Ask HN: What should I try to do while still in college?

Go out with as many women as possible. Once you join the startup life the women will be few and far between.

#1 regret (which I will probably make up, job quitting possibilities) - Not going abroad - Doesn't necessarily mean studying abroad but traveling for month+ outside your home country during inter-school summer vacations

Do EVERYTHING you can that will not be economically feasible (travel for a month or three) or even possible (spend a summer at Cambridge University in England). You will live to regret not doign these things when, after you get a job, you get two measly weeks of vacation per year.<p>Use it all up: take extra classes, join a club, make a friend from another race, etc...

See what else is out there. Computers might be fascinating, but until you learn about a bunch of other fields, you will never know if they're what fascinates you most. Take as many classes as you can in as many areas as you're interested in, and be sure to take lots of classes outside your major. Finish more than one major. Join a sports team or club where you'll meet people you wouldn't otherwise. Save the specialization for your senior thesis, grad school, or for your job. Try to meet people with a wide variety of interests, so you can make a truly informed decision between majors and career paths.<p>Others may tell you to choose an field of study early on and become an expert. I definitely admire that goal, but I don't think college is the place. Most underclassmen have no idea what really interests them; I certainly didn't.

Others have suggested great things to do outside of class, but I have some related to CS.<p>Take a compiler course (or several). This really should be required, but unfortunately it wasn't at my school until after I graduated. Also, lots of algorithms and other "real" CS courses. Now is the time to learn that stuff.<p>Avoid the "trendy" courses (Stanford Facebook application class, I'm looking at you) and go for the hardcore CS stuff. The rest you can easily learn on your own, but I found having a professor and structured course was invaluable for the CS topics.<p>Of course everyone is different, but that's my opinion.

Ask around. Find the professors who are the best at teaching Introduction to X (where X is any field) and take their classes. The teacher is more important than the subject matter, almost every time.<p>Useful values of X: statistics, biology (esp. molecular biology), linguistics, statistics (I mention it twice because it's twice as important), economics, first-year chemistry, physics. Skip organic chemistry unless you want to be an M.D.<p>Keep practicing the essay writing. If you can get good at that, or at least <i>comfortable</i> with it, it's <i>better</i> than a second major.<p>Which brings me to my radical suggestion: Drop the double major. Double majors are a waste of valuable time: You could be taking a sprinkling of intro and second-year classes in a bunch of different fields -- including at least one class from every <i>excellent</i> prof on campus -- but instead you're spending time taking boring classes from bad lecturers just to check off boxes for your second major, which <i>will not matter to anyone, ever</i>. [1]<p>(My school made me have a minor. I minored in history, which was a nice change of pace from physics, and was enjoyable, and made me practice all that writing, and I found an excellent history prof and took three of her classes. All of which was good. And yet... if I hadn't been forced to take the <i>fourth</i> history class, which was required of all history minors, I could have done the econ class instead, from the <i>really good</i> econ professor who was recommended to me. I regret missing that econ class to this day.)<p>Make a choice: e.g. if you like to program, are leaning toward startups, are aceing CS classes, and are not feeling "clever enough for pure math", major in CS -- that's where the marketability is, anyway. Then dump the math major -- just add math classes to taste. Then, add <i>other</i> classes to taste. If, as you say, you're "quite bored", you need to try something different. Mix it up a little. Archaeology. Japanese. Music Theory 101. Accounting. <i>Something</i>.<p>[1] There are only two times that double majors make any sense. One is if you're a premed. Another is if you're so hopelessly fascinated by the classes in your second field that as a senior you discover that you've accidentally come within two credits of your second major -- might as well finish it off.

Get heavily involved in a campus organization that suits your interests. If such an organization doesn't exist, start one.

If you're planning on a career in programming, I'd recommend trying to get an internship somewhere before you graduate. If you think you might want to start a startup, go that route, but it won't hurt to do an internship at a big company either (it's actually probably better than working at one after you graduate, but I wouldn't know first hand).<p>If you want to go the startup route, I'd recommend just sending emails to a bunch of startups you like. Most of them probably aren't actively seeking interns, but would be at least intrigued by the opportunity.

