Let me spill out the REAL gems.

1) Registration means NOTHING. If you want in a class and it’s full (which it will be until you are a junior), GO TO THE CLASS ANYWAY. Go the first three days AT LEAST, and 90% chance you will get in. Get the classes you WANT, don’t let your advisor or anyone else tell you differently.

2) DO NOT BUY BOOKS. Wait at LEAST two weeks before buying text books. Then your textbook is over 50 bucks, borrow it from a stupid classmate, and take it to Kinko’s and photocopy it (500 pages runs about 17.50). Much easier to highlight and carry around. I put the chapters for each book i needed along with paper in a single 2 1/2″ notebook.

3) Find a friend with a car, or several if possible. The busses suck for everything but drunken rides home. Cars are awsome. If you have a car, bring it. There are TONS of hidden places to park around state without needing a permit or pass. Also there are always people selling permits the first couple weeks of school, and especially after christmas.

4) The meal plan and boardbucks are a joke. After your mandatory freshman year, don’t waste you or your parent’s money. You can eat much better and cheaper from the grocery store, and there are plenty within bus/walking distance of school. Refer to #3 to get to the good stores.

5) Take at LEAST one design course. They are the best way to relieve stress, meet girls, and find crazy people to party with. Also take at least one Psychology course, also great for meeting the ladies.

6) DO NOT BUY PRINT QUOTA. Go to the Chass Lab or cheat the unity system if you need to print something on campus. Print Quota is a waste of money. Never buy a wolfcopy card either.

7) If you need to print BIG stuff, go to the School of Design labs. They have HUGE full color plotters that only cost $2.40 per linear foot and you can cheat out of these as well (also remember to print everything as PDF)

8) NEVER DO FIRST YEAR COLLEGE. It is a complete waste of money. Pick a major, if you dont like it change, FYC is a joke and just sets you on the path to nowhere.

9) Get a laptop. Desktops are big and ugly.

10) Don’t get suckered into buying a loft. Wait out your freshman year and get one for free at the end of spring semester when all the other people move out. If you can find a good one for 20 bucks or less then buy it.

11) USE THE GYM. Go and go often, its the best deal for a full gym you will ever have.

12) Never use the health center. In my 3.5 years they NEVER diagnosed me correctly, nor did any of my friends get diagnosed correctly. Go to a real doctor, and stick with them.

13) Never apply for ANY credit card on campus or that is sent to you in the mail.

14) Open a student checking account with the SECU or BB&T. If you need a credit card, get one through them. Keep about 100 bucks in there, don’t bounce any checks. You will get rewarded big time when you graduate and get a real job.

15) Go downtown. Live after 5, First Fridays, many other kickass events happen downtown, and they are free and fun.

16) Don’t take on a steady boyfriend of girlfriend until at LEAST your junior year. You will miss out on much of the college experience if you don’t wait. Don’t let occasional sex bother you, it’s college, no one will remember anyway.

17) UT sucks, don’t live there unless you plan to dropout anyway. Get an apartment or house before UT.

18) Along the same lines, everyone should spend at least their first year on campus. Preferably their first two years. Definitely get out and do stuff, it’s when you will meet most of your lifelong college friends.

19) Never do anything more than 20 hours a week.

20) If you want to work, get a work study.

21) The library is good for two things: cramming before exams, and sex in the stacks. There is little need to ever venture in there otherwise.

22) Meet a couple of upperclassmen in your major. Find out who the best prof’s and best classes are. Shedule ahead to get in those classes.

23) Never be afriad to challenge a grade or a decision by a professor. Fight the system and you will usually win.

24) Remember college is NOT to prepare you for a specific career, it is to make you a well rounded individual. Do not choose a major based on it’s career paths, choose a major based on YOUR INTEREST.

25) Refrain from keg stands, beer bongs, and all other binge drinking methods. Binge drinkers are not cool, and you will be talked about for all the wrong reasons. The sober guys are the ones who take home the ladies.

26) Don’t even bother with a fake ID in raleigh. Go to house parties until you are 21. Seriously it isnt worth the chance of getting busted. Don’t drive drunk underage.

27) If you live on campus, and you are drunk at a party, DO NOT GO BACK TO YOUR DORM ROOM. Stay at a friends, or crash at the party house for the night if possible.

28) Take philosophy of religion. At least open yourself to questioning your faith, it will only make it stronger.

29) Take at least one PE course every semester. Learn something new, find a new pasttime.

30) Be outside at least 4 hours a day doing something when it is above 65.

31) If you want to rush your freshman year, go ahead. But dont pledge until your sophmore year. And even then, think about it, college can be a lot more fun with no strings attached.

32) Go to EVERY organizational meeting in the fall. It can account for at least HALF of your meals for several months. Join the ones that you are actually interested in only after all the freebees have stopped.

33) GO POTLUCK. Living with someone you already know sucks ass.

34) DO NOT BUY A COMPUTER FROM THE BOOKSTORE/BEST BUY/CIRCUIT CITY. Go Online. Get one from DELL when they run a special (they ALWAYS run a special). Save yourself a lot of money. OR Wait until you meet a nerd in your suite/dorm who will build you a custom computer for practically nothing.