what mistakes did you make entering college?

JourneyMan8

going to college as a mature student this year and just wondering if anyone has any advice like easy mistakes I can avoid. little things or big things whatever.

some of the questions im interested in are how did you study and which did you find the most effective, also how often did you study? what type of laptop did you get? I've also been told don't buy the course books can anyone explain why this would be the case?

joeguevara

JourneyMan8 wrote: »

going to college as a mature student this year and just wondering if anyone has any advice like easy mistakes I can avoid. little things or big things whatever.

some of the questions im interested in are how did you study and which did you find the most effective, also how often did you study? what type of laptop did you get? I've also been told don't buy the course books can anyone explain why this would be the case?

What type of course is it? Is it in an IT or University? Will you be staying on or off campus? How old are you? Have you been to College before? How long is the course? What are your aims? Do you want to have a college social life?

JourneyMan8

joeguevara wrote: »

What type of course is it? Is it in an IT or University? Will you be staying on or off campus? How old are you? Have you been to College before? How long is the course? What are your aims? Do you want to have a college social life?

first time college goer late 20s, IT course in a an IT. 4 year course and my aim being just to doing really well but obviously out of education for a long time and kind of worried in that sense.

and finally im not bothered about social life as it's been confirmed as online for the 1st and probably 2nd semester.

Wanderer78

JourneyMan8 wrote:

some of the questions im interested in are how did you study and which did you find the most effective, also how often did you study? what type of laptop did you get? I've also been told don't buy the course books can anyone explain why this would be the case?

You ll have to experiment with different methods of studying, different environments etc.

For me, I found it extremely helpful to record the audio of each class, for playback, this is handy for many things, it can be played back while doing other things, commuting, work around the house, and it's also handy for reviewing stuff etc, but this could be subjective, depends on your area of study. Sit close to the lecture, to increase the likelihood of a better quality recording, ask for permission to do so, some may not like it, secretly record if needs be.

Get to know the other students, they can be extremely helpful, forming study groups etc.

Laptop truly is course dependant, sometimes isn't necessary at all, and sometimes absolutely critical, but generally is handy to have.

Sit on buying course books for a while, it may not be truly necessary and again it could be critical, course dependant, and sometimes can be 'aquired' online for free, your fellow students will show you this!

A chap I use to work with went back as a mature student, I was also myself, he treated it like a job, great idea, he went into college at the same time, everyday, and left more or less at the same time, everyday. you may find your timetable a bit all over the place, depends on the course, you may start particular days later than others, and finish some later than others, make use of your time on campus, you can sometimes have lectures well spread out time wise, so make good use of this time, doing course work and looking after yourself, eating, exercising, socialising etc, all in balance of course. Consider joining some college clubs and societies, an important part of third level is simply having fun, within moderation of course, I understand this can be difficult as a mature student but....

I wish you the very best in your studies, third level can be extremely stressful, so please look after yourself, good sleep routine, healthy diet, regular exercise etc etc, don't eat the books too much, and most importantly, have fun, best of luck with it.

Wanderer78

JourneyMan8 wrote:

first time college goer late 20s, IT course in a an IT. 4 year course and my aim being just to doing really well but obviously out of education for a long time and kind of worried in that sense.

A good laptop is gonna be critical here, the IT folks on boards can help you chose, don't cheap it, and don't go all out either, they ll probably advise you in the course on what to get, and more importantly, what not to get. They'll probably be a lot of coding in that course, do you know what this means, coding?

DeeAvery

My number 1 regret of first year as a mautre student was working too hard. My grades reflected my work but it wasn't worth it. Particularly as my grades don't count till 4th year anyway. We got a snow day for Storm Ophelia and I spent that whole day studying. I should have ate junk food and watched netflix.

is_that_so

JourneyMan8 wrote: »

going to college as a mature student this year and just wondering if anyone has any advice like easy mistakes I can avoid. little things or big things whatever.

some of the questions im interested in are how did you study and which did you find the most effective, also how often did you study? what type of laptop did you get? I've also been told don't buy the course books can anyone explain why this would be the case?

Mature students even at 23 have much more of a focus than the 18-19 year old just having fun. The hardest part is getting yourself back into education mode and the learning. Go with the flow I'd say and work it out as you go along but take deadlines seriously! And have some fun yourself!

LessOutragePlz

DeeAvery wrote: »

My number 1 regret of first year as a mautre student was working too hard. My grades reflected my work but it wasn't worth it. Particularly as my grades don't count till 4th year anyway. We got a snow day for Storm Ophelia and I spent that whole day studying. I should have ate junk food and watched netflix.

