Have someone who will always be there for you.

(and is nice to hug)

By the way, if you stick around B-town, I will be this person for you.

And if anything ever happens, I should be your first phone call.

Avoid Illegal Things

I served on the Purdue Campus Appeals Board...Just trust me on this one.

One of my friends replied: 

"Haha... avoid illegal things. Freshman year would have been boring if everyone was a goody two-shoes. The trick is to be able to run fast or just know how to avoid getting busted in general."

I half agree with this. Both you and I did something wrong in our former lives and run like turtles, so only 'knowing how to avoid getting busted' would work for us. 

Well, I say: let other people best and get bested by the police/courts while you just sit back and laugh at their lack of common sense.

Consider joining a book club, or at least, keep on reading

One of my regrets was not looking for a book club!

You and I love to read books of all categories (well, namely....fantasy. haha!), but I think that I should have taken more time to read books.

When I snuck home on the weekends, you and I would hit the Barnes & Nobles for some (look for a pair of seats!) reading.

And get your Kindle, naughty. 

Outsmart your friends by challenging them to play games

Exempli gratia (e.g.) ("free examples"):

• Euchre
• Monopoly
• Risk
• Apples to Apples
• Scene it
• Cranium
• Billiards
• Ping pong
• Badminton

Or, if you are keen to donating money to friends, Texas Hold 'em (and other forms of poker).

If you want to make your guys ridiculously happy, have a baking contest with a few friends and have them judge.

Get Involved with Extra-Curricular Activities

Meet people who are interested in similar things as you. I met a fantastic people that I would have not mean otherwise. 

Examples:

• Purdue Innovations was fellow entrepreneurs.
  
• Purdue Billiards Club was fellow billiards players
• Purdue Student Union Board was fellow leaders/achievers
• Purdue Science Olympiad was fellow scientists

Use your Google Calendar to make time for things! 

Make time to hang out with your good friends

because more than likely, you won't see them after you graduate (and grow up).

For example: Me. I graduated and moved to Singapore. Hooray me.

Make a weekly phone call to a good friend, and/or make a weekly game with a group.

You know about my Sunday night Monopoly games, and my allergies to the cat.

If you're awesome, you will find a group of people who love to play Risk or are willing to try (and then become hooked). Risk is all about outsmarting people (with a little luck).

A monthly movie night wouldn't hurt either. But try to avoid things that you're allergic to, like...dogs.

Set aside an hour every week to clean your room/apartmentCleaning

I never did this, and my apartment became an endless pit until I couldn't take it any more. 

The worst of all the pits accumulated during those hated exam times (which is entirely reasonable), so during the stress free periods, I would clean these up (and play pool, but that's irrelevant).

This is to keep your sanity.

This means: 

• no food laying around
• a visible carpet/floor
• a rolly chair that does not roll on paper, clothing, or (heaven forbid) trash

When I had my awesome apartment, I would wake up very early and make my neighbors (well, I assume) angry because I would "iRobot" the place while I shower. 

AUTOMATIC VACCUUM CLEANERS RULE!!!

Try to Kill Three Birds with One Stone

At minimum, two.

This means that if you are majoring in Accounting and perhaps considering also a Marketing minor (or major), look for classes that would count for BOTH. Some classes overlap for multiple majors/minors, so consider these "golden tickets."

This will save you time, grief and money as well. See "Try to Test Out of Everything."

Boosting Your GPA

Let's talk about a word that makes me smile: Minors. Yes, in the plural.

Of course, I am assuming that the insertion of minors would not make you study for a longer period than needed.

Minors will boost your GPA. The ones that I considered (and some that I achieved) include:

• Philosophy
  (worst mistake of my life. DO NOT TAKE A PHILOSOPHY COURSE)
• Psychology
  
• Biotechnology
• Chemistry
• Entrepreneurship & Innovation [Certificate]
• Management
• Spanish
• French
• Latin
• Classics

Let me repeat this one more time. DO NOT TAKE A PHILOSOPHY COURSE.

Philosophy courses do not make you actually examine your philosophy (maybe until you qualify for upper class courses, or maybe never at all); they make you memorize and regurgitate philosophies of ancient (meaning, Dead) people.

If you're into philosophy, I would recommend just looking at the books required for some of the courses that you have interest and borrow them from the library to read in your spare time, like I did. Hooray Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Nichomean Ethics!

Try to Test Out of Everything

At Purdue, in order to pass out of inorganic (baby) chemistry, you just need to take the test out exam (and not necessarily the AP Chemistry exam) and score better than a 60%. This is a D!!!