My biggest regret from college is not getting more involved with the activities/groups my college offered. I was plenty active around campus socially, but I was only in one group my entire four years. (Well, two if you consider being a computer assistant a group.) You will gain a lot and not feel as if you missed out on what your college has to offer by participating -- not to mention all the friendships you'll build in the process. Get out there and join groups!

College, after sophomore year, tends to be less about the classes and more about the people. Choose as many classes as you can solely based on the professor's character/infamy. Those people will inspire you and help you choose what is interesting.<p>Also, try to see as much of the world as possible, and this doesn't just mean traveling. I'm thinking about people like this person at TED: <a href="http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/233" rel="nofollow">http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/233</a> - try to find these people and get connected with what they're doing.

First off, since your a sophomore, your plans will change. Bet money on it. Don't get caught up in specifics of where you want to be. Instead take advantage of the powerful abstractions where you can to work out what "axioms of life" you want to design your life with. That's your homework assignment in the unwritten curriculum of the university. The vast majority of people fail that lesson, good folks recognize it and get it partially right, the great people master this lesson, implement, and refine it for the rest of their lives.<p>Always consider your personality. My regret may be exactly what you DON'T want to do. Having said that... Being a physics students at very good engineering school, and having participated in student design competitions my only regret is not having taken more pure mathematics. In science and engineering, if it works, there's your evidence. You have shown it can happen. Mathematics I viewed, at the time being so simple minded, as a set of neat tricks for solving physics problems (or engineering problems, which at the time I thought of simplistically as merely applied physics problems). The reason I regret not taking more pure math isn't the theorems or skills I missed getting, it was the mindset. Every profession and field looks at the world in a particularly special way. It's a more abstract version of the saying "If all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail." I'm actually doing research in graduate school now in mathematics and I'm really glad for it. The perspective from being a bit physicist, a bit engineer, and now a bit mathematician really gives one a lot of versatility, and that's where the variety of experience in the "hard subjects" pays off. You see, everyone who has specialized to be only one thing, think university professors, are like shaft mines. The specialists dig deep to get at the really rich seams, but they pass by a lot of pretty good stuff following the very richest dig through their subject. Take a bit more breath in your studies and you will see lots of good stuff, and how it's connected together.<p>Finally, have fun too. Every day of my undergraduate schooling was a cycle of learn, work, play, build, fight, drink, sleep, and repeat tomorrow. It's the best that could have happened in spite of being exhausting, all consuming, obsessive, and unrelenting. I loved it because to me that is fun.<p>Best of luck to you.

If you want to do the startup thing, notice people who are smart and more ambitious than you and spend your time hanging around with them.<p>If you want to have your pick of a quality corporate job and find your excitement elsewhere, build something tangible you can point to during an interview. It doesn't have to be complicated, it just has to indicate that you can accomplish something on your own.<p>Remember that becoming an expert in anything takes 10 years, so assuming you are around 20, think about what you would like to be an expert at when you are 30 and start working on it regularly.<p>Edit: One more thing -- college can be one of the last times in your life when it is trivial to make new friends. Make as many as you can, and try to hang onto the good ones after you graduate.

Pick up skydiving!<p>I did during my military service (compulsory between sophomore and junior year at my engineering school in France), and there's nothing better for your ADHD. Seriously, it looks very ballsy from outside, but it actually would fit super well with your craving for learning and discovery - plus it will help solve the women issue, see comment #1 :-) And it's the best way to meet people as crazy as you are but completely outside of your usual circles (kind of saved my life when I moved to MA ;-).

Travel while you can do it cheaply. Take as many electives as far outside your majors as you possibly can without graduating later; college is better at giving you exposure than skills anyway. Make friends that you want to have parties with. Meet people who do things you know nothing about; you'll have fewer chances to do that in the working world.<p>Drop out if you know you have better things to do with your time, and you can spend time around a large group of people with varied interests anyway.

