What is the best advice you can give to someone that is going into their first year of university?

I am going to the University of Manitoba next year and am taking mainly science and math courses. I want to pursue a career in medicine (hopefully) or as various other specialists such as an optometrist, dentist or pharmacist.


What advice can you give me concerning studying habits and learning techniques that will help me with my full courseload starting in September?What is the best advice you can give to someone that is going into their first year of university?
Dont go at all. College is a sham.What is the best advice you can give to someone that is going into their first year of university?
My pre-med students tell me that the best way to manage everything is to study every day. Don't try to cram everything in before a test or a quiz, and be sure to pace yourself.





Also, if you have a tutoring center on campus, or study groups, or group tutoring, or anything voluntary like that to support you academically, take advantage of it. It will help reinforce the material and it's a less pressured way to study. You'll also learn some techniques from others on good note-taking, reviewing, reading, memorization, etc. I found the site for U of M's learning center, so you can check that out before you start classes.





Time management will be the key for you--you might have lots of ';free'; time in your schedule, but that's the time to plan for studying.





Also, yes, as one other answer pointed out, leave some time for socializing, sleeping, and eating. My friend told me in my second year of college, when I insisted I could not leave my room because I had to read more sociological theory, ';You don't want to turn into a mushroom.'; It's all about balance.
I'm following the same sort of career path as you, so here are some tips:





Classwork


-being in science and math, you won't have many assignments (perfect opportunity to make fun of your BA friends!). Spend the extra time going over lectures, doing prelabs, and working through problem sets.


-sometimes the questions given to you won't provide enough practice; you will have to, in effect, assign yourself homework.


-you'll probably have lots of labs, quizzes, and tests scheduled very routinely. Make sure to keep a calendar to keep track of them all.


-talk to people in your program to help keep track of aforementioned issues.





Laying the Groundwork


-plan your courses VERY carefully. Everything has different requirements, not just between programs but even between schools. Make sure to keep your options open


-check out lots of clubs in your 1st year (or at least find out what they're about). It'll look good on your application to be involved, plus once you're in a club you may start thinking of opportunities through which you can do so. Club field trips are awesome fun, too :)
Well, i've never gone through a first year of college for medicine, BUT what I can remember from my freshman year of 'university', is that you cannot put everything on the academics. You WILL quickly burn out. I'm not telling you to ignore all of your studies, but make sure you make time to meet new people and go to parties.