So I'm in college...

[iDante]

And it's really boring. I have a good 12 hours of free time every day once classes and homework are removed from a 16-hour day, and so far the only way I can fill it is with wowcraft, minecraft, and super smash bros brawl. The only fun I have is when I go to brawl tournaments every few weekends.

So, what's something really fun that I can do while here? Humans vs zombies only lasts a few more days then it's back to the normal boredom.
On top of that, pick two of these majors: electrical engineering, physics, and computer science.

[jrgp]

What the hell? You're wasting your free time at college with nerds and video games. Start talking to girls and attending college f**k fests!

Also, I'd go with compsci and electrical engineering. If you want to start hitting on them with crowbar's freeman style you'd want to go with physics though.

[{LAW} Gamer_2k4]

Computer science and physics.

When I was in college, I played intramural sports, joined the judo club, worked as a tutor, and did some writing.  Now that I've graduated and have more free time, I'm teaching myself piano as well.  The opportunities are there if you look for them; sometimes you just have to take a little initiative.  Is there someone you've admired, something you've always wished you could do? Do whatever it takes to get closer to that.

Oh, and I guess jrgp's right about getting out and socializing.  The connections you make in college will likely last longer than the ones you've made at any other time, so get out there and get busy.

[VijchtiDoodah]

It's time you learned to interact with people properly. People aren't lined up waiting to be your friend, so make some friends.

Talk to everyone. Learn how to be endearing. Get along with people you don't particularly like and stay close to those you do. Make people want to hang out with you.

Clubs are a start, but don't ignore the small moments before class starts when you're sitting next to someone you don't know, or when you're waiting in line for food, or in an elevator. Build rapport and invite people into your life to study, play games, join your club, join your friends for outings -- whatever. Think of a new thing to do every day and drag your friends and at least one new person to do it with you.

The two most important things you will ever learn from college are how to learn and how to extract good times and interesting stories from the people you've collected as friends.

f**k video games, surfing the web, and any other time-waster unless you're hanging out with and talking to people at the same time. Otherwise, you might as well masturbate your days away.

If you do this, you're set with friends for life. You will always be able to make friends wherever you go and you'll get laid doing it. If you don't, your four years and the years after won't be miserable, but you'll be missing out on so much.

Just remember to take some care of how you dress and how you look. Personal grooming and exercise really do make people treat you differently. Most of it is how you see yourself and how you project that confidence when you're in style and in shape. The rest is because you look like you have your life under control just by wearing clothes that fit.

[iDante]

jrgp: Those are probably the two I'll end up doing, just for the money's sake.

Gamer_2k4: Because of you I've actually contemplated writing a book. I've never taken the initiative, however.

Vijcht: I've been sitting here for a good hour staring at your words and trying to evaluate my whole life. I may not entirely agree with everything you've said but I think you're mostly right. Fortunately for me I'm not antisocial; so far I've made plenty of friends in college and we frequently do story-generating activities together (had one of the best days of my life on Thursday, I might share). Unfortunately for me, that only consumes a small portion of my time.

I've now spent another half hour trying to further explain my specific problems but it all either makes me sound like a snob or makes me confused. I'm going to go to sleep, maybe I'll have better luck on the morrow.

[n00bface]

Vijcht: I've been sitting here for a good hour staring at your words and trying to evaluate my whole life. I may not entirely agree with everything you've said but I think you're mostly right. Fortunately for me I'm not antisocial; so far I've made plenty of friends in college and we frequently do story-generating activities together (had one of the best days of my life on Thursday, I might share). Unfortunately for me, that only consumes a small portion of my time.

Step it up and make even more friends, and have even more best-days-of-your-life.  You're limiting yourself, whether you realize it or not.  If you're coming to a forum looking for advise on how to fill up the 12 hours that you have leftover in a day, you're not realizing your social potential, man.  I think the most important part of going to college is networking, and developing a solid social background (at least for Liberal Arts majors, right??? RIGHT???) and if you're not involving yourself in absolutely everything that you can, you're wasting your money and your time.

My dad's an Electrical Engineer, and he leads a great life.  He also double-majored in physics.  My taxi driver was a Computer Science major.  Now that you know my biases, I can tell you to go for Electrical Engineering or Physics!  Good luck.

[a-4-year-old]

You have far too much free time. if you aren't working 10 hour days at least then your college is a waste of time or you are skipping work and are going to fail out, either way, that will teach you nothing.

I'm not picking a major for you, nobody can.  You need to decide which subject you like enough to devote an enormous amount of time to it over the next four years (and beyond).

This is all coming from a Freshman CS Major.

[iDante]

You have far too much free time. if you aren't working 10 hour days at least then your college is a waste of time or you are skipping work and are going to fail out, either way, that will teach you nothing.

