Yeah, 35 years ago and 31 years ago was the last time I sat in front of a blackboard with a prof. I do remember well that first weekend as a freshman and scurrying all over to get all the stuff I needed to get set up – including my books. We all did – was on a freshman floor with all pre-med / bio and engineers guys – I immediately knew that competition was HERE as I heard their SAT scores. So, these rules for the newbies seem to be as applicable now as they were then:
1. Arrive early.
2. There might be homework due.
3. Bring your laptop — if you can handle it.
4. Keep up with the professor.
5. Be prepared to actually work.
6. Have an open mind about your classmates.
7. Start taking notes immediately.
‘Course at that time, laptops didn’t exist – pen and paper were it. Pretty much all the rest are right (take a gander over at the site for the commentary). And imagine the shock when I realized after the first day in the hardest subjects (Calc, Chem 101, and Bio 101) that I was already two chapters behind in each BEFORE the prof picked up a piece of chalk (yes, chalk – not even dry erasers). They worked us hard (math prof, Dennis Burke, later became the Dean) – this was NOT like some colleges that weren’t much more than a paid second high school. And slide rulers ruled the day – calculators were still wicked expensive.
Heh! #4 – as I started my grad studies, I took a Fundamentals of Network Queuing Theory class – Tuesday and Thursday nites from 6 – 9pm (long, those two days: 8:30am straight through with only 30 minutes for supper as a break), the Prof got up and immediately went into a Calculus / statistics frenzy. As a Bio guy, my thoughts were “Have I just done a dumb thing, switching to C.S.”? Half the class didn’t return from break that first night, and only half again showed up for the second class. He looked around, beamed broadly, and said “Great, let’s get to work” – and I realized that was his way to cull the herd of those who really didn’t want to learn. Took three more classes with him – he did it every time (but by then, most of us knew the technique and in the last class, he admitted such when we were all smiling back).
But I was STILL behind that first class.