Smoke weed (or do tantric yoga) until you become conscious on a new level (you'll know when you have, if you have difficulties smoke more stronger weed, hash, oil, use a vapourizer or take it orally after extracting it with fat (bake &#60; 300f) or alcohol).<p>Take mush (of the psilocybin variety) until you understand the nature of the change in consciousness created by the mary jane.<p>(you can try mescaline anytime after mush if you so wish, it will likely help you either understand the changes or find the connection, but would likely be counterproductive before mush is taken in a significant dose)<p>Take LSD until you feel an unshakable connection to the universe (start with a massive dose, theres no time like the first, listen to The Beatles [anything after Help! is best] and The Doors for assistance 'breaking on through to the otherside').<p>Then smoke DMT until you reach 'DMT hyperspace'. (Do not let fire touch the DMT, only touch the flame to the glass [and even then not /right/ under the DMT] take big hits you gotta take 3 big hits and hold them in before you become unable to smoke [mildly difficult]; keep trying.)<p>At this point you will understand your consciousness in a way science could never teach you, and you won't have to ask us anything about what you should do, you will already know.

College was the best years of my life. Here are my guidelines.<p>1. Learn as much as you can from class and people.<p>2. Build authentic relationships. A lot college friendships usually last a lifetime.<p>3. Follow your passion. Studying a subject you enjoy learning, and don't force yourself to learn something you don't like for the sake of making more money.<p>4. It's always good to take a break once in awhile.<p>5. Don't take college for granted and cherish your friends. When college is over, you're going to miss it.

Do as much extracurricular stuff as you can manage with as much time as you can give it, in whatever interests you. I was also a CS major, and my free time went to theatre. I actually ended up with two degrees, the second one being theatre, so I guess for me it was a little more than extracurricular, but the point stands. Now that I'm out of college and have a wife and job, I find it infinitely more difficult to find time to do any acting/directing/etc, and it's something I really miss and I'm very glad I did it in college while I had the chance.<p>Might not be theatre for you, obviously. Might be music, might be hiking, might be journalism, might be Ultimate Frisbee playing, whatever. Find something that isn't related to what you'll end up doing 9-to-5 after you get out, and explore that thing.<p>EDIT: slackerIII's point about making new friends is also spot-on. Luckily, extra-curriculars can make that easier so the two tips go hand-in-hand. ;) The social atmosphere of college is completely unique (at least in American society; I realize you may or may not be US-ian), so open yourself up to it and take advantage.

Take your best idea and RUN WITH IT! Don't quit college - the degree DOES matter; But use that free time and run all aspects of your "startup" business - create it, deploy it, market it, refine it. You can do that AND keep your classwork up. Once you're out in the post-grad world, the pressure is on - so take advantage of it NOW and see those ideas come to life!!<p>Go on an info-diet, CREATE, don't CONSUME.

Start doing some part-time businesses now. Get with classmates, especially classmates outside your major, put together something quick and dirty and see if you can make a few bucks. You'll learn what you need to complement your skills &#38; personality and get some experience balancing different parts of your life, going through the whole business start-deliver-grow-falter-fail cycle. Invaluable experience and killer resume/interview material.<p>For social groups, find groups _outside_ of college. You'll be able to connect with people at all stages of life, and you won't be an outsider the day you graduate. Find something with a worldwide presence, whether it's the group or just the activity itself. I did medieval re-enactment, I connected with not only other medievalists worldwide, but all historical enthusiasts. Travel? Free room and board and often transport from the more established co-enthusiasts. Instant networking, too--jobs, advice, backing, prospects, you name it.

I'm currently in my last year of computer science. This will be my second degree, the first being a B.A. in Philosophy. I definitely think that your on the right track with the comp.sci./math double major. However, like you, I find the comp.sci courses easy and, for the most part, really uninteresting. Not that the info. isn't useful, it has mostly to do with having to sit through lectures where the professors have been teaching the same courses for years now and are utterly bored with the material as well. Unfortunately, a degree seems to be the main currency with employers, despite the fact I don't think that a comp.sci. degree adequately prepares you for becoming a competent programmer.<p>Ultimately, I would recommend sticking with your program but pursuing your own programming and mathematical interests on the side (if you have time) in order to sustain and augment your enthusiasm for your future profession.<p>Best of luck.

