In Sunday’s New York Times Op-Ed page (which just celebrated its 40th anniversary), they ask grad students and instructors for their advice regarding the college experience. And it’s spot on.

“Parties, activities, dorms and classes help you find people you actually like to talk to. That is, unless you’re in your room every night, on the phone with your high school sweetheart, who’s back home or at another school. Or worse, you’re leaving school every other weekend to visit your significant other. Break up.”

– Rebecca Elliott, Ph.D. student in the sociology department at the University of California, Berkeley

Or this one:

“You don’t need a computer to take notes — good note-taking is not transcribing. All that clack, clack, clacking … you’re a student, not a court reporter. And in seminar or discussion sections, get used to being around a table with a dozen other humans, a few books and your ideas. After all, you have the rest of your life to hide behind a screen during meetings.”

– Christine Smallwood, Ph.D. student in English and American literature at Columbia

And finally:

“Somewhere in your childhood is a gaping hole. Fill this hole. Don’t know what classical music is all about? That’s bad. Don’t know who Lady Gaga is? That’s worse. If you were raised in a protected cocoon, this is the time to experience the world beyond.”

– Willie X. Lin, student in the M.F.A. program in creative writing at Washington University in St. Louis

Don’t be so damn arrogant, okay?