I'd agree with this, you should find out what years count towards the result of your overall degree.
For me for example only my final year counted towards my final degree grade so you have done poorly for the first 3 years and then done well in final year when it really mattered.

So there's no point putting yourself under pressure for the first 3 years if they won't count towards your final degree grade. Also try join a society or club if you can I know it might not be feasible at the moment but you should be able to in the future. I went back as a mature and really enjoyed it everyone was sound and I'm still friends with some of the people I first met in college.

Design78

I went back for a part time degree 20 years after leaving school. I was really nervous initially of assignments and exams having not done them for so long and also I wasn't a great student when I was in school. There was no need to worry if you enjoy what your studying you will be fine.
I worked really hard the whole way through chasing high grades and although I did put in some neddless hours I think it was worth it for the confidence boost I got achieving high marks, but that's totally personal.

What was invaluable was forming a study group, we shared the workload for a lot of the exam prep and it made a huge difference.

For the books as others have said hang back a few weeks to sus it out but also it very dependant on the course.

JourneyMan8

Wanderer78 wrote: »

A good laptop is gonna be critical here, the IT folks on boards can help you chose, don't cheap it, and don't go all out either, they ll probably advise you in the course on what to get, and more importantly, what not to get. They'll probably be a lot of coding in that course, do you know what this means, coding?

yeah was holding back on buying a laptop in the hope the people in charge of the course had any good recommendations, will be lots of coding yeah it's more to security side of IT so will defo need a good computer. cheers for the response.

JourneyMan8

LessOutragePlz wrote: »

I'd agree with this, you should find out what years count towards the result of your overall degree.
For me for example only my final year counted towards my final degree grade so you have done poorly for the first 3 years and then done well in final year when it really mattered.

So there's no point putting yourself under pressure for the first 3 years if they won't count towards your final degree grade. Also try join a society or club if you can I know it might not be feasible at the moment but you should be able to in the future. I went back as a mature and really enjoyed it everyone was sound and I'm still friends with some of the people I first met in college.

are the people in charge of the courses really open in telling you that "the first 3 years" don't matter towards your end grade"? yeah will defo get into clubs and that in the 2nd year when covid passes fingers crossed.

Wanderer78

JourneyMan8 wrote: »

yeah was holding back on buying a laptop in the hope the people in charge of the course had any good recommendations, will be lots of coding yeah it's more to security side of IT so will defo need a good computer. cheers for the response.

the IT folks here on boards might also be able to give you some ideas on what computer to be looking for, just dont cheap it, you ll be driven demented with it, but make sure you re looking after yourself, work will come thick and fast, best of luck with it

Wanderer78

JourneyMan8 wrote: »

are the people in charge of the courses really open in telling you that "the first 3 years" don't matter towards your end grade"? yeah will defo get into clubs and that in the 2nd year when covid passes fingers crossed.

oddly, the grades of the first three dont really count, but do put the work in, coding is bloody hard, i struggled with it, i just dont have the mind for it, some lads click with it quickly though, and become very good, very quickly, but certainly dont kill yourself

JourneyMan8

Wanderer78 wrote: »

oddly, the grades of the first three dont really count, but do put the work in, coding is bloody hard, i struggled with it, i just dont have the mind for it, some lads click with it quickly though, and become very good, very quickly, but certainly dont kill yourself

yeah few of my mates done computer science back in the day and they've been saying im throwing myself in the deep end especially with the security side of things, but when covid came i just knew i needed to take a chance on a career change while the world was paused.

Wanderer78

JourneyMan8 wrote: »

yeah few of my mates done computer science back in the day and they've been saying im throwing myself in the deep end especially with the security side of things, but when covid came i just knew i needed to take a chance on a career change while the world was paused.

ah its a great idea, it wont be easy though, and you could click with it very quickly, i have seen this happen to someone who hadnt a clue what they were getting into, hes only in the very early stages of his career, and his future is looking really good, hes an exceptional coder, and his employers know it

I made a grave error of judgement on returning to the to do the diploma year (year '3' of the 4 year for Degree) after working a year out.

I messed up good and proper.

Heard I was talked about in an unpositive light by the lecturers afterwards in subsequent years.

EDIT: and yes, my lecturers said in conversation about me "I have no respect for him"


20 years ago now. Have accepted how things panned out.

bobbyy gee

i drank all through college and slept with every girl i could but i kept up my A grades

Sam Hain

Walked into the revolving door.

