Advice for freshmen entering college
grosales: Have fun - probably going to get obliterated for saying this - but, give a quick read to "Surely you are joking, Mr. Feynman" so you can realize that, more than anybody, really smart people always need to have fun.It's good that you want to get good at hacking. Working on Open Source projects every once in a while will help you with that.Learn to be disciplined about studying. Study hard but not harder - only you know what hard means, or you will have to learn.Take time to learn something else besides hacking, maybe dance, or play an instrument, I don't know, maybe painting.Use at least one summer to travel abroad, it will give you perspective.Try to get along with the professors that you find are the best at teaching, maybe do some research with them. You might learn more than you think from them.Finally, I will repeat it again, have fun more than anything. Make college a series of memories and not just one big race to the finish line trying to get good grades. I've said it before and I will say it again, the goal of college should be to help you become a well-rounded individual with knowledge that its balanced between different topics, not just computer science.