Starting University Advice Repository

Bryan-san

I know quite a few (12+) rationalists and CFAR graduates who are entering University soon or have just recently started University.

There was a lot of advice I wish I had been given or heard before I entered University and I think having a good repository of rationalist-contributed knowledge/advice/suggestions/information/links/DireWarnings could be very helpful to people in that situation.

1. What advice do students starting University need to hear?

2. What advice did your past self need to hear or what advice would have benefited you at that point in time?

3. Many people fail to ask the right questions. What questions do students need to ask themselves and other people?

Any links or guides on any related topics would be helpful. I will be posting some of my own ideas and links in the comments.

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I know quite a few (12+) rationalists and CFAR graduates who are entering University soon or have just recently started University.

1. What advice do students starting University need to hear?

2. What advice did your past self need to hear or what advice would have benefited you at that point in time?

3. Many people fail to ask the right questions. What questions do students need to ask themselves and other people?

Any links or guides on any related topics would be helpful. I will be posting some of my own ideas and links in the comments.

Possibly Relevant Repositories

Life Advice Repository

Boring Advice Repository

Grad Student Advice Repository

Repository Repository

If you are a technical person, concentrate on metaskills (learning to think algorithmically and learning to do and read proofs is much more important than learning python and linear algebra).

I think more theoretical majors are better for metaskills (even if you are practically minded). But I know some will disagree.

Learn both data analysis and programming -- the world will be your oyster.

learning to think algorithmically and learning to do and read proofs is much more important than learning python and linear algebra

I agree in principle, but am not sure of how to focus on the metaskills in practice. In my experience, I mostly learned these kinds of metaskills by trying to get better at concrete object-level skills such as "python and linear algebra", and wouldn't even know how to practice just the metaskill.

(Legend is that the University of Helsinki's Computer Science department decided that the one mathy thing that CS majors ... (read more)

3Lumifer11y

That really depends on what you want to do later on. If you are going into math/CS/etc. grad school, focusing on proofs is a great idea. If you'll get a bachelor's and go get a job, I'd much rather be skilled in Python and linear algebra than in doing proofs.

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