Surreptitious

DeeAvery wrote: »

My number 1 regret of first year as a mautre student was working too hard. My grades reflected my work but it wasn't worth it. Particularly as my grades don't count till 4th year anyway. We got a snow day for Storm Ophelia and I spent that whole day studying. I should have ate junk food and watched netflix.

Wrong. The only reason I got into Postgrad Trinity is because they took all my grades from fist year onwards into consideration. If not applying for Postgrad then don't worry.

Your interim results may not count towards your final degree but they might be useful if you are looking for an internship or if there are limited places available in some optional modules or for progression or something.

mojesius

Skipping lectures and trimming down on study for modules I disliked and overinvesting in the ones I liked. Should have been more balanced.

By the time exams/course work came along, I had studied way too much in depth on the subjects I was drawn to, and couldn't summarise all that knowledge succinctly. It was totally unnecessary. For the modules I disliked, it was last minute job stuff.

I got away with it in my undergrad as the good grades narrowly compensated for the bad, but fell short by a few points of a 1st in my MA because of it.

DeeAvery

Surreptitious wrote: »

Wrong. The only reason I got into Postgrad Trinity is because they took all my grades from fist year onwards into consideration. If not applying for Postgrad then don't worry.

I think you're taking what I was saying too far. I do think you can work excessively, and I have seen mature students do this and burn themselves out. I wasn't taking days off and staying in the library until it closed every weeknight. Which is just not necessary in first year. I know people who also had this kind of behaviour and it negatively impacted their grades because of burn out the effect it had on their mental health. I know mature students who literally had to leave first year exams because they began to break down crying in them.

I'm not saying grades in the first years are pointless but you can still get 2.1s and firsts without draining you're life from any down time, or societies, sports etc. I stand by that my biggest regret of my degree was working too hard in first year. Its about balance and priorities.

Surreptitious

DeeAvery wrote: »

I think you're taking what I was saying too far. I do think you can work excessively, and I have seen mature students do this and burn themselves out. I wasn't taking days off and staying in the library until it closed every weeknight. Which is just not necessary in first year. I know people who also had this kind of behaviour and it negatively impacted their grades because of burn out the effect it had on their mental health. I know mature students who literally had to leave first year exams because they began to break down crying in them.

I'm not saying grades in the first years are pointless but you can still get 2.1s and firsts without draining you're life from any down time, or societies, sports etc. I stand by that my biggest regret of my degree was working too hard in first year. Its about balance and priorities.

Well that's true too. I remember a mature student crying at the final exams. I think she was failing everything.

joeguevara

I know you said that you aren’t bothered about a social life as online for 2 semesters but I remember doing my masters and one mature student decided not to interact with the class and while pleasant never had a conversation for the first half of the year. During group projects he found it hard to integrate, and also when the class were revising he didn’t have the benefit of any group discussions or problem solving. It was nobodies fault but just difficult to bridge it. Also, it’s not all about study and sometimes blowing off steam with people going through the same pressure is so rewarding. Even if you have your own friends sometimes they can’t relate or don’t want to be hearing about college work. FinalLy these people will be potential contacts colleagues or even bossses in the future so will always help.

Doesn’t mean you need to be Frank the tank but any zoom drinks or extracurricular I’d advise to get stuck in. At the end of the day you may have a blast. Good luck and hope all goes well.

Tell me how

Aside from whether grades count or not, I think 'start as you mean to go on' is better than trying to make up for lost time later. Content will build on that which you covered before I expect and if you didn't cover it appropriately, then you could find yourself struggling to make up for that. That doesn't mean you have to be up all night studying but don't go too far the other way either.

Other than that, I read recently a trick for approaching text books (which are generally mostly for referencing than knowing in detail but), read the sample questions and answers at the end of each chapter before reading the chapter. That will identify the key topics and in what way to consider them as you are reading.

Other than that, I did a Masters a couple years ago which had a large volume delivered online and each module had discussion boards which were reviewed to some degree towards grades so get involved with these (similar to Boards) if they will be used. Try to aim to complete any work for submission at least 24 hours before it is due because when you run late, and you will, you will have a buffer to play with.

Oh, one thing I would definitely recommend is getting the hang of referencing work correctly and applying this from the start. There are plugins such as Mendeley for MS Word which will help with this but you need to know which style must be used and be diligent then in doing so and confirming it works correctly before just doing it blindly.

