1. Things I Have Learned Since My Freshman Year… Tips from your RAs personal experiences and the experiences of some of his friends Here is a sample board that could be used with a primarily freshman floor/hall. Use it as an example and modify it with specifics about your campus and things that new students need to know. Submitted by Matt Maggio

2. Use Your Professors I knew that talking with professors was important to understand material and get ahead in class, but I wish I knew that they often can help you out more than your advisor with picking the right classes and your degree plan…after all, they are the ones who end up teaching the degree plan.

3. Nothing Good Happens After 2AM Regardless of how much fun you think something is going to be, the later the night gets, the more chance there will be of something going wrong (taken from my own experience, my dad was right when he told me that nothing good happens at 2AM, only injuries and trouble…if you dont know what to do and its late, just go to bed!)

4. Parking Lot Cops DO NOT CARE That you were Told You Could Park There! Regardless of what the intramural officials tell you, if you do not have a TAMU parking pass, you cannot park at the Penberthy parking lot for your Intramural Football game. Parking a barbeque pit trailer in Research Park is no longer allowed either FYI.

5. Research Park Pond Is Not Lake Bryan This should be self explanatory, but if you are still confused, here is a hint….dont wakeboard in it…you WILL get hurt…also I saw a pretty big rattle snake in there…just go to Lake Bryan to shenanigan, or better yet, follow the 2 AM rule.

6. It Is Impossible to Lick the Liberty Bell in the Academic Building on Campus This isnt really a life lesson to keep you out of trouble, this is just to keep you from wasting your time…Even if you could find a way to scale the side of the building to get in a window that may or may not have been unlocked, there is no way to climb up to the bell that is suspended over 30 feet above your head, nor is there any way to slide down to it unless you are Brad Pitt from Oceans 11. Just take my advice and save yourself some time…it cant be done.

7. Fast Food is Great to Keep You Awake If You Have to Pull an All-Nighter While all-nighters are generally more harmful for studying than useful, sometimes they are very necessary for finishing a project. This is the only time to break the 2AM rule safely. Whataburger and McDonalds are normally open 24 hrs a day. Careful though, McDonalds only accepts cash between 12-1 or 1-2 (varies week to week) while they reset their credit card system (yes they still dont know about continuous accounting procedures)

8. Get to Know Your RA Regardless of what my sister will say, Im not that scary. I do tend to always have an opinion about everything, but I have experienced a lot in college and maybe some of my advice may be useful (50- 50 Chance)…also, I have a lot of random stories (because Im old) that normally end up answering why I have a scar or how I met Chuck Norris or why I have Vietnam flashbacks (ok maybe not those). Anyway, if you have a question or things get out of hand, ask your RA or another RA or go see the RD (thats why we are here).