College learning is a massive intellectual enterprise, and while you can't hit the ground running entirely, it is useful to think about and start your time in college with the end in mind. How do you want to grow intellectually? So we sat down with a number of different faculty, and we asked them two big questions. First off, what sort of intellectual habits should students develop and how does a broad education help with that, and then second, what words of advice would you have for incoming first year students? >> Good intellectual habits that you learn in college are things like research skills, creative problem solving, making connections between one idea and another, and taking a seed of an idea and following that through, and being able to see it come to fruition. >> It's really how to focus on what is the question? And then where do you go to find not an answer, but many different answers, rather than just a single answer. Cuz usually, there's different answers to any question. And a good question, I've been working on good questions my entire career. A liberal arts education is something that really gives you a broader perspective on how to look at all sorts of things. The world, cultures, science, the literature, history and so forth. And in fact, in many organizations, you find people in very senior positions with liberal arts degrees, and to me that's the foundation for how you really run a successful organization, is knowing all these different perspectives. >> Google has a really interesting criteria. They have five questions that they ask people at interviews, and interestingly enough, it's prioritized starting with, nothing to do with the actual job. It has to do with creative problem solving, working well in a group, knowing when to be a leader and knowing when to step back and let other people lead, working quickly to do things, and the last question is about the actual job itself, and I think that's really telling about the kinds of people that they're looking for. So, students need to really embrace the idea that they can study broadly here and go deeply into subjects as well and to not limit themselves and think that they have to go in a particular path. I think it's really difficult sometimes for students to come to college and remember that it is about process and not always about product. And if you can try to stay with that mindset, you will be much more successful. And I think the gift you give yourself of going to college is that you're able to be involved in multiple processes, multiple ideas, multiple think tanks, engaging with a lot of different, brilliant minds and including your colleagues, your peers. And I think that is something that will help you no matter you do in life. >> My advice for first-year students is to join a group that's doing something that you're passionate about, something that you care about, something that's changing the world. So, if you came to school to be an engineer, make sure you join a group that has English majors, communications majors, and you go do something special. >> My one piece of advice is, if you do nothing else in your four years here, go away. Take advantage of the multiple opportunities to study abroad, to study off campus. It will enrich your lives enormously. >> Get out there beyond the classroom. So, you've spent most of your life in the classroom with your teachers, and here's your chance to get beyond the classroom, get beyond the walls, get out into the environment. You'll have science classes that'll give you that chance, you'll have summer internships that will give you that chance. And so taking those learning lessons out into the environment, learning how to observe, learning how to measure, learning how to draw conclusions. Those are great opportunities for you to advance your learning, and also lessons that you'll take forward, I think, for the the rest of your life. >> I think it's really important for them to be proactive in their time here. They often come in and wait for things to happen and I think they need to learn that in a giant classroom of 700 people it's still really important to go up to the professor and introduce yourself, even if you feel a little shy or awkward. Use office hours. Go with a question even if you don't really need to go. Spend time with them. And the other thing is to take full advantage of this university. Most universities have so many organizations students can join, hobbies to really intellectual pursuits, athletics, whatever it is that's your thing, try to find other people doing it. >> Your time in college is a precious resource. It's a time to get a major but it's also a time to grow intellectually, to develop some really important intellectual habits. And I know it's easy to lose site of this, especially in your first year, because you're thinking about what class to take or what to get a major in. But, it is worth taking the time to reflect and think about the higher order principles of higher education, which help you set yourself up for lifelong learning.