For one thing, don't be too quick to underestimate the value of socialization. You don't have to be a vapid partier just looking to hook up, but making social mistakes is much less costly in college than it is in the business world. Find some groups that interest you, and there are probably girls there that share that interest - it's much harder when you're out.<p>Is there some programming project you're passionate about? In college, it was horse racing and poker for me. Always trying to make a quick buck, I know. Anyway, the only real way to learn about writing code is to do it. Your first project will probably fail, so don't sweat it.<p>If you like this craze, pick an easy language and write a web application. You can get a VPS running for $20-$50 a month, and you could install SVN on there as well. Anyway, have fun and observe yourself - and make sure to study your algorithms!

Participate in the COMAP Mathematical Contest in Modeling. It was the 4 best days of my undergraduate career. I did problem B in 2005, here's a link to the problem set:<p><a href="http://www.comap.com/undergraduate/contests/mcm/contests/2005/problems/" rel="nofollow">http://www.comap.com/undergraduate/contests/mcm/contests/200...</a>

Wow... you sound just like me. I have the same issues with working, and the same desire to work in startups or similar. Honestly, I think it helps a lot to know that I'm not alone.<p>I actually just got this account as I only discovered this site a few days ago (and I love it!) so I don't know if there is an easy way to get in contact with you, but I think it would be interesting to get your name and maybe an AIM screen name or the like.<p>My advice? Make friends, and do whatever whenever while you can. Also, I have an internship in a big business now, and I hate it. It's boring, slow and totally uninteresting. Still, I'm glad I did it. It's something worth experiencing and it's given me new motivation to get good at something and start a business. Find out what you want, and don't stop until you get it -- even if you hate it, the experience is good.

Male bonding activities are never wasted time. Seriously. Even something as small as going along on a beer run, might get you a position on a board twenty years from now, or a great job in an amazing place, or, by far the most valuable of all possibilities, crash space on a sofa in San Francisco.

I'm in the same boat you are, my friend. I'm taking two classes over the summer to start my Jr. year on time.While I can't give you advice from historical experience, I can tell you what I'm doing.<p>Right now I'm using this time to save up some money. I know that I ultimately want to start a company, but I don't know what type (startup, lifestyle) or even in what industry. I do know that I like technology, but I don't think that I would be able to use my skills to compete in that industry, though I may be able to use my knowledge there to give myself an advantage somewhere else. Right now I'm doing what I can to see what my interests are, so that I have a plan after college.<p>I see college as two things: A way to meet people and build my network, and a plan B should the "own my own business" plans fall through.

Be careful avoiding things that other people enjoy because you think they are vapid. Try to enjoy them instead.<p>Travel a LOT-- long trips (3-4 weeks per trip if you can swing it). It's very hard to pull this off after college for most people.<p>I'll echo the "meet women" sentiment. For some, it can be hard to meet women after collenge-- especially if you get a job at a startup (most people meet women at jobs and women are notoriously absent from startups).<p>Career-wise, if you want to do a startup someday... Either find a cool startup that you can work at (be picky) or build something that you'd really love to have yourself but no one has made yet.

take art 101 or design 101 or calligraphy 101, something that forces you to learn the basics of design and composition.

What's your ADHD symptoms like?<p>I remember a period of my life where I would have to spend hours on a single page of a book because I wasn't able to retain anything. I should have went to the doctors about it.

I was in a similar boat as you 2 years ago, and I wish I did two (seemingly contradictory) things different: 1st, go outside of your majors - take some acting classes, some poetry classes, some philosophy classes. 2nd, understand your majors - take a couple of hours to research every class your major offers, and decide which ones sound appealing early on - at Rutgers, I finished a CS BA without taking a compilers or OS course, which was, in hindsight pretty clearly, a mistake.

