Study Habits
This multi-page document handed out on day one is the holy grail of the course, containing all due dates, grading scales, and major assignment guidelines.
What is the Syllabus?
This essential, legally binding-ish document is filled out and signed by you and your roommate during week one to establish rules for guests, cleaning, and light-out times.
What is a Roommate Agreement?
When trying to balance a heavy course load, social life, and sleep, learning to say "no" to extra commitments is crucial to avoiding this state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion.
What is burnout?
If your wallet is stolen on campus, financial experts say you have much better fraud protection if the thief uses your credit card rather than this card, which directly drains cash from your bank account.
What is a Debit Card?
To avoid the ultimate dorm confrontation, you need to time your laundry perfectly because after this many minutes of your finished clothes sitting idle in a machine, campus etiquette says a stranger has the right to dump them on top of the counter.
What is 5 to 10 minutes?
using AI tools like ChatGPT to brainstorm ideas is usually fine, but copying its generated text into an assignment falls under this major, expellable offense on a college syllabus.
What is Plagiarism (or Academic Dishonesty)?
To prevent stepping on gross bacteria, fungi, or contracting athlete's foot, you should never enter a communal campus bathroom without these.
What are shower shoes (or flip-flops/shower slippers)?
According to campus psychologists, this specific month of the freshman fall semester is when students typically experience the highest peak of homesickness and loneliness, as the initial "orientation excitement" officially wears off.
What is October?
This is the name of the federal government form you must fill out every single year you are in college to qualify for financial aid, grants, work-study programs, and federal student loans.
What is the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid)?
This famous rule of retail impulse control states that if you cannot afford to buy a luxury item this many times over without stressing about your bank account, you officially cannot afford it the first time.
What is twice (or two times)?
The general rule of thumb for college success states you should spend this many hours studying outside of class for every 1 hour spent sitting in a lecture.
What is two hours? (ex: a 3-credit class requires about 6 hours of independent study per week).
Most dorms allow you to have overnight guests, but hosting someone for more than 2 or 3 consecutive nights violates housing policy by essentially turning them into this.
What is an unapproved roommate (or unauthorized resident)?
To encourage students to call 911 during an alcohol or drug emergency, most universities have this policy, which protects both the victim and the caller from facing disciplinary action.
What is Medical Amnesty (or the Good Samaritan policy)?
Clue: Often called "Dining Dollars" or "Campus Cash," this pool of money pre-loaded onto your student ID card feels like Monopoly money, but it is actually tied directly to this high-cost upfront college expense.
What is your Meal Plan (or Tuition bill)?
To avoid knocking out the electrical power for your entire side of the floor, dorm safety rules strictly forbid plugging your microwave and your mini-fridge into the same outlet or power strip due to this high-voltage hazard.
What is tripping the circuit breaker (or overloading the circuit)?