(Part 3) Top products from r/college

This is going to be a pretty long-winded post because most of the sentiments you are feeling right now are phases I went through are college (I am currently a senior, and though my situation has improved since the beginning of college, I am still facing some of the lingering effects of depression).

In my belief, recovering from depression has to be practical, personal, and environmental. Practical in the sense that you need to take care of yourself and the environment around you (i.e. cleaning your room (btw, I'm no Jordan Peterson fan; cleaning my room is just an easy way for me to get the day started and feel good about myself), working out, eating healthy, practicing hygiene, meditation, etc). Though it may seem like it might not have a direct effect on you, organizing yourself and your environment does give a sense of self-control and does create a better image of yourself.

As for personal, depression does not simply come from genetics (yes, I know there are cases where this is true, but in my personal belief, depression can also be defined by your past experiences and the environment you are currently in). For me, depression really came from the conflicts I had with my parents and my unpreparedness of going to college. My mom was so desperate for me to get into a good college that she ended up doing my entire art portfolio and I had to write fake comments about what those art pieces meant. Thus, when I got to a college that is well-ranked, I felt like a total sham; I felt like the education that I was receiving was not of my own, but my mother's. I was only able to really figure this out by attending four years of therapy, and even now, I'm still going through some personal struggles. The personal aspects of your life takes time to figure out, but at the same time, is also a great source of clarity.

Finally, the final aspect of recovering from depression is environmental. Without having friends and families nearby, it can worsen the effects of depression because it makes you feel isolated and feel as if you're the only crazy individual out of seemingly-normal people. For me, it's hard to interact with my family because we just did not talk to each other that often in the first place. As for friends, I did have one friend in the beginning of college, but I have felt ambivalent about it because I felt like the activities we were doing together wasn't really improving my well-being (going to bars, playing games, etc). I do appreciate the fact that I had a friend, but looking back, I wish I also had another friend who had my academic well-being in mind as well. Also, I realized that I cannot have a single friend in which I can depend on for all my needs (academic, partying, hobbies, personal introspection, etc). I realized that I need to have some friends (not a lot) that meets my different needs, and that perspective change did open up my field of view as to which friends I can make. I have some friends in which I smoke weed with, make games with, study with, and they're all not necessarily in the same group.

But that leads to the question, what if I don't have friends and family members to lean on in the first place? And that's the catch-22 aspect depression. Without friends and families to connect to, we further isolate ourselves into our rooms, breaking down the practical and personal improvements we have built for ourself. This, in turn, makes it harder to reach out to others in the first place because we're not at our best selves and we don't want to perpetuate this negative image of being depressed and not-in-control to others. Personally, I think depression is cyclical in nature, but there is a way to stop it as well. Otherwise, we would never hear stories about how people were able to recover from depression.

So then, here are some of the steps that I found useful when recovering from depression:

1. If you're experiencing depression during the middle of the semester and see things going downhill, the best I can offer is to try your best and take as least losses as you can. The reason why is that attending to your academic needs takes a lot of energy and concentration, and trying to change for the better half-way through is immensely difficult to do (practicing habits for the first few days is hard because it forces us to be out of our comfort zone). And failing those self-improvement goals makes us feel even more shitty.
   
2. But, when the semester ends, take the time to reflect about what went wrong and what went right. You're not going to have all the answers, and you're going to realize some way through the semester that the "corrections" you made may not be enough. However, small and incremental improvements is much better than none.
   
3. As for maintaining healthy habits in school, I would start off by practicing those habits during winter/summer break. This is the time where you can whole-heartedly focus on creating healthy habits, and by the time you go to school again, it will feel like second nature and you don't even have to put a single thought into questions like: When should I exercise? What should I eat? What time should I go to sleep? (As a warning though, don't try to change your schedule and habits midway through the semester. I ended up doing this and it just really ruined the flow. Stick with the habits throughout the semester, and make adjustments once you are done).
   
4. Start the day right and easy. The way I think of it, going throughout your day is like building momentum. You don't want to tackle the most difficult task at first, as it will wear you out easily. Rather, you want to start with the itty-bitty stuff (brush your teeth, shower, get a healthy breakfast, plan your schedule, etc). And as you finish these small tasks, it does grow into your confidence of doing bigger things. Furthermore, by tackling these small tasks/rituals in the morning, you don't have to worry about the small things, and can reserve your energy for doing more important work (i.e. academics). Motivation doesn't come before our tasks, but rather, occurs while we are in the thick of it.
   
