Caleb Clark. Class of 2008: Lessons learned from two years at ITP in NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and two years work on the floor 15 hours a week as an Equipment Room and front desk staff.

• Don't Panic! In general...and if you're on the floor and a crowd suddenly rushes to one area, as if someone has had a heart attack, don't panic. Just run over and fight your way to the center, for there you will find free food.
• 1st Month: The first few weeks I felt intense emotions of all kinds. One day you're hot, smart, and totally on it. The next you're a failure who hasn't a prayer of catching up. "You should have kept that cushy job," you may think one day, or should drop out and get one in a sane place where a person can go home sometime. Then, all of a sudden, you're a master of the universe living in the center of the world, (which is your destiny) and wanting to be nowhere else, doing anything else. These cycles mellowed when true fatigue really set in.
• Do. Document. Distill. Disseminate. Backup. Repeat.
• Registration: At registration time attend all the classes you think you want to take, regardless of how many people are on the wait list or if it's closed or open. Experience the teacher and students in the class and you may change your mind about taking it.
• Punctuality: Do not be late, especially to Red's class. ITP runs on time. Leave extra time for all travel. Arrive at least five minutes before class and get settled. Ideally, 15 minutes. Group meetings are the same. Call if you're going to be late.
• Family: We're one big family. So "No poo poos or nanner nanners" as Todd H. said in my P-Comp course. In other words. Don't brag or bemoan.
• Art: ITP is in Tisch School of the Arts. Art evolves, it's emotional. You can't think your way through everything, especially group stuff. Just try everyone's ideas, rehearse performances, experiment, until it becomes obvious what works and what does not.
• Core Classes:

1. ICM. If you're new to programming, hit the book hard in the beginning, programming every day, and type all code and make it work, then modify. TYPE IT ALL OUT EVEN IF YOU CAN COPY AND PASTE. Programming is a foreign language you learn by typing, not speaking or reading. If you fall behind it can all become a blur later on as the class constantly references what you were supposed to have learned in the first 5 weeks.
2. Applications: What was your emotional reaction to the speaker? Talk to the TA and show them your ideas. Go with the flow. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.
3. PComp. Order parts early. Order more then you need. Mess around. Experiment. Be careful!
4. Comm Lab. Comp out if you know the basics of applications like Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, Flash, Web Dev. software, etc. Stay in if you don't, or if you want a good intro to ITP's laps and software.

• Competition: Have the courage to fall behind the crowd, it doesn't mean you won't cross the finish line. But YOUR finish line - you are graded against yourself after all and the paying customer. There's always some folks who are way ahead due to prior experience or innate skills. You may reach a point where you will need to summon the courage to be behind and ask seemingly silly questions. Be assured someone else in the class with less guts will appreciate your candor. Talk to your teacher, or any faculty/staff. Keep moving forward.
• Projects:

1. They are usually a simple or old idea with a new twist.
2. Humanize. Sure, you can make lights go on, lots of lights, in series or parallel! But what do they illuminate? What do they show a person they haven't seen? What different perspective does a user walk away with? What do people feel? Did they laugh? Did they cry? Did they learn?
3. Multidimensional: Make it cool on sight, cool if you've only got 30 seconds, and cool if you've got 15+ minutes. This will grab the average user, the user who is captivated a little more, and the devotes, critics, judges, and journalists who dive in to really see what it is you're trying to do.
4. It works: It works again, and the next day, and the next. It works in the face of THE USER "the most terrifyingly destructive force in the universe," as one of Red's guest's put it.
5. Be very careful of projects that are a business or Web site. As they say, you don't build Web sites, you adopt them. Same with businesses. Most of your projects will end when you document them. It's OK. You're in school.

• Teams: Do not judge a book by it's cover. At ITP a cheerleader is often an ace engineer/programmer and a football player is actually a graphic designer. Get in groups of eclectic people, not always the flashy one's with good pitches (though that's good too). Shut up and let the quiet one's blow you away. See through the flash. Support the shy. Be patient with the de-socialized. But do not hold your feelings and thoughts back. Get them out as they are birthed and move on, this is New York City! We don't have time for fake, nice mamsy-pamsy rain deer games. Work alone sometimes too, it's a nice break.
• Shop: Respect the shop and the floor. Your momma don't work 'round here. Clean up, look under the table, grab someone else's garbage.
• Apartment: Travel time is down time. You won't be home much, you'll cook less, and when you do have a break, you'll want to leave the city. There are always good apartments with good people close to school if you wait long enough and put the word out. If you insist on having a closet, instead of living in one, leave the island.
• Give. ITP has a healthy "gift economy." To be rich, help your fellow classmates, faculty and the department before you need help. Respond to people's help requests on email lists, let people borrow your tools and equipment, post helpful web sites, apartments that you're friends have. Help clean up 6pm food on Friday. Then, when you need help, *and you will*, you will get lots of it gladly given.
• Social: Work hard, but also be social and go out! A lot of ITP's value is in getting to know people outside of school, and experiencing what NYC has to offer. NYC is a rare place with lots of people and things to do that you will never have the opportunity to do if and when you ever leave. Leave Thursday nights open the first year. TNO! Remember, if you can be social here, you can be social anywhere.
• Love: Work for love, love your work. Keep perspective: If you ever start to freak out from stress, or whatever, remember that you are paying a lot of money (or someone is) and two years of your time to play and learn at ITP. If you are making yourself miserable by working too hard, getting sick, stressing out, etc. then you are missing the point.
• NYC can spin you in circles after a while. Get out of the city sometimes and slow down, sit down, hang around some trees drinking decaf and herb tea.
• Degree: You are not getting a Ph.D, an MFA, an MS, CS etc. It is an MPS, obsecure, but terminal so you can work in Art and Communications type departments of universities if you want.
• Carry:

1. A small camera. Document every major step of things with stills and bits of video if you can. Carry it with you outside of school too, so you can document and capture interesting images, ideas, books to buy later, things to show a group, etc. Canon Powershot Elphs are favored on the floor.
2. A storage device for computer files.
3. A phone
4. Paper/Pen.
5. Rain gear.
6. A Leather Man, or Swiss Army Cyber Tool with screw bits.
7. Maybe an LED flashlight of some kind, just because.
8. A rain coat/windbreaker or umbrella.

• Clothing: Black is the default color in NYC for all clothing. Specifically black shoes and tops. Black allows you to float between the many worlds of NYC at a moments notice - from dive bars to fancy clubs. Black also hides dirt. Winter will bring the need for waterproof shoes, KMart has cheap boots. Get a black wool P-Coat or down coat. Learn the difference between "water resistant" and "water proof." Wear two tee-shirts and long underwear to keep warm and still look good. Get some thin black gloves you can keep in your coat.
• Presenting. Have a very clear start, middle and end. Know your first sentance and last sentance by heart. Do not start with "um" or "so". Nobody should ever wonder if you've begun, or if it's time to clap. Answer these, then begin the content: What is your name? Who are you? What are you presenting about? How long will you be talking? Will there be Q/A? Hint - Yes. And leave more time then other's do. This will not only make your job easier, but the crowd happier. Crowds will ask questions that lead to your presenting your work, so really, every presentation could be entirely Q/A. Listen carefully to speech during practices. Avoid at all costs repeating phrases like: "like", "ummm", "you know", "whatever", "so", "yeah", etc. Budget a minute or so for setup and cool down. End on time. Go longer if invited. If presenting with another, do not tag-team talk, it assaults the listener with too much frantic energy. Do not talk over audio that is playing, or show things while video is playing, you will always loose competing with media. About PowerPoint: Do not use a template. Pure white or black is better, or make your own template. Few words, lots of pictures. Do not read what is on the screen, unless your audience can not read. Talk about what is on the screen. If you really want the crowds attention, put in a blank slide so there is only you to pay attention to. For tips, watch a Keynote address at a MacWorld conference by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple.
• Money. It's a lot of money and like high stakes poker, you're either in or out. If you're in, try not to doubt. Ask for help, meet with financial advisors, get a part-time job, but keep it under 20/hrs a week. Of all loans, educational loans, especially government ones, are excellent loans to have. To save money, don't buy water! It's free and NYC has great water! Eat light. Find drink specials.
• Internships: On one hand, paying NYU so you can work for free somewhere sounds crazy. On the other hand, this may be the last time in your life you can walk into your dream job and say "I'm a Tisch graduate student and I want to work for free." Response is good from employers, and you can walk into AMAZING companies since you are in New York City. You meet folks, you get in the door. You have a big edge when you apply later. You can usually work it out to work 6+ hours a week and set your own internships up. Don't wait for a hand to hold, do it yourself! Walk down to Google, or the Natural History Museum. Or your dream studio. Walk over to that start-up or magazine.
• Abroad: Study Abroad: Lots of countries. Often same price. 8 credits in the summer or for an entire semester.
• Courses Outside The Dept: Can take 8 credits at NYU and other schools. Consider it.
• What To Take: Go to, or make sure you organize a driveby in November on course selection: 2nd years go over the word on the street of the courses offered, internships, courses outside the dept. and study abroad, for the 1st. years benifit. The dept. has nothing to do with this, so it is up to each class to keep it going.
• Janitors. They have names. They are not robots that pick up your smarty pants trash. Say "Hi," or "Thank you," or play a game of foos with them. They're usually cool, and very helpful as usability testers.
• The Security Guards. If you get to know them, you can smile and wave while others have to pull out IDs for two years.
• Thesis: When you are 100 years old out of your mind in a resting home, what would bring a smile to your face when you remembered back to your thesis? Keep it small and simple, with stages you can complete and then move on if you have time. Write your paper draft early, and do lots of presentations as you go. What can you talk about for 20 minutes over and over again without having to fake your enthusisam? What will help the world be a little better off? What will get you a job you like, or if that's not a problem, what do you want to do before you're working?
• Job Search: Start looking before the holidays, or at least get your resume together. Put the word out about what you are looking for to each and very email address you have of friend and family. Include a general cover letter with links that they can pass on to others. This is more effective then job searches on any service. Be specific, but be open to interviewing anywhere. Think about your job search during the winter and spring shows of your last year. You'll meet a lot of poeple at the shows, so have a card and a simple answer to "what do you want to do after school?
• - Caleb