Skeptic Project

Depends on your college, I imagine if you're going to ITT tech you can wipe shit on a paper and you'll be praised.

I'm working on my BA thesis at a fairly difficult college, and it is a time consuming endeavor. I started doing research back in June and have been going since. Muertos is right, you need to stay focus and be VERY careful with your sources and citations. If you take good, organized notes and distinguish between your words and the author of your source's notes, you'll be fine. You'll have moments of despair when all your work seems to fall apart, and you'll also have exciting moments when things suddenly really fall into place for you. All in all, I've loved writing this thesis, and it really has taught me a great deal about what real research is.

START SMOKING POT OMNI IT WILL HELP YOUR STUDIES AND MOTIVATION

Omni, you should drop out of school immediately. It's nothing more than a band-aid on a knife wound. Join the Zeitgeist Movement and save the world!

Omni - Two peices of advice come to mind:
1) Make sure the question(s) addressed by the paper are clearly identified
2) Be clear and concise. There's nothing worse than a rambling paper, IMO. I had a class where we were required to read a recent research paper, and write a summary, discussion and critical review in 1 page single spaced. It was an great exercise.

What are your grades and SAT's like?

A's and B's for freshman year, A's currently (I'm a sophomore).

I've taken the SAT's multiple times, but I can't remember the scores. (D:)

Community service is for liberal elites!

Muertos is right, you should stick to AP (or IB) classes as much as possible. But what I found most important for getting in to a difficult school was the utmost honesty about your academic drive. When admissions look at your application, they will use your SATs (ACTs) and grades as a way to sift through the garbage applications. But when it comes down to it, your essays are the most important aspect of your application. And in it, you need to really outline who you are becoming as a thinker. Find teachers who are going to really see your potential not just as an applicant, but as a scholar or researcher. This is hard to fully capture in high school, certainly, but good teachers will recognize your potential by the time you are a junior. I'm also going to have to employ my bias and bash the Ivy league a little. I applied to two schools in the Ivy league and visited Harvard and just didnt like it. A lot of undergrads there, in my opinion, were driven by the promise of career and not by the quality of their inquiry. Do look at Uchicago (Not UIC) and consider it. Its remarkably difficult, but the experience has been so rewarding.

You wont have to pick a major until you get to school man. You wont know what you love for quite some time here. When I was a sophomore I thought I was into psychology. That really didn't pan out.

@ Kaiser

What did end up panning out for you, then? (curious to know)

My advice to you concerning your undergraduate major would be this: Don't worry about it right now.

I began as a poly-sci & pre-law (at the University of Kansas) then Geography, then Japanese, then English, and finally graduated with Bachelors in both English and Psychology.

After that I joined the Navy, got kicked out, lived in England, and evetually got my Master's in Counseling (UC Davis).

As for the research papers, they're not that difficult. Learn how to properly cite sources (some departments use different methods such as MLA or Chicago Style), learn them well. Nothing pisses professors off more than incorrect citations, format, and grammar/spelling errors.

Also, it doesn't hurt to be friendly with your teachers and more importantly the head of your department.

So, my advice would be work hard and get good grades and the rest will work itself out.

I just realized something you might be over looking. But Roxette is right, you really can't and shouldn't try planning too much of your life out right now.

As for the important stuff. The summer before your senior year I would spend a lot of time researching scholarships, grants, etc. I don't know your financial situation but being 23 years old and 20k in debt is not cool. There is a ton of money floating around in the form of tuition help. Apply for all of it.

@ryanmick05

:/ That's the one thing I haven't really gotten my act together for, scholarship funds/money.

Precisely because most of it can wait until junior or senior year.

@ Kaiser

lolwut? You're talking to a video game nerd here. :3

@ Kaiser

And what are some of those non-academic challenges that college students face?