My advisor and I get along very well. He's also the professor in most of my classes. And, on that note...
12) Become friends with one or more of your Professors. Nobody is perfect, and that includes YOU, bucko. Having a teacher there that actually likes you, and understands that you're a good guy but not above burning down C building, will add to your Plan B opportunities. Having that inside assistance from someone who knows how the system works, because they deal with it on a daily basis, is an execellent advantage that will put you miles ahead of the mouth breathers that make me wonder how they managed to walk to class, let alone graduate highschool.
13) Get comfortable with your MLA handbook. You have to write papers all the time, and some teachers are very strict about this. It'll save you trouble, grades, and having to look like an idjit. Once you have the grasp you can get flashy, and if there is anything teachers like more than a solid thought and argument, is how pretty your paper looks full of semicolons and dashes. Ooo... ahh... proper usage....
Oh, and another thing - if you're a computer science major (or any, for that manner. CIS majors are just what I deal with the most), never over-inflate what you understand. Admitting you don't know something is a sign of intelligence. Lying about knowing something makes you look like an idiot down the road.
ANOTHER another thing: Get a flash drive. If you have to hand in a paper, bring a solid copy and one on your flash drive. If said paper gets eaten by snakes, dropped in a wood chipper, or has the dreaded coffee ring on it before you hand it in (or anything else that happens to papers) - it's a blessing to just pop the flash drive in and print another. You can make a quick edit to your copy if you catch a last minute error as well.
This has saved my grades many a time.