However, if you really did enjoy D-Bake's class, take the class because they are usually 4-5 credits each and that A that you earn (especially when most people SUCK at chemistry and the curve helps you big time) will indeed boost your GPA to happiness.

Even if your pre-medical advisor tells you that medical school requires you to take the class, just taking the time to take the [free] college-offered exam gives you an idea of where you would stand in the class. If you don't pass, then you know you have to work harder in this class. If you do, consider it a light-to-moderate amount of studying that you have to devote to this class.

Testing out of everything saves you time (classes, studying), grief ([group] projects), and money (course fees).

It is possible to survive a semester with 24 credit hours.

But only if 9 of those credit hours are language or one of those other GPA-boosters.

We always excelled at language, for some abnormal reason. 

If you look at my Google Calendar post, you will see my 24-credit hour schedule.

Jacob K. promised me a candy bar if I made it out alive from 3 science classes my junior year in high school - and I'm still waiting!!! lol Compared to this, it was nothing.

Sit In on Weed Out Classes Before Taking Them For A Grade

If you find out that you're going to be taking a weed-out class for next year, try to sit in on it during the year/semester before (depending on whether the class is offered only once, twice, or even three times during the year).

Don't bother buying the textbook because teachers like to change textbooks between years, even semesters.

Most weed-out classes, meaning that they try to 'weed-out' the lesser people from the programin which they're currently enrolled, are huge. You won't be noticed as someone not enrolled in the class. Just don't show up for exams. If you have a pop quiz, just write some fake name down. You can try Twinkle Bear.

You don't have to actually learn anything, but just try to become familiar with the terms. That way, when you're in the class for a grade, it wouldn't take you by surprise like Organic Chemistry did for me. The first time I saw some of the terms were on the exam.

PLAYING SUDOKU OR DOING CROSSWORD PUZZLES IN A WEEDOUT CLASS IS STUPID, AND YOU WILL REGRET IT.

Avoid Drama! Avoid Drama! Avoid Drama!

Avoiding drama at all costs.

Be fairly pleasant (nice) to everyone and keep your mouth shut. You may divulge your actual opinions to one or two people who you trust. Keep in mind that the ones closest to you can do you the most harm. 

Getting involved with drama is a waste of time, and as you know, I am a very outspoken, opinionated girl but did not pay dearly for it in college.

Make friends and be merry! Don't talk shit about other people unless you want them to know not to talk to you anymore. 

This is the number one way to get rid of someone. You just talk shit, they get angry and may confront you, and once the confrontation is over, you don't have to worry about them anymore because your real friends will stand by you. The fake (or dumb) ones will side with the other.

Google Calendar Saved My Life

I first discovered the miracle called Google Calendar in my sophomore year. I wish I had it in freshman year.

Every Monday I would print out the agenda for the next week and carry it around in a binder, making notes, writing down homework, and making adjustments accordingly - then going home and keying it into the computer.

This picture is not meant to scare you, yet it does anyways. It scares me even now:

I don't expect you to be insane like me and enroll in 24 credit hours, but I found that once I scheduled dinners or lunches with friends, made appointments, planned out homework time and study groups, I actually slept more than everyone else.

I had a separate calendar for all my courses. At the beginning of the semester, once I received the syllabus with a calendar, I would input all the exam, quiz, and project due dates.  

Google Calendar is so easy to use!!

I also input club/society meetings, study/homework times on the weekends, and even social outings. 

I don't think this is considered OCD, but it sure was close to it. If you can manage your time, you can show your college that you, like I once did, own it.

Partying

You will be invited to lots of parties. I encourage you to dabble into them, see if they are for you.

They were never for me, and I quickly grew to hate them. Yes, they are times of socialization and drunkeness, but I am going to sit on my high horse for 3 seconds and say that a girl who is drunk every weekend (or at all, actually) just tells me that she is distasteful. I then leave.

The first time I got drunk was on my 21st birthday. A lot of people were excited to see me drink at all because I don't drink.

I hate the taste of alcohol (yes, this includes beer). You are free to try, but be smart about it. Don't drive, and certainly don't go home with some boy.

People who succeed in college may party hard, but they study even harder.

I never partied, so I didn't have to study hard.

Preamble

Hello My Dearest Tinky (Tinkerbottom),

Yes, you will never outgrow this assortment of nicknames.

A lot of people saw me at the end of my three-supposed-to-be-four-years marathon and asked me for advice. 

I know that you may have a lot of common sense and will not need some of this information, but I want to give everything that I have thought of to you anyways.  The things that don't apply to you are gifts to the rest of the audience who have less common sense than you or I. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but those who lack any common sense probably will show up in one of my e-mails from the Darwin Award newsletter.

Much Love,

M