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Discussion on: What advice would you give a CS student starting their freshman year?

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undermark5

My advice applies to way more than just CS, but participate in class. I didn't start doing this until part way through my second year and it made a huge difference. I was able to get on campus jobs as a TA for the courses that I took because of it. One professor wrote essentially a letter of recommendation to the professor in charge and an another professor essentially just straight up offered me the position because I participated in the class that I was taking from him (I was taking the course he needed TAs for as well and he had substitutes for it on occasion so he also knew I was in it), then when I was looking for full time positions my senior year, I was also able to ask my professors for letters of recommendation and just overall had really good relationships with them. (One of them even used the title Dr. with me because of how much he respected me)

Another thing is teach others the concepts that you are learning. My job as a TA really helped me with that, but also I was able to do it working together with my friends. You understand things so much more fully when you are able to teach them.

Last piece of advice is make friends in your classes. You might not see them again after you graduate, but I made good buddies with some people and we would do group projects together or ask each other about classes they've already taken or things like that.