There's some good advice here but I want to push back one point:

> Get great, if not perfect grades.

I think this was great advice five years ago and just no longer works for the AI era. I'm back in school to get my masters and every single one of the best students is struggling to break into the A- territory, let alone get A's.

Cheating has simply gotten too easy.

I think it used to be that any class was separated into four groups. Best grades (A's) went to the best students, the good students got B's, and then there were the folks who were struggling. Some of these struggling folks would cheat, and sometimes do well, but for the most part they were in the high C-low B range.

AI has turned that on its head. Curves do not exist anymore. The cheaters get straight As on every assignment (tests included), the great students get Bs and the good students struggle to pass the class.

A few weeks ago I had a professor tell me that I did amazing on a test. My final grade was an 81% (a failing grade in a masters program). When I asked them what they meant saying I did well they told me that, of the people they didn't suspect of cheating, I got the highest score.

My advice is to do all the things that she listed and, whatever you do, don't focus on grades. It's a sisyphean task. Find what you enjoy in your courses, outside of the too, and spend time doing it. Crush any presentations you get. Find what makes you happy. Just, for the love of god, don't focus on your grades.