5. Know what kind of therapist you want. For me, I wanted a therapist in which I can talk about my past troubles with and gives me a lot of room to explore those past experiences. And it takes a while to find the right therapist, so don't stress about that too much as well.
   
6. Keep your goals short and simple. For me, I would often stress about what I wanted to do after graduating college, and this stress of not being able to stick to one path in life made me feel completely unmotivated. What ended up working out better for me was to say: "Look, I honestly don't know where life is going to take me, and that's fine. I just know for now, I need to do well this semester, and I can worry about the next step after I'm done."
   
7. Weed and alcohol. First of all don't use this as a crutch to get through depression as it will further your feelings of self-worthlessness the next day. However, if you are currently consuming them and do appreciate some aspects of it, I would only recommend doing so when you're at your best and you're in the company of others. I enjoy my weed and alcohol because it lets me be a bit loose and enjoy my time with friends. However, it does make me feel shitty the next day, and that shittiness can feed int your feelings of self-defeat. I'm not endorsing weed and alcohol as the solution to make friends; I'm just saying is that if that is one of your ways to make friends, then be very careful.
   
8. Leave the room. I often joke about my therapist about my "depression chair" because it's so comfortable and in front of my desktop, I end up not leaving the room and I do nothing all day. Leave the room and go to an environment where it does encourage you to engage with your academics or other activities.
   
9. Try to get a job on campus (I work as a librarian, which is ideal as I can focus on my studies and my interaction with people is at a minimal). Getting a job does enforce a sense of discipline, and hopefully, this discipline can be applied to other areas of your life.
   
10. I also didn't get an internship my sophomore year. What helped me get an internship later on was finding out what internship I wanted in the first place (and it may not be the ideal and ultimate internship, but it was good enough), searching what skillsets they needed, and working on those skillsets during break via personal projects (I am a computer science major).
    
    Here are some resources that I found helpful:
    
    
11. Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy: This book gives you a good set of guidelines in which you can improve yourself. However, this book is practical in nature, so don't expect a lot of personal guidance from it.
    
12. Daughters - You Won't Get What You Want: If the previous resource was practical, I consider this my personal resource. Normally, I don't ever listen to this kind of music because it's really not my taste. However, this album in itself feels very visceral and raw, and is the closest thing to death I can come across. As cliche as it may sound, this music does understand some of the feelings I go through. Other artists/albums that are lighter in tone I would recommend is Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial, The Mountain Goats, and Courtney Barnett. When there is no one to rely on, it feels nice to listen to others who are able to understand an ounce of what you are going through.

1. How many credits are these courses worth? The average credits per semester is 15, I had 17 my first semester and found it draining to have 5 straight hours of classes.
   
   
2. I don't know about their program, but I had to take a 1 credit class that was just a bunch of bullshit trying to get people to look at their interests and then join groups related to them, and we even spent time going over TED talks. Our "required" reading was The Element. The class was a waste of time.
   
   
3. It might be a good idea to think of a backup school now, because different places have different requirements, and some do not accept credit for certain things. Once you have one picked, look into which classes will not be a waste of time regardless of whether or not you transfer and take those until you know. Your advisor can be a great help for this.
   
   
4. On the subject of generic freshmen things to know, relax. Everybody else is or was in the same position as you. Put yourself out there and meet people, who you meet during college is important because those people can help you during and after. This isn't high-school, you will probably be able to make friends with almost everybody, and how long you've been there doesn't make much of a difference in this aspect. Work hard, but don't forget to have fun too, it will help clear your mind and you will be able to focus more easily when you need to. Don't over-study and know when staring at paper is less beneficial than sleeping or relaxing.
   
   Good luck!

If you know what you are interested in, look for schools that offer that major. Talk with a teacher or coach who you're close to, or your guidance counselor. They can give you some specific options because they know you and your academic record better.

There are plenty of guidebooks out there. My school is in this one. All the schools in there are great and you might find something that clicks. Your guidance counselor or library will probably have a bunch of books like these for you to browse.

Think about what kind of school you want: big/small, urban/rural, east/west/midwest, strong on-campus community/most people live off-campus. Is cost a concern? Try going to a community college first.

What kind of clubs are available to join? Sports? Greek life? Does overall student support seem nice?

Have the dorms been recently renovated or do most people live off-campus? Is it in a safe area?

How easy is it to declare/change a major and minor?

Do students have good relationships with professors? Is there a career center, a tutoring and learning disability center? Are there people that can help you find internships and funding, set up job-shadowing?

Are you ok with Teaching Assistants running most of your classes? Does being in a room with 200 students terrify you? How about a room with 4 students?

