Tips University

I went to a public university in the US where the grades had to average to a B-, a 3.0.
What I learned for larger public universities, which are basically research institutions that teach on the side:
1. Drive a car else you'll waste too much time
2. Find a way to learn effectively. It's different for everyone.
2A. Grades do matter, don't blow anything off. For example, if I got any exam lower than a 80%, I couldn't mathematically attain an 90% or above for the course. If I had a course which was 2 exams, I'd have no room for error.
2B. There's a trade off vs learning yourself (comprehensive) and learning from the instructor (fast, but less comprehensive). Find the right professor who can teach to save you time.
3. Divide your time so that if you're studying, then do it in a quiet cubicle. If you wanna have fun, then get wasted on a day without any regret.
3A. Time is most valuable asset. View every thing you do from the perspective of time. Will this give me the same or better results in less time? Then do it.
4. Find friends to split up any common work. This is expected, and some professors may give gigantic problem sets as a reason. Recombine and share.
4A. Friends sometimes hold each other accountable.
5. The earlier the graduate, the more money you'll save. Don't work during your under grad years.
6. Don't kiss ass, but go to office hours routinely. Nothing outside of Physics and Math is too hard to comprehend for undergraduates.
7. Don't think about which majors are harder or easier. They are objectively different, but will ruin social conversations.
8. For my major, the upper division courses were easier than lower division courses. This is because every year of university is a specialization of the subject. It becomes an iteration of the same topics, with greater sophisication. For physics,
year 1) Learn Mechanics through Calculus
year 2) Learn Mechanics through Lagrangian and Hamiltonian
year 3) Learn Quantum Mechanics and Special Relativity
year 4) Learn High Energy Physics
For Chemistry,
year 1) General Chemistry
year 2&3) Organic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, (which are specializations of General Chemistry)
year 4) Advanced Organic Chemistry + Lab and Biochemistry (which are specializations of organic chemistry). Alternatively it would be Advanced Physical Chemistry - Computational + Lab.
This means, learn your foundations right, and the later years you've seen enough the subject, you'll be an expert at it.
http://calnewport.com/blog/archive/