing pretty well. If you can spare a summer or two, as an E3 paygrade I made $3500 at basic training, and during those two and a half months I wasn't spending any money (since everything's provided) so all that money went straight into my savings. If you go to AIT (which I wish I could but can't miss another summer because I waited until I started my program at school to join the military), that's another $2000-3500 in your pocket depending on your paygrade.

It's not a bad deal, and once you graduate you got a guaranteed job for a few years. Just putting that out there.



Also: PT makes you sexy