Make a list of your likes and dislikes of the colleges you've already visited. Did school A have too much of a "party" atmosphere for you? Was B too big or too small? Was school C too far away or too close? Find what you like, and look for colleges that have a few or more of those qualities. Not everyone has an "a-ha!" moment when they find the perfect college for them. You might have to transfer to find a good place for you. Good luck!

Find your local cheap grocery store...Sav-A-Lot, Aldi, etc. I think it depends on where you are...but...a discount place will help you b/c they usually have smaller packaging, and cheaper ingredients.

Find a basics book like this. You can get books from your library, I also use Overdrive app to borrow ebooks (I use it through my local library, but you can sign up with an email). These kinds of books will explain the steps and process, more than just give you directions on putting ingredients together.

When using a recipe: read through the whole recipe and ingredients first. If you don't recognize everything...look it up, but consider that if you have to look up a bunch of stuff, it might be beyond your scope for the time being and attempt something else.

On supplies: You really don't need a lot, utilize thrift stores, craigslist, FB marketplace - a lot of people give these things away when they get new. For basics:

• Wood spoon, pancake turner, rubber/silicone spatula, whisk, slotted spoon, measuring cups (even dollar store cups are fine), teaspoons. For the pancake turner, I have two - a metal one for my heavy metal pans, and a plastic one for my non-stick stuff...but my non-stick is on it's last legs and I will probably toss them soon and when I do - the plastic turner goes with them. Maybe one or two large bowls (I started with dollar store plastic bowls...they were AWFUL, but they worked and I got them for cheap).
  
  
• Pots/pans: if you're cooking alone, don't worry about getting a bunch of stuff. Maybe one medium pot with a lid (about 2 quarts), one skillet (about 14-16 inches), one 8x8ish dish, one 9x13, and maybe a baking sheet (though in a pinch, if you can't get this/don't want to get this - bake in your 8x8 or 9x13 dishes).
  
  
• Other things...a decent knife (even though I have a knife set, I really just use the one large knife for everything most of the time). Maybe a tiny food processor...you can get these for like $9.99 sometimes, they're really small, but helpful when you don't have all the skills down. Easy to chop, mince, and puree with one small machine. Cutting board.
  
  A lot of this stuff might be sitting in relative's kitchens unused...and they might even give you a few things if you let them know you're looking for some supplies.
  
  In the future, also look into a crock pot. You can use it with minimal effort and make enough to save food for later (large pot of soup - split it up into quart freezer bags and thaw for meals later).
  
  Meal planning for beginners...Find 3 or 4 dishes you can learn how to make and keep making them until you know how to do them without messing up at all. Basic dishes. A rice dish, a pasta dish, a soup, a casserole (like chicken pot pie). Don't worry about trying to make everything from scratch...You can buy minute rice, and pre-made pie crusts, canned and frozen vegetables are cheaper than fresh and don't go bad in the fridge if you can't use them quickly. But frozen tends to be better for most varieties...and you can even buy frozen diced onions...and since many recipes start with cooking onion...using frozen saves you time and effort. You can also buy minced garlic in the jar...which I prefer to powdered, and lasts longer than fresh.

Discrete mathematics and any proof based math in general is what college based math should be like- if you continue to take upper level math and CS courses, you will undoubtedly face this style of math again. Plug and chug (which is what a lot of calculus is) will no longer be the norm.

There is often a very large learning curve for students who are not used to seeing this type of math- so don't stress out too much about it. Eventually, you'll break a point where everything will make (sort of) sense. I went through the exact same thing when I took discrete for the first time, and I felt like I was getting destroyed on everything (I still suck at some topics) until I suddenly hit a point of clarity where I could see how most topics were tied in together. Mathematics, and especially an introductory discrete course, is cruel in that way- that every topic you learn is inherently related to each other, so if you already fall behind just a little, the mountain to catch up just becomes incredibly massive incredibly fast- and it's hard to even pinpoint a place to even start to catch up.

You may be lost in learning elementary proof techniques, or number theory, and then the next topic (say it's graph theory) utilizes a bunch concepts and previous proofs from number theory, and then the next topic might use something proved in graph theory and number theory, and so on. All of a sudden, nothing makes sense, and to learn topic ___, you need to know graph theory, but to know graph theory, you need to know number theory, but you don't know number theory that well, and some topics in number theory can perhaps be explained by another topic in graph theory (or any topic for that matter) The chain is all interlinked and it may difficult to even see where to start- but it is for this reason that once you cross this steep barrier, most things will suddenly become clear to you.