Wanderer78

joeguevara wrote:

I know you said that you aren’t bothered about a social life as online for 2 semesters but I remember doing my masters and one mature student decided not to interact with the class and while pleasant never had a conversation for the first half of the year. During group projects he found it hard to integrate, and also when the class were revising he didn’t have the benefit of any group discussions or problem solving. It was nobodies fault but just difficult to bridge it. Also, it’s not all about study and sometimes blowing off steam with people going through the same pressure is so rewarding. Even if you have your own friends sometimes they can’t relate or don’t want to be hearing about college work. FinalLy these people will be potential contacts colleagues or even bossses in the future so will always help.

Mature student may have been very introverted, may have found it difficult to integrate, and it does cause problems for everyone, our educational system is very poorly accommodating to such people, and they can be a great asset to their class mates

JourneyMan8

joeguevara wrote: »

I know you said that you aren’t bothered about a social life as online for 2 semesters but I remember doing my masters and one mature student decided not to interact with the class and while pleasant never had a conversation for the first half of the year. During group projects he found it hard to integrate, and also when the class were revising he didn’t have the benefit of any group discussions or problem solving. It was nobodies fault but just difficult to bridge it. Also, it’s not all about study and sometimes blowing off steam with people going through the same pressure is so rewarding. Even if you have your own friends sometimes they can’t relate or don’t want to be hearing about college work. FinalLy these people will be potential contacts colleagues or even bossses in the future so will always help.

Doesn’t mean you need to be Frank the tank but any zoom drinks or extracurricular I’d advise to get stuck in. At the end of the day you may have a blast. Good luck and hope all goes well.

yeah good point this, will defo get involved. didn't realise study groups were actually a big part of college, that is something i can defo see myself doing and something that will be help me a lot. thanks for the reply.

JourneyMan8

Tell me how wrote: »

Aside from whether grades count or not, I think 'start as you mean to go on' is better than trying to make up for lost time later. Content will build on that which you covered before I expect and if you didn't cover it appropriately, then you could find yourself struggling to make up for that. That doesn't mean you have to be up all night studying but don't go too far the other way either.

Other than that, I read recently a trick for approaching text books (which are generally mostly for referencing than knowing in detail but), read the sample questions and answers at the end of each chapter before reading the chapter. That will identify the key topics and in what way to consider them as you are reading.

Other than that, I did a Masters a couple years ago which had a large volume delivered online and each module had discussion boards which were reviewed to some degree towards grades so get involved with these (similar to Boards) if they will be used. Try to aim to complete any work for submission at least 24 hours before it is due because when you run late, and you will, you will have a buffer to play with.

Oh, one thing I would definitely recommend is getting the hang of referencing work correctly and applying this from the start. There are plugins such as Mendeley for MS Word which will help with this but you need to know which style must be used and be diligent then in doing so and confirming it works correctly before just doing it blindly.

will screenshot this and keep mendeley in my mind thanks. another thing do colleges help you towards the cost of microsoft office and similar stuff that is often needed? like is there a college account that everyone can access or is it on the student to purchase all this kind of stuff? this is probably an obvious answer but had to ask lol

Tell me how

JourneyMan8 wrote: »

will screenshot this and keep mendeley in my mind thanks. another thing do colleges help you towards the cost of microsoft office and similar stuff that is often needed? like is there a college account that everyone can access or is it on the student to purchase all this kind of stuff? this is probably an obvious answer but had to ask lol

If there is module specific software which they want you to use, they will generally be able to provide access to a student authorisation code which will allow it to run with reduced features, or a watermark (on graphics software) or for a fixed amount of time. It would be a good idea to fins out what software you will be expected to work with so that you can factor that in to getting a PC but most coding platforms should be fine on pretty standard spec.

In terms of MS Office, they have moved to a subscription type plan where you pay something like €70/year. You will be expected to provide this for yourself.

Wanderer78

JourneyMan8 wrote:

yeah good point this, will defo get involved. didn't realise study groups were actually a big part of college, that is something i can defo see myself doing and something that will be help me a lot. thanks for the reply.

Study groups can be extremely helpful and more importantly, a bit of craic

JourneyMan8 wrote:

will screenshot this and keep mendeley in my mind thanks. another thing do colleges help you towards the cost of microsoft office and similar stuff that is often needed? like is there a college account that everyone can access or is it on the student to purchase all this kind of stuff? this is probably an obvious answer but had to ask lol

You maybe able to 'aquire' much needed software, your fellow students can assist you in this! Some software companies heavily protect their wares though, but humans are smart.....

ToxicPaddy

Didn't go back full time, just part time. I spoke to a few who had done it before and picked up a few tips.

