I am thinking about pursuing philosophy in college this fall and I have some questions for anyone who has had this subjects in an academic setting.
Most of what I know about examining how we think has been inspired by friends, family, and the internet. What can I expect from a class? I assume much of it will be taken up with examining one famous philosopher after another. Am I wrong? Although I find philosophical subjects extremely interesting, I am not driven to write long papers about why (some philosopher) would say (this) about (that).

Perhaps I should leave philosophy as just a hobby, where it won't become boring and stale. What do you think?

Like most subjects it depends upon the professor. I had a great one, the classes were lively and full of debate. We had stuff to memorize too though and I can easily see it becoming boring with a bad professor. I would ask around about the prof.

~Raithere

Well, one thing is sure: Whatever course you are going to take -- start studying right away, right the first day. Don't let things pile up. :)

After you're done studying philosophy in college, what do you plan to do with it?

Uh, philosophize maybe? Gives a good background for developing one's beliefs.
You'll certainly learn about some of the famous philosophers and their philosophies, but it's mainly to get you up to speed so to speak.
I imagine you'll learn formal logic as well.

A friend of mine took a philosophy course. They learned a little bit of what each famous philosopher said, as far as I know. I personally dislike learning in bits; I plan to get a full collection of books with writings of each philosopher.

But once one has a degree in philosophy, what can one do with it?

I personally dislike learning in bits; I plan to get a full collection of books with writings of each philosopher.

And WHEN will you read them?
:)

start studying right away, right the first day. Don't let things pile up.

But it's summer vacation....! I've never really studied much in school, haven't needed to. But if I find something interesting, I'll learn about it for fun, mostly from the internet.
Sometimes I feel as if I could learn an entire semester's worth of material in a week if I wanted to but maybe I'm fooling myself.

And WHEN will you read them?

When I have cash to acquire the necessary volumes (not much, books are cheap in right places). I already conquered Plato's Dialogues, and found I understand what Plato was saying better than my friend who took the course. There are also books that explain what each philosopher was saying, the accompanying guides, or whatever they're called. Another friend of mine was walking around with a book that contained exercises. I wanted to take a phil. course, but it could be a waste of time.

You can get most of them free online.

You can get most of them free online.

Another reason for considering a philosophy course a waste of time. Unless, of course, I'd want to major in philosophy and pursue a career that had something to do with it. Well, I could be a professor, or if I was going for a career in gov't, I'd make sure to take philosophy. Otherwise....

I get a really encouraging email from the Phil. professor. His point that stood out to me was that his courses teach you how to think, not what to think.

I'm gonna go for it.

Then go for it! :)

You might want to consider a minor in criminal justice or pre-law. Philosophy majors tend to do very well on the PSAT. I think it has to do with the mental gymnastics required in philosophy. Learning how to understand very dense texts is also beneficial.
For what it is worth, my second and secondary major in philosophy. I've studied logic and various philosophers. Our teacher was good and encouraged us to question the philosophers, though we had only so much time and needed to get through the material. If you want to seriously philosophize on your own you should learn what others have said first so that you do not repeat their mistakes. Philosophy tends to go in lines with each thinker responding to the ones before him.

What college are you going to SkippingStones? I had an awesome philosophy class this past semester in which we watched a movie on monday, had a lecture on wednesday, and a recitassion on friday. The movies were sweet (The Matrix, Minority Report, Being John Malkovich, 12 Monkeys, etc.) and the lecture was about how the movies used ideas from famous philosophers (Descartes, Locke, Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, etc.) and then on friday the T.A. would tell us what was going to be on the quiz. I don't know if many colleges offer studies through film like this, but it was definetly a good course.

and don't be scared to take a lot of classes, I took 16 credits first semester and had to up to 19 second, because i didn't have enough to do. I didn't have to study a lot in high school, and for the most part the same has held true for college

You might want to consider a minor in criminal justice or pre-law.

Follow this guys advice, unless you want to end up 'philophizing' on a NY street corner for quaters.

Or even psychology.