Things I wish I could've told my college freshman self:

Because he's completely different from me now lol, and now I have to deal with the consequences of his dumb choices.

I don't have much in common with my past self at all, minus having similar interests. It feels like my high school life was lived by a different person. I'm still trying to get myself out of the obsession I've been stuck in, of wanting a do-over.

  • Read Cal Newport's Straight A Student book. Then you won't bomb your first semester causing me to have to dig myself out of a GPA hole for the rest of my college career. You could even get a 3.7+ GPA if you do this.
  • Use Khan Academy and Wolfram Alpha.
  • You are good at math. Stop doubting yourself. Stop listening to your parents. Your math teachers growing up were very bad -- check Ventura HS and its terrible average math scores -- and your parents have already put you into a humanities box for some reason. YOU ARE GOOD AT MATH!
  • CS Animation is the right major, but you need to double major with ME or EE for designing roller coasters. Sure, it will take longer, but it will cause you significantly less pain later. Add minors in math, IT, and creative writing. IT is optional due to certs. You can do the design minor too if CSANM doesn't get you enough art classes. If that one mean advisor flips out at you and doesn't let you add it, SHE IS A SUBSTITUTE and she sucks. The actual nice advisor will be back in a few weeks. Get her to add the minor instead.
  • When you do your master's, choose one that can be done part-time, online. 
  • CSANM 150 is HARD. It says 1.5 credits. It's more like 4 credits crammed into half of a semester.
  • Act like everything is due a WEEK before it actually is.
  • Take Math 290. I can't believe I even have to say this. TAKE MATH 290. You WILL regret it in linear algebra if you don't!
  • Physics 121 is gonna be intense. Do everything early and you will avoid last-minute depressing panic sessions on Friday night at 11 pm, trying to finish the homework before the janitors kick you out.
  • You are an early bird. Do not stay up until 2 am. Experiment with very early rising and you shall see.
  • There's the farm team at BYU for track/XC. It's open enrollment. Do that. Do band every winter, join the theme park design club, and join the cybersecurity club. Figure drawing is on Fridays and it's open to all. Start lifting, but running will NOT mess with it. It's completely fine to do both. Anyone who says otherwise is perpetuating broscience. Use IIFYM for eating and you won't get fat.
  • Start Leetcode as soon as you finish CS 235.
  • Get the CompTIA trifecta over your first summer and start applying for internships the next. After CompTIA go for CCNA and a pentesting cert.
  • Doodling is not sufficient for art practice. Making stupid polygons and moving them around is not sufficient for practicing 3D art. Art will not come as easily to you as you think it will. You need to practice consistently and seriously.
  • You don't need to take Bio 100, PWS 150 is way easier and double counts. Also save Spanish for after school, it's brutal at BYU once you hit the classes for Spanish speaking RMs and you will feel extremely out of place. Plus, YAGNI, trust me. Just because you were good at a subject in high school does not obligate you to study it at university.
  • Take the easiest GEs you can find on Rate My Professor. GEs suck.
  • When studying, always remember: you do not know the material as well as you think you do. You need to be getting practice problems right consistently.
  • Don't start your 312 labs at 8 pm the night they're due just because the class geniuses do it. You are not a class genius. If you do this, you will bomb them.
  • Writing talent does not carry you very far. You need to practice writing and not obsessively rewrite chapter 1.
  • BYU culture is bizarre and there's nothing wrong with you for not wanting to rush into marriage!
  • There is no honor in sleeping less than 7 hours a night. It will not be productive for you.
  • Relax a few times a week. Play games, ride coasters. You can watch TV and you don't need to feel guilty about it. Working hard is good, but there is no honor in spending your entire life working.
  • You have ADHD and OCD. Use caffeine. It will basically make the ADHD vanish. And stop obsessing over being pure (high school me was weird like that -- I honestly have no idea who that kid was, because it certainly wasn't me). Your productivity and grades will skyrocket.
If I had done and known all this, things would be much easier for me right now. Even so, I know I can make up for lost time, starting now.

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