In Class

- Record all classes and backup to cloud storage in case something happens to your phone
- Focus on the class not taking notes, you could miss something when taking notes. Only jot down brief notes, fill them out later when reviewing notes
- Improve your handwriting as trying to read bad hand writing 6 months later is annoying and time consuming or type notes out later.
- Get into a habit of condensing notes into bullet points after the classes or in the evenings. Store on a Google drive or cloud based storage. This is massively help when revising.
- Ask questions, if you don't understand something, ask. No one will criticise you for asking as I'm sure plenty will not understand but are afraid to ask
- Sit near front of the class.
- Try to form a study group with those of different strengths, it helps balance each others weaknesses out.
- Get your assignments in on time, it gives you a bit of leverage if you do run late on one as the lecturer will be more willing if you're a known for submitting assignments on time.
- Try to understand the course, not just learn notes. It's much better to actually understand the subject especially if it's something you'll need for bigger projects.

That's the class side.

Outside of class

- Join a few clubs which are related to your course, computer clubs etc as well as others not related to it.
- Look for opportunities when on holidays to try and get some experience in companies
- Read up on the latest trends in the IT sector
- Make some friends in your course and keep in touch, it's also a good networking opportunity for future career moves
- Have some fun too but not too much as you're there to learn
- Enjoy it, it's good fun and meant to be a positive experience in life.

As a mature student your already dodge many of the mines. Just remember why you are there and the end game.

If you don't know, ask. Better to have someone roll their eyes than not pick up the knowledge you are there to pick up

The people around you may well stand between you and the job you want in 4 years but then the industry I was aiming for was one of the hardest to get into with less than 10% employment from college

GarIT

I'd say budget a grand at least for the laptop. Although there was a Lenovo going around in bargain alerts that would do the job for 600.

If you're programming, the CPU is going to be the most important component. CPUs can be compared at https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php. I'd go for an i5 or higher, ideally i7 only from the latest series, think it's 10xxx, the new AMD 4xxx series are good if you go for the higher end, I wouldn't bother with anything older. RAM will be the next most important. 16GB should be enough for now 32GB could be good if you want to keep the one laptop for 4 years.

You can get away with a lot lower spec but if you're going to make IT your career it's better to have the right tools if you can afford them. And the alternate is if you go cheaper you will probably have to buy again for your final year. And the time a good laptop will save you will more than make up for the cost.

GarIT

Be careful about recoding lectures. Many colleges consider it piracy and people have been kicked out of college for it. The lecturers will provide lecture slides.

FHFM50

GarIT wrote: »

Be careful about recoding lectures. Many colleges consider it piracy and people have been kicked out of college for it. The lecturers will provide lecture slides.

How would they know?

GarIT

FHFM50 wrote: »

How would they know?

It's obvious if you're taking a video. Some people get caught out sharing them around, posting them on Facebook or something for the rest of the class to see.

And for remote stuff some video calling/conferencing software will tell the presenter if the screen or audio is being recorded and who is doing it.

GarIT

I'd be wary of going too off topic with studying too, you can 100% almost any module from the lecture slides only. I was near the top of the class, got a good first ~80% overall.

Nothing will be on the exam that isn't on the lecture slides in an IT degree unless they specifically tell you.

Each week builds on the last week. Make sure you understand the slides from every previous week before each week and that's all you really need to do.

Wanderer78

GarIT wrote: »

It's obvious if you're taking a video. Some people get caught out sharing them around, posting them on Facebook or something for the rest of the class to see.

And for remote stuff some video calling/conferencing software will tell the presenter if the screen or audio is being recorded and who is doing it.

record audio only, secretly if necessary

crisco10

Depends on the course obviously, but I only realised how essential past papers were later on in my college career. Lecturers recycle questions repeatedly and using them as study aids really focuses your efforts. Even finding papers from your lecturers other classes is helpful.

This worked in Engineering and my Masters in Smurfit.

GarIT

crisco10 wrote: »

Depends on the course obviously, but I only realised how essential past papers were later on in my college career. Lecturers recycle questions repeatedly and using them as study aids really focuses your efforts. Even finding papers from your lecturers other classes is helpful.

This worked in Engineering and my Masters in Smurfit.

Yeah I should have said this too with my comment on lecture slides. If there is a past question you can't get 100% on you need to change that.

Wanderer78

Wanderer78 wrote: »

record audio only, secretly if necessary

Without permission?

Wanderer78

Niner leprauchan wrote:

Without permission?

Ah yea, plough on