I'm 21 myself, so I don't know if I qualify as an advice giver but...If you want to meet like minded people, you've started in the right place.<p>With this in mind, depending on what metropolitan area you are in/near there should be events... like BarCamp [<a href="http://barcamp.org/" rel="nofollow">http://barcamp.org/</a>] or Refresh [<a href="http://refreshingcities.org/" rel="nofollow">http://refreshingcities.org/</a>].<p>Traveling is definitely something I recommend as well.

Start a website or blog. It is the single best decision I have done in the last decade. I have found many interesting people online that are interested in the same things as me and many interesting people have found me through it.<p>And yes, go out with as many women as possible too. I made the mistake of going to an all-male college.. well just about (~30% female at Georgia Tech).

My advice, is a little different from the rest. All those things are good and all, but it doesn't hurt to lay the ground work for your future.<p>I recommend that you start coding your statup now. This is the best time for it. You have no expenses. You have very few commitments. And you are surrounded by a lot of other smart ambitious people that you can tap. Clubs, professors, classes, will make it easy for you to find out who the smart people are. So if you run into a problem, you can easily find someone to help you understand it.<p>And this way the times when your startup grows very slow, you'll have some other things to play with. Honestly if you don't have an idea now, start throwing some ideas in your head, pick one and start coding, if you change your mind along the way, change your product, you have plenty of time to get a winning combination. And remember, it doesn't need to be rocket science, Facebook is nothing more than a big database.<p>But this shouldn't be your only concern, you have to multi-task. Honestly the startup life is pretty shitty. You work all the time, you lose touch with most of your friends because you constantly skip going out, and unlike college where you are surrounded by women of your age, you end up being pretty much a monk, seeing two-three women your age during the week. So spend that time in college having fun.<p>a) start lifting weights. Trust me, it'll do wonders to your social life and for your self esteem. Honestly if you are afraid of going to the gym, buy a set of weights at a store and workout at home. I actually prefer that because you don't spend the extra time of driving to the gym, and can do it whenever you have free time.(i usually work out when I watch TV since I'm in front of it anyways)<p>b) Join some activity clubs. Honestly you sound like you have no idea what fun things you like. So look at all the clubs at your college and join a bunch and see what you actually like.<p>c) if you want excitement there is nothing better than buying a motorcycle. Start off with a Ninja 250(used). The reason is that its a starter bike(it'll run you like 2K used, 3K new, they hold their value really well). Granted its a little dangerous but thats part of the excitement. Then once you get the basics down, upgrade to a 600cc bike(the most expensive one will run you like 7 grand). And don't upgrade to a 1000cc bike because those are the killers.<p>d) get laid, Honestly college is probably the easiest time of your life for that .You are surrounded by women your age and as long as you are even remotely in shape you'll get a positive answer. If you wear glasses get contacts. Don't fool yourself into thinking that you'll be knee deep in women once you graduate. Like I said, w/o going out I see maybe 1-2 attractive women my age. And if you hate the party scene in college, you'll hate the bar/club scene when you graduate. You don't want to end up like that guy in the 40 year old virgin movie. And trust me, if you ride a bike, have a decent physique and no glasses, in college? You will have NO problem getting women's numbers. All you have to do is initiate the conversation.<p>e) take a road trip, just get into your car and head some place 2000 miles away.<p>f) obviously there are many other exciting things to do, but I don't know your money/location situation, so I dunno if you can afford to go sky diving, or if you live near an ocean so you can learn how to surf/ride a jet ski

N == 1 in my sample but a few random things that I did in college that have made me happy ever since: meet you future spouse; make lifelong friends; learn a foreign language; play in a band; act in a play; and find a life long sport that you enjoy.

Everybody's saying run run run, time's running out! I beg to differ. You'll have time enough for things you don't want to do, later in life. For now, kill time, relax and don't do stuff you don't want to.

Try to meet everyone. Remember, keep track of, and develop real relationships with all of the people you click with.

start doing regular blah blah on HN ;)

Smoke pot.