Academic advice I wish I had heard as a Freshman... Start getting involved in research as early as possible. If you want to be a programmer at UCR, I would recommend either buying a Mac or installing Linux on a PC. Alternatively, you could use Cygwin on Windows. Find a major you like and pursue that. (note: this doesn't always correlate with the "money making" majors, but that's ok. I would rather be happy with little money than otherwise.) Learn how to program in LaTeX if you'd like to enjoy word processing again or just create (very) professional-looking documents. The HP 12C is the One True Calculator... Start getting involved in research as early as possible. (Did I mention that you should start getting involved in research as early as possible?) Basically, to get started with research, find a professor whose class you did well in and enjoyed. Ask him/her how to get involved. And the most important thing... If you find yourself failing at the major you feel called to be a part of, don't worry - I did the same thing once. The most important attitude to have is that you don't have to be the best, just be persistent and don't give up. Remember, the University wants you to be successful.