San Jose State University Top Questions

What advice I would give prospective college students is what I have found most important as a university student: college is a holistic thing. When selecting and attending a school, a student must keep in mind the following things: environment, education, and personal requirements. The location and atmosphere of a campus and its city are important because they really will become the student?s new home. Preferences of bustling city life or the serenity of nature must be kept in consideration for mental, physical, and emotional well-being. The school of choice should be one in which the student can most explore themselves and their career. They should be able to learn not only how best to satisfy their professions, but how to exist as members of a world culture and world society. A successful PERSON will apply their college experiences and growth not only to their job, but their life, relationships, and dreams. Personal requirements may exist in the physical world, such as special considerations for disabilities; the mental world, such as class size preference and the necessity of diversity; or the spiritual world, which must not be ignored, as it is essential for the happiness of many people.

Make lots of friends, apply yourself to your studies, form study groups and keep connections with professors, and INTERN as much as you can

make sure you choose a school that fits both your needs of education and social sorroundings. Take a tour at each possible college choice to get a better feel for the environment. Take into consideration the housing availability. See how you connect with other fellow students, sororities, fraternities, faculty, and staff.

Choose a school with a strong emphasis on you specific major. Reasearch the type of professor's that teach at your choice of school and make sure, the professors are active in their respective field or have at leasy 20 years of experience. Try to visit your school a year in advance while classes are in session. See if you can participate in non student activities to get a better understanding of the school. It is utterly crucial that you as the student be very comforable with the environment of the school and of the respecitive city. After all you will be spending a lot of time there. Take in as much as you can while your there, dont stress and worry too much because before you know it you will realize the college years of your life were some of the best of times.

order books from online very far in advance to allow enough shipping time for the first day of class. do all simple assignment before they are due (follow syllabus), clarify all assignments with the teacher.

Don't take too many classes during the Freshman year. Pick a bigger college, offers more opportunity to meet people and more choice in classes and professors available. E-mail the professors before the class starts and buy the books ahead of time. They are cheaper and more available before the begining of the semester. Try to study from the books before the semester begins. Find out about all the tutoring available for different classes by other students and attend those tutoring sessions. Organize into study groups for each class, it helps a lot.

If you're in Physics, San Jose State is cheap and awesome. Like Little Caesars claims, "best value"... though it wasn't voted for by anyone but me.

It really matters most what you want in life. College is so important as far as your formative years, so be wise about the decision. Most depends on the student though. A student can find in any college the group of friends he is most likely to hang out with.

Parents and Students, Discover your passions, interests, and goals. Once you know these three aspects, go from there. Whatever and wherever the college may be, regardless of price, location, just go for it! It is more worth it to follow your passions, your heart, and your desires, in order for you to come alive. For this is what the world needs, "people who are alive". The world doesn't need more people who "have degrees", but the world needs people who are PASSIONATE, because those are the people who will change the world for the better. So, for your choices, do what makes you come alive, what stretches you, and what spurs you to become a better person.

Spend your first year taking General Education courses, and then start on your major; you may find that you want to do something else with your life.