So I'd advise you to just continue visiting professor office hours, asking more questions, asking for other students' help, doing more and more practice. It may seem like you're getting nowhere, but you're essentially learning a new language right now, so it'll obviously take sometime until you feel as if you know what you're doing. Figuring out where people get the intuition to suggest seemingly random functions or a set of numbers or some assumption will come to you slowly, and slowly you'll break more and more of this chain.

https://www.amazon.com/Discrete-Mathematics-Laszlo-Lovasz/dp/0387955852 is another book my professor enjoyed using as a supplmenet.

Hello!!!! It is very nice of you to do this!!!!!! :)


I have two books!

1. ISBN:9780134400242
   
   
   
   
   
   Amazon link for book!!!!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. ISBN: 9780073532356
   
   Amazon link!!!!!!!
   
   
   
   
   Thank you! If you found either or both of them, please reply to this comment (child comment)

I'd recommend this book

It's short and has easy to understand tips for getting a higher score.

Available for free on Amazon. - here

I couldn't find the first two anywhere on the web. The other two are only available in previous edition. Thanks!


https://www.amazon.com/Anthropology-14th-Carol-R-Ember/dp/0205957188/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Physiology-Michael-OLoughlin-McKinely-ebook/dp/B015RSR6GK/ref=mt_kindle?_encoding=UTF8&me=

https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Moral-Philosophy-James-Rachels-ebook/dp/B00VF6258S/ref=mt_kindle?_encoding=UTF8&me=

https://www.amazon.com/Unix-Linux-Visual-QuickStart-Guide/dp/0321997549

Yeah studies have shown exercise improves learning ability and retention. On my phone right now but just google it, it’s a big thing now.

edit: https://www.amazon.com/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-Exercise-Brain/dp/0316113514

This is more of a reference book and not a book you read for pleasure, but "Elements of Style" by Strunk & White lays out some writing guidelines to make your writing more concise.

https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Style-Fourth-William-Strunk/dp/020530902X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473537772&sr=8-1&keywords=elements+of+style

Why don't you rent it from amazon?
https://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Central-Science-Theodore-Brown/dp/0321910419

What about this book? https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0078020328/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1504024509&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=microsoft+office+2016+in+practice&dpPl=1&dpID=51S2cKS%2BRDL&ref=plSrch

This book? The last two digits of the code are off but it has the same title, and edition, by the same author.
https://www.amazon.com/Norton-Field-Guide-Writing-Update/dp/0393617378/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?adgrpid=59692389727&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhrqAhuqh5AIVjrbICh1UggstEAAYASAAEgIwHfD_BwE&hvadid=274732220533&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=1015254&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=8481392062927441484&hvtargid=kwd-303052873898&hydadcr=29259_10734808&keywords=richard+bullock&qid=1566866899&s=books&sr=1-3

There's this book by Princeton review called 1,296 ACT Practice Questions.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0307945707?cache=c445cb79744e1c3089145c2c51961abb&pi=SY200_QL40&qid=1408489500&sr=8-1#ref=mp_s_a_1_1

It just has ton of practice sections for each part of the ACT.

Exactly. There's a low market for course books in India, so the prices are really low (as with all international editions). Almost all of my friends haven't heard of any books like TAOCP, and SICP. Everything's so cheap! They're missing out on so much!

Your questions would be valid... if you actually watched the video (or better yet read the book the video is an excerpt from). His argument is against ranking schools. He argues that the ranking of schools is essentially irrelevant because statistically through a series of correlations I won't get into in a Reddit comment, every college falls into the same uneven distribution. The "enforced" version of this is, in fact, grade deflation.

The name given by psychologists is "relative deprivation theory" and it basically means you judge yourself based on your peers, not by the system as a whole. This means that a "top tier" bottom percenter, even though they may have SAT scores higher than the top percentile of an average college, will have significantly less confidence, are much more likely to drop out, and are less likely to show quantifiable measures of success, than the top percentile of an average, or even less than average college.

Grade deflation essentially forces relative deprivation on students by saying that even if you would have gotten an 100% at community college, you have a B- in this class, and falls right into the "Disorder" part of Gladwell's coined "Elite Institution Cognitive Disorder."

If you want more examples and the studies to back them up I'd suggest his book, David and Goliath, but if you couldn't even watch the 20 minute summary then just know his arguments of uneven distribution transcend ranking, meaning you're arguing a different question. I think the argument of defining tiers in the current system is a valid one and one to be had, but outside of the scope of what this argument is about. In this case the language of "top tier" is only a qualifier when comparing statistics and pulling out samples for comparison.