For this first year the classes I'm taking are either things that I've already done or just plain very easy. It teaches me very little but I have to get this year out of the way in order to do next year.

[Smegma]

Physics should be in your choices no matter what, as it will open up more doors. I'm personally more biased towards electrical engineer, but comp sci is fine too.

[Mistercharles]

Well, this is my first year in college too— I'm starting out with art school. I'm much more interested in pursuing things like carpentry, transportation infrastructure, and electrical engineering as a job, but all of those are tied to an aesthetic. I want to spend a couple years developing that aesthetic as well as further developing my current artistic trades— photographic processes, as well as traditional film making (by hand, cutting film et cetera), sound recording and sound design. I'm also planning on voicing my aesthetic in the more practical trades mentioned— learning some design fundamentals for transportation infrastructure, getting a foundation in industrial design as well as learning how to manipulate sheet metal for electrical engineering, and so on.

So far art school has been extremely slow. I'm going through foundational drawing, sculpture, and design classes— and by foundational, I mean bare-bones foundational. My design class, which I was hoping would help me, is extremely philosophical and revolves around drawing dots and squares. The other classes are fine, but aren't completely relevant to my interests. I'm making much less real progress than I was last year, when I was out of school, bumming around and working various labor jobs— I least then I had plenty of off-time to develop my skills and do research. Now I haven't been able to do anything of that sort, everything has been progressing very very slowly yet I'm still constantly occupied by tedium.

I have yet to make friends— I haven't found anyone who really interests me. Maybe it's because I'm at art school— everyone I've met who's shared my art interests has been very dull intellectually.

[a-4-year-old]

Maybe it's because I'm at art school— everyone I've met who's shared my art interests has been very dull intellectually.

I have found the same problem at my Engineering/Business school.

If engineering is what you want to do then major in engineering, one of my classes is an "engineering design lab".

[jrgp]

What college are you at, rabid?

[{LAW} Gamer_2k4]

Gamer_2k4: Because of you I've actually contemplated writing a book.

I'm glad to hear that.

I've never taken the initiative, however.

Oh.  Well, you have 12 hours free each day; even setting aside one of those to do some brainstorming or drafting is better than the nothing you're putting into it now.

If it helps your motivation at all, let me assure you that writing is a very rewarding experience.  There's something special about being able to spend hours reading through a story and realizing, "Hey, I wrote all that!"

[jerich]

Meet new people, and I mean ALOT of new people...because if SSBB is the best you can do in the weekends in college, you're doing something completely wrong.

[w00titsme]

College: IDK. Since I go to an adult education school the only girls I see are black chicks named Lequisha and white chicks five months pregnant. My hobbies consist of nunchuck fights and being a vigilante assassin in the shadows of detroit. Yes i'm a hood nigga'.

[Blacksheepboy]

Try to have at least one adventure every day, yeah? I've heard of a fella would jumps into the ocean naked in front of a girl he's just met.

[Smegma]

getting a foundation in industrial design as well as learning how to manipulate sheet metal for electrical engineering,

So you want to be a mechanical engineer.

[X-Rayz]

Get a girlfriend. If that doesn't work, get two.

[Mistercharles]

What college are you at, rabid?

I'm at a New York state university, in Purchase. It's a fine school, but it's not for me.

So you want to be a mechanical engineer.

Well, I don't know. I have several interests that I feel relate to engineering, Those include:
—circuit design: designing my own electronics to perform specific tasks i want to carry out (i wouldn't have to buy expensive equipment that only sort of does what i want as well as an array of superfluous functions, also the benefit of knowing exactly how a device works because "i built it" is extremely valuable, not to mention i'd benefit from the experience of building the circuits). also designing simple analog solutions to meet common needs (ex. powered portable speaker with 'input' jack, audio effects circuits for electronic musicians, dimmer plug-ins for household lamps)
—designing circuit housing: ergonomics of controls, ease of use, materials used, as well as the aesthetic of a homemade device (dyno embossed labels, steel boxes, the "feel" of the product, all that good stuff). also, manipulating the materials (bending and welding sheet metal, cutting holes in it) and putting the product together myself, being able to make a good product without needing to send plans out to a specialist.
—this is more of a side note, but I'm fascinated by underlying systems and hierarchies in complex man-made structures. Whenever I'm in an industrial facility (functional or abandoned), I have to follow all of the pipes and hosing to figure out where it all goes, and what it all does. A lot of people drew trains when they were kids, I drew railway lines and the ways that they connected to each other.

I hate to take over this thread, but if noobface, smegma, or anyone else with knowledge on these fields can give me some direction, that'd be great.

[iDante]

I'm thinking it's gonna be compsci and physics.
About the social thing - I'm working on it. I introduced myself to a whole bunch of people over the last few days, I'll see how things go if I actively try to be social.