The Nonlinear Library LW - Things You're Allowed to Do: University Edition by Saul Munn
Feb 6, 2024
07:25
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Things You're Allowed to Do: University Edition, published by Saul Munn on February 6, 2024 on LessWrong.
This post is not titled "Things You Should Do," because these aren't (necessarily) things you should do. Many people should not do many of the items on this list, and some of the items are exclusive, contradictory, or
downright the reverse of what you should do. If your reaction to something is "I think that's a bad idea," then it probably is, and you probably shouldn't do it.
classes & professors
attend classes you haven't signed up for because you find them interesting
attend classes even if the waitlist is full
ask the professor to waive a prerequisite
ask the professor to join a class even if its full
drop a class that you don't like
take a class because you really liked the professor, even if you're not sure about the content of the class
cold email professors you don't know, just asking to chat
show up to office hours for classes you aren't a part of, just to chat with the professor
ask the professor questions about the things you're not sure of
skip class(es) for great opportunities elsewhere
ask the professor if you can help them with anything in the class (grading, setting up assignments, editing papers, etc). professors have a long list of tasks, are perpetually behind, and encounter fairly correlated problems; if you track what problems your professors have, you can quite quickly become unreasonably useful for them
ask professors at the beginning of the semester what things would be most important to memorize, then throw their answers into an
Anki deck
take non-credit courses or workshops in things like pottery, coding, or creative writing
studying
at places outside of your university:
coffeeshops
public libraries
coworking spaces
random offices,
cold email them
start a study group for the class
ask the professor if you can announce that you're starting a study group for the class in the class
start a group chat to ask questions about the class. this is one that everyone loves to be added to, and sometimes it just… doesn't happen, because nobody took the initiative to create it
use
Anki to study the things your professor said would be most important to memorize after you asked them at the beginning of the semester
learn the content of a class by using materials that the professor doesn't point you toward (e.g. online textbooks/videos/tutors/etc)
hire a tutor
hire multiple tutors
hire a tutor purely so that you have to study for some class you hate - you might not need help, but if you're paying someone $x/h for their time, you'd better be studying
become a tutor in a subject you want to brush up on
use ChatGPT as a tutor
cowork
with random people
with me
clubs
join clubs
join many clubs
join many different types of clubs. shortlist: sports clubs (even intramural), art clubs, research clubs, project-based clubs, religious/cultural clubs, community service clubs, pre-professional clubs, music clubs
show up at a club's meeting that you're not a part of
stop going to a club's meetings
completely stop without telling anyone
tell the club leaders why you're stopping, and what changes would make you stay
tell the club leaders you're considering stopping, and what changes would make you leave or stay
ask if you can help out at the next club event
ask this multiple times in a row
ask what's preventing them from letting you help out yet
start your own club. notably, schools will often throw hundreds or even thousands of dollars of funding at you to start a club with a few friends, and you can do a lot of cool things by saying "hey, I run [x] club, could you [ask]?" (h/t Joey)
career capital
evaluate not just "will this be good for my career" but "is this among the best options given the limited resources (time, money, energy, etc) that i have" - and also "is the...
This post is not titled "Things You Should Do," because these aren't (necessarily) things you should do. Many people should not do many of the items on this list, and some of the items are exclusive, contradictory, or
downright the reverse of what you should do. If your reaction to something is "I think that's a bad idea," then it probably is, and you probably shouldn't do it.
classes & professors
attend classes you haven't signed up for because you find them interesting
attend classes even if the waitlist is full
ask the professor to waive a prerequisite
ask the professor to join a class even if its full
drop a class that you don't like
take a class because you really liked the professor, even if you're not sure about the content of the class
cold email professors you don't know, just asking to chat
show up to office hours for classes you aren't a part of, just to chat with the professor
ask the professor questions about the things you're not sure of
skip class(es) for great opportunities elsewhere
ask the professor if you can help them with anything in the class (grading, setting up assignments, editing papers, etc). professors have a long list of tasks, are perpetually behind, and encounter fairly correlated problems; if you track what problems your professors have, you can quite quickly become unreasonably useful for them
ask professors at the beginning of the semester what things would be most important to memorize, then throw their answers into an
Anki deck
take non-credit courses or workshops in things like pottery, coding, or creative writing
studying
at places outside of your university:
coffeeshops
public libraries
coworking spaces
random offices,
cold email them
start a study group for the class
ask the professor if you can announce that you're starting a study group for the class in the class
start a group chat to ask questions about the class. this is one that everyone loves to be added to, and sometimes it just… doesn't happen, because nobody took the initiative to create it
use
Anki to study the things your professor said would be most important to memorize after you asked them at the beginning of the semester
learn the content of a class by using materials that the professor doesn't point you toward (e.g. online textbooks/videos/tutors/etc)
hire a tutor
hire multiple tutors
hire a tutor purely so that you have to study for some class you hate - you might not need help, but if you're paying someone $x/h for their time, you'd better be studying
become a tutor in a subject you want to brush up on
use ChatGPT as a tutor
cowork
with random people
with me
clubs
join clubs
join many clubs
join many different types of clubs. shortlist: sports clubs (even intramural), art clubs, research clubs, project-based clubs, religious/cultural clubs, community service clubs, pre-professional clubs, music clubs
show up at a club's meeting that you're not a part of
stop going to a club's meetings
completely stop without telling anyone
tell the club leaders why you're stopping, and what changes would make you stay
tell the club leaders you're considering stopping, and what changes would make you leave or stay
ask if you can help out at the next club event
ask this multiple times in a row
ask what's preventing them from letting you help out yet
start your own club. notably, schools will often throw hundreds or even thousands of dollars of funding at you to start a club with a few friends, and you can do a lot of cool things by saying "hey, I run [x] club, could you [ask]?" (h/t Joey)
career capital
evaluate not just "will this be good for my career" but "is this among the best options given the limited resources (time, money, energy, etc) that i